July is one of my favorite months of the year. And the first day will always hold special memories for me as it's the day Kevin and I started dating. Today marks three happy years together for us!
Not only is July one of my favorite months because my favorite guys just so happened to come into my life during this hot month, it's also a really busy month for our family. We have three birthdays to celebrate including K.C.'s 7th (time, please slow down!), another beach week, swimming lessons, more ball and lots of other fun things planned including meeting my bloggy bff Kayla! With a full calendar, my July goals are looking a little different than some of my other monthly goals have looked because I'm including SLOW DOWN time. Yes, that's right, I, Anna, am setting a goal to slow down.
This is my happy, slow down place: Garden City Beach.
If you know me, busy may as well be my middle name. Scratch that. First name. And the thing about it is that my busyness isn't idle busyness. It's not even like I'm busy Keeping Up With the Khardashians or flipping through magazines. It's true busyness with a purpose. (I may even coin that phrase because it has a nice ring to it.) What I'm saying is that the busyness that's going on isn't self-inflicting in the I-can't-say-no-and-want-to-fill-up-every-second-and-not-ever-rest kind of busyness. It's more like we have a very blessed, very full life that, thankfully, includes lots of family we get to see, things at church we're fortunate to participate in, extracurricular activities that are stimulating, good for us and fun (i.e. kids' sports, softball and running) and a huge amount of fun at home that involves building things with Legos, making food in the Easy Bake, reading lots of books (our boys may have inherited my infatuation with reading and purchasing an insane amount of books), learning more about Jesus, playing outside and having more fun than I ever imagined. Then you add in the everyday responsibilities like that four-letter word W-O-R-K and other necessary things like eating, sleeping and showering and you have a jam-packed month.
But even months jam-packed with goodness require a little slow down time and that is exactly what I want to work on this month.
So, there you have it, my number one goal for July is to Slow Down. How is she going to do that? you may be wondering. Don't worry, you're not alone as I'm wondering the same thing. I'll let you know how it goes for me at the end of the month, but for now, this is what I'm thinking:
- Schedule time for nothing. We often fill up our days and nights when we don't have anything to do with things to do. While they're fun things and I'm always up for fun, it's nice just to stay at home some days and do nothing.
- Make time for something I enjoy everyday. I love to read, but I often fall asleep holding a book if I've even picked one up. I have three books I want to read when I finish the one I'm currently reading and I'm anxious to start reading them.
- Create an atmosphere for relaxation. I love candles, but besides the ones in my kitchen, I don't ever light them. I want to light some candles, dim the lights, take a bubble bath and just relax.
- Stay away from technology. I'm not addicted to my iPhone, iPad or laptop, but if I have a few minutes to spare, you'll find me flipping through Instagram and reading people.com. I want to do better about not looking at my phone after a certain point at night.
And even though slowing down is my main goal for the month, there are a few other things I'd like to do too:
- Work with the boys on summer learning - I think it's important to work with your kids throughout the summer and we have some great resources to use this summer.
- Speed Work - I don't have any races until the middle of August, so I want to focus on speed and getting acclimated to our scorching hot temperatures and through the roof humidity (treadmill running doesn't quite do the same thing) this month.
- Finish the boys' bathroom - We took some new family pictures at the beach a few weeks ago. I'd like to use one of those in the boys' bathroom. I'd also like to have the canvas painted to match their shower curtain and trim put around the mirror.
- Master bedroom/bathroom - My grandma is going to make a throw pillow to match our bedding and I'd like to trim the mirror in our bathroom.
- Clean out our closet - I have too many clothes and our closet is packed. I want to organize it.
- Work on our office/workout room/upstairs play room
- Get caught up on our family book
Labels: goals
