Hey friends. I’m finding that publishing my monthly goals on the blog is actually working to hold me accountable. Even if I don’t get all my goals accomplished, I usually bust my butt to get at least two or three of them done right away each month. Below you will find a quick re-cap of my December goals as well as an overview of my January goals.
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DECEMBER RE-CAP…
My new retainers… I have them! And it’s glorious. I finally made myself buck up and make the call to the dentist recommended to me. Within a week I was at my appointment getting that nasty mold plaster crammed down my throat, and a week later I went back to the office to pick up my new retainers. They are far superior to my old ones because they are designed better and fit my 31 year old mouth as opposed to my 14 year old mouth. Sadly, they aren’t blue with silver sparkles to mimic the sky ceiling in Juliet’s room in the 1996 Baz Luhrmann {aka Leonardo DiCaprio} Romeo and Juliet, but I had to make some sacrifices to get mouth apparatuses without scum and mold on them.
Advent reflections… I spent a few minutes every day of December leading up to Christmas reflecting on Jesus – who he is, what he promises, what he commands, and why he should be praised. It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done during the Christmas season and something I want to try to do in some variation every year. I posted my first few days on Instagram and many women seemed encouraged by it or asked me to share more, so I posted every single day. I hope it blessed you if you followed along, and if you want to catch up, you can find the reflections over on @jenrussum.
Finish the nursery… The room is DONE except for the wall decor. The closet and drawers are organized. Newborn through six month clothes have been stowed away. Everything is in its place. I started the gallery wall, but realized it will take longer than I anticipated, and I need a few more non-picture frame items for it. I also misplaced two prints I had blown up to 11×14 size. Where the heck are they? Getting everything organized was supposed to reveal them, but it did not.
Finishing the decal wall in the family room and getting books gathered for my portfolio paper… These two tasks were WAY too ambitious for December. With writing my final paper for my class, finishing grades for my students, mailing out Christmas cards, Christmas shopping and packing for Zianne’s first big trip {on a plane!}, there was zero time for these projects. I need to readdress these projects this month.
JANUARY GOALS…
Finish gallery wall in Zianne’s room… For now this will mean having the space completely filled in, even if I plan to make a few changes down the road. This also means finding or re-ordering the prints I need to finish filling her big frames.
Finish the decal wall in the family room… It is time, my friends. It is time. This is the last big project to make my house feel finished for now.
Email committee about portfolio papers… I find that if I am struggling to complete a goal, it’s probably too big for the current time or resources I have available. Or it simply overwhelms me to the point where I avoid it. I think this is how I feel about finishing my portfolio papers, which is my next big hurdle in finishing my PhD. I’ve needed to get into contact with my faculty committee members for months to talk about my papers and next steps in general. My single goal this month is to email them. Perhaps from that point, I will get other related tasks accomplished{like how my goal to call about my retainer resulted in getting said retainer within the next three weeks}, but for now, I simply want to send these emails as a first step to confront this lingering project in front of me.
Write one note of encouragement… This relates to a larger year-long goal that I will share more about later this week.
Read Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham {yes… Lorelie Gilmore!}… This also relates to a year-long goal, so I’ll share more later.
