Tag: Monthly Goals

February in Review, March Goals

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Ever have one of those months where nothing goes as planned? That was definitely February for me. It can be really rough to go through the month knowing you’re not making the progress you hoped you would.

I did get a lot done though, just not the things that I had planned on. I made a lot of progress on my jewelry and a few new DIY projects. I had a wonderful last couple weeks and I’m really looking forward to seeing how March goes!

February Goals

  • Keep working at that morning routine – Up no later than 6:30 all days except Saturday (This will start once my back is feeling better…my neck hurts too much to work out for at least a few hours after waking up. Hopefully next week.)

This did not happen. But it was not for lack of trying. As I said at the beginning of last month and in my fitness update, my back was hurting. Then I got sick. Then my back (but a different part!) was hurting again. Then I got sick again, but worse. Yeah…the first 1/2 of February was not very nice to me. But now I’m doing better and I am getting up on time, so yay!!

  • Keep active 6 days a week – Until my back heals up, LISS. After that, it’s back to Kayla Itsines’ BBG for round 2!

Yeah…for the same reasons as above, it was pretty much LISS for most of the month. But I am now starting Week 2 of my second round of BBG and so happy for it! (Very, very sore…but happy!) I didn’t make it 6 days a week when I was sick, but I did push myself to be as active as possible.

  • Spend at least 30 minutes a day working on either the blog or my art.

Yes! I actually manage to do this almost entirely. I’m sure I missed a day or two, but for the most part I have actually done very well on this one!

Favorite Pictures from February

Sweet Potato Banana Bites
Chocolate Cookie Dough Protein Bites
“Thaw” Winter in Iowa
Monthly Photo Project – Ada Hayden
Wall Art – playing with my camera
A very sad rottweiler pup
One of my favorite jewelry pieces so far: fused glass, white with blue dichroic and black, wrapped in silver-coated wire
Another new piece: fused glass, white with red and black dichroic, wrapped in copper
My first time building something with tools in a very long time! I can’t wait to show you all this new project once it’s done!

March Goals

  1. Keep working towards establishing that morning routine! – I’ve done okay this last week, but I really need to make it through at least a whole month. I know I feel better when I get up early, get my workout in (with time to warm up and stretch) and get ready at an easy pace. I just need to stay focused on those positives and make sure I get to bed at a decent time!
  2. Add yoga into routine at least 3 days a week – During workouts and yoga is about the only time right now that my mind quiets down. I think this will help my productivity and overall mental state
  3. Add guided meditation to routine at least 3 days a week – This goes along with my second goal and I think will achieve the same ends. Plus it’s just a good practice anyways.

That’s it for this month! Do you set goals for yourself each month? How do you deal if the month doesn’t go as planned? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment below!

Sara (1)

Want to start setting goals but aren’t sure how to go about it? Check out my Top 5 Planning Tips!

 

sunrise over lake

January in Review, February Goals

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, UncategorizedLeave a comment

January Goals

  1. Start establishing a morning routine – Ummm….50/50? I kept making progress with this and then my back injury acting up again plus getting sick, setting me back again
  2. Start at least one art project – Does my jewelry count? I did not start on mosaic like I had hoped to, but I got quite a few pieces of jewelry made! I’m also starting to feel a little more comfortable with my wire wrapping, though I still have a LONG way to go in that department!
  3. Active rest days – 50/50 success. During the time periods I was working out I did manage active rest days, but when I was sick and injured every day kinda became a rest day (outside of physical therapy exercises)
  4. Less TV time, especially while writing! – Again, 50/50 success. I did okay with this at the beginning of the month. Not so much the second half of the month.

January Favorites 

You guys have to be getting sick of seeing the same photos over an over…can you tell I was a little focused on my jewelry this month?! I promise that I will be working on my photography in more areas in February, so it will not be the same jewelry again. Also, I am working on some new pieces, so it will be new jewelry too! 🙂

I really am excited to be able to share these with you though. I’ve been dreaming of being able to make new pieces for months and now I finally can! I would love to hear your thoughts on the jewelry I’ve shared so far. Are there any styles or pieces that you really like or dislike?

winter sunrise over Ada Hayden Park in Ames, Ia
Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset
2016 Plum Paper Planner
Path through park
winter morning at Ada Hayden
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glass fusion jewelry
yellow and gold glass fusion jewelry
fused glass jewelry
glass fusion jewelry
yellow and blue glass fusion jewelry
glass fusion jewelry with red dichroic
glass fusion pendant
glass fusion pendant
glass fusion pendant
fused glass pendant
copper wire wrapped glass fusion pendant
brown and green fused glass jewelry
Wire wrapped fused glass pendant

February Goals

  1. Keep working at that morning routine – Up no later than 6:30 all days except Saturday (This will start once my back is feeling better…my neck hurts too much to work out for at least a few hours after waking up. Hopefully next week.)
  2. Keep active 6 days a week – Until my back heals up, LISS. After that, it’s back to Kayla Itsines’ BBG for round 2!
  3. Spend at least 30 minutes a day working on either the blog or my art.

How did your goals for the first month of 2016 go? Are you setting goals for February? I would love to hear your thoughts, so please leave a comment below!

Sara (1)

December In Review, January Goals

On By SaraIn Self Improvement, UncategorizedLeave a comment

So if you saw Tuesday’s post, you may be wondering why I’m posting again about goals. Well, while I talked about my goals for the year yesterday, I still want to make sure I’m keeping myself accountable for my monthly goals.

December Goals:

  1. Continue with BBG, 6 days a week – I did continue with BBG..I did not manage 6 days a week. I got sick partway through the month with a nasty cold, took a week off to recover and have been fighting my way back into a routine ever since. I am going to get back into it though, no matter what! Now that the holidays are over and my schedule should mostly be back to normal, this should be easier to accomplish.
  2. Try again to incorporate active rest days – About 50% successful. I did really enjoy the days where I managed this! But between the week I was sick and our Christmas celebrations, I missed adding yoga in to a few rest days.
  3. Finish 3 DIY projects – I only finished 2, but I’m really happy with how they turned out!
  4. Less TV time, especially while writing! – I did pretty good at this for the most part! I still wrote some while watching TV, but the majority were written at my desk while listening to instrumental music. This is definitely a habit I’m going to keep up!

December Fav Photos (Other than the DIY projects above, which are some of my favs too!)

January Goals

  1. Start establishing a morning routine – Wake up 30 minutes earlier. I know I’ve tried to get up earlier in past months, but I think I was trying to push to get up so much earlier too quickly. I’m instead going to try to wake up 30 minutes earlier each day this month, making sure to use the time productively.
  2. Start at least one art project – By this I’m not referring to the DIY projects I do, but instead one of the art pieces I’ve been wanting to start on.
  3. Active rest days – I’m going to keep working on this one. Hopefully with a much calmer month now that the holidays are past, I can finally manage to add this in to my routine!

That’s it! Are you planning on setting goals for this month, or are you working on your goals for 2016 instead? Or are you doing both, like I am? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Sara (1)

August Favs, September Goals

On By SaraIn Self Improvement7 Comments

Hey everyone! I’m pretty excited for this post 🙂 While I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked, I did get some ones that I was really happy with.

My goals for August went pretty well too! I didn’t do great on the regular meditation practice, but that was more the secondary goal for me. The big goal for me was sticking to Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide and I did!

I will be posting a full review of the first month of the guide and how it went for me next week. I am actually a week behind, after a bit of a fall during my last LISS workout of week 2. It actually ended with a short trip to the ER and a head suture. I am the epitome of grace and not at all clumsy. I’m fine now, but I did take it a bit easy during my week 3 workouts. So I ended up redoing week 3 the following week and am just starting week 4.

Overall, I am viewing August as a success! While I didn’t do as well as I would have liked at adding mediation into my life on a regular basis, I am very proud of myself for keeping at the workout program. Especially after the head wound could have provided a very easy excuse. I can’t wait to see what September brings!

And now for some fun August pictures! You will actually be seeing more of these this coming month in a few posts, so enjoy the sneak peak!

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One of my first attempts at styling food photos.
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Playing with the settings on my camera
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Sometimes baking doesn’t go as planned!
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Go ISU! I love that I caught this picture at the local farmer’s market! Yes, that is Cy holding up the produce stand with a cucumber.
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Adventures in glass etching
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Adorable 11 month old mastiff at the farmers market! Isn’t she cute?!
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And of course, my own handsome mastiff mix. Love this pup!
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And speaking of adorable, this is the look I see frequently from the kitchen. She is just too cute (and so good at looking sad and dejected)!

September Goals

  1. Continuing the Bikini Body Guide. I am loving my workouts and how they make me feel. My biggest goal in relation to this is to do the workouts after I wake up before work, instead of after work. I have found that my day goes better and I sleep better with I do my workouts then.
  2. Take at least one photo every day. I really want to improve my photography skills and would love to work on it this month.

That’s it for me! Hope you enjoyed my August review and all the fun photos! Hopefully this next month will produce some even better ones!

What goals are you working on this month? Continuing some old ones or are they brand new?

July In Review and August Goals

On By SaraIn Self ImprovementLeave a comment

Due to a visit from my parents and a sewing machine that just wouldn’t cooperate, this post is coming out a day later than I planned on.

July went pretty well overall as far as life goes, but my goals for July went decidedly less well. The month started off well enough, but after a very minor shoulder injury I fell off track on pretty much everything for a couple weeks. While I did get back on track with my workouts, I would have to say I failed at all of my other goals for this month. This failure really has had me examining how I set goals, what caused me so much difficulty and what I can do differently from here on out to help myself succeed. Continue reading “July In Review and August Goals” →

June Favorites and July Goals

On By SaraIn Self Improvement1 Comment

Hey everyone! Welcome to the first installment of ‘Favorites and Goals’! A few of the reasons I started this blog were to keep myself motivated and document life’s moments. In this new series, I’m going to post some of my favorite pictures from the previous month and lay out a few goals for the new month. In future posts for this series I will also add in how I did on the previous month’s goals. 🙂

Onward to my favorite pics from June! Continue reading “June Favorites and July Goals” →