July Goals

3 July 2014

Contrary to appearances, I have not abandoned my blog. I got back after midnight last night from eight days of traveling, and though I had hopes to continue my California posts while on the road, it just didn’t happen. And that’s okay! Carmel and Monterey will be up next (and there will be photos and text when I finally get my act together – ha!), but in the meantime, let’s talk monthly goals!

peaches

Boxes of peaches at Kalawi Farms in Eagle Springs!

First, a little note about the fact that it’s July. Like many other people, I have the tendency to say the following or similar:
Where has the time gone?!
This year is flying by!
This year is almost over!
The summer’s basically over, and before we know it, it will be fall!

I’ve recently decided that phrases like these can not only become self-fulfilling prophecies, but they can feed into the manic tendency of our culture, normalizing the urge to always be on to the next thing. It’s July 1 – summer is NOT almost over. I’m trying to cut these phrases out of my conversation as a mini rebellion, and am interested to hear what you think :)

June goal recap:
Install a rain barrel (Still not done… our house budget is recovering. Adding it to July!)
Finish taking house photos and post tour (Photos are 75% done? Hoping to post in July.)
Finally buy Cuyana bag Yes!! Observant readers spotted it in this photo.
Hang new mirror in our powder room (Mirror purchased – yet to be hung.)
Finish preparing for and co-host a baby shower and a few other very fun events Yes! So much fun.
Pay off our second car loan and celebrate becoming debt free aside from our mortgage! Hooray!
Set a date for our Blacksburg adventure (I have an email in my inbox waiting for a response – underway!)

July goals:
— Install a rain barrel
— Finish taking house photos and post tour
— Finalize and print last third of household maintenance doc
— Clean out our “art storage room” – hang everything we like and organize/donate/sell/get rid of the rest
— Pick blueberries
— Celebrate John’s birthday!

Keeping things simple to hopefully have a 100% success rate! If you’ve posted your monthly goals, I’d love to take a peek.

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July 3, 2014 7:22 am

I’m so pleased I’m one of your ‘observant readers’ ;)
And I am in TOTAL agreement with you on your first point. I’m very much guilty of this myself; mindfulness and living in the moment is something I’m working on. The other week (June 25th), I said to a colleague “It’s only 6 months till Christmas”… yes, a crazy statement to make (*shakes own head*).
Thank you for the ‘enjoy today’ reminder xo

July 3, 2014 9:36 am

i’m so happy you wrote that! i’m a teacher and i start to feel anxiety about summer being over before the last day of school. and i hate feeling that way! so thank you so much for this fresh, healthy, perspective! enjoy your summer!

July 3, 2014 1:25 pm

Love monthly goal posts! I totally agree with you about phrases we say too much. I definitely need to take some of those out of my vocabulary and just enjoy it all. Can’t wait to see your house tour!! Happy July 4th!

Rob
July 3, 2014 8:52 pm

I agree: using those phrases just encourages thinking that time is dissipating and you’re getting nothing out of it. But if you’re really living all those moments, then you ARE getting something out of them, and you appreciate each one for what it has contributed, and you acknowledge it as it goes by, without regret.

July 8, 2014 1:09 pm

Love love love your first comments about the tendency to feed our crazy culture with those common phrases. Tucking away those thoughts and holding onto them, embracing July for what it is. Thank you for that! What wonderful perspective.

Mattye W
July 10, 2014 1:26 am

I couldn’t agree more about time phrases! I also do my best to rid my conversation of them. To me, it just puts the emphasis on time itself rather than all the wonderful things to appreciate and experience in each moment of time. Not to mention, the Bible tells us our lives are but a vapor and not to worry about tomorrow, so here is to accepting that truth and focusing on the present!

mary ann
July 16, 2014 2:44 pm

I really enjoy your blog. I love that you have monthly goals, there is something powerful about writing down your goals. Thank you for sharing.

July 18, 2014 11:01 am

[…] as inspired by Em Is For Marvelous, I jotted down some goals for July and August. For the rest of this month, I want […]