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?
June was a really weird month for me as well. On one hand it went by really fast but on the other hand there were things (related to work) that made the month feel endless.
How exciting that your mom’s wedding is 10 days away!! I can’t wait to see pictures from it!
My goals for July are to keep up with my triathlon training and increase my mileage since I’m officially in marathon training mode!
June was a really weird month for me too. I feel like in recent years June has always been a whirlwind of all the things. My one goal for July is to relax.
You and me both with that low-carb thing. A medication I started last year helped me lose about 15 lbs, but I’ve plateaued for the last 6 months. I’m glad I’m not gaining weight but I’m no where near where I want to be! I know so many people who have successfully lost weight doing low-carb, so I think that might be something I need to try.
Although I will say that I read Why We Get Fat and it is not the easiest to read book… just prepare yourself to read and re-read sections. It’s pretty complicated.
For me I’ve found it’s more about nutrient timing — having a few more carbs after an intense weight training session when I need to replenish my glycogen levels, etc. Cutting out sugar and gluten has been key for me. Some great resources are Primal Palate, Balanced Bites podcast, Mark’s Daily Apple (Primal Blueprint), PaleoOMG, Wellness Mama and the book “Eat the Yolks.” I’ve also found that gut health is HUGE. Taking a probiotic for me has made all the difference. Good luck on your journey and don’t feel overwhelmed by information. It takes time! It’s a lifestyle, not a diet.
I really do think low-carb is key. It’s so hard though!
If you’re trying to beat bloat, I would definitely recommend eating paleo, which is basically Whole30 but not as strict! Paleo is no grains, dairy, legumes (which all cause bloat), and sugar. Definitely look into it!
My goal for July is to start my half marathon training again and save money!
Those are good goals! I am most looking forward to getting away for a mini vacation with Eric to celebrate our anniversary next week. After our vacation I would really like to buckle down with healthy eating though as I’ve basically been eating whatever I want since May and I’m feeling it. It’s just so hard in the summer!
Good luck with your July goals and congratulations to your mom! That’s exciting her wedding is SO soon!
So excited for your Mom’s wedding! And I think your July goals sound great! July for me is settling back into work (boo!) and seeing what that looks like for our little family!
I am right there with you with finances! Moving means I gotta save EVERY PENNY!
P.S. Eeeeeek! to your mom getting married 🙂
My photos are also in desperate need of organization! I’ve got about a thousand prints of Caleb that still need to be put in order and placed in photo albums. It’s a daunting and overwhelming task. I used to print tons of pictures, then I stopped for years and only printed big life event photos like my wedding. I started back up though because I want to have all of my Caleb photos in hand and not just on the computer. Good luck with your project! Hopefully I can get to mine soon too!
Oh my goodness, your mom’s wedding is so soon! I hope you all have an amazing and special day.