Happy New Year!

Happy New Year sweet reader friends!  My kids went back to school this week and I am slowly getting back into my normal routine.  I won't lie though, I really miss sleeping in and Monday was hard. I hope that your Christmas was filled with joy and not too much craziness. 

But, now that Christmas is over and the New Year has begun, let's talk about goals.  I really like goals because they give me something to focus and work towards.  Resolutions don't really do that and I am pretty certain that most of them end in failure.  I set goals 3 different ways: daily, seasonally, and yearly.  I believe that long term goals set the stage for the year, and they can, in turn, be divided up into the seasons that progress over the course of the year.  Then, my daily goals are things that I want to accomplish on that certain day.  I will even confess that not everything works out in my timeline.  That's okay.  It's not a sign of failure.  Maybe the vision changed, or maybe we just felt we needed to wait until money opened up for a project (the object is to not go into debt to achieve our goals), or things just got really busy.  Life happens.  We can't feel guilty. 

Back in September, I set some Fall goals here, so let's chat about that. 

My fall goals consisted of:
1.  Lead a group of ladies through the study Open Your Bible, by She Reads Truth/Lifeway.
2.  Paint the ship lap in the bathroom and replace faucets and light.
3.  Finish 2 books.
4.  Work on Jon's quilt
5. Make two baby blankets for gifts
6. Turn 40 (I'm in denial)
7.  Re-organized desk drawers (chaos has arrived!)
8.  Try 3 new recipes
9.  Make coffee sleeves
10.  Restock card supply by working on some of my paper pumpkin boxes I haven't had time for.
11.  Sneak away with the hubby.

I crossed out the things that I did accomplish and obviously I did not get everything done.  It was a busy season and full with soccer and cross country, tagging along with Jon on some of his work things and leading a Bible Study.  I learned a lot about starting that study and I get to do it again this Spring (If you're local, I'd love to have you!). 

I also turned 40.  I am pretty sure there was no way around that one!  Ha ha!  I got to celebrate it in the best way possible. . . around a table full of sweet friends.  I can't tell you how much I love to just sit around a table, whether over a delicious latte or a yummy meal, and connect with people face to face.  It was really a fantastic way to start a new decade of my life!  I won't lie, there was a period of time that I felt incredibly lonely and a lot of lies swarmed my thought life about how I didn't have very many friends.  I know they were lies, because I did have friends and once I put on my brave pants and started asking the ladies in my life if they wanted to have coffee, I knew I was not alone.  They were there all along and I just needed to be brave!  I joke with one of my friends that I should make a shirt that says, "ladies who coffee," because it really is life giving.

Now, let's talk 2020.  

This year we have a few long term goals for the house.  Small projects to kind of finish a few of the rooms, including the bathroom.   I am really excited about some of these things and I'm keeping a lot of them secret until we start to work on them.  But, most of them are basic things like replacing a rug and finding a coffee table to adding some wall art to our bedroom. 

We also have a few adventures lined up including our Summer adventure, which is conquering Southern California and some of the missions down there.  Weston will be going into 4th grade in August, so it's perfect for this season.  As much as we love doing big trips to other states, we live in a pretty diverse and large state that has so many cool things that we can't get to all the time.  This trip will be spent doing a lot of things that we have never done before (Disney is a no on this trip. . . ha ha), or that we did when the boys were little or not even born.  We are so excited! 

My husband turns 40 this year, so there will definitely be some celebrating of that along with our 15th wedding anniversary.  It's definitely going to be a milestone year! 

As far as crafty goals, I really want to finish some things up.  This year, I will be focusing on some quilts and the kids albums (I've been such a slacker with this!).

And then, there's kitchen goals!  I got to try my hand a laminated dough once last year and the result was absolute amazingness!  It's a lot of work, but completely worth it.  So, I that is pretty high on my list and I currently have a croissant recipe bookmarked just a foot away from where I am sitting!  

So, let's break this down even more and talk about what I want to accomplish these next few months of winter.  Bring on the winter season goals:

1.  Make 2 baby blankets.
2.  Finish shelves in the bathroom.
3.  Make some cards.
4.  Make croissants.
5.  Clean out desk drawers.
6.  Clean art closet (Christmas vacation happened!)
7.  Read 2 books.
8.  Go on a adventure.
9.  Plan Weston's birthday party.
10.  Cut out all squares of Jon's quilt and start sewing the top.

I have already started working on one of those and I can't wait to share the results with you!  I am hoping and praying that these next 3 months are productive and fun!

One of the ways, I try to stay on track is by setting weekly and daily goals in my planner.  I use a Day Designer planner that I picked up at my local Target.  I've used this particular one for a few years and I just love it.  It is divided by month and then has pages for each week, divided into long sections for each day.  It's easy for me to set daily goals and even do some journaling, like a memory planner.  (you don't have to spend a ton of money to be organized. . . mine was only $12). 

I hope that you have taken the time to set some goals for yourself for this year.  Maybe it's to paint a room or hang up a picture or even invite someone out for coffee.  Maybe you want to try out that instapot you got out for Christmas or try your hand at making a sourdough starter.  Whatever it is, I would love to pray for you and cheer you on as we embark on this journey of our 2020 goals.  Feel free to share some of yours at the bottom in the comments.

Have a great week!