April 2021 Goals + March Recap

It’s halfway through the month and I’m just now blogging my goals… whoops! The good news is that I’ve had them written down in my journal since the last day of March. But I do like to document them here as well, and now I’m finally getting a chance.

I always get a bit of high this time of year. I am a spring and summer girl through and through, and every single April/May it feels better than I remembered it would. I majorly get the winter blues, and I just feel like myself again in the springtime.

Here’s how I did in March:

• Map out my ideal day/week and try to base my daily schedule around that as much as possible (yes and this is changing my life! I want to blog about it in detail soon)

• Personal writing project (progress, but not perfect)

• Reorganize and spring clean the guest room/my office (sort of…. I feel like I got it clean during March but then ended the month with it messy again! I’ve been working on a lot of projects, so it’s kind of an ever-evolving workspace right now)

• Replace our smoke detectors (yes!)

• Go to the beach (yes, so beautiful!)

• Make a Spring bucket list (yes—I posted it on Instagram)

And here is what I’ve been working on in April:

• More of my personal writing project

• Cut my hair

• Repaint our front door

• Do some at-home yoga

• Celebrate Easter (done, it was very special this year!)

• Pick loquats in my neighborhood and make a crumble (I did this last year and am excited to do it again)

• Celebrate Willie’s birthday

I hope you’re having a lovely month of April, whether it’s spring or autumn for you!

March 2021 Goals + February Recap

I can’t believe February is already almost over. Grace and I have said this on our last couple of podcast episodes, but I think February 2021 has been one of our busiest months EVER. Both of us, for different reasons. In such a short month, we packed in a ton of work and exciting growth, but I’m kind of ready to say goodbye to this very hectic month. And I’m SO excited that March will mean all of the new beginnings of Spring!

I’m happy to say that I did well on my February goals! Here’s a recap:

• Don’t check email or social media for the first hour of every day - not 100% of the time, but most of the time and it made the biggest difference in my day! I can’t believe I didn’t start doing this sooner.

• Enjoy a quarantine Valentine’s Day - yes, sweet and simple. We were honestly too busy to do that much, but that’s okay because it’s all for really good reasons.

• Support Grace through the release of her EP - I think so! Grace says yes :) I’m so, so proud. Over half a million streams now and it hasn’t even been out for a month yet!

• Drive to see snow and the ocean at some point this month - no. There is no way this could have happened. I barely had time to eat 3 meals a day, haha.

• Tweet a few times - yes! Follow me on Twitter here.

• Create a linktree so I can better share my podcast, blog, TikTok, etc. all at once - yes, link here!

And now for my March goals (trying to keep it simpler in hopes that this next month is not as busy as February):

• Map out my ideal day/week and try to base my daily schedule around that as much as possible

• Personal writing project

• Reorganize and spring clean the guest room/my office

• Replace our smoke detectors

• Go to the beach

• Make a Spring bucket list

Have a beautiful month!

February 2021 Goals

Happy February! This year has been off to a busy, exciting start over here at the Baldridge house, and I’m really looking forward to this next short month. It’s the time of year where it drops below 50 degrees in LA and occasionally rains, so it’s perfect for hunkering down and getting some hard work done.

I’m excited for a bunch of different things coming up this month. I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day, ever since I was a kid. I’m going to try to come up with some fun things we can do while we’re staying home because of Covid. This month Grace is also releasing her EP, Preacher’s Kid, and we are going to stream a live release show from our house on February 5.

Since this is the last guaranteed snowy month in the Southern California mountains, I’m hopeful that we will be able to drive up for the day and see some snow, which has been a tradition of ours for the past couple of years.

And I’m also happy that this is the last full month of winter! I don’t think it is any secret that the shorter days really get me down - and I’m not a fan of cold weather. The sunshine and warmer temperatures are a huge reason I moved to California after spending most of my life on the other side of the country. Springtime in LA is such a beautiful, happy time, full of blooming jacaranda trees and balmy breezes. And February means we’re getting closer to that!

Here are my goals for this month:

• Don’t check email or social media for the first hour of every day (for so long I have basically said this is impossible - and told myself I need to check my email when I wake up to make sure there’s not anything urgent, and who cares if I get caught up on Instagram for a few minutes while drinking my morning coffee. But I’m finally REALLY going to make this happen. I’ve done it for the last 2 mornings of January and absolutely loved the difference it made in my whole day! And the world did not fall apart just because I took an hour before checking my email!)

• Enjoy a quarantine Valentine’s Day

• Support Grace through the release of her EP

• Drive to see snow and the ocean at some point this month

• Tweet a few times (a goal of mine for 2021 was to start a Twitter for various reasons. I made one, but I’ve only tweeted a couple of times, so I’m going to work on that slowly but surely)

• Create a linktree so I can better share my podcast, blog, TikTok, etc. all at once!

I hope you have a beautiful start to the month. Here’s to brighter days ahead!

May Goals

Happy May! When quarantine started, it was cold and rainy in LA. Even though there are still hard days and a lot of uncertainty, the weather being so gorgeous lately has made a huge difference in my mood. Last night Grace and I sat outside for a “happy hour” in our yard (pictured above) and I said to Grace what a change I felt just sitting outside in the sunshine and taking a minute to breathe. I’m going to try to remember to keep doing that. I even want to lay out in a bathing suit in our yard at some point and get a little bit of a tan (with sunscreen obviously).

I’ve been keeping my monthly goals really simple during quarantine. Last month I even feel like I had too many, and I didn’t check off two of them. Here’s how I did:

• Make pasta from scratch—yes! It was so yummy and way easier than expected

• FaceTime my grandmother (she doesn’t have an iPhone and this has to be prearranged, which is why it’s a goal and not just simply picking up the phone)—yes! So sweet to see her

• Bake lemon chess pie—yes, delish

• Start using my FitBit again and try to get 10k steps a day—no, but I’m doing a running challenge in May with Grace and our friend Daron!

• Make a spring bucket list—no, still need to

• Celebrate Easter at home—yes, we had a super sweet Easter here at home :)

Here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in May:

• Reach a big creative milestone I’ve been working toward (sorry this is vague)

• Run 31 miles total during the month in Grace’s and Daron’s running challenge

• Prioritize skincare

• Journal to my future children (that I hope to have) about what’s going on in the world right now so they can read it from my perspective one day

I hope you have a safe and healthy month of May!

April Goals

Doesn’t it feel like today should be the day we hear that the past month has been a huge April fool’s joke? In some ways I’m still processing my day-to-day reality, but believe it or not, I’m looking forward to the month ahead. I try not to have any particular date or timeline in mind for when social distancing will no longer be necessary, so I’m fully on board that April will be our first (possibly of many) full month of self-quarantine.

And yet, there are still neighbors’ flowers to enjoy (see pic above). There are still dogs to snuggle, friends to call, and things to dream about. Grace and I try not to dwell TOO much on “when we get out,” but we do have a plan for what we’re going to do when it’s safe again to leave our neighborhood. I don’t wanna give anything away but we’re pretty excited.

But I’m accepting the fact that it probably won’t happen in the next new months. In the meantime, here are my April goals:

• Make pasta from scratch

• FaceTime my grandmother (she doesn’t have an iPhone and this has to be prearranged, which is why it’s a goal and not just simply picking up the phone)

• Bake lemon chess pie

• Start using my FitBit again and try to get 10k steps a day

• Make a spring bucket list

• Celebrate Easter at home

Each of these things will bring me joy in different ways, and I am excited to make them happen.

Wherever you are during this crazy time, I wish you good health, and a happy month of April!

Goals in the Time of COVID-19

Long time no see, Have Dog Will Drive. I don’t think I’ve ever abandoned my blog for this long before, but I haven’t been myself.

Has anyone?

Ugh. Deep breath. I’m feeling pretty good today, but the last two weeks have been the most surreal of my entire life. Part of what makes them the most surreal is that most other people around me would say the same thing. How often is it that EVERYONE is going through something hard together? Going through a period of grieving and loss is often a solitary process. Now, I think we’re all grieving the loss of what normal life looked like a month ago. It’s powerful and comforting to be going through it with my whole city, state, country, and planet (some of whom started this a bit earlier). But it is also disorienting in a way to be sad and hopeless at times, yet simultaneously feel heartbreak over the fact that others have it so much harder.

Grace and I have certainly felt overwhelming gratitude for so many things in the past couple of weeks that we’ve been in self-isolation to protect ourselves and others from the spread of this horrible virus. But I’ve also cried, worried endlessly on the phone to loved ones, and in the first few days of reality setting in, found myself shivering uncontrollably by the end of each day.

Two weeks in, I’m adjusting. I don’t want to call it a “new normal,” even though in many ways the daily life I took as “normal” is now over. Possibly forever, in some respects. You also won’t find me ever referring to this as the “apocalypse” or the “end of the world.” I don’t think those things are true or worth catastrophizing about, but it is a scary time.

At the end of February, I set a few goals for the month of March. I had every intention of blogging them. Then my mom and sister came to California and we took a girls’ trip to Paso Robles. The day after they left, Grace and I started quarantining. I don’t even remember what those goals were at this point, and I don’t think many of them are still applicable to my life.

But believe it or not, I still think setting some goals is worth doing. Actually, they might be the thing that keeps me level-headed and grounded during this time. March feels out-the-window, but I’ll be back in a few days to blog my goals for April. In the meantime, here are a few overarching things I want to keep in mind as goals during this quarantine:

• Keep blogging. More than usual!

• Keep the house our happy little nest, our sanctuary, as much as possible. There’s never been a better time to be into homemaking.

• Once the dust is feeling like it’s settling and I’m “used” to life in quarantine, return to creative pursuits. Other than this little blog post, I’m not quite there yet, but I look forward to having more time, eventually.

• Write down how I’m feeling often.

• Pray for the people most affected.

I think this is going to be a season of simple, humble, goals, and I think that’s a good thing. I’ll never call this virus a “blessing in disguise” or act like it’s not as terrifying as it is. But I will keep going in every way I can, and keep laughing and finding joy in each day.

If you need to talk to someone during this time, you can always contact me through this blog or on Instagram.

Sending love & wishes for good health.

Hello 2020 + January Goals

Happy New Year!!

I, for one, love New Year’s Eve (which is when I’m writing this) and New Year’s Day so much. I am a big fan of anything that brings extra light and celebration on dark winter days, and New Year’s is a mental clean slate that can bring so much positive change.

I have been setting New Year’s goals for the past few years, and I shared my 2019 and 2018 year-long goals on the blog.

I generally set year-long goals in the major areas of my life . . . health, family/marriage, faith, creativity, community, career, etc. But for this coming year I have felt very strongly that I should set ONE specific, big goal for 2020. Everything else will follow. I am thankful that at 28, I feel confident that I know what I need to do to cultivate life and growth in the general areas of my life. I know what my body needs and how to treat it well (even if I don’t always do those things). I know that it takes work to cultivate rich friendships. I know what makes me feel rested and filled up—and what doesn’t. I think for the past few years I have been setting goals to find a new or creative “life hack” to jump start change in my life. But I already know what I need to do. I know that if I’m consistent in setting good habits and boundaries, I’ll see positive results. I also can say that at the end of 2019 I feel the most content in the key areas of my life than I have ever felt going into a new year.

So for that reason, I’m only setting one goal for 2020. And I realize this is an annoying thing to write about and then not share, but it’s not something I am ready to share publicly. No, I’m not trying to get pregnant if anyone’s mind was jumping to that :) But this goal is just a bit personal right now for the internet. And so exciting! If all goes well, I think I’ll be ready to share more about it in about a year from now. I will say that it falls generally under the category of creativity.

Of course, I am still going to set monthly goals this year like always. Here are my January 2020 goals:

• Un-decorate from Christmas and start the year with a clean slate as far as the house goes

• Get a haircut. It’s been over a year. Yep!! I hardly ever cut my hair but I think going more than a year is a first

• Plan a trip to Portland to visit my best friend

• Progress on my main 2020 goal

I hope you have a very happy start to the New Year, and thank you for reading! Xoxo

December 2019 Goals + November Progress

Happy December! I am currently sitting by my twinkling Christmas tree, with a doggie curled up beside me, feeling so grateful to be in our house finally spending some time blogging. I only blogged once in November and I’m sad about it :( I don’t even really have a good reason why I got so out of the groove . . . it just wasn’t happening for whatever reason. But I never miss a monthly goals post, so here I am on December 1!

Grace and I had a wonderful first Thanksgiving together in North Carolina last week. Being home was so full of the good stuff. My mom also got to meet Grace’s grandmother, which was really special. All in all just a perfect visit. Too short!

I made progress on a few of my November goals and also left a few uncompleted. That’s okay. Here’s how I did:

• Cook and bake for people I love all month long—yes, definitely! I made all kinds of good things, most especially homemade cinnamon rolls that I cannot wait to make again at Christmas.

• Get our Christmas cards stamped, addressed, and ready to send out—I’ve gotten a bunch done but still have some to do. That’s okay because it’s going to be even sweeter writing them while curled up beside the Christmas tree!

• Enjoy the last of our Fall bucket list—yes! Making our Winter one is on my December goals list.

• Order my 2020 planner—yep! So pretty. I got one from Rifle Paper this year.

• Get flu shots with Grace—halfway. I got a flu shot, Grace did not because she was traveling and I just needed to get it done while she was gone. At least half of the household is immunized.

• Get organized for 2020 health insurance—no, didn’t happen (mostly because Grace and I were either apart or away from home the majority of the month, and I needed to sit down with her to do it. Will happen the first half of December).

• Take a social media break 2 days a week (putting this here to actually hold myself accountable)—I did this some weeks, but not every week. This might sound cheesy, but the main reason I fell off the wagon on this is because Grace was out of town for a big part of the month and I missed her and wanted to watch her IG stories so I could follow along with what she was up to while traveling. I feel like that’s okay though because that’s social media at its best! Being able to keep up with loved ones who are far away :)

And here are my December goals! Hoping to finish the year well!

• Sign up for 2020 health insurance for both of us

• Make our Winter bucket list

• Start on a personal writing project

• Observe Advent

• Be cozy, soak in the season, and rest

Wishing you a wonderful start to the month, and if you celebrate Christmas, a very happy beginning of the Christmas season! We decorated the house this weekend and it’s bringing me so much joy!

November 2019 Goals + October Progress

Happy November! The photo above is of a cheese plate I made for our Halloween movie last night which got absolutely demolished! Yay friends, movies, cheese plates, and Fall. Hoping for more of that in the coming month.

But most of all, I am really hoping to slow down in November. October was packed for me, and for Grace and I together as a little family. I think life has just been making me feel a little tender lately. There’s less light in each day (literally—don’t take that in an emo way, haha), I’ve been stressed out, our dog Willie’s health issues are sometimes really hard to manage, and I’ve just been feeling overwhelmed. I really, really want to prioritize rest, my mental health, my marriage, and simplicity this coming month.

I think I can make that happen but definitely need to work for it, which is okay! We also have some travel and events coming up this month, including a friend’s birthday in Palm Springs for me, Grace traveling for work, us celebrating Grace’s birthday, and we’re both going to North Carolina for a week over Thanksgiving. It will actually be our first Thanksgiving we’ve ever spent together believe it or not, which I am so excited for.

Okay, goals! Here’s how I did on my October goals:

• Book tickets home for Thanksgiving for Grace and me—yes! At great expense but worth it!

• Stick to our budget—mostly! See above re expensive Thanksgiving airfare, haha

• Design our Christmas cards for this year—yes and I cannot wait to send them out

• Change the oil in my car—yes!

• Make homemade veggie broth—yes and I might do a blog post on it since I got so many questions on IG! I can’t wait to make another batch.

And here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish in November:

• Cook and bake for people I love all month long

• Get our Christmas cards stamped, addressed, and ready to send out

• Enjoy the last of our Fall bucket list

• Order my 2020 planner

• Get flu shots with Grace

• Get organized for 2020 health insurance

• Take a social media break 2 days a week (putting this here to actually hold myself accountable)

I hope you have a sweet month full of lots to be thankful for!

October 2019 Goals + September Recap

October is flying by already! We had friends visiting for the first week of October, so I feel like I’m just getting into the swing of this new month. I’m really trying to embrace the first full month of Fall (which hasn’t always been my favorite season) and it’s been a sweet one so far!

I’ve crossed a lot of things off my seasonal bucket list already, and I’m excited to do more this month and next. A couple of my goals for this month are based on items from there.

Here’s how I did in September:

• Make my Fall bucket list—yep!

• Get Halloween costumes for Bean and myself. So excited for our matching costume!—yes!! I think it’s going to be so cute!

• Install updates on my computer—yes

• Update my voter registration—yes

• Get back into blogging and my usual routines—I think so.

• Enjoy a much-anticipated trip to San Francisco—YES! SO fun.

• Local hikes and/or yoga at home a few times a week—could have done better on this.

Considering we spent the first couple of weeks of September in Europe, I think this was a pretty successful month as far as goals go :)

Here’s how my October looks:

• Book tickets home for Thanksgiving for Grace and me (this will be our first Thanksgiving spent together!)

• Stick to our budget

• Design our Christmas cards for this year

• Change the oil in my car

• Make homemade veggie broth

I feel a little bit behind, but I wrote a reminder at the top of my paper goals list this month that There Is Still Plenty Of Time. There really is!

Hope you’re having a beautiful October so far!