Oy. September was quite the month for me. The first week was spent packing and planning for my move, my mood excited but also cautious. The last three weeks have been an adjustment period and boy, has it been challenging. I knew it would be, but man, it’s been overwhelming at times. The good news is, how I feel today is better than how I felt two weeks ago and I know it’s only going to get better and better.

This place is slowly starting to feel like home.

This new life is slowly starting to feel comfortable.

The hard stuff always gives way to the good stuff.

September wasn’t only about my move, though. It also included celebrating my brother’s birthday, celebrating my nephew’s seventh (!) birthday, getting some new responsibilities at work, fun girls’ nights, pool days, and a successful pneumonectomy for my grandma. It was a big month, is what I’m saying.

I planned some goals for September, but I’ll be honest: the only one I accomplished was organizing my photographs. (Which was fun and such an interesting walk down memory lane!)

I did not make a budget for the rest of the year, mostly because it felt very overwhelming and there were certain bills I wouldn’t know the due date nor amount due until the first one came in (which ended up being just a few days ago!) So I’ve been in a waiting game, and that goal just didn’t get accomplished.

Tracking my food and exercising six days a week also did not happen. I was busy and then I was sad, and when I’m busy and sad, healthy living falls to the wayside immediately. That’s just how it is.

Lastly, no Busch Gardens trips or 15-minute morning brain dumps happened because… life.

So, what’s on the docket for October? I decided to set three easy goals:

First, I want to begin exercising again

Exercising has fallen by the wayside big time in my life. Exercising does make me happy (even if I moan and groan all the way to the gym) and I know the endorphins are just what I need to feel more like myself again. Plus, I have an incredibly cool gym at the new place that includes spin bikes! I honestly have zero excuses here.

Second, I want to spend 15 minutes every day working on my fiction novel

It’s just a little bit of time, and it doesn’t matter when I do it, but I want to get back into a daily practice of writing fiction. My story is coming along, but only writing 1,000-1,500 words a week means I’ll be working on my novel for a long, long time if I don’t get serious about writing!

Third, I want to keep a careful budget of everything I spend

This may entail starting a free trial of You Need a Budget (I’ve been really wanting to try this software out, but I worry I won’t use it as much as I should!), or it may simply entail using a spreadsheet and being more mindful of my spending and where my money is going.

And there you have it. Three simple, easy-to-achieve goals for October. I don’t have much planned for this month and that feels good. I need slow and simple and easy. I’m hoping to carve a pumpkin, see some movies, spend some time at the pool, and leave the rest of it up in the air.

What’s one thing you’d like to accomplish in October?

I decided not to set any monthly goals for August because I wanted to disconnect from the online world and to take a break from blogging. I am very happy I took the break. I needed space to just… be… for a little while. Social media is noisy and blogging can sometimes feel overwhelming, and the break came at the perfect time. I’m glad I gave myself the space to take a breather and slow things down, if only for a little while.

And now it’s September and I’m feeling refreshed and ready to tackle some new goals. The overarching goal for this month is to have a peaceful move and that the settling-in process goes as smoothly as possible. But, what the heck, let’s add some other goals to that list, yeah?

FINANCES | Make my budget for the rest of this year. Oy, this might hurt and might be a little discouraging, but it will be helpful to have a plan in place and a guide for where my money will be going.

HEALTH | Continue tracking my food daily on MyFitnessPal and get at least 30 minutes of exercise six days a week. I did this for the majority of August and though I only lost a few pounds (due to not exactly adhering to the calorie range I was given, ha), I’m just going to keep on doing it and see what happens. I’m really trying not to place such importance on my weight and feeling bad for myself that I’m not where I think I should be because honestly, it’s not a fun way to live. I want to accept where I am right now and do the best I can each day.

NAGGING TASK | Organize my photographs. This was a goal I made for myself in July, but I never got around to completing it. I really need to get this done before I move!

ADVENTURE | Buy a Busch Gardens annual pass and enjoy the park at least a few times in September. It’s ridiculous to live in this area and not have at least one annual pass to the plethora of theme parks around me.

PERSONAL HABIT | Do a 15-minute brain dump every morning. I heard about this idea on a recent Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast episode, and I thought it was such an intriguing idea. I want to sit down every morning, put 15 minutes on the clock, and just do a brain dump of anything that’s on my mind.

Do you have any goals for September?

Happy July! I can’t believe this month is here – it’s wedding month for my mom. In just 10 days, she will get married and then embark on an 8-day Caribbean cruise. I am so jealous, but also so very, very happy for her. I can’t wait to celebrate with her next weekend! But before all that, it’s time to take a look back at my goals for June and set new intentions for July.

I’ll be honest with you, my goals for June didn’t go as planned. In fact, I completed 0 out of 5! Wahoo? I can’t give a firm reason as to why. Some stuff cropped up (like car repairs and expensive vet visits), a loooot of wedding planning happened, and it just… was a weird month altogether. So! I am not going to recap my goals because the gist of it is: I didn’t put in the time and effort to complete them. And that’s okay! It happens. Life gets in the way of our goals sometimes. I set these goals because I like the prospect of working towards something during a month. I like striving to achieve new things and I love the feeling of accomplishment when it happens. But it doesn’t always happen and I’m not going to beat myself up for it.

With that in mind, here are the goals I am setting for July:

FINANCES | Save as much money as I can and spend less than 15% of my income on personal items/entertainment

Thankfully, my move-out date has been pushed back so I have more time to save. I have a good chunk saved up, but I’m less than halfway to where I want to be. I’m hoping to get fully there (or at least dang close!) in July.

HEALTH | Read Why We Get Fat to learn more about the low-carb lifestyle

I’m beginning to suspect that I may need to seriously consider becoming low-carb. I’ve been feeling bloated a lot lately – it’s really something that has been going on for years, but I just now realized what was making me feel so crappy all the time, especially after eating carb-y meals – and I think this book might shed some good insights on the lifestyle. Gretchen Rubin raved about the book in Better than Before and it completely transformed her eating habits, so I thought it couldn’t hurt to give the book a try and see what I think.

NAGGING TASK | Organize all of my photographs

I’ve had my photographs (some of them are from my mom’s childhood!) sitting in a shoebox at the top of my closet. I’ve wanted to organize them, but it’s a task that feels super overwhelming. Enter this tutorial. Not only does it seem pretty easy, but it totally feeds my organizing-loving soul. I’m going to order these photography storage cases from The Container Store, along with some pretty labels, and get to work! (I’ll be sure to share the final product!)

PERSONAL HABIT | Be friendlier in the morning

I have a really bad habit of not saying good morning to people at work unless they say it to me first. I don’t know why I do this because I don’t mean to be so unfriendly! I guess it’s just my shy, quiet nature? I should also mention that this is around coworkers I don’t know that well – not coworkers I consider to be friends. So, in July, I am aiming to be friendlier and greet people with a cheerful good morning. I’m interested to see if it improves my mood at all!

Do you have any goals for July? What are you most looking forward to this month?

Happy Friday! It’s been a short week, but an all-too-tiring one for me. (Getting used to a world where I don’t take a nap every day is difficult, apparently!) It’s the end of the month, which means it’s time to review the goals I set in May and set some new ones for June.

Here’s how my May goals went:

> finances: refinance my auto loan

This didn’t get done this month, mainly because I ran into a bit of a problem with a phishing scam earlier in the month. I took all the precautions, but it did mean I couldn’t speak to anyone about refinancing my auto loan. Hopefully soon!

> nagging task: launch a new blog theme

Yes! And I am so, so happy with it. It’s such a change from my old blog theme and feels so fresh and light and airy. It’s exactly what I wanted!

> health: stop snacking at night

Eh? I didn’t think about this goal too much, especially during my cruise and then diving back into the real world this week. Oh, well!

> exploration: enjoy my cruise

Yes, yes, and yes. I enjoyed my cruise so much. This was my first time taking a seven-day cruise and I think that is the perfect length for a cruise. I felt ready to come home on Saturday, not dreading the return back to the real world like I normally do.

> personal habit: stop sleeping in my contacts (!!)

Yes! I slept in my contacts once or twice this month, but I have done an outrageously awesome job at taking them out each night. Hoping I can keep this personal habit up!

For June, here’s what I have planned:

> finances: save 10% of my income for move-out costs

> nagging task: make a therapy appointment

> health: start tracking my food

> exploration: visit the pool every weekend

> personal habit: turn off all electronics by 8pm

Do you have any goals for June?

Happy Friday and happy first day of May! This month is filled with really fun things, including my CRUISE. I just can’t wait! But first… let’s discuss April and my goals. Spoiler alert: I did really well this month!

> finances: don’t use my credit card for any purchases

Check! This was a goal that was on the forefront of my mind all month, and I am so glad to say I achieved it this month. Since May, June, and July are going to be “spendy” months, I’m happy I was able to spend less in April.

> nagging task: organize my blogging categories

Yup! My categories and tags are all organized the way I want them, so now nothing is stopping me from launching my new blog theme. I caaaaan’t wait!

> health: exercise 5x a week or more

Another check mark! I’m averaging 5-6 workouts a week and it feels really good. I’m doing a combination of cardio intervals on the stationary bike and elliptical at the gym, strength training, and long walks. Hoping I can keep this up!

> exploration: enjoy my lady date with Emilie in Orlando

I had so much fun meeting Emilie on Saturday! I enjoyed my time with her immensely, and I wish we could just mash our two cities together. Alas!

> personal habit: take my vitamins daily

Yes! I’m now definitely in the habit of taking my vitamins with my breakfast every morning. I take a multivitamin, a vitamin c supplement, and grapefruit seed extract. No noticeable differences, but I feel good about taking my vitamins. 🙂

And now, let’s set some intentions for May! My sole focus this month is my cruise, but I’m hoping to make progress on some other goals! Here’s what I’m planning on:

> finances: refinance my auto loan

> nagging task: launch a new blog theme

> health: stop snacking at night

> exploration: enjoy my cruise

> personal habit: stop sleeping in my contacts (!!)

Do you have any goals for May?