Stephany Writes

Categories: Goals

2020 Goals | Q3 Update

It’s Q4 of 2020! What a year we’ve lived through. It’s crazy to think about what life was like when I set these goals. Remember life before COVID-19? Ahh. My yearly goals never go as planned, but it’s truer than ever this year. Here’s my Q3 update:

1) Move to a new apartment. Complete! I moved last month and I am so happy at my new place.

2) Pay off my credit card – and keep it paid off. I’m doing so well with this goal. Even though I’ve been using my credit card like crazy over these past three months, I’ve still paid off the balance every month. Yay, me!

3) Complete 12 monthly health challenge. Lol, no. I did well in Q1 with my monthly health challenges, fell off in Q2 and Q3 with the pandemic craziness, and I’m hoping to get back on the horse in Q4.

4) Do one new thing every month. Another goal that went by the wayside when the pandemic hit. Not beating myself up for this one, as living through a global pandemic is enough of a “new thing” to deal with.

5) Go on 24 first dates. NOPE.

6) Make at least three “green” changes to my living environment. Yep! I completed this goal in Q1:

  • I eliminated one-use makeup wipes and now use micellar water and a reusable cloth to take off my makeup.
  • I got rid of the disposable cotton pads I would use to apply toner and now use reusable cotton pads.
  • I changed my mop from a Swiffer that uses disposable cleaning pads to this brand that has a reusable cleaning pad that I can throw in the washer.

7) Work out 150 times. Oy vey. While I know I am not going to mark this goal complete, my goal is to log more workouts in 2020 than I did in 2019 (which was 121). I’m sitting at just 87 workouts so far (I got reeeeal lazy in Q3), so it’s time to kick it into high gear for the last quarter of 2020.

8) Finish my novel and get through one round of revisions. Not happening. Womp.

9) Complete the 2020 Unread Shelf Challenge. This goal is going so well!

  • January: read any book on your unread shelf (Nasty Women, DNF)
  • February: read a book that’s been gifted to you (The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, ★★★★☆)
  • March: read the book that’s been on your unread shelf the longest (Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue, ★★★☆☆)
  • April: most recently acquired (Long Bright River by Liz Moore, ★★★★☆)
  • May: a backlist title (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★★★★★)
  • June: from a series (March: Book 1 by John Lewis ★★★★★)
  • July: voted for you by bookstagram (Circe by Madeleine Miller, DNF)
  • August: a buddy read (The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett ★★★★★)
  • September: forgot where or why you got it (All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda, DNF)

10) Get my third tattoo. Another goal felled by the pandemic.

Categories: Goals

October Goals

I made things incredibly easy on myself for September, setting a simple goal of having a successful move. And I think I definitely accomplished that! I didn’t feel too stressed out—most likely because I had eight days to be fully moved out of my old place and I was moving apartments in the same complex, so it was easy to grab a few things and bring them over. I’m fully moved in and unpacked now, and that feels great! Of course, I still have things to hang on the walls, but I’m slowly working my way through my box of wall hangings. It should be done sometime this month. Hooray!

And now it’s October (well, almost). I’m ready to think about goals again! Here’s what I have planned:

1) Go on a spending freeze. I am not looking forward to doing my budget update for September because it has been spendy, spendy, spendy! I knew it would happen and I planned for things to be a little crazy around my move. But my wallet needs a break from the constant spending. And I think my brain does, too. I need some delayed gratification! So, I am putting a freeze on all unnecessary spending in October and focusing on building my savings back up.

2) Order Warby Parker sunglasses try-ons. I’ve been meaning to do this for months! It’s beyond time for me to upgrade my prescription sunglasses and since I loved the experience of ordering eyeglasses with Warby Parker, it makes sense to use them for sunglasses.

3) Limit my sugar intake. The last few times I’ve had blood work done, I’ve had concerning numbers that point to diabetes being in my future if I don’t clean up my eating. I’m not yet pre-diabetic, but I’m close and the hypoglycemia episodes I experience frequently are a good indicator that things could go downhill fast. So it’s time to work on this! I’m going to start by limiting my sugar intake, as the amount of sugar I eat on a daily basis is… ridiculous. Here are the three ways I am going to do this:

  • Eat a protein-rich breakfast—no more sugary cereal!
  • Drink less soda—ideally, only one small (8 oz) can per day.
  • Watch my snacks—stop buying candy and break-and-bake cookies, opt for just a small cup of ice cream in the evening

I’m not looking to lose weight (although I’m sure I will since I’ve been eating like absolute shit lately), but rather improve my blood work numbers and hopefully get rid of these annoying hypoglycemia episodes!

(I hate that I have to say this, but please be kind in your comments about this goal. There’s no reason to leave a nasty comment here. It’s not going to “inspire” me to suddenly eat better and will only force me to block your comment.)

4) Schedule a slew of doctor’s appointments. I have put off so many doctor’s appointments this year, due to COVID-19. Not only because I didn’t want to go into a doctor’s office in the early days of the pandemic, but also because so many of my doctors were near my office! But now that I’m working from home, that means a 40-minute drive. Um, no thanks? This month, I’d like to schedule a dentist appointment, a dermatology appointment for my annual skin check, and my annual well woman’s visit.

5) Prepare myself for NaNoWriMo 2020. We’re only 31 days out from NaNoWriMo 2020 (where I will challenge myself to write 50,000 words in 30 days). While I had hoped 2020 was the year I finally finished my novel (and maybe even started the editing process!), it was not to be. Major changes needed to happen in my novel, which necessitated going back to the drawing board to rework my plot. The plot is just about where it needs to be, and I want to use all of October making sure I’m ready to tackle NaNoWriMo in November.

What do you want to accomplish in October?

Categories: Goals

September Goals

Happy Monday! Since I *only* finished one book last week, I decided to replace this week’s “What I’m Reading” post with September goals. Woo! First, let’s take a look back at August’s goals (spoiler alert: things did not go well, eeks).

1) Finish plotting out my novel. Not complete. Wahhh. I have the book plotted all the way to the “dark moment,” which is the moment in a romance novel where everything feels hopeless and the characters break up. I always get stuck on that section, so I’m glad I’ve figured it out. Now I just have to figure out how to get my characters back together. 🙂

2) Sell my TV stand. Not complete. It’s on Facebook Marketplace and I’ve had a lot of people interested in it, but nobody has come to pick it up. I put the ad up a week ago, though, so I’m not surprised it hasn’t sold yet! (I didn’t want to put it up too early and then have to spend weeks with my TV on the floor or balanced on a bunch of boxes, ha.)

3) Order Warby Parker sunglasses try-ons. Not complete, again. 🙁 I just kept forgetting to do this!

4) Complete a set of pre-move decluttering tasks, including my wardrobe, my filing system, my bathroom, the girls’ basket o’ stuff, and my “junk” baskets. Complete! It feels so good to declutter. I made a list of all the different rooms in my apartment (kitchen, living room, bedroom, bathroom, and walk-in closet), and every day, I select one room and complete a decluttering task. So, one day, I would pull out a basket in my closet and declutter it. The next day, I would organize the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. Etc. I made a huge donation to Goodwill last weekend and I’ll probably have another big donation ready to go soon. Yay!

5) Work out 25 times in August. Nope. I think I worked out, like, 10 times. Oof. I need to get back to my working out game, but it’s just so easy to make excuses.

For September, I only have one goal: Have a successful move!

Moving is an exhausting process, and I’ll be doing the majority of it by myself (my brother will be moving my furniture). I want to get through this move without too much stress or anxiety. This will be my first time moving with cats so I’m a little nervous about that process—my plan is to close them in my bathroom (which opens into my walk-in closet) while we move out the furniture on Saturday and then bring them over to explore their new digs later that day. Hopefully, they will take to it well! (But, seriously, any advice about moving with cats is GREATLY appreciated! I am very nervous about how this will go, especially with Lila who is particularly skittish.) As long as I make it through September with my sanity intact, I will be one happy camper. 🙂

Categories: Goals

August Goals

Hi, friends! I didn’t mean to go MIA after publishing Monday’s post, but woof, last week was a doozy. Work was intense and nonstop, and at the end of the day, all I wanted to do was lie on the couch and turn my brain off, not write a blog post. (And then there was the night when I got ONE hour of sleep. ONE! I just could not fall asleep for anything, and by 3:30AM, I decided to throw in the towel and start my workday. Oof.)

I’m hoping this week goes much better for me, and it’s shaping up to be a much slower-paced work week. Hooray for that! I’m using this week for all of my monthly wrap-up posts, which is why you’re not seeing a reading recap today. It’ll be back next week with a double-shot of reviews! For today, I wanted to discuss the goals I set in July. I completed 3/5, so it was a successful return to goal-setting!

July Goals

1) Work on my novel (and ONLY my novel) during my weekly writing dates. Complete! Aside from one week where I had to do work during my writing date, I spent all other writing dates focused solely on my novel. I found this really helpful guide to plotting out a romance novel and I am working through that right now before I go back to writing.

2) Sell my cat carriers. Complete! I was happy to get those beasts out of my apartment, for sure.

3) Order Warby Parker sunglasses try-ons. Not complete. Just one of those tasks I didn’t get around to in July.

4) Take Ellie on her first walk. Not complete. I’ve become very intimidated by the process, haha.

5) Launch a new blog theme. Complete! I love having a fresh new theme. It makes me so happy!

August Goals

I have lots of fun plans for August, mostly related to getting ready for my MOVE in September. Man, I am so ready to be in my new place! Hurry up, time. 🙂 Here are my goals for this month:

1) Finish plotting out my novel. I am about halfway through plotting out Act 2 of my novel, which means I should be able to get through the rest of it during my writing dates in August. And then I can get back to writing in September! Yay!

2) Sell my TV stand. Next on the list for my move: selling my TV stand. I’m planning on buying one of those cube shelves from Target to serve as my new TV stand because it can also function as a second bookshelf! 🙂

3) Order Warby Parker sunglasses try-ons. Let’s try this again!

4) Complete a set of pre-move decluttering tasks, including my wardrobe, my filing system, my bathroom, the girls’ basket o’ stuff, and my “junk” baskets. Gosh, is there anything better than decluttering? I haven’t done any sort of major decluttering project in a long, long time and I’m looking forward to getting rid of a lot of stuff before I move.

5) Work out 25 times in August. I am wayyy behind on my annual workout goal to log 150 workouts this year. By the end of August, I should be at 100 workouts, which means I need to log 25 workouts in August to catch up. I’ve been using the heat and busy work life as reasons why I’m not working out as much as I should, and I hope to get into a much better groove with exercise in August.

Did you set any goals for August?

Categories: Goals

2020 Goals | Halfway Point

We’re more than halfway through 2020. Whaaaat! What a weird, frustrating, scary year it has been. So many plans and dreams put on hold or completely derailed due to COVID-19. I know this year looks completely different than I expected, but who can ever predict where the year will take us?

Today, it’s time for a progress check-in of my 2020 goals. Let’s see how I’m doing:

1) Move to a new apartment. I’ll be marking this complete in September!

2) Pay off my credit card – and keep it paid off. Complete! It is paid off and I’m paying off the balance every month. Yay, me!

3) Complete 12 monthly health challenges. I have completed 2/6, oops. I didn’t set any health challenges from April-July due to the pandemic, unless “don’t get a global virus” counts. I’m going to bring this back in August, though, so stay tuned.

4) Do one new thing every month. Another monthly challenge goal that has fallen to the wayside with the pandemic. I started off great this year, but things quickly spiraled out of control. Oh, well! Something else I might bring back in August.

  • January: Learned to meditate
  • February: Ran a mud race
  • March: Went kayaking
  • April-July: N/A

5) Go on 24 first dates. HAHAHAHA. Nope.

6) Make at least three “green” changes to my living environment. Yep! I completed this goal in Q1:

  • I eliminated one-use makeup wipes and now use micellar water and a reusable cloth to take off my makeup.
  • I got rid of the disposable cotton pads I would use to apply toner and now use reusable cotton pads.
  • I changed my mop from a Swiffer that uses disposable cleaning pads to this brand that has a reusable cleaning pad that I can throw in the washer.

7) Work out 150 times. At this point in the year, to stay on track with this goal, I should have completed around 80 workouts. I’m currently at 75 workouts, so I’m a little behind but not by much! I’m pleased with this progress, especially considering I don’t have the gym to rely on anymore.

8) Finish my novel and get through one round of revisions. Oh, this will not be complete by the end of the year. My hope is that I can at least finish it, but we’ll see. The pandemic threw a wrench in this plan (and also writing myself into a corner and needing to change the entire basis of the novel, argh!)

9) Complete the 2020 Unread Shelf Challenge. I’m doing great with this goal! So far, I have read:

  • January: read any book on your unread shelf (Nasty Women, DNF)
  • February: read a book that’s been gifted to you (The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, ★★★★☆)
  • March: read the book that’s been on your unread shelf the longest (Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue, ★★★☆☆)
  • April: most recently acquired (Long Bright River by Liz Moore, ★★★★☆)
  • May: a backlist title (The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid ★★★★★)
  • June: from a series (March: Book 1 by John Lewis ★★★★★)

10) Get my third tattoo. I’m not sure this will happen this year, for obvious reasons. I just don’t know how comfortable I am about going into a tattoo shop!