Stephany Writes

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!

Categories: Goals

July Goals

It’s July, and I think I’m ready to add goal-setting back into my life. I’m not really sure what is going to happen in July with COVID-19 case numbers rising so drastically—will we go back to a shelter-in-place order or scale back our reopening process? We’ll see.

I’m setting five easy-to-accomplish goals for July, things that won’t be affected if we do go back into lockdown. It feels nice to think about goal setting again and to have the emotional bandwidth to want to accomplish a few goals this month. That feels like a great achievement!

1) Work on my novel (and ONLY my novel) during my weekly writing dates. I have fallen into a bad habit of not actually working on my novel during my weekly writing dates with M. Sometimes, I do some writing for work, and other times, I use it to work on blog posts. But, in July, it’s time to get back to shutting down all my other tabs and cutting out any distractions so I can solely focus on working on my novel for two hours.

2) Sell my cat carriers. I have two of those big plastic pet carriers that I bought way before I adopted my girls. They are bulky and take up so much space. Plus, I’ve always hated using them when I have to take the girls to a vet appointment. (So uncomfortable to carry!) I have a much more comfortable carrier now, so I want to sell these carriers to someone else who can use them.

3) Order Warby Parker sunglasses try-ons. Earlier this year, I used the Warby Parker try-on program to order new eyeglasses (and finally purchased them in May!) Now it’s time to upgrade my prescription sunglasses. The sunglasses I have now are too big for my face and I don’t really like them, so I’m hoping I can find sunglasses I like from WP.

4) Take Ellie on her first walk. I bought a little harness for Ellie so I could take her on walks, but I have yet to take it out of the package! Oops. I think she’ll lose her goddamn mind to go outside and roll around in the grass, so I need to make it happen.

5) Launch a new blog theme. It’s time for a fresh look here on the ole blog. I’ve had this blog theme for nearly three years now, and I’m ready for a change. I use Etsy for new blog themes because they are reasonably priced and easy to install. So be on the lookout for something new here soon!

Categories: Goals

2020 Goals | Q1 Review

We’re firmly in the second quarter of 2020! Let’s face it—this year is not shaping up to be the best year ever in any way, but I’m committed to sticking to the goals I set, and hopefully, the act of marking some of them as achieved will help. Maybe. Who knows anymore? I mean, “survive a global pandemic” is a good enough goal at this point in time, but alas, let’s take a look at the goals I set at the end of last year when the word “pandemic” was not a part of my daily lexicon.

1. Move to a new apartment. The plan is to move in August (it’s only the hottest month to move, so why not?) After doing some preliminary research on what I can expect to pay in rent, though, I’m feeling disheartened and frustrated. Why is rent so expensive?! It’s causing me to toss around the idea of buying vs renting. It means staying in my tiny apartment for another few years, but it’s starting to make more sense to funnel the extra money I would be spending on rent at a new apartment (easily $500 more) and saving it for a down payment.

2. Pay off my credit card – and keep it paid off. I’m getting close to having this paid off. It will definitely get paid off in Q2 and then it’s up to me to keep it that way.

3. Complete 12 monthly health challenges. I haven’t been doing great with these, but here are the health challenges I’ve attempted:

  • January: Drink water every day. Complete.
  • February: Eat one serving of fruit every day. Not complete.
  • March: No fast food. Complete.

4. Do one new thing every month. So far, so good!

  • January: Learned to meditate
  • February: Ran a mud race
  • March: Went kayaking

5. Go on 24 first dates. I did not go on a single first date in Q1, lol. It would be a miracle if this was completed. When will dating be safe again?!

6. Make at least three “green” changes to my living environment. This is complete, actually! I may try to make some more green changes to exceed the goal I set. 🙂

  • 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. I’m at 40 workouts in 2020 so far, so I’m on track to meet this goal (as long as I log 10 more workouts in April!). I love checking off my workouts on my chart!

8. Finish my novel and get through one round of revisions. Ugh. I made some good progress on my novel in January, less so in February, and not at all in March. I’d like to get back to my novel soon, but it’s hard to find the motivation right now. I think “trying to survive a global pandemic” is a good excuse, though.

9. Complete the 2020 Unread Shelf Project. I’m doing great with this challenge and it’s been really enjoyable! I like having one task a month to check off; it’s so much more doable for me because I know I’m reading books I want to read (after all, I bought them!) and can donate any books that I didn’t like or I DNF-ed.

  • 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, ★★★☆☆)

10. Get my third tattoo. This is still a very big goal of mine, but alas, one that will be on the back burner until we see what happens with COVID-19.

Categories: Goals

April Goals

Well, we made it to Friday, although I don’t think days really matter that much anymore. Plans for this weekend include napping, cleaning, reading, and probably a trip to Publix at some point.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to set goals for April because… what is even the point? But I made a few simple goals that are mostly centered on maintaining my sanity during this unprecedented time. That’s all we can really hope for, right?

First, let’s take a look back at the goals I set in March. (Remember that innocent time before we were all locked down due to a global pandemic?)

1) Don’t eat fast food. Complete! I’m actually very proud of myself for abstaining from fast food this month, especially when things got crazy and stopping at McDonald’s might have been an easy choice. I’d like to keep this up!

2) Work on my novel for 30 minutes every day. Not complete. Ugh, my novel has completely fallen by the wayside. I’d like to get back to it in April.

3) Work out 17 times. Not complete. I worked out 11 times in March, eeks! I am falling behind on my goal of working out 150 times this year, so fingers crossed I can get caught up in April.

4) Read Every Wild Heart by Meg Donohue. Complete! It was an enjoyable book, but I did put it in the stack of books that I’m going to give away at some point. A good book, but not one I necessarily feel like keeping on my shelves.

5) Go kayaking. Surprisingly, I made this happen in March! My friend who organized the trip said it wasn’t “true” kayaking since we were basically pushed downstream and rarely had to paddle, but I’m still counting it. 🙂

6) Order new glasses. Not complete. Another goal that completely fell by the wayside due to the pandemic.

7) Buy a desk. Complete! This purchase has become more and more necessary now that I’m working from home full-time for the foreseeable future. I’m glad I finally have a desk!

8) Sell my cat carriers. Not complete. For obvious reasons.

9) Cancel checking plus. Lololol, again no.

10) Wash and vacuum my car. Not complete. I didn’t get it done before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, and I am surely not doing it now. My car currently has a tint of green thanks to all the pollen and it’s driving me crazy, but not enough to use a public car washing station.

April Goals

Here are the five simple goals I’m setting this month:

1) Go for a daily walk. Even if it’s just for 10 minutes, I need to get outside and move my body.

2) Make a daily schedule. My days feel incredibly unstructured when I don’t make a schedule every day. I don’t have to follow it precisely, but it can help to add a little bit of structure to my days.

3) Exercise 17 times. If I can make this happen, I will be back on track for my working out goal for 2020. My workouts aren’t all that exciting since my gym is closed and I’m not keen on going to public parks right now. (I’ve been too lazy to look up streaming workouts.) But getting exercise has become even more important since I’m working from home in a tiny 515-square-foot apartment. (I’m pretty sure I walk about 100 steps a day now.)

4) Adhere to my 30-minute Instagram limit. I set up a reminder notification on Instagram to alert me when I’ve been on the app for 30 minutes. This is my cue to get off the app and put down my phone. I’m not always the best at doing that, though, and I think for my mental health’s sake, I really need to in April.

5) Order new glasses. This goal is not so much about self-care, but it will make me happy to have new glasses delivered!

Do you have any goals for April?