OOOF… March… was a rough month. You know the phrase “In like a lion out like a lamb”? Weather wise it was perfect lamb like pastoral paradise all month long, but event wise it felt like a lion all month long…. or maybe in like a lion out like a velociraptor… but let’s recap anyway.
March Monthly Goals:
*Create a Cultivated Calendar through Summer: Made good progress on this, but there are still a few decisions up in the air for now. Glad all that is at the front of our minds now and that we’ve started to prepare!
*Place two finance books on hold at the library: placed two on hold… almost through the first one. The second one there’s quite a wait time.
*Find peace in the wait, embrace this season: This was so so hard and some days were better than others when it came to this. I’m going to try to live even more in the present next month because there was a lot of anxiety about the future during March despite my best efforts.
*SPRING CLEANING: To be continued next month… that’s how little got done on this task this month… #rehearsallife am I right? speaking of…
*Direct As You Like It! Be prepared and present: YES! Aside from some gross illness I’ve bought my best to rehearsal each night and I’m excited for it to open on FRIDAY!
The Desert in bloom… the perfect hiking weather meant getting on the trails no matter how tired I was…
March Weekly Goals:
*OPT OUTSIDE: THIS happened at least! So many hikes with my daughter especially as well as a family zoo trip, some picnics and park time… we enjoyed the weather we were given!
*Family Fridays/Screen Free Time: YES! all that time outside definitely contributed to this. It’s funny because soon it will be summer and we’ll be back to Fridays as Family Movie Nights instead of screen free times…but that just means we’ll have to pick a different day for this tradition because I really love how its helped me connect with my kids.
*Recreation that fuels my art: Hit and miss on this. Started out strong but by the end of the month I just wanted to rest as much as possible and feel better so I could get through the rest of rehearsals! More artist dates in the future for sure though…
*Long Run/Yoga x2: Hit and miss on this as well, based on sickness as well as time. It is a lot harder to get out and run when we get so little family time together during the week. I’m looking forward to getting back to a more regular workout schedule.
March Daily Goals:
*Fuel My Body/No Eating Out: There were some days I slipped, but overall I did a really good job at not eating out or stopping for junk food on the way to or home from rehearsal. The few days I did eat out, most of them were paid for by gift cards or special promo days (thank you PI day and the $3.14 pizza!) etc. but there were a few stress eating moments too. Still, sweet husband pointed out that back when we directed Midsummer- before we had kids to get home to each night- the two of us would stop for sodas or fast food or ice cream almost every other night. So VAST improvements with bringing snacks with me to rehearsal and having those easy to grab dinners ready ahead of time!
*Hydrate: I mean… can we count coffee? Because if so I did a great job with this…
*Lenten Letters: Started strong, fell off the wagon, hoping to end strong once As You Like It Opens. The days I did this I found really fruitful things to pray about and if I am focusing on grace over guilt as I finish out this season.
*Morning Routine: Better than I thought I’d do considering how exhausted and sick I was parts of this past month… as long as you don’t look at the weekends which I’m just saying don’t count.
*Laugh with the Kids: YES! This was my top priority for the month and in all the exhaustion and chaos at least this happened consistently and this is what I decided was the most important. Sometimes this meant elaborate baking projects and big messes. Sometimes this meant dance parties in the car before my MOPS meeting. Sometimes this meant playing “Gingerbread man” for ten minutes (a game my son invented which is basically tag only “it” is the baker who shapes the gingerbread man before chasing them… he thinks it’s the best and it makes us all laugh so much.)
*10K Steps: aside from the days I got out to hike or run, it was not the best month on the step counter… hopefully April is better!
It was really helpful in the midst of feeling so off-balance and unsure this month to have a goal refresh. I don’t have too many goal changes, but I did combine some in new ways and decide to focus more on a few that hadn’t had much progress yet this year. It’s not to late to set goals and make progress this year!! If the Powersheets sound like a tool that might help you, there are still six month editions available HERE and one of my favorite things that the founder of Cultivate What Matters always says is: THERE’S NOTHING MAGICAL ABOUT JANUARY FIRST! So if you want to embrace progress not perfection and move little by little toward your goals alongside me- this is a great tool! With that in mind, here are my April Goals:
If you want to see these cute sheep in action, come see Brelby’s As You Like It!!
April Monthly Goals:
*Plan May Celebrations: May is my favorite month (but also the month that stresses my poor husband out the most) because it is just packed FULL of celebrations and milestones. Birthdays for myself and so many other family members, anniversary, Mother’s Day, graduations (my son from preschool and my brother from college!), and all that celebrating needs planning and budgeting so that’s going to be a major meeting between my husband and myself once we get a little more time back in our week.
*Solidify Summer Schedule/Plans: This is mostly waiting on figuring out what days my son will be attending activities and when hubby will use vacation days, but I’m hoping we have a good grasp on both by the end of the month and I’m trying to be as proactive as possible about that!
*Spring Clean: Since it didn’t happen last month it’s time to double down on re-setting, simplifying, and all those cleaning projects this month.
*Be present when directing/Share your gifts: Especially important during tech week and then again during my work on the staged reading for The Bridge Initiative at the end of the month! I’m so grateful for these opportunities and I want to bring my best to them.
*Day Date with Hubby: We haven’t solidified this, but originally we wanted a weekend away and the budget and circumstances have changed so that is not happening anymore. We are still trying to get away for some quality time together as an early anniversary celebration since our actual anniversary falls on Mother’s Day this year.
*Try Three New Recipes: My poor Pinterest boards have been sitting there useless for a few months between directing and marathon training. Time to try a few new frugal meals and maybe even a splurge if we do well with our grocery budget the beginning of the month! Or maybe something special for Easter?!
*Decide on stuff to sell/purge: Hoping this goes naturally with the spring cleaning. I won’t lie, a big downside of giving up facebook is how easy it was to sell stuff through groups and marketplaces. Offer Up and Craigslist just doesn’t get the same results.
*Inbox 0: I was really bad with not dealing with this on a daily basis during rehearsals and my productivity and anxiety levels are just so much better when I stay on top of this practice… it will be part of my daily routine once I wrangle the month’s worth of emails I let pile up…
April Weekly Goals:
*Family Friday: I love love love this tradition of being intentional with putting all the other demands aside and just spending time having fun with the kids each week. Even when- and I do feel guilty about this- it seems like an inconvenience with all that needs to get done- that’s usually when we need it the most and I’m SO GLAD I just do it each week.
*Long Run or Trail Run: Not sure how the weather is going to cooperate with me on this, but I have noticed a major change in my attitude from the lack of endorphins last month with such a steep drop after the half marathon training. So I’m looking forward to getting back to more yoga, more exercise in general, and committing to a run that is more than three miles once a week (or else a run with a ton of elevation aka trail running!) I know pretty soon all my miles will have to be on the treadmill because I don’t want to get up at 5AM to get temperatures under 90 degrees!
*Family Check In (Budget/Meal Plan/Kid Stuff): Ready to combine several habits I’ve created and maintained into one family meeting goal. Progress! This is so good for our family and for my relationship with my husband. Highly recommend this practice.
*Photo Routine/Catch Up: I caught up on all my Project Life Pages last month and even ordered pages to complete our 2018 scrapbook. So now I want to keep it up because my photo routine I developed last year kind of fell apart and I haven’t uploaded, sorted, purged, and backed up photos in WAYYYYY too long. Here’s hoping I can catch up in just one month!
The abstract art my son creates when I embrace the mess…
*Embrace a Mess: During my son’s spring break I realized that usually the times when they had the most fun involved me letting go of my anxiety about making messes. Letting flour or powdered sugar fall all over the kitchen during a baking project, letting the ordeal that is my son using paint just happen once in a while (April should be a good month for this- it will be warm enough in the afternoon that I can spray the paint off him outside hahahah) etc. So I want to intentionally embrace making a bit of a mess once a week this next month and see what fun and what trouble we find.
*Keep the Sabbath: This is really hard to do when in rehearsals so I’m excited to get back to some rest and socialization on Sundays instead of church being followed by frantic prep for the week
April Daily Goals: (GOING SUPER EASY ON MYSELF WITH THESE UNTIL AFTER THE FIRST WEEK OF APRIL…)
*Yoga: I am SO ready to get back to #yogaeveryday for both my physical and mental health.
*Hydrate/10k steps: Summer is coming and I know I can do better at hitting my step count than I did last month- especially while the weather is still nice enough for family walks.
*Morning Routine: One day I won’t have to add this to the list because it will be an automatic habit…
*Evening Routine: I don’t know why it’s so hard to start doing this habit regularly… going to keep tweaking the routine until it becomes just a bit easier at least.
*Write the Word: Ready to get back in this habit. I don’t think I’ve touched my journal more than twice since January and it makes such a difference when I get my Coffee and Jesus time!
*Unplug & Smile: Time outside, time playing with my kids with no phone present no matter how cute the pictures might have been, etc. etc. etc.
So that’s the rundown for the month! How is spring treating you? Anyone else feeling uncertainty or restlessness when it comes to goals? Just a reminder that goals don’t have to stay set in stone, it’s ok if they change. And progress doesn’t have to be linear- some months are allowed to be better than others! (Reminder for myself as much as anyone!)
HAPPY APRIL!
Alphabet Resolutions 
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