And then it was December. The last month of 2015, and what a wild ride this year has been. I’m really looking forward to the holiday season. I have two (maybe three, if I’m willing to show up to a party alone) parties to attend, gifts to buy, cookies to frost, and carols to sing.

My apartment and cubicle at work are decorated, the only music I’m listening to is Christmas tunes, and I’m about 80% of the way finished with the gift-buying process. I took serious advantage of Cyber Monday, is what I’m saying.

Before we dive too deeply into the holiday season, though, I wanted to take the time to reflect on November. In November, I visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time, celebrated Thanksgiving with my family (our first without Grandma, and oh, was there such an emptiness to the table), turned 28, and spent the majority of my month furiously writing to complete NaNoWriMo.

I set some goals for November, so let’s take a look back and see how they went, shall we?

Win NaNoWriMo 2015 | Indeed I did! I hit the 50,000-word mark on my birthday, in fact. What a sweet birthday present to give to myself! I’m hoping that completing this challenge will help me form a daily writing habit, which is something that was sorely missing from my life previously. My manuscript is around 62,000 words now and I figure it will end up being 90,000 words or so. Lots of writing left to do!

Exercise 4 times a week | Mostly complete? I attacked this goal like a boss towards the beginning/middle of the month and then fell apart during the last week. Oh well. Better than nothing!

Drink 32 ounces of water per day | Nope. Drinking water continues to be my biggest healthy living struggle. I just don’t like it.

Make some doctor’s appointments | Well, I made one. And it was an appointment I really needed to make, so there’s that. I still need to make a dentist appointment and get blood work done. Maybe in December?

Get a tattoo for my birthday | Nope! But I talked to a friend about it (we’ve talked about getting tattoos before), and she might put a plan in motion to make it happen. Another goal I might accomplish in December!

Even though I didn’t accomplish all of my goals, November was still an insane success because I won NaNoWriMo! I wrote 50,000 words in 28 days! I am so super proud of myself. 🙂

And now we’re in December, one of the craziest months of the year. I’m seeing so many people talking about having a simpler holiday season and I can understand that desire, but quite frankly, I love the craziness that December brings. I love the parties and the gift buying and the wrapping extravaganzas. I love a bloated DVR filled with my favorite Christmas movies. Call me crazy, but I love it all. And I’m excited about what this month will bring.

So, with all that said, here are the goals I’m hoping to accomplish this month:

Finish my novel | My goal is to write 1k words per day and, in doing so, my manuscript should be completed by the end of the year. That feels like insanity to me!

Get blood work done | I’ve had the paperwork in hand since, um, earlier this summer. I just keep putting off going for some reason. It’s not even that I’m afraid of needles or blood… it’s just this nagging task that I can never seem to get around to. (I have to fast beforehand, so it’s not something I can do while I’m out and about, either.)

Exercise 4 times per week | I’m keeping this on my monthly goals list until regular exercise becomes a habit.

Stick to one treat per day | Holidays = treats, right? And I want to eat those delicious, only-come-around-once-a-year treats! So I will. But in moderation. I’m not concerned with losing weight, just don’t want to feel gross when January 1st rolls around.

Be a full participant in The Holiday Council 2015 | Ah, one of my favorite December traditions. I slacked off last year, but this year I want to be intentional about listening to the calls, doing the homework, and being an active participant in the Facebook group.

Do you have any goals for December? What’s one thing you’re proud of doing or accomplishing in November?

October passed in a blur. It’s not a month I would particularly ever care to relive. It’s a month that holds pain, grief, and heartbreak. The weeks have passed in a daze. It still doesn’t feel real – I still can’t believe I honestly and truly lost my grandma. There’s this part of me that still thinks I’ll see her cooking in the kitchen on Thanksgiving morning, laughing and puttering around, making sure all her kids are happy.

I’ve tried to hold on to normal life as much as I can. I carved pumpkins with my roommate, dressed up for Halloween at my work, and even went on a date. I haven’t cried nearly as much as I think I should and sometimes don’t think I’m fully processing this loss. But how do you even begin to process a loss this huge?

I don’t know the answer. I’m just trying to keep moving forward. That’s what Grandma would want.

Obviously, my monthly goals weren’t on my mind last month. I’m still not sure I’m in the goal-setting mood, but I did want to make some goals because November is here and I want to make the most of this month.

November will be a good month. It’s my birthday month, it’s Dutch’s fourth Running of the Wiener’s race, and I’m going to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time. (Let’s not discuss the fact that I’ve never been when I live an hour away, mmkay?)

November is also Thanksgiving, the first one without grandma. I’m hoping it will be a good day, but I also know it will be a hard one. Grandma was the heartbeat of our family and a piece of all our hearts will be missing.

But let’s talk goals, shall we?

Win NaNoWriMo 2015 | That’s right – I’m doing it! I’ve already aced Day 1, so now I just have to keep on truckin’. Before November started, I had written 10,000 words of my current work-in-progress, so I’m hoping to hit 60,000 by the time the month is over. It’ll give me a solid base, though it certainly won’t complete my novel. But 90% of the way there is farther than I’ve ever been.

Exercise 4 times a week | I like having an exercise goal to shoot for because it keeps me motivated. What can I say? I’m just not at the point where I exercise for the hell of it. If I make it a goal, I’m much more committed.

Drink 32 ounces of water per day | Nope, it’s not nearly enough, but I won’t tell you how many ounces of water I’ve been drinking lately.

Make some doctor’s appointments | For starters, I need a dental cleaning and to get blood work done. I hate making doctor’s appointments, but it’s gotta get done.

Get a tattoo for my birthday | I have wanted to get a tattoo for years and I think age 28 is the perfect time to finally make this a reality.

What’s one thing you’re looking forward to in November?

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?