January 2018 Goals + December 2017 Recap

I am so excited and fired up about my 2018 + January-specific goals!! My goals list hasn't been this full in a LONG time. I know that January 1 is just a made up day on the calendar (or the significance is made up, I should say), and in general I try not to buy into the "new year, new me" mentality. I also am so not into the "ugh, 2016/2017/whatever was the worst, I can't wait for 2018" griping that I see so much on social media. But all of that said, this year's start has coincided with me finally having time to rest and reflect on the direction I want to go in, and so I'm finding myself really invigorated by all of the white space the year's calendar holds. 

I didn't post my January goals on the first of the month (instead I wrote this post about how we spent our New Year's Eve), because I wanted to take my time on honing my focus for the year and for January specifically. I think I really dug deep and I'm proud and excited about what I'm aiming for this year and this month. One thing that's crystalized for me in the past few weeks is the value in partially-completed goals. I think in the last year I got stuck when I set a goal for a particular month and then realized I wasn't going to reach it. I would just scrap it entirely, because I couldn't fully cross it off my list, so what's the point? I've now realized how much this mentality was holding me back. For example, one of my December goals was to finish unpacking the whole house and have everything organized and perfect. By about December 18th, I had made zero progress on this goal. I was ready to give up and just push it off til later--but then I realized I COULD still make meaningful progress. I spent 1 hour doing a "power unpack" and it made such a huge difference! No, I didn't 100% complete my goal (I still have a couple of suitcases to unpack), but I did make real progress that I'm reaping the benefits of.

One of my overall goals for 2018 is to create a life-giving home. To me that means having a clean, organized, beautiful, and useful space, and it also means filling it with light and life and good times with the people we love. I want to be better hosts and to be a refuge for people in our lives who might need to vent, have a good meal, or a place to stay. I love our little house so much, and I'm really excited to share more about it on HDWD. It's not totally ready for a full house tour yet, so in this post I'm sharing some detail shots I took around the house last weekend! More to come soon.

To recap my December goals progress, here's that list:

• Blog five times! Yes!
• Finish unpacking from our move (yes, we moved in October. And yet this is still one of the heaviest things on my to-do list, and one of the things I will be proudest about if I actually get it done!) Not totally, but I made progress!
• Successfully split the Christmas holiday between Grace's family and mine. This will be our fifth Christmas we've been dating (or engaged), but our FIRST Christmas we'll see each other on the actual holiday! We've always spent it separately with our respective families in years past. This year, both of our families will be in North Carolina, and we'll be spending time with both. I can't wait to go to my hometown church's Christmas Eve service together, go to our family friends' Christmas Eve dinner, hang out under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, and start to make our own little family's traditions. Yes, and it was really sweet! Too short.
• Take our photos for our save the date invitations Yes, our good friend Molly took them for us and I'm so happy with how they turned out!
• Design and order a photobook of our Alaska trip Not yet.

And my January goals:

• Book our wedding caterer
• Book our wedding band
• Send out our save-the-date cards
• Register for gifts
• Secure group rates for our wedding at hotels near the venue
• Get organized with finances and start tracking spending again
• Brainstorm for a getaway to celebrate the first quarter of 2018 in about three months
• Blog 2x a week on Have Dog, Will Drive
• Finish unpacking our house, buy an entryway chair, and hang up some more frames
• Try running with Bean (he has that puppy energy and I could use the exercise, too!)

This is a big goals list, but I've actually already made progress on the majority of these! I am really trying to use this motivation and energy I've had lately to knock out some goals. If you set goals for January or 2018, I'd love to read them! 

Hope you enjoyed these pics of our house! I can't wait to share more.

November Goals + October Recap

The fact that I'm writing this November goals post on the actual first of the month (albeit late in the day) is a small miracle. This past month has challenged me SO much, but there's been a lot of really good things happening. Just like last month, I'm keeping my goal list small for November--depth rather than breadth. For those following along, I'll go over my October goal progress and then share my November goals. If you set monthly goals of your own, I'd love to hear about them!

October goals:

• Start my new job well--yes
• Check a few preliminary things off my wedding planning to-do list--we booked our venue and officially set our wedding date! This is more than I dreamed we would accomplish in just one month of getting engaged, so I'm super happy about this
• Become more involved at St. Aidan's--yes; we volunteered at the annual Harvest of Hope and I also officially got Confirmed as an Episcopal :)
• Make some home/living space changes that I am excited to share more about SOON!--so the cat's already kind of out of the bag through social media, but Grace and I found our first little house together and have been slowly decorating it and getting settled! We are so beyond grateful for our new space and Willie loves it too. I can't wait to share a blog post all about the house and our process of making it our own, but it will probably be awhile until it's photo-ready!

And now, November goals:

• Slowly start being active and incorporating exercise after work on days I'm not working late
• Enjoy a sweet time at home with my family in North Carolina later in the month
• Celebrate Grace's and my mom's birthdays (2 days apart)
• Take photos with my real camera

Super simple goals compared with what I used to try to accomplish back when my life was less hectic, but each one represents something really important to me. 

Wherever you are reading, I hope you have the sweetest November.

xoxo

October Goals + September Recap

These photos are from my law school friend's wedding at the Kohl Mansion that Grace and I went to last weekend. Not sure what is going on with my hand placement in the second photo (hah!) but I think these capture the very happy and silly mood we have been in lately :)

I am a little late on October goals--it actually just occurred to me that it's the beginning of the month! The theme of the past few weeks of my life has been BIG changes. And lots more to come! September was the best month of my life so far, but it was very far from a normal month as I wasn't at home for any of it, didn't have a normal routine, and only saw one person (Grace) basically the whole time. I'm excited to get back into a rhythm of my days and have time for being cozy at home this October.

First, how I did on my September goals:

• Be active as much as possible, especially on long car ride days--not the best to be honest. Road fatigue is something I didn't really account for!
• Find ways to serve Grace throughout the trip--I like to think so :) Because Grace was driving all day, we had a system where I would set up camp when we got to our destination and/or unload bags from the car if we were staying at a hotel. It was really important to me that Grace be able to rest right away, and I think we did a good job of balancing the labor involved in such a big road trip.
• Keep up with journaling, reading, and some blogging from the road--I did this decently well, I think.
• Take in moments with my eyes, not just my camera--yes, and I'm proud of that. There were some of the most special moments on the trip where I DIDN'T reach for a camera or phone, and I think the memories are all the more sweet because of it. That said, I'm excited to soon make a huge book of all the photos I took on the trip!

And now for my October goals:

• Start my new job well
• Check a few preliminary things off my wedding planning to-do list
• Become more involved at St. Aidan's
• Make some home/living space changes that I am excited to share more about SOON!

I have a smaller goal list this month, but each one represents some pretty big changes. I hope October treats you well, and thanks for reading Have Dog, Will Drive!

August Goals + July Recap

AUGUST! That's wild. I kind of dislike the constant "wow time is flying" refrain that it's so easy to have when catching up with a friend or making small talk, but really . . . the summer has blown past me in the blink of an eye.

I feel so much potential in this month. It's my last full month of being in my current job, the last full month of summer, and the last month before our almost 8,000-mile road trip. We leave four weeks from Saturday and I am so. beyond. excited. More than anything else, I want to feel ready for the trip, and that's my biggest goal for this month. When we hit the road on September 2, I want to have gotten to a point where I feel like I can "leave my life behind" for a month and not have to put out any fires or worry about anything going on. My car will be in storage, my work will be on pause, my apartment will be in ship shape, and Grace's and my hearts will be open for the adventure to come. Even though my to-do list for the trip seems to grow daily, I know that the only way to accomplish it all is to simplify and prune the weeds from my days in order to make the things that matter happen. August, I am so excited for all of the preparation you will hold!

First, how I did on my July goals:

• Book accommodations for a friend's wedding we're going to be roadtripping to in the fall -- yes! So excited.
• Make an "essentials" plan and budget for Alaska (water, gasoline, non-perishables, Canadian car insurance, etc.) -- somewhat; not totally. But, that's one of the things Grace and I are going to spend some quiet time doing on our vacation this weekend.
• Enjoy a family vacation that I could NOT be more excited for in my favorite place on earth--my dad's 60th birthday and the Fourth of July are one day apart, so it worked out perfectly for us to all be together and celebrate -- done & done! And I wish I could go back and relive it! Recap here.
• Use early mornings as a time to exercise, and plan it in advance -- not as much as I would have liked, because I ended up getting pretty sick this month, but I kind of got into a rhythm with this
• Plan a day trip somewhere we've never been for one of the weekends when we're both in town (one of my Summer 2017 goals) -- Grace ended up being out of town WAY more than expected this month, so I didn't go anywhere with her. I planned a day trip to Newport Beach with my friend Tina that I ended up having to cancel because I got sick :( So, illness thwarted some of my goals this month, but I am giving myself grace on that!

And now, my August goals:

• Simplify and prepare my work/home/heart for ALASKA!
• Match quiet nights to read, journal, and rest with early mornings to exercise (on nights that I stay in, I wake up early the next day!)
• Leave my job, and my replacement hire, equipped and with a clean slate
• Set up my new phone to sync with my car bluetooth, transfer notes and photos, and set up my email (this could probably take some people an afternoon . . . but these things are challenging for me so it has to be a monthly goal, haha!)
• Host Grace's sweet parents for a week in LA
• Spend at least a few minutes of each day in silence (inspired by this article I read recently)

Happy first day of August, friends! All of my monthly goal blog posts can be found here.