Summer goals

In about two and a half weeks I have a SUPER AWESOME feature series coming to Sometimes Sweet that I am oh-so excited about...and in the spirit of that feature I thought I would share some of my summer goals. I make summer goals every year, and I think that these goals are always my favorite. In the past I've always had summers free of any responsibility. I was either a student or a teacher, so three months of my life were strictly all about me, and all about fun. In our younger years Hank didn't have much responsibility either, so we would travel all over the place between his summer touring, stay up until all hours of the night (and sometimes morning), I'd read a million books, and do a whole lot of beautiful nothing.

Now though, things are a bit different. Little Henry is my boss, but although I have a lot more responsibility, I am lucky enough to be able to stay home with him, which allows me the freedom to still do a lot of fun things. Now, it may only be April 11th, and it may have snowed on Saturday...but I do consider May the first official start of summer, and that's next month..so, I thought I would share my summer goals with all of you today. Maybe this is jumping the gun a little but I need a little summertime sunshine motivation in my life!

Also: feel free to grab either image and use it on your blog to announce your summer goals too. I took the above photo last summer while on the Jersey Shore. Yes, that (beautiful, lovely) Jersey shore. But like I said, if you'd like to share your goals, please do! And link me in the comments so I can check yours out as well.

1. Compile a summer reading list and complete it by the end of August. I will be sharing this list in an upcoming post.

2. Workout more outside than I do inside. This means: hikes, biking, swimming, long walks at dusk with my boys and Madeline.

3. Bring my D-SLR everywhere. I really need to get back into the habit of using our camera, and what better excuse than capturing all of summer's beautiful moments? I'm envisioning snapping photographs of ice cream, snow cones, beach days, and the lazy afternoons on the square.

4. Start working on our backyard. Our new home has a huge backyard...but unfortunately it's completely unlandscaped. I already have a plan for what I'd like to do, but now it's just putting that plan into motion. By Summer 2012 I am hoping to have it close to completed- extended patio, comfortable and relaxing lounging/seating, green green grass, trees, flowers, and vegetable gardens. So, getting started is a huge goal. And seeing that I have NO experience in gardening or landscaping, I will definitely need my parents' help.

5. Start a family summertime tradition. This will probably happen naturally, but I'm hoping it's a weekly trip to the ice cream parlor followed by a stroll around the square.

6.  Make a movie of our East Coast trip this summer. What this means is that I'll have to be sure to keep my Flip Cam out for the entire trip, but it will be totally worth it in the end.

7. Do not get one sunburn or get remotely tan. Sounds weird maybe, but to me this is IDEAL. I like being pale but I tan very easily, and I don't want to damage my skin whatsoever. Big floppy hats and sunscreen are (and will be) my best friend this summer.

8. Get my other thigh tattooed. I'm definitely looking forward to tattooing the front of my left thigh and maybe the backs as well. We'll see.

9. Try a new summer-fresh recipe every week. Grilled veggies, light salads, glazed tofu, berry tarts, anything with pineapple. I'd like to branch out and treat Hank to some delicious meals and desserts.

10. Visit the farmer's market once a week.

So, that's it! Those are my 10 summer goals. I have a few more along the lines of furniture re-finishing projects and around the house to-dos, but those are ongoing and not so much summer-oriented. I am REALLY excited about the above goals though and just writing them out has got me really pumped that summer is so close.

And now, what are yours?

xoxo

One week to a better me!

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Happy Monday, and happy first day of the rest of you life! Okay. Really cheesy thing to say, I know...but isn't it true? Every single moment is a new start, but Mondays are so wonderfully symbolic of a true fresh beginning. I'm sure that's why I love them so much- no matter what we did the previous week, we can start anew today.

So, in the spirit of this new week, this new start, and this new day, I thought it would be fun to write five "better myself" goals that I will work on ALL week. The aim of all of these goals is to broaden my horizons, expand my mind, and spend the time I have wisely. These will be small things in five different categories: nutrition, exercise, relationships, creativity, and me-time. The last one is especially a good one for new mamas!


Nutrition: this week I am focusing on branching out and trying some veggies I don't eat on a regular basis. Maybe I'll experiment with radishes or sautee some kale. Mix it up a bit!


Exercise: push ups, wall squats and abs every other night before before bed in addition to my regular workout schedule. Summer's coming!


Relationships: I'm going to plan little morning surprises for Hank everyday this week- waking up early and cooking breakfast, little notes in his lunch, etc. He doesn't always read my blog so I think (I hope!) my secrets are safe!


Creativity: This week I am going to try a fabric/felt flower DIY for our bedroom to put in the white vases on our dresser.

Me-time: I'm FINALLY going to finish the wonderful book "Never Let Me Go."

If you decide to write five small "better yourself" goals for the week, link me below so I can see what you're up to! Have a wonderful week.

20 Goals for 2011

 [image via weheartit]

I know a lot of people try and stay away from the whole New Year's Resolution craze, and I'm usually the same way (I think goals should be made and worked on year round!), but every year I still can't help but make a list of them to accomplish over the next twelve months.  Goals sound so much better than resolutions right?  I am just such a fan of the whole idea of positive change, and I love the idea of a new year in the same way I love Mondays- a fresh start and a time to regroup and try again.  This year,  I thought it would be fun to really think through these goals and put them out into the universe.  I thought long and hard about what I wanted to work on and improve upon over 2011, and it was surprisingly hard to actually narrow it down to twenty goals total, including both personal and blog goals.  Twenty is still a huge number, but 2011 is going to be a big, exciting year and I hope to stay focused and positive, working towards these.  Plus, they're more like overall life goals that just happen to fall on the dawn of a new year, so maybe twenty isn't so crazy after all. ;) With that said...here they are, some big, some small.

1) Be sure to make special "us" time a priority.  I feel lucky to be in a marriage that doesn't take much effort; it's always been very easy to keep the spark alive and be happy, and I believe that because it's so easy to just be us, it's important to make sure I am giving our relationship my all and never get lazy.  We are coming up on seven years of being together, and now that Henry is here, the dynamic of our little family has totally changed and it's important to still focus on us as a married couple too!

2) Quality over quantity.  The beauty of this goal is that it's applicable to every aspect of life, and in every aspect it covers, it's totally perfect!  I specifically mean this though in a couple of ways: one, with my friends and two, with my wardrobe.  As far as friends, I've been living this rule for awhile and it's made me really happy, so I am taking it even further in 2011.  I used to be the kind of person who had a lot of people I surrounded myself with.  In a way, I almost stretched myself too thin and in effect, would come across as flaky because I just couldn't give my time equally to all the people I chose to have in my life.  And with this came me keeping people in my life who were toxic.  I had so many "friends," but not enough friends.  Note one is with quotations, one is not.  A couple of years ago I starting purging my life of all of the toxic people in it.  I never broke ties with anyone, but I just allowed the friendships to kind of drift in their own way.  I let go of those who were not people I wanted to surround myself with; girls who only gossiped and talked badly about one another, people who made me feel bad for being me, etc. etc.  You have no idea how freeing it is to let go of negativity in your life, be it your own thoughts or people.  It's amazing.  And with this new and open space in my heart, I was able to focus on the people in my life who really mattered, both family and friends.  Now instead of twenty people I call my closest friends, I have just a handful.  But that handful happens to be the nicest, kindest, best-hearted group of human beings I know!  Quantity isn't important, it's the quality that matters, and I feel very fortunate to have the friends that I do.

And on a more materialistic note, this year I will be focusing on the same mantra in my wardrobe.  I'm looking to really build up more quality than quantity in my closet.  I gravitate towards both ends of the spectrum, but in this next year I'm looking forward to more so "collecting" things that I can wear for a lifetime, and finally start building a wardrobe I can get more use out of over a longer period of time.

3) Take more photos. In 2010 I kind of fell out of my habit of taking photos everywhere I went.  One of the main reasons is because I felt like a chubby-faced, bloated pregnant girl.  Which I was. hahah. (seriously, I swear I gained most of my pregnancy weight in my face). But anyway, it makes me a little sad to not have as many photos of Hank and me from last year.  You can even see the difference in my blog, and that bums me out.  So, I am getting back into the habit of taking daily photos and documenting our life the way I always have. I may even join my friends Vanny and Lindsay in a 365 photo project. Maybe.

4) Be a better far-away friend.  It's easy to be a good friend when you're in the same place- regular hangouts and girl time are simple!  But since most of my friends live far away, I'm looking forward to utilizing all of the wonderful modes of communication that are right at my fingertips!  This includes letter-writing, iphone face-timing, video chatting, you name it. Who wants to Skype?! ;) 

5) Focus on keeping my family healthy.  This means: planned dinners, continuing to cook most of our meals at home, food shopping and prepping snacks and proteins on Sunday night for the week, encouraging Hank to continue staying active through running and the gym, taking Henry out for daily walks when the weather gets nicer, and overall just being the healthiest family we can be.  On a personal note, I am going to be putting my focus back more on clean eating and I am REALLY looking forward to getting back into one of my favorite fitness activities, weight training, now that I am about to be cleared from my doctor.  Can't wait. I'd also like to incorporate a lot more outdoor fitness in my routine, be it hiking or biking outside.  We live right by some of the most beautiful hiking trails in the state and I can't wait for this snow to thaw so we can get to it!

Blog goals -

6) Meet my blog friends in person!  This year I am working on planning a Phoenix area blogger meet up for late winter or early spring.  I think it will be so fun to meet all of the faces I've come to know through this blog, and also some I haven't gotten to know yet!  I'll post more about this in the upcoming months but the idea is definitely in motion.  There are also so many non-AZ blog friends that have become some of my real-life friends too, and I seriously cannot wait to meet them.

8) Get back to doing outfit posts on occasion.  I like doing these types of posts every once and awhile and now that I'm feeling like my normal self and enjoying my day to day clothing I would like to share "what I'm wearing" now and again.

9) Continue feature posts.  I know there are a million wonderful tattooed people out there (email me! haha!) but sometimes I have this fear that I'll run out of them to share in my Tattoo Tuesdays.  I'd be sad to end this feature one day but I hope that day does not come in 2011!  I also have a ton (probably 20+) "Slice of" features lined up and ready to go with more coming in all of the time, so I am looking forward to keeping that up too!

10) Stay true to me, and continue to write thoughtful, meaningful posts.  My most favorite posts of mine are beyond the day to day writings and updates.  They're the ones that I really take the time to write, the ones that I pour myself into.  I want to make sure I keep writing and creating things that I am proud of, and never lose sight of why I started this blog in the first place- for me!

other goals for everyday, shorter but not smaller...

11) be kinder to myself- I do not have to be perfect.
12) make new holiday traditions for our little family.
13) be in the now- enjoy the present more.
14) keep sight of want versus need.
15) start and finish decorating our house.
16) loosen up a bit. have more fun. laugh louder.
17) go on more family day/mini/weekend trips.
18) master the art of making soup!
19) learn to just relax without always doing something.
20) continue working on my huge "to-get" tattoo list.

Whew that was a lot, but alright 2011, I'm ready! Let's see what you've got.