Turning 30 Goal Check-In: Month 6

Whew!  What a month!  I hope you are enjoying the new site.  I'm absolutely in love with it and so proud of how it turned out.  Blogging is even more fun when the whole site just feels like you.  It feels like home.  Anyway, this post is going to be my update for April for Simple 2016 (since I missed making a Simple April post) as well as my Turning 30 Goal Check-In.

Really Simple April was about not adding anything more to my plate.  I think that busyness can really get in the way of our lives.  We just keep piling on ourselves until we have no time and no energy.  I recently shared an article on my Facebook page about how getting rid of "stuff" gives us breathing room for our relationships and I totally agree.  In April, I continued to de-clutter and last weekend we had our yard sale.  We did REALLY well and now I'm sorting things to go to thredUP, posting a few bigger items that didn't sell online, and getting ready to take the rest to our local community center.  Beyond that, I focused on getting the site up and running and just making sure to keep up at home and to work on my Turning 30 Goals.

Goal #1: Read More

Progress:  Since I wrote last, I finished Some Girls by Jillian Lauren.  I was a bit disappointed in this book.  It was an incredibly interesting read, but I went into it thinking that it was going to be more of a redemption story than it was.  After listening to Lauren on The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, I was able to hear her describe her whole story, which did include that redemption that I was expecting in the book.  I want to read Lauren's book, Everything You Ever Wanted because it chronicles the next chapter in her life.  I also finished Wild and Free by Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan.  It was good, you guys.  You will want to read it.  And I'm so excited that I'll get to hear Hayley speak at the Cultivating Lovely conference on Friday.  Stop by the blog tomorrow for my full review of the book and to find out how you can pre-order and get free goodies when you do!  And I finished reading The Bee-Friendly Garden.  You can find the review for that book here.

I'm currently reading The Virtuous Life of a Christ-Centered Wife for my book club.  I'll admit that I had a visceral reaction to this book being chosen for book club.  I DID NOT want to read it.  I have strong opinions and am incredibly stubborn.  And while it is Biblical, the thought of being submissive is excruciatingly painful for me (still, I need to work on it because it is a command from God).  I really thought that this book would tell me that I needed to quietly uplift my man while I faded into the background.  I'm not done with the book yet, but so far it hasn't asked me to do that.  It is better than I thought and it has opened my heart to some things that I'd been struggling with.  I do think this book would have been better for a weekly small group than our monthly book club, just because it is broken up into lessons that I think would be good for a weekly discussion.  I'm also reading Me Before You by JoJo Moyes for our May book club meeting.  We are planning to go see the movie together when it comes out in June.  Has anyone read the sequel?  I'm wondering if we should read it for book club as well.  And I'm working my way through, Choosing the Simply Luxurious Life, Styled, Steadfast, and Love the Home You Have.

Goal #2: Continue Going to Yoga

Progress:  I'm happy to say that I've been going to yoga class every Monday this week and most Saturday mornings.  I missed the past two weeks due to having a family outing and then for having our yard sale.  I am feeling a lot stronger and have actually started to feel like my arms are getting smaller and less flabby!  Yay!  I would like to start practicing at home more.  I may try to start with just one day a week between Monday's and Saturday's class.

 

Goal #3: Lose the Baby Weight

Progress:  No overall loss or gain.  I gained about 3lbs somehow in the middle of the month, but I'm finally back to where I was.  I'm so ready to have veggies in the garden.  I will admit that we eat a lot of creamy soups and pasta in the winter for two reasons: 1) I'm in lazy mode and it just tastes so good!  2) Veggies are expensive and the ones from our grocery aren't local, so unless I've canned or frozen veggies, I sort of avoid them.  I'm sure that non-local is still healthier than pasta, but at least you sort of get my reasoning....right?

Goal #4: Learn Italian

Progress: Little to no progress on this goal this month. I don't think I practiced at all.

Goal #5: Take a Cooking Class

Progress:  Still no progress here.

Goal #6:  Make Time for Play

Progress:   My husband has been doing really well this month as far as playing with the kids.  Again, I let myself get consumed with wanting to get the site perfect a lot of the time.  We did go on a few mushroom hunting adventures and we went to visit our Alma mater, Purdue, for their SpringFest and Bug Bowl with my in-laws.  L really enjoyed it.  We do have plans in the next few weeks to head back to the children's museum as a family.  L, J and I went to the library's toddler events a few times.  My husband and I did make it out for a date night.  Our library hosts a wine tasting event once a year for as a fundraiser for the adult literacy program in our community.  We had a lot of fun and got to catch up with a few friends.

Goal #7: Develop a Signature Style

Progress: I was a little irritated with StitchFix this past time.  They sent me another pair of faux pocket jeans...after I had already told them with the last fix that I didn't like faux pocket jeans.  Other than that they did well and sent me items I had asked for so I'll continue to use their service.  I only kept a striped shirt, which I probably shouldn't have because I already have about five striped shirts, but this one was so soft and I loved the "leather" detail and cut.  I still need to do a full review of this fix.  I didn't keep the other items because of my desire to just be really picky about what I keep now.  I have to LOVE it, or it goes back.  Like isn't good enough anymore.

I'm planning on making this more of a priority now that the new site is up and running.  I have a few books and even a few free resources that I plan on using as I figure it all out.  I'll be sure to do a full write-up after I get through them all.

Goal #8:  Master the Top Knot

Progress:  I'm going to call this one done.  There are still days when I just don't get it right, but I know that it needs to be high on my head and I like mine with little wispies (?) around my face.  Overall, I'm a lot happier with the way my most of my top knots turn out.

Goal #9: Continue Making our House Our Home

Progress: I'm pretty well done with clearing clutter.  As I mentioned earlier, we had a yard sale this weekend.  I just need to finish getting rid of what didn't sell and then start finding pieces that I love.  I already found a buffet that I really like and my step-dad and I are starting to design a dining table.  I need to find dining chairs I like that I can afford!  Everything I like is out of my budget.  I'm starting to get really happy with my progress in this area though and I have a blog series that I'm working on to showcase some of my decor.

Goal #10: Make Devotions & Bible Study Part of My Daily Life

Progress:  I've set Angie Smith's Seamless aside because I've been using the lessons in The Virtuous Life of a Christ-Centered Wife as my devotion.  I'm still not doing well at getting my devotions done on the weekends, but I'm doing much better about getting them done during the week.  I've started to implement some of the strategies that I learned about in Gretchen Rubin's book Better than Before (review here).  As I've implemented other habits like making myself get ready in the morning, I've had the energy and drive to create more good habits.  I have also used the strategy of scheduling.  By knowing my distinctions and the fact that I'm not a morning person, I've started to do my devotions after J wakes up from his nap and before I start lunch instead of just lounging or wasting time on social media.  Again, I'm not perfect about doing it every day, but I'm doing better.

I can't believe that this was month six!  The year is half-way over, and I have so much more work to do on these goals before I turn 30 this fall.  I'm going to have to kick it into high gear, but I think that I can do it.  I'm already doing a lot more of the things that are important to me and less of the things that aren't than I was before starting this blog series.  I'm so thankful for the accountability that posting on the blog gives me!  Thank you for keeping me on the course!

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