September 2019 Goals

Happy September! … 16th! This is by far the latest in a month that I have ever posted my monthly goals. But it’s also the first time since starting my blog in 2017 that I have started the first chunk of a month in Europe, so I think it’s all good :)

Grace and I have been back a little less than a week from our dream-come-true and much needed vacation, and I’m finally getting over jetlag and returning to my favorite things like blogging. It’s a short month for us as a result, and my goals reflect that. It’s so nice to return to my routines, see my dogs, and get our house cozy for Fall. Those are the biggest overall goals of the month - just to return to normal and soak in the new season that’s just around the corner.

My progress on August goals was a mixed bag, but it was a great month. Here’s how I did:

• Make a 5-year plan for this blog (hopes, dreams, what I want to get out of it, etc.)—no, but I’d still love to do this.

• Prep for our big summer vacation (buy travel essentials, print travel documents, pack, get organized)—yes! Such a great trip!!

• Update my voter registration—the very last thing that still has my maiden name on it—nope, rolling that over to September.

• Become a morning person again! I’ve started doing a lot better at this during the first week of August and I am loving it so far—yes, I was definitely more of a morning person in August, although my progress is kind of shot now due to jet lag! But I’m sure I’ll get back on it.

• Organize and clear out my phone and DSLR camera photos ahead of our trip—yes to phone, no to DSLR, but I decided not to bring my DSLR on our trip so I could travel lighter.

• Finish the last few pages in my current journal and start a fresh one—yes!

And here are my goals for what’s left of September:

• Make my Fall bucket list (checked this one off this morning!)

• Get Halloween costumes for Bean and myself. So excited for our matching costume!

• Install updates on my computer

• Update my voter registration

• Get back into blogging and my usual routines

• Enjoy a much-anticipated trip to San Francisco

• Local hikes and/or yoga at home a few times a week

I hope you all have a beautiful start to Fall!

Photo above is from our Paris vacation photos shoot, which I will share more about soon!

August 2019 Goals

I’m a bit late, but I’m finally here with my August goals! I’m coming off the busiest two weeks I’ve probably had all year—with a little anniversary vacation thrown right in the middle of them—but there’s still a lot of August left and I’m excited to make good goals happen.

I’m hoping to pop in a few more times this month with blog posts (including a really special one on my thoughts on 1 year of marriage), so I’ll keep this one short!

August Goals

• Make a 5-year plan for this blog (hopes, dreams, what I want to get out of it, etc.)

• Prep for our big summer vacation (buy travel essentials, print travel documents, pack, get organized)

• Update my voter registration—the very last thing that still has my maiden name on it

• Become a morning person again! I’ve started doing a lot better at this during the first week of August and I am loving it so far

• Organize and clear out my phone and DSLR camera photos ahead of our trip

• Finish the last few pages in my current journal and start a fresh one

Cheers to the last full month of summer!

My Spring Bucket List

What a wonderful SPRING we had this year! I was actually traveling for a good chunk of it for work, but just looking back at pictures from those months (during the time I was home) makes me so happy.

Seasonal bucket lists have been one of the sweetest parts of this first year of marriage. Links here to my Autumn and Winter bucket list recaps. Lately, I have loved the simplicity of life so much. For the past few years there has always been one big thing or another happening in my life: in 2016, I was graduating from law school and taking the bar exam. In 2017, I was working full-time for the first time, then taking a break from working full time (haha) and traveling, then Grace asked me to marry her. In 2018 I was planning a wedding, getting married, and honeymooning. In 2019, I’m so happy to just be going with the flow and enjoying each season (literally) as it comes.

I’ve always been enthralled by changing seasons. As a kid, one of my favorite children’s books was about how each year brings the same patterns and traditions in sequence, and then we repeat it all (wish I could remember the name of the book—thoughts, mom??). Some might think we don’t have seasons in LA, but we totally do! Just no cold weather, which I am more than happy to have left behind.

With my Spring bucket list this year, I tried to evoke the wonder of Spring. Springtime is like waking up from a long nap and feeling delicious. Everything is tender, bright, and new. I want to share some photos of my Spring bucket list activities, but at the same time, a lot of them (I’m realizing) are too fleeting, dreamy, and ethereal to really have (good) photos, in the moment. Making wishes on a dandelion. Seeing a rainbow. Waking up on Easter morning and going to our sweet little church. My first strawberry of the season, herbal tea before bed. Such good gifts :) But not a lot of photos on my phone from those.

However, I did manage to capture a few favorite moments from the season! First, here’s my list (with the accomplished items highlighted in pink):

And some of the best memories from Spring:

Dyeing Easter eggs (Grace’s first time!)

Spring time at our favorite “secret” beach in Malibu

We got tulips twice! Once bought (on the bucket list) and once from some sweet friends (unexpected but even sweeter).

String lights in our yard! I’ve LOVED having these up.

We also added some outdoor furniture, and it’s been super sweet having breakfast out there some mornings.

And of course, eating plenty of Cadbury eggs.

I’m so thankful for this Spring. One for the books, for sure. I can’t believe we’re already halfway through July! If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen that I posted a Summer Bucket List too! I’m already working through it and having such a good summer. Here’s the list—recap to come in a couple of months!

Have you ever made a seasonal bucket list?

July Goals + June Recap

Oh my my, it’s July (in 2 days)! Lately I’ve been feeling in such a “the world spins madly on” state of mind and state of being. Every day feels like it lasts 6 hours instead of 24. Life has been full, good, bitter, hard, happy, sad, fast-paced, and all-consuming. If you follow this blog closely at all (thank you!), you might have noticed that this was the month I was going to write at least five blog posts, claim inertia for myself and get going. I got going on a lot this month, but blogging was not one of them. That’s okay! That’s what I love about blogging—it’s MY space to use how I want—but my ultimate goal is to update and write and keep it going. That’s why I’m going double or nothing for July and setting a goal to write not 5 but 10 blog posts!! Go big or go home.

I want to write a post about all the things that have been keeping me busy lately, kind of a Naming the Good Stuff post and a Life Lately post all in one. So keep an eye out for that. A few of things that made June the rollercoaster that it was:

• Grace’s sweet, sweet grandfather Moby passed away and we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about him, looking at old photos, eating his favorite snacks, and remembering

• Taking a really fun, short trip to Paso Robles (see the one-minute video I made about it here)

• Hosting my little brother in town for a week

• Celebrating Pride!!

• Grace being out of town on and off filming State of Grace, her show with Refinery29. The latest episode came out today—watch here :)

Aside from not blogging 5 times, I did decent on my goals this month! Here’s a recap of my June goals:

• Blog 5+ times (not including this :))—unfortunately no

• Organize/rearrange our guest room—yes! I might do a blog post on this!

• Make our summer bucket list—came up with the list, turning it into a cute printout later today (and it’s June 29th today so I’m sneaking this in at the last minute)

• Host my brother for a week—yep! So fun

• Make bread from scratch—YES and it’s life changing! I’m gonna do a roundup post about adventures in bread making

• Celebrate Pride month!—yes. One of my favorite prides ever. Will write a blog post about it for sure

• Yoga with Grace (we’ve been very into doing yoga together lately. Want to keep it going!)—yes, when we were both in town! Grace actually got me a custom designed yoga mat as one of my birthday gifts so I’m excited for more of this

Next up: July goals:

• Rest & savor summer

• Cross things off our summer bucket list

• Save a certain amount of money

• Write 10+ blog posts

• Yoga with Grace

• Spend time every day specifically praying for the core people in my life

I hope your summer has been off to a beautiful start!

June Goals + May Recap

I’m back!! I think May 2019 was the least I posted in the history of having this little blog. I sort of didn’t see it coming (even though I should have), but May was a monster of a month. I was out of town for work the majority of the month, Grace also traveled out of state, one of the only weekends we were both in town we ended up taking a road trip for a friend’s birthday, and just. so. much. happened. I am really proud of everything Grace and I both accomplished this past month, and my only regret is that I neglected this space.

One thing I’ve been thinking about is the concept of inertia. It really is so true-we are just inclined to keep doing what we’re doing (or not doing). If I’m already cleaning the house, then going for the deep clean behind the kitchen appliances doesn’t seem so crazy. But if I’m scrolling on my phone and sitting on the couch, I want to keep doing that. Same with blogging here—little posts like this don’t take much time, but I can easily spend hours writing and taking pictures for a more in depth post. It is a lot of work but I love it so much, and when I’m in the habit it’s easy to keep going. It’s kind of related to the concept of the longer you stay in a pool, the less pleasant it becomes to get back out of the water because it feels freezing. I want to use that thought as momentum, to jump two feet in this month. Because once I get moving it is so much easier to keep going! So that’s kind of a guiding thought for me this month (and I wrote it at the top of my goals list to remember).

First, how I did in May:

• Celebrate two years of Have Dog, Will Drive! I just paid the domain name renewal so that means I’ve had this little blog for two whole years.—no I didn’t have time! I’m going to make a two-year post this month (belatedly) though!

• Research and buy solar string lights—yes and I am IN LOVE with how they look in our yard. So long overdue.

• Make bread from scratch—no, lol at me thinking I’d have time to do that in May. Moving it to the June list!

• Book our anniversary weekend—yes, we’re spending a weekend in one of our favorite places in the world.

• Garden with Grace—yes!

• Convert my Jetta lease—yep!

• Complete a major career milestone that is very cool!! Just not in the habit of sharing work details on this blog, otherwise I’d say more :)—YES!! Done & done.

Here is what I plan to make happen in June!

• Blog 5+ times (not including this :))

• Organize/rearrange our guest room

• Make our summer bucket list

• Host my brother for a week

• Make bread from scratch

• Celebrate Pride month!

• Yoga with Grace (we’ve been very into doing yoga together lately. Want to keep it going!)

Happy June, friends!

May Goals + April Recap

A few days late, but I’m here with my May goals! May is going to be a crazy month. Grace and I are BOTH traveling a ton for work, separately, so we have a lot to juggle with our house and pets this month. But everything that’s happening is really exciting and we’re so grateful.

Here’s how I did on my April goals:

• Major spring cleaning of our home—some, but unfortunately I wouldn’t say major. But we made a map of our house with highlighted areas where we need to spring-clean, so I’m hoping we’ll continue to make progress.

• Frost a couple of windows (that look out to our neighbor’s house—need a little more privacy in this city living!)—yep!

• Work on our front yard (I’m picturing string lights, filling up our awesome custom planter we got as a wedding gift, and maaaaybe some furniture)—work in progress! But we have an amazing vision for it and I’m really excited.

• Prep for 2 weeks out of town at the end of April/beginning of May—yes! The freezer is stocked with meals for Grace.

• Save [redacted] amount toward our emergency fund—not really! We had a bunch of unexpected veterinary expenses this month. But that’s life with two dogs.

• Hang wedding pictures in our home (I have the pictures in frames—just FINALLY need to hang them!)—yes and they make me so happy :)

• Wake up with my first alarm every day—I’ve gotten in a bad habit of hitting snooze like 5 times—I have mostly stopped setting alarms unless it’s absolutely necessary (as discussed in this post), so not really!

Here is what I’m planning to accomplish in May:

• Celebrate two years of Have Dog, Will Drive! I just paid the domain name renewal so that means I’ve had this little blog for two whole years.

• Research and buy solar string lights

• Make bread from scratch

• Book our anniversary weekend

• Garden with Grace

• Convert my Jetta lease

• Complete a major career milestone that is very cool!! Just not in the habit of sharing work details on this blog, otherwise I’d say more :)

I hope you’re having a wonderful May so far. The pics in this post are of May flowers that are blooming in my neighborhood this month!

My Three-Month Spending Challenge

As I shared in my 2019 goals, I decided to start off the year by challenging myself to make ZERO purchases other than food and essentials for three months. I considered essentials to be just replacing everyday items if they ran out. For example, I wasn’t going to stop washing my hair because I ran out of shampoo and was doing a spending challenge. Same with household products. But I wanted to add nothing new to any shopping carts. So even though I usually wear makeup, purchasing new makeup beyond just replacing my staple items if they ran out would be against the rules of the spending challenge. It’s a little bit flexible in terms of the rules and definitions, but it made sense to me.

Let me tell you one thing that surprised me: the three month spending challenge (January 1-March 31) FLEW by! I thought I would be painstakingly counting the days until I could go to the Target home section, but it was such a good discipline for my heart because I realized how much I really didn’t miss buying stuff. That was even true for clothing. I have officially not purchased any clothes since 2018, and I even perused the spring clothing collection at Target with Grace the other day and had very little desire to buy anything.

The other thing that surprised me: how much this spending challenge and consciousness regarding buying things changed my overall financial perspective. These first three months of 2019 have radically changed Grace and me in terms of finances. I will be honest and tell you that we did not keep a budget whatsoever for the first 5 months of marriage. Thankfully it was fine, but as we dream and talk about our lives as a married couple we realized how much we are going to need to intentionally save to be able to do the things we want! There were definitely tears shed in the early discussions about budgeting, and we’ve had to sacrifice and make tough decisions. But we’ve also been able to joyfully say YES to a big trip this summer because we know how we’re going to afford it, and we’re so excited about the dreams we’re building towards by being disciplined in this area.

The spending challenge has helped me turn my perspective around from focusing on the sacrifice of saying “no” to something I want, to focusing on the joy of saying “yes” to things I want WAY more in the big picture.

So it’s now April and my spending challenge is technically done! So far in the first couple weeks, I’ve only bought a new mascara and some small home improvement items for our house. I’m happy to say that doing this challenge has really reduced my desire to online shop or just want a quick fix of retail therapy. I initially thought about what it would look like if I kept the challenge going the whole year, but I think I’m going to ease up for the spring/summer and then maybe end the year with another three months of it.

A couple tips if you are interested in doing this (I highly recommend it)!

• When you get a desire to buy something specific (like “oh I NEED a new houseplant for that windowsill” or whatever), write it in a note on your phone. I kept a note of things I wanted but was saying “no” to for now, so I wouldn’t forget to grab them if I really still wanted them at the end of the challenge. On my note are a grout pen to touch up our grout on the tile floors (exciting stuff huh!), this book so many people have recommended, this beauty product a blogger I like recommended, and these monogrammed PJs. I might pull the trigger on the grout pen because it’s only like $11 but everything else can wait or maybe go on my birthday wish list!

• On that note, I think easing back into buying stuff after your spending challenge is done is really helpful. I personally would feel kind of bummed if I just went out and bought tons of stuff to make up for lost time. So far I’ve just bought things that I know are useful and I’d been consciously waiting to purchase, and I feel good about it!

• But before your spending challenge, I say go all out and have one last spending hurrah if you feel like it. Leading up to the start of my spending challenge was the holiday season followed by our decadent trip to New Orleans, and so by January 1 I actually felt pretty ready to take a breather from buying stuff. I think it helps to know that you can grab that one thing you “need” right before starting the challenge.

If anyone has done a challenge like this or wants to try it, I would love to hear from you and connect!

My Winter Bucket List

This post might seem seasonally out of place (it’s April! Flowers are blooming!), but here I am with my Winter Bucket List recap. This first year of being married, I started a tradition of seasonal bucket lists, inspired by the blog A Beautiful Mess. Back in November, I shared all of the progress on my Autumn Bucket List, which helped me have my favorite Fall of my whole life! The Winter Bucket List was no different—I am not a winter-loving gal, but the intentional celebration that a bucket list helps with made me savor the season like never before.

Even though I’m a bit late posting my recap, I’m writing this post for myself and posterity if nothing else. Next winter, I absolutely plan on doing another bucket list, and I want to remember some of my favorite seasonal things from this first one!

You can see the items above that were on my list—if it’s highlighted in blue, that means Grace and I crossed it off! There were a few I didn’t get to (honestly there is no excuse for not making crock pot hot chocolate-I just somehow forgot!), and the squiggly lines means I somewhat completed it. Here are some of my favorite memories from the items on the list!

Decorating our house for Christmas for the first time was SO fun. Looking back through photos made me feel sooo nostalgic. Our house has never felt cozier. I posted a Christmas decorations house tour here.

We also mailed out our first ever Christmas cards (a tradition I had always looked forward to for my first married Christmas!). I loved how they turned out and plan on doing something similar in years to come.

Matching PJs (which, as it turns out, Bean loved climbing into like a baby kangaroo) were a highlight of the season too.

Also Christmas-related on the bucket list: attending Christmas Eve service at our church, St. Aidan’s. It was the sweetest night. I’ve never attended a midnight candlelit Christmas Eve service before, and even though I was super sleepy, it was magical to be huddled in the sanctuary at midnight as Christmas Eve turned to Christmas Day.

This picture was actually taken at our church a couple days before Christmas :)

Lots of good food and drinks on the bucket list! We made Christmas cookies using the same recipe my family has used my whole life, baked homemade Chex Mix (anyone else with me that this is totally a Christmas thing?! Grace had never heard of it being specific to Christmas), and made mulled wine. I think I need to work on my mulled wine recipe a bit. But it was good!

Although my list was very Christmas-focused, there were a few post-Christmas things too! Of course, one of the highlights of both 2018 AND 2019 was ringing in New Year’s Eve in New Orleans at the wedding of two of our dear friends. You can read a recap of that trip here.

In January, we drove to find snow in Southern California and ended up having the CUTEST snow day in Wrightwood! We brought Willie and it was his first time seeing snow (that we know of). So special! I wrote a recap of that day here. We’ll definitely be making Wrightwood snow days a tradition in our house.

Last but definitely not least, in February we hosted the First Annual Nicole Kidman Appreciation Film Festival! Yes, you read right. This was Grace’s idea as she is a huge Nicole Kidman fan, and we had SO much fun bringing our friends together for a weekend of Nicole Kidman film screenings at our house. We rented a big projector, fired up the popcorn machine we got as a wedding present, and were just generally very over the top about it.

It was a great Winter! Two things that weren’t on the bucket list, but should have been:

First, I cut off half my hair. It’s funny because even now in April, I’ll see people who are like wait - did you get a haircut? YEP, I chopped my hair length in half in December and it’s been great! I love long hair so I’m growing it out again but cutting off a ton of it just made it feel so healthy.

Second, I made my very first Buche de Noel and I was so proud of how it turned out! I spent almost all day on Christmas Eve making it, and it was so fun. It gave me a lot of confidence to try complicated baking projects in the future.

I loved this wintry trip down memory lane! I made a Spring bucket list last month (and posted it on my Instagram stories—if you look you can find it in my “favorite things” highlight) so we are slowly working through that!

Have you ever made a seasonal bucket list?

April Goals + March Recap

Happy April! With this new month starting on a Monday, it feels like a really fresh new start and a chance to set some good intentions. I remembered to say “rabbit, rabbit” as soon as my alarm went off this morning. Anyone else share that little tradition?

And speaking of sayings, I felt like March was the opposite of “in like a lion, out like a lamb” that it’s supposed to be. That saying obviously refers to weather, but for me personally, the month got CRAZY at the end. Between the dogs acting up and some health issues for Willie, spending not one but THREE days on a jury panel after getting a summons in the mail, and my busiest week yet of work, the end of March really threw me off course.

That said, I pretty much checked off all the big goals from March (file taxes, revamp retirement account, make a spring bucket list, and more), but the little daily ones fell by the wayside.

But that’s okay! It’s a new month, and what better time to make things new than spring and Easter. Here’s what I hope to accomplish in April:

• Major spring cleaning of our home

• Frost a couple of windows (that look out to our neighbor’s house—need a little more privacy in this city living!)

• Work on our front yard (I’m picturing string lights, filling up our awesome custom planter we got as a wedding gift, and maaaaybe some furniture)

• Prep for 2 weeks out of town at the end of April/beginning of May

• Save [redacted] amount toward our emergency fund

• Hang wedding pictures in our home (I have the pictures in frames—just FINALLY need to hang them!)

• Wake up with my first alarm every day—I’ve gotten in a bad habit of hitting snooze like 5 times

This time of year always gives me a burst of energy as I come out of my winter blues, so I’m confident I can make progress on all of these.

Wishing you a happy first full month of Spring!

March Goals + February Recap

Happy March! My favorite season is Spring. All things becoming new, light out of darkness, redemption, Eastertime . . . it’s just the sweetest and most life-giving season to me. But I have to say, for the first time in my LIFE, that Winter flew by! I realize there are still about three more weeks of winter technically, but March just sounds like Spring in my mind. I’m so excited!

February packed sooo much in to a little month. As a result, I blogged less here and got less done on my goals. So a few of them are carried over into March. Here’s how I did last month:

• Celebrate love: our 6 month milestone of marriage, and Valentine’s Day—yes! You can read about our low-key Valentine’s here.

• Do our taxes (first time filing jointly)—nope. Carrying over to this month!

• Month two of my spending challenge—yes. Believe it or not, I have not purchased anything for myself aside from groceries and essentials (like running out of dishwasher pods) since 2018. I’m loving it and will write more about it soon!

• Spend some time doing nothing every day—honestly, not really. This is hard for me!

• Walk at least 10,000 steps every day—every day? No. But did I go many more days of walking 10,000 steps than I usually do? YES! That’s what goal setting is all about I think. So I’m making this a goal again in March!

• Read Luke and Acts—only partway through Luke. But, progress!

• Start off every morning prepped for the day (from the night before)—sometimes, and it made a big difference.

And here are my March goals. They’re broken into two categories: financial and for-the-heart. Financial responsibility was a big overarching goal for me, so my monthly goals are reflecting that.

Financial:

• File our joint tax return

• Stick to our March budget + big (some might say crazy) saving goals

• Revamp our retirement account (very exciting, I know)

For-the-heart:

• Finish reading Luke, read Acts

• Make a Spring bucket list (similar to my Autumn bucket list - and I need to blog about my Winter one!)

• Write at least three longer blog posts

And daily, I’m going to try again to walk 10,000 steps every day.

I hope your month is off to a beautiful start! Happy Friday :)