Goals

January Recap & 2018 Goals

/ Cami Grace / Leave a comment

Here we are half way through February and, wow, that happened fast!   I meant to post this a couple weeks ago – oops!  I felt like my little family spent almost the whole month of January being sick.  Poor little Gryffin had it the worst.  He had a stomach bug, followed immediately but a horrible cold which included a fever that lasted off and on for two weeks.  Thankfully that bug is behind us but I can’t wait for this cold and flu season to be over with.

In addition to the cold virus going around and dealing with the stress from that, we also found out that the in-home daycare we had been taking Gryffin to since he was 8 weeks old was closing.  I’m not going to lie, I’ve been pretty emotional about it.  For as much as I hate having to work full time, Amber had been his second mom and having to find someone new was rather heart wrenching.  We have completely been blessed having someone we could trust.  After a few weeks of searching we finally found a place that has been a good fit (more on this in the next update).

So now with that recap I will dive into how I did with my goals.

Goals 

In a previous post I had written what I hoped to accomplish for the whole year.  After having a baby I’ve had to intentionally let some things go (such as a clean house at all times) and other things seemed to have fallen by the wayside, but now I’m to the point where I’m ready to start getting a handle on things.  The month of January I wanted to focus on getting back into my Bible, praying, and being rooted in Christ.

Here is what I had planned for the month of January and the details of how I did.

Be – Rooted 

  1. Go through a devotional  
  2. Start a prayer journal 
  3. Go to church/listen to sermons every Sunday 

Book of the month:  Of Mess and Moxie:Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmker

* Here is the breakdown and details on how I did.

1 – Go through a devotional  I’m giving myself a half point here.  I started off reading through The Purpose Driven Life.  It was really good and I enjoyed it.  The downfall is that the chapters were longer than I could handle most nights.  By the time I get my baby to bed I’m exhausted and struggle not to fall asleep on the couch.  This turned into a fail by the second week.

Solution: Getting the audio book from our library.  This isn’t the most ideal solution since I only have the audio book for a certain amount of days, but it’s still better than nothing, especially since I really did want to finish it.

Since my main goal was to try and get into reading my Bible more I started going through reading plans with the You Version Bible app.  These plans tend to be short and I can usually manage to read the day’s section when I crawl into bed.

2 – Start a prayer journal  For the same reason as above, I am just way too tired at the end of the day to keep up with it.  As for the weekends, I still find myself scrambling for time.

Solution: Bag it.  I figured it would be best for baby steps so for now I will stick with Bible reading plans.

3 – Go to church/listen to sermons every Sunday  Guys – this one is so embarrassing for me to admit…we listened to only one sermon the whole month.  I have my excuses, but it just doesn’t cut it.

Solution:  Really make it a priority and schedule it.  My husband works graveyard which is why it’s so difficult to actually go to church.  We don’t have an excuse to not listen to a sermon online.  I plan to actually schedule it like we would a doctor’s appointment and make it happen.

Book of the Month: Of Mess and Moxie by Jen Hatmaker.  Ooooh my gosh you guys!  I loved this book!  I found it by a complete accident while browsing through audio books through our libaray – I saw it and though it looked like it might be good.  I started in on my Monday morning commute and got to work feeling like I just had the best pep talk for my day…no…for my life.  Jen Hatmaker is hilarious and sooo much of what she said was incredibly relate-able.  I felt like every day I was hanging out and listening to a friend.  I plan to buy a hard copy of this book.  I highly recommend everyone listens to the audio book at least once though.  She reads the book herself and makes it that much more enjoyable (this is the one and only book, so far, that I give this recommendation to).

My hope is that everything I work on will carry on into the next month as I add to my goals.  I don’t expect to be successful all the time, but I am hoping that the more I try and the more I work on it that eventually it will stick and become just part of my routine.

Hope you all are having a wonderful February.  Stay tuned for the next update!

 

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Hello 2018!

/ Cami Grace / Leave a comment

Wow!  What a crazy year 2017 was!  Not only did we have a baby but we also bought our first home!  There was so much packed into the last 12 months there’s just no way I can do a full recap.  With having a baby, working full time, and moving I wasn’t able to keep up with my blog very much (as you can tell), but here we are in 2018 and I’m back!

Looking ahead I’m excited to see what’s in store for the new year.  I’m most excited to watch Gryffin grow up and see more of his personality develop.  I’m also looking forward to working on some personal goals.  I have laid out quite the task for myself.  Instead of focusing on just one goal throughout the year, I am taking on my own version of The Happiness Project and plan to work on a different goal each month.

But before I jump into my New Year’s plan, here’s what you can expect from my blog.

~ Currently posts.  I have always enjoyed writing them and I also enjoy going back to read through them too.

~ Baby Posts.  I don’t want to overload the blog with baby posts, but at the very least I would like to finish up a few.  I will have a baby shower post coming soon and also my labor and delivery story.  I have Gryffin’s monthly updates written out that I never actually posted on my blog (let me know in the comments if you enjoy reading these).  He’s already 9 months so I basically would post them until we were all caught up.  You might find a “What’s In My Diaper (or work) Bag” and a bedtime/morning routine in there as well.

~ Monthly Goals.  I would like to do a recap at the end of each month regarding my monthly goals.  I will share what I did at the end of month and if I felt like I was successful or not.

So here’s my outline for 2018.  In addition to the list below I plan to also choose one book each month regarding the topic for that month.  This is just a rough draft, but I think it’s a good start!

~ January: Be – Rooted 

  1. Go through a devotional
  2. Start a prayer journal
  3. Go to church/listen to sermons every Sunday

~ February: Be – Loving 

  1. Celebrate Valentines Day & our (10 year!) anniversary
  2. Reestablish date night

~ March: Be – Organized

  1. Pick it up, put it back
  2. Set up guest room
  3. Organize laundry room
  4. Set up rec room

~ April: Be – Prepared

  1. Go to bed at 10:30 every night (at the latest!)
  2. Bedtime Routine
  3. Morning Routine

~ May: Be – Mindful 

  1. Live in the moment

~ June: Be – Fun  

  1. Laugh every day
  2. Find fun things to do

~ July: Be – Chic 

  1. Update Wardrobe
  2. Always look presentable (based on the Madame Chic books)
  3. Look in the mirror before leaving the house

~ August: Be – Me 

  1. Read for fun
  2. Enjoy a pamper day
  3. 30 day photography project (if I’m feeling up for this)

~ September: Be – Healthy 

  1. Healthy Recipes
  2. 30 days of Yoga

~ October: Be – Thoughtful 

  1. Go out of my way to help others

~ November: Be – Thankful 

  1. List of things I’m thankful for every day

~ December:  Be – Generous 

  1. Give of my time
  2. Donate

I do plan on giving myself extra grace because I am so busy and I need to make sure my priorities are straight, but it’s nice to have a variety of goals and something to look forward to.

I hope your year is off to a great start!  Feel free to share your goals and/or what you’re looking forward to this year!

Much love,

Cami

Another End and a New Beginning

/ Cami Grace / 1 Comment
www.happynewyear2016wishess.com

(www.happynewyear2016wishess.com)

 

Happy New Year everyone!!

2015 was stocked full of blessings.  God has been so so good to us and has answered so many prayers – sometimes it almost feels too good to be true (I mean, do we really get to go on a cruise next month?!).  Sometimes it’s hard to relax in the goodness, because for so long it was so rough for us without my husband having a job and wonder how we were going to make it.  Being able to work away on our finances and not to have to worry about making ends meat has been a huge, huge blessing.

How We Rang In the New Year

I was able to get off work early, like 11:30 in the morning early, yay!  So I came home, grabbed Mikey and headed to lunch and then to spend some Christmas money.  We wanted somewhere cheap for lunch so we went to McDonald’s.  I don’t know why, but I love their little cheeseburger’s.  I’m guessing it doesn’t even have real meat in them, but whateve’s.

Mikey then wanted to go to the Comic Book shop, so we stopped there first.  I’m not into comic books at all (I don’t have anything against them, just not my thing), but since Mikey was going to the makeup store with me I was more than happy to let him take his time lol.  After browsing around we then headed to Ulta.

I don’t always like to spend my hard earned money on makeup that I’m not sure if I will like or not, so Christmas money is great, because I have absolutely no problem spending that!  Soooo, I got a bottle of dry shampoo that I have never tried before, new mascara, eye liners (buy one, get one free!), Jergen’s Natural Glow daily moisturizer, travel size IT cosmetics CC+ cream and then bonus!  I got a free gift of a travel size It’s a 10 leave-in conditioner, which I’ve used and love.  All in all, I would say it was a successful makeup run.  I’m excited to try it all out, especially the CC cream.

After the shopping we headed back home.  Some friends of ours were coming over so we ordered pizza from Pizza Pipeline- we got a Cheese to the 7th Power pizza and a Hawaiian Luau Extreme pizza.  The Hawaiian Luau was amazing, it has pulled pork, Canadian bacon, pineapple, and bacon pieces on top and extra cheese…YUM.

So our friends came over, we hung out, I played with their baby, we laughed and had a good time.  They ended up leaving early around 9:30 or so Mikey and I put on Arrow, which I ended up falling asleep through.  He woke me up 10 minutes before midnight where I had to fight to stay awake, we watched the ball drop, said Happy New Year, kissed and then I went to bed.

2016

So yes,  that was the end of our 2015.  And now here we are in 2016.  I don’t know exactly what 2016 holds, we never really know what any year holds, but I do know this – I will take God’s “hand” and step into the new year.  I do have goals for the year, but really, I hope and pray that I will live a more meaningful life this year.

This year, I pray for boldness and confidence as I live my life out for Christ.  I pray that those around me will see Jesus.  I pray that all my life’s stresses won’t even be noticeable to me because I am so focused on God.

I pray that I will have fun and take time for friendship.

I pray that I will be a wife that continues to put God and my husband first, and that I will be a blessing and encouragement to him.

I pray that I will stop taking things for granted and count my blessings daily.

I pray that I will use my time wisely.

Goals

Along with those prayers, I am setting a couple goals for myself.  Nothing crazy with 10 things I want to accomplish, just 2 main goals and throwing in a third, just for fun.

1. Be more positive.

I tend to be a realist, but I err on the “glass-half-empty” side of the realism.  There’s more to this story, so it might just receive a post of its own.  But this is something I feel that I need to work on. :)

2.  Eat healthy.

I’m not talking of going on a strict Clean Eating or Paleo diet, I don’t have the time for that right now, but I would like to try incorporating a semi-clean diet, eat out less, eat more salads, plan my meals better.  I’ve been struggling with some health issues, which I’m sure my diet has played at least a small part in, so here’s to making better decisions.

3.  Take more pictures.

I hardly took any pictures at all this year and it bugs me I keep saying this every year!  So maybe, maybe this year will be the year I actually have pictures to show the world lol.  Might have to try one of those photography challenges.  We shall see.

So there you have it my dears.  I hope you all have a wonderful new year full of many, many blessings!