Goals in Progress: August

This is where I usually write “OMG, I can’t believe it’s [insert month here] already!”  But honestly, I’m glad it’s September.  I know a lot of my teacher friends don’t see it this way, but as much as I love summer, I was really excited about school starting this week.  I’m excited to get back to work, back to my kids, back to my awesome coworkers.  I’m one of those annoying people who showed up (early) on the teacher in-service day genuinely happy to be there.  But yes, summer is over.  So, brace yourself for posts that frequently contain the word “busy” from here until next July. 

Oh, and my birthday is this month, so that helps too.

I’m still plugging away at those goals I made in January (and their June revisions):

1.  Waste less time/Create a posting schedule and stick to it

First of all, the posting schedule (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday) and posting calendar are working out excellently for me.  The self-imposed deadlines mean I think about what I’m going to post and when and then make it happen.  I feel like the quality and consistency of my work are way up and, even if it doesn’t make a difference page view wise, I feel really good about Relishments.

In regards to the rest of my life, I’m doing alright.  August was kind of a ridiculous month with 8 days of vacation, 3 days at the Healthy Living Summit, working with some students once a week, my parents visiting for a night, finding out I officially had a job for the fall, attending some professional development and the mess that was Hurricane Irene in the Berkshires.  Was I as productive as I could’ve been?  Of course not.  Did stuff get done? Absolutely.  Now I’m just trying to keep in mind the principles of 168 Hours as I shift back to the school year schedule.

2.  Read a chapter of the bible every day/(no revised goal)

August was definitely a good month for this goal.  Vacation was pretty much a miss, but I seem to be in the routine when I’m at home.  Hopefully the trend continues because I’m pretty sure starting my day right has a lot to do with how the rest of my day goes.

3.  Drink more water/Drink at least one water bottle of water a day and drink something else with every meal

I think I did pretty well with staying hydrated this month.  Brian’s been on me pretty constantly about drinking with meals and points out when my water bottle is staying full, so that helps.  Still, I’ve only been back in school for 2 days and there’s something about that place that keeps my water bottle in my hand so September should be a great month.

4.  Read at least one book a month/Read at least 12 books this year

I loved August’s book, Just Don’t Fall: How I Grew Up, Conquered Illness, and Made It Down the Mountain by Josh Sundquist.  It was a really quick read for me and I conquered most of it enroute to our vacation.  Josh’s story starts when he’s 9 and he does a great job of writing like a 9 year old and then changing the tone as he gets older.  Such an inspiring story; highly recommended (especially if you were sick as a youth and grew up in the church).

I’m currently slogging my way through Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver which was on my “to read” list for a long time and a lot of people told me they liked, but I’m just not that into.  We’ll see if I can get it finished by the end of September.

5.  Improve my fitness by going to the gym twice a week and doing sit ups and push ups on off days/Do something physically active at least 3 times a week

Oh, gym.  If we’re being honest, I was probably there twice in August.  And that’s probably how many times I ran as well.  But I did walk all over Seattle.  After that, life just sort of happened.  Lame excuse, I know.  Brian and I have high hopes for better attendance now that school’s back in session.  I’d also like to squeeze in one more race this season.

By the way, this post took an additional 20 minutes to write because I got sidetracked researching potential races online.

6.  Open our home at least once a month/Have at least 12 different groups of people over to the apartment

Did you know that I was all over the place in August?  No?  Perhaps you should reread my progress for #1.  So no, we didn’t have anyone over.  But I already know some people that are getting invited for September…

7.  Give Relishments a makeover/(no revised goal)

Have I mentioned lately that I love the fact that this was technically accomplished last spring?

8.  See new things/(no revised goal)

Unless you’re new here (and didn’t read anything else I wrote in this post), you know we were in Oregon and Washington at the beginning of the month.  And I went to Philly for HLS.  And we went with my parents to Historic Deerfield (which, only a week later, unfortunately got pretty hammered by Hurricane Irene)

Don’t forget to check out my 2011 goals page to see how I’ve been progressing since January!  It’s so amazing to me that I even remember what my new years resolutions were at this point and am still working on them.  Thank goodness for blogging!