Well, I know February is a short month… but my goodness was it a full one! Here’s a recap and a look at what I’ll be focusing on in March…

February Monthly Goals:
*FINISH MY HALF MARATHON!!!!: YES YES YES! Sometimes I still can’t believe this happened. And I smile every time I hear my son pretending he is back at the race ringing his World Vision cow bell and saying “go mommy go mommy”
*Finish World Vision Fundraising: YES! I was so excited to hit my stretch goal of bringing water to 40 people. I know it might sound corny, but I cried with gratitude at every donation and am in awe of the lives that will change thanks to the work we did on this together.
*Finish filing taxes and steward our tax cut well: Yes! We did this early in the month and used part of the return to open a long overdue high yield savings account. It’s a modest start, BUT… it’s a start and progress is progress. We used the rest to fix things– things around the house, car expenses, my contact prescription… all those fun #adulting things.
*Valentine’s Date: This was so much FUN! It started as a group date with my MOPS group and ended with a giant red velvet themed milkshake.
*Plant Spring Garden: Well… we planted it… past the date that we usually have freezes… but then it got so cold that the Phoenix area got SNOW so… we’ll see if any of the seeds come up or if we’ll have to wait for a fall garden.
*Re-set office: This… did not happen. And I hate that it didn’t happen because this room STRESSES ME OUT like crazy but it just seems like such a big task and it is so close to the kids’ room so if anything gets loud they wake up and I just keep putting it off… maybe next month?
*Prepare Spring Directing Projects: Yes… I mean… its an ever ongoing process while the projects go through rehearsals and until they open, but I did a whole lot of casting, cutting, preparing, researching, and schedule juggling this month so I feel like I’m in a good place with both of these!
*Bulk meal prep: A good start! We’ve got homemade frozen burritos for days and some homemade pasta sauce ready to go, but I still have a few more meals to prep this weekend to make March go as smoothly as possible.

February Weekly Goals:
*Mask Mondays: This absolutely did not happen even a single week… I’m not really surprised that the self care goals are still the first to go on the chopping block. Will try to refocus on this in late spring.
*Screen Free Day: Well… at least screen free evenings? Moving in the right direction so still calling this a win.
*Family Fun: Yes Yes Yes! This is truly one of my most fruitful goals so far this year. It has changed the way I’m looking at what kind of mom I want to be and where I need to stop being so serious or where my perfectionism still reigns supreme.
*Project Life Catch Up: Some weeks this worked, some weeks not so much. I’m still behind, but not as behind as I was so… progress.
*World Vision Thank Yous: YES! What a privilege to get to thank so many generous donors to my fundraising and to celebrate the difference they made.
*Budget Check In/Meal Plans: Yes. We had some unexpected expenses come up but thanks to all the budgeting we’ve been doing we were bummed out by them but not panicked by them and that is a huge win. Next month the meal planning is going to be extra important since I’ll be like ships passing in the night with my husband between his job and my job.

February Daily Goals:
*Caffeine Curfew: This happened most days. Tragically it did not help my sleep as much as I’d hoped. It did help my coffee budget.
*Morning Routine: Getting back in the swing of this but seriously just have to give up on it happening on the weekends.
*Evening Routine: Almost half the time this worked? But not sure how I want to adjust this when I’m going to need to crash as soon as I get home from rehearsals next month.
*READ: My only daily goals that truly happened every single day. I read so much this month and it was WONDERFUL. 
*Spread Love: It happened most days and it was fun to look for diverse ways to implement this goal.
*10k Steps: Well… aside from the week and a half after race day this went pretty well. Adjusting to life where I want to stay active but don’t want to be running as much as I was during training.

March Monthly Goals:
*Create a Cultivated Calendar through Summer: I can’t believe it is already time to start planning our May celebrations and summer vacations! Don’t want to be caught off guard for our favorite time of year so want to put some forethought and planning in this month.
*Place two finance books on hold at the library: In my ongoing goal of becoming more informed financially I want to read a few books on the subject… does anyone have recommendations of books geared toward low income families who are already really good at living frugally? Or is that book just a tweet that says “you shouldn’t have gotten a degree in Shakespeare…”
*Find peace in the wait, embrace this season: There are a lot of things up in the air right now. We don’t know where the kids are going to school next year (or if in the cast of my daughter), what my schedule might look like, etc. and I’m trying to just embrace my word of the year and enjoy the present without fretting too much about the future and what the fall will look like. (So hard for a personality addicted to plans!)
*SPRING CLEANING: ‘Tis the season. The weather isn’t grossly hot and I feel like all the work I did last year has somehow come undone and I need to simplify and organize all over again. Hopefully I’ll have the energy to work on this little by little.
*Direct As You Like It! Be prepared and present: I am getting so excited to start rehearsals and be back to doing this thing that I love. Hoping to have a blog post all about As You Like It coming up next week or the week after.

March Weekly Goals:
*OPT OUTSIDE: When I was doing my prep for this week I wrote that I was nervous that I would be so tired from all the things going on this month that I would miss spring- this is seriously the best month to be in Phoenix! So I’m hoping for a once a week minimum of outdoor activity and adventure. Hiking, zoo trips, park time, etc.
*Family Fridays/Screen Free Time: Even more important since I’ll be gone Sunday through Thursday nights. I have a feeling this might be combined with the opt outside item…
*Recreation that fuels my art: When I am working on a creative project, I need to refuel in creative ways. Whether that be setting aside time to read a book I love, working on writing, creating in a different art form, or going to see a show or an art piece etc. etc. Essentially an artist’s date.
*Long Run/Yoga x2: I want to get in 1-2 runs a week, but I’m ok if one of those runs is just a mile or so as long as the other is longer. I also want to keep my yoga practice up a few times a week even during this busy season.

March Daily Goals:
*Fue; My Body/No Eating Out: I am usually very good at meal prepping and not eating out… until I’m directing. And then I get really hungry by the end of rehearsal and a late night stop to get a soda or a shake or something equally bad for me is suddenly SO TEMPTING. But it’s not in the budget and its not a long term healthy strategy to maintain energy so… my goal is to avoid this temptation! (This was easier when I was co-directing with my husband as we sort of held each other accountable… most of the time…)
*Hydrate: It’s funny how as soon as this wasn’t on my tending list I stopped paying attention and started drinking wayyyy less water. So back on it goes. I guess it’s not quite an automatic habit yet. (speaking of automatic habits… my friend and fellow blogger Owen has some really interesting stuff to say about that…)
*Lenten Letters: My best, most transformative Lent I ever had, I felt called to write a letter a day to people- filled with gratitude and telling them ways they shaped my life and influenced me. I’ve thought about that lent a lot but it isn’t until now, a decade later, that I feel called to do it again. I’m a little nervous because this took a TON of time last time… but I know it will be fruitful if I persist in this practice. Ash Wednesday is March 6th so this won’t start until about a week into the month and it will continue through April. The weird thing is… I’m not sure if I’ll be sending all the letters out this time… it feels a little different than the first time I did it. I’ll keep you posted in May on how it all turned out.
*Morning Routine: One day this will feel automatic too… until then… I’ll be happy if I can consistently check this off five days a week.
*Laugh with the Kids: MORE FUN! NOW is the time to start make memories. These ages are precious and I want to enjoy them.
*10K Steps: Still so tricky now that I’m not training 4 days a week! But want to keep active now so when I’m trapped inside my little house this summer I don’t have an insurmountable challenge to hit even close to this…

I put a BUNCH of stickers all over the rest of my March tending list to keep me from adding on additional goals because I know rehearsals and family time get to reign supreme this month. I’m trying to remind myself that it’s OK if I make imperfect progress on the stuff I already have down and I definitely don’t need any more than that, that it’s OK if I don’t even touch a few of the things on the list- these are goals, not requirements. Anyone else need that reminder during busy seasons? Don’t burn out, friends. Take care of yourselves.