May always flies by because it is such a busy month, but it seemed to go extra fast this year!! Given how packed everything was, I’m pretty happy with how I kept up with my tending list goals overall and looking forward to what next month might bring…
May Monthly Goals:
*Re-visit Financial Goal Guide and Fruitful Friendship Guide: YES! It was so helpful to visit the Finance Goal Guide . We hadn’t looked back at it for almost a year and we’ve made more progress than I realized in that time. It’s hard to see that progress because we still have so far to go and it is insanely frustrating at time, and it feels like there are always unexpected setbacks. But we have made real progress. If you are a Powersheets user that wants some extra focus in one or a few specific areas (like Friendship or Wellness, or even not yet a full Powersheets user and you just want to focus on one thing instead of doing the full, holistic prep work and goal setting)- their goal guides are now digital downloads and super helpful and easy to use. You can check them all out HERE.
*Run the Global 6k/ Penseive 10k: YES! I actually ended up running the 10k at the very end of April so that was checked off pretty early and I did the 6k on the day everyone else on my team did it even though I as NOT feeling like it after some major dental work the day before. I’m glad I pushed through and made it happen though and I’m glad for all the runs I got to have outside before the heat really set in… it is now officially treadmill season… booooooo… but the road running was nice while it lasted!
*Begin to re-set the house/set donations or “to sell” items aside: Yes! Even got a box of stuff donated to my MOPS group before the end of the year and we have a bunch of bulk trash waiting to be picked up as well.
*Prepare for new Summer Routines: Yes! Well… at least through the end of July…. We have a good idea of what our routine will include and which weeks will be a little different or include special trips and I have a good idea of how we are going to (hopefully) keep from going stir crazy (It largely revolves around MOPS playdates, library and pool time, and building off of the themes my son has for summer school each week…)
*CELEBRATE ALL THE THINGS!: YES YES YES! Parties and special treats and graduations OH MY! I won’t lie, there were a few moments that it felt overwhelming and like if we had to make one more card or plan one more thing I’d just need to cancel the rest of the month… but those were truly rare and overall it was a month of embracing my word for the year and remaining PRESENT in each moment as it came, and in enjoying all these wonderful things and people and landmarks that we celebrated all month long.
*Content Plan/Brainstorm: Yes! I don’t have them all written yet, but I do have my weekly content ready through my annual July break and I have a few reposts to highlight during my break- more on that when we get to the end of June.
May Weekly Goals:
*Budget Check In/Family Meeting: Missed one week of this… and for the sake of transparency I will just confess that we ALWAYS struggle with sticking to the budget in the summer, especially starting off with our crazy May. But instead of ignoring this or running from it we are trying to creatively adjust and accept that one or two mess ups doesn’t mean we throw the whole budget out!
*Photo Routine: I’ve done great with my scrapbook pages each week and with backing up my photos… less great with deleting unwanted pictures at the end of the day and actually organizing each week as I back up photos… still a much better handle on things than a few months ago.
*Write the Word Wednesday: This was great and such a nice quiet/re-set routine. Plan to keep this up next month.
*Keep the Sabbath: Overall yes! We’ve been going to mass Saturday evenings instead of Sunday mornings and that really works for us when neither of us are doing shows. It makes Sunday morning much less stressful and allows us to focus on rest, family time, and not debating which mass to try to attend without a kid having a meltdown…
*Phone Dates: I tried! A lot of messages left. I’m not the only one running around like a crazy person.
*Family Friday/Spontaneous JOY: Overall yes. The first Friday of the month I had substantial dental work/was totally out of it so that was an exception, and sometimes the family time was very unremarkable (Like watching Coco on Netflix) but the kids love it anyway and that makes me crazy happy.
May Daily Goals:
*10K Steps/Hydrate: This happened over half the time. Which is an improvement from last month… but I think the really unexpectedly nice weather helped out… still not totally sure how to make this step count when we’re trapped in our house most of the summer but trying to stay motivated anyway!
*Reasonable Caffeine Intake: Much better! A few days I went a little overboard, but overall I’m back down to 1-2 cups a day. Hooray!
*Morning Routine/Evening routine: Was not great about this… but making progress on my evening routine at least…
*Random Acts of Kindness: YES YES YES! Not every day, but many days and it made me feel really good about starting a new year of life. People are busy and tired and sometimes it feels like the little things don’t even get noticed, but I believe they do or that they helped nudge someone’s day in the right direction. (and occasionally I could even do bigger things or get my kids in on the kindness and that was even better!)
Now on to June… My son will be transitioning from being at school three days a week to two, shorter days a week and I am planning to use the hotter weather and different schedule as a chance to slow down and re-set!
June Monthly Goals:
* Summer Bucket List- Create and Start: There was an article going around a few years ago about how you only get 18 summers with each of your kids…and I think about it ALL THE TIME! I want to make my 18 summers count, and my son is at the magical age where he is old enough to come up with his own ideas and explore on his own, but still thinks his family is the coolest and wants to be with them all the time. I can’t wait to brainstorm with him on what kind of fun stuff we should do together this summer and to get started doing those things!
*Work on next theatre projects: I’m teaching a workshop later this summer and I’m also in the process of writing a new show and I’m excited to prep for and work on both of those endeavors!
*MOPS leadership work: I’ve joined the steering team of my MOPS group for next year and I’m really excited about it. We have a retreat this month and I have been brainstorming a bunch of ideas for the coming year but I’m looking forward to getting started and getting a little more focused with my brainstorming!
*Explore Money Saving Options: Summer is our most expensive time. It starts with the “MAY”hem of all those May celebrations and then continues through August or September with high air conditioning bills and back to school costs, so I want to be productive about finally doing things like calling our internet company to check for a lower rate (or possibly switching), trying to sell a few things, etc.
*Read 4 Books: I got a gift card to HULU for my birthday and it has been AMAZING… but has also taken up a lot of time I used to spend reading… so I figure this goal will help me maintain a good balance. Plus, looking forward to some beach reading!
*Prepare for and ENJOY family vacation!: Speaking of beach reading… our family trip to the beach is in June this year instead of July and I am SO excited for it. I want to be sure I prepare well so I can enjoy it to the fullest.
June Weekly Goals:
*Write the Word Wednesday: I’m loving this— I am about to actually finish a Write the Word journal and I’m excited. (I would have finished a while ago, but I started writing in three different ones so that meant less progress on my original volume.) If you want to read more about how I use the Write the Word journals, you can read about my Coffee and Jesus time HERE.
A highlight of May was getting to see my bestie… we are usually really terrible at getting pictures together so I made sure it happened this time. Hooray for long lasting friendships!
*Sow Seeds for Fruitful Friendships: I was totally inspired by re-reading the Fruitful Friendship Guide (now re-named the Community Goal Guide) this past month and I want to take little steps each week to strengthen current friendships and build new ones.
*Family Movie Night: This is one of my FAVORITE family traditions- once a week in the summers (usually Fridays, but not always, depending on our schedules that week) we watch a movie all together with popcorn and, if I’m extra on top of it, a special treat related to the movie. These memories are so much fun and so relaxing and really helps us establish a different rhythm than we would have during the school year.
*Water Play: Summer water play is a pretty much a necessity here in Phoenix, but once a week, I want to promise myself I will get in on the action. So not just helping the kids do swim stuff but cannonballing into the pool… not just setting up the water table but letting them throw some of those nerf super soaker balls at me… not just starting the sprinklers but surprising them by running through it fully clothed, etc. Water play. Emphasis on PLAY.
*Photo Routine: I’m still totally missing my daily photo purge goal but if I at least keep the weekly one on the tending list I know I’m not getting insanely behind… for the most part…
*Budget Check In/Family Meeting: I’m thinking I’ll take this off the tending list next month because it really does feel like habit at this point, but since it’s a transitioning kind of month I’ll keep it on for now…
June Daily Goals:
I’m simplifying my daily goals a bit to REALLY focus on getting these routines down…
*Hydrate: It’s finally getting hot after an unseasonably gorgeous May… and I need to be drinking more water and less cold brew! I need to start back up on Plant Nanny because I’ve let my last plant die about three months ago and never checked back on this app again… time for some accountability!
*Morning Routine: I’ve slightly changed the components of my morning routine to fit with our new summer schedule, and I’m looking forward to implementing it.
*Evening Routine: I think I need to start doing this BEFORE hubby and I watch any TV because I just lose alllll motivation after that…
*Sleep Hygiene: My step count has gotten SO much better over the past year, but my sleep amount has somehow decreased… and it wasn’t great to start with. Given how important sleep is for health (and for my personal sanity) I am re-commiting to facing this as a priority as opposed to just trying half measures as I have in the past. So…. no sleeping with my phone in my room, no afternoon caffeine, no screens for the last 40 minutes before bed… any other suggestions? I know sleeping in a cold environment is supposed to help but our a/c bill is already about to skyrocket so I don’t think I’m going to keep things that chilly… but I’d love to hear other suggestions or routines that have worked to improve your sleep!
Alphabet Resolutions 