And just like that… 2013 is half over. I feel like I say this every month (I do), but man, the months just seem to fly by so fast. I can’t believe we’re already halfway done with this year! It’s time to kick everything into high gear, so I can knock off some of my goals for this year.
Following Jessica’s lead, I am ending the month by recapping three awesome things that happened in June and setting three goals for July.
In June, I…
1. Took Dutch to work! Last Friday, it was Take Your Dog to Work Day so Dutch got to come with me to work! Another coworker brought her golden lab and they were very interested in one another. Dutch tends to like bigger dogs more than smaller dogs, so he had no issues with a dog that had 50+ lbs on him! I was SO excited to have Dutch with me for the full day. He was a bit antsy at the beginning and it was hard to keep him near me (he wanted to inspect the place!) but he calmed down around 11am and took a nap. He was such a good little boy but he was tuckered out on Friday night!
2. Had some great nights out. It’s well-documented that I don’t get out much. I don’t like having a full social calendar and need lots of downtime on the weekends to just relax. But I also love getting out and forcing myself to be social and have fun. I had Friday night plans three weeks in a row and it was just what I needed. Lots of laughter and fun memories were made, with old friends and new.
3. Watched my cousin graduate from high school. All the odds were stacked against her. She was behind in every class, had a baby just as senior year started, dealt with her boyfriend-turned-husband joining the military and leaving her for months at a time. But she worked hard, caught up, and graduated on time with her class. She’s an inspiration and I am just so darned proud of her. I can’t wait to see what’s next for her! (First up, though, is moving to Texas to be reunited with her husband. I. AM. GOING. TO. MISS. HER. SO. MUCH!)
In July, I will…
1. Wake up at 5am every weekday. For the last half of June, I started making it a goal to wake up early to get work done. I work best in the wee hours of the morning when the world is quiet and sleeping. It’s where I feel the most refreshed and recharged and focused. Whether it’s writing a blog post or getting in a solid morning workout, I really love getting an early start to my day and knocking out some to-dos.
2. Spend less than $150 on anything that is not a necessary bill or expense. In June, I spent $269 in unnecessary spending. I want to take my No Spend Challenge more seriously because it hasn’t really been a true No Spend Challenge. While I have gotten a handle on my shopping habit, I haven’t gotten any sort of handle on the amount of money I spend on food. It’s time to get really strict and serious about this No Spend Challenge in July!
3. Pitch 5 bloggers on guest posting topics. I’ve worked through my list of bloggers who volunteered to let me post on their blog, so now it’s time to sift through the different blogs I’ve been wanting to guest post on and send out my most charming pitch email. We’ll see how it goes!
Wow… 5am. I am in awe of you! I get up at 6am for some quiet time before the rest of the family is up, but that’s about as early as I can seem to go. I bet you get so much done in the morning!
It really gets easier and easier the more I do it. And I’m usually crawling in bed before 9pm to get a solid 8 hours. I just prefer waking up early to get stuff done than staying up late! I’m so lazy after work that it’s my only time to get things done, really.
5am? You go girl! I think getting up at 6:30am is hard enough so I’m impressed.
You are incredibly charming so anyone who doesn’t let you guest post is just plain silly 🙂
I’m the girl who can barely stay up past 10pm, so early wake-ups are becoming more and more frequent for me. And I figure I’m usually up by 6am anyway so what’s another hour? I realize it sounds crazy to most sane people, but I kinda like being up that early. 🙂
Way to go on getting up at 5! It’s tough but it it so nice to get workouts out of the way, or other things like writing. I used to get up at 5 to workout when I was healthy. It was tough to get out of bed, but I never regretted it!
That is really impressive that your cousin graduated on time. I am sure it will be tough to say good bye to her. Hopefully you can bridge the gap by skyping!
I am an early bird by nature and I just realized that by waking up at 5, I would have a little over 2 hours to get a workout in or other things done like blogging before getting ready for work, and then have the evening to relax. It sounded so appealing to me that I started making it my mission to get to bed early so I could wake up early. It’s working out pretty well for me, too!
I’m gonna go along with the theme of the other comments… FIVE AM???!!!! Somebody would have to be in a life or death situation to get me willingly out of bed at that time. There was a time in my life when I used to work at 6am and needed to be up between 4:30-5am, but my body never adjusted. I would be zombie by the end of my shift and often relied heavily on caffeine to actually make it through.
I like your no-spending challenge though and could definitely take a page out of your book. I’m really slacking with goals but the truth is I have very little time to keep up with them!! Only so many ways to split up my time I suppose! Good for you though 😀
HA! I’m an early riser by nature so I’m usually up by 7am on weekends without an alarm, and as long as I get to bed by 9:30pm at the absolute latest, waking up at 5am isn’t too difficult. I mean, I don’t jump out of bed or anything, ha. I’m not yet at the point of waking up at 5am. I started by setting by alarm for 5am to start the wake-up process and then another MUST WAKE-UP NOW alarm at 5:30am. I started by getting out of bed at 5:45, transitioned to 5:30, and now I’m trying to be up and attem by 5:15. It also requires being in bed super early (I’m usually laying down for the night by 8:30 and lights out by 9pm). It takes dedication, but I’m learning to actually love it.
I also have a July goal to get up earlier! 5:30 instead of 5:00, but this past week I have really been slacking with getting up and hitting the gym and fitting in my runs, so back to 5:30 wake up calls for me. I have to say that when I routinely get up that early, my body does adjust and I find myself naturally waking up without a problem after a few weeks. Good luck to you!
Thank you! My body is adjusting to the early wake-up times and I think it will only get easier the more I do it. Getting to bed early is to key to it all, though! I need a solid 8 hours to feel human, so I really have to be a slave to my 9pm bedtime, ha.
Look at you go! Sounds like you had an awesome month and have another great month up ahead. I love that you got to take your dog to work- that’s so much fun! I don’t think Buddy would behave very well if I took him to work. Good luck with waking up earlier next month and pitching those freelance posts!
Dutch was a lot more active than I was expecting. I thought he would want to stay by my side at all times, but he kept leaving my space to check out everyone else! Haha. I’m just glad my office is full of dog lovers! But I think the excitement got to him because he napped the entire afternoon away, haha. 🙂
In June, I started waking up at 6am and I’ve really grown to enjoy it. It’s nice to have some me-time in the mornings and get my workout done and out of the way before I go to work. You’re right; it’s so peaceful in the early morning when the world is quiet and sleeping!
Good for you for getting up early! I find that the morning quiet hour is my most productive too. It works for work as well. I like to go in an hour before everyone else and I get so much work done in that one quiet hour before everyone else arrives!
I am still SO IN AWE of 5am!