Goals – June 2016

In May I rocked the solo parent thing for four days, we had the house painted and enjoyed coolish mornings and evenings. I didn’t do a great job on my goals and only accomplished going on a breakfast date with Chris in downtown Gilbert, but that was a great goal to accomplish!

But I did fit in some other things in May that weren’t on my goal list: I had a gal date with my friend Becky and checked out a cute new place sandwich shop in downtown Mesa; I had a great creative retreat with Erica to plan for The Girl Next Door podcast and the next week we met to talk about developing a newsletter for the podcast; I had a two day creative retreat at home and made some progress on my ecourse for working moms; Chris and I took our dear friends out to a favorite restaurant for a goodbye dinner before they move (wah!) and I had creative huddles with Sarah and Rachel. I’ve also been loving keeping up with Sarah and a few other friends via Voxer!

I’ve also been sharing weekly spreads in my GET TO WORK BOOK on Instagram with the hashtag #weekly GTWB. It’s been motivating me to spend some time looking ahead to the week and planning goals and things just for fun.  

In June we have some fun things coming up and are also looking forward to laid back weekends and starting swim lessons with the boys. I’m actively working on learning to love the crazy hot summers here. We’re heading into the 100+ temps this week so wish me luck!

Big things happening in June:

+ Book club retreat to Sedona! I’m spending three days in Sedona with my book club and exclamation points are an understatement. I love the gals in my book club and am giddy to be in beautiful Sedona with them and to hike, enjoy coffee (and later cocktails) on the porch and long, uninterrupted conversations. 

+ Chris is out of town/my mom visits! While Chris helps a friend move out east (boo!) my mom is coming for a visit and to help with the boys. While she’s here I’m looking forward to taking a day off work to hang out and maybe get a little house project done, which we always love to do together. 

+ Work with a sleep coach. We are Skyping with a sleep coach TODAY and are eager to implement a sleep plan. It’s been tough, friends. Change is always hard so I imagine there will be some rough days and nights but we are feeling excited for what’s on the other side. I’ll share updates for sure!

June goals: 

+ Sort and organize the boys’ clothes. Dash is solidly in 4T clothing and Cedric in 2T (!). As Dash grows we put his clothes in storage for Cedric and as Cedric grows we hand down or donate his clothes.

+ Three work sessions on my ecourse. Extra projects on top of a full life don’t come easily but this month I want to find three times to sit down and work on my ecourse, whether it’s 30 minutes or 2 hours each time. Every little bit counts. 

+ Get our compost healthy. Guys, our compost has so many roaches, it’s disgusting. I L-O-V-E composting but not the roaches. We’ve let the compost get too dry and don’t turn it enough so I’m committing to keeping it watered and turned and am hoping that will help. Otherwise we might consider getting an above-ground composter. Any tips for me? We put all our vegetable scraps in the compost; do we need to add grass clippings or something else? Otherwise the compost actually looks very healthy, everything breaks down quickly and turns to rich, black compost. The perk is that the boys love coming to the compost with me to look at all the bugs :)/:(

+ Make popsicles! We just ordered this cute popsicle mold and I’ve been telling Dashiell that “in the summer we go swimming and eat popsicles!” so I need to be true to my word! I’d love to try these and these. 

+ New bras and underwear. Real talk, people! Putting this out here for accountability, can you relate? I absolutely love my ThirdLove bra, which I purchased when I was done with nursing bras so I’d like to buy a second and it’s been a minute since I bought new undies, eeek.

Recurring monthly goals:

+ Exercise three times per week. On Monday and Friday mornings I go to Orange Theory. Fitting in the third work out has been inconsistent but I’m going to try taking Dash with me in the jogging stroller for early runs – or maybe he’ll still be sleeping!!

+ Publish to RISING*SHINING on Mondays and Wednesdays. Working on getting back to this!

+ Record and produce new episodes of The Girl Next Door Podcast and Matrimoney on schedule.

 

Would love to know what you are up to this month!  

Happy June!

19 responses to “Goals – June 2016”

  1. MIsti Avatar

    Yes, your compost probably needs a good balance of leaves and grass to help with the food scraps you are putting in. Watering definitely helps break it down, the greens as well with heating it up. I don’t know how many leaves you’ve got around there now but rake some neighbor’s yards if you need to!

    Also, you will have bugs in there naturally just because they are decomposers, which I’m sure you are aware of.

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Ah, thank you! Yes, I’m not adding enough of the “brown.” Going to see if I can get my hands on some grass clippings from our landscapers and dry those out, thanks!

  2. Nora Avatar

    We use a very simple compost bin (just a sturdy plastic net that is configured in a circle, basically). The good thing about the bin is that it lets in some air. We put in a layer of yard waste for every layer of food waste. I have heard you can also put in a layer of old paper, but have never tried that. We turn it every now and then… maybe twice a month. That system has worked well for us. I would say lean toward lots of organic matter like yard waste. LOVE your orange wall and yellow door!

  3. jill Avatar

    We were having rat(!) and crow issues with our compost pile, so we bought a compost tumbler with two compartments (compost wizard). It cooks compost so much faster and has eliminated our wildlife issue.
    Grass clippings actually count as a green/nitrogen (like food scraps), so you probably want to incorporate more browns/carbon (straw, dry leaves, cardboard, pruned branches, paper, etc.) When I add food scraps to my bin, I top them with a layer of straw. Then, I give the bin a tumble.

    We’ve recently re-built our worm bins and my 2.5-year-old LOVES feeding the worms! I’m not sure how red wigglers would fare in AZ heat, but they’re a fun low-maintenance addition to our composting routine.

    Also, your house looks awesome and I am inspired by how you really maximize your “free” moments. I have to work really hard not to just sit and stare at a wall when I have a free moment between work and toddler life. Keep up the awesome!

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      For a time we had worms naturally occurring in our compost, that was probably the healthiest it’s ever been, so cool that they just showed up! Hmmm, yes need to get something to top the food scraps we contribute – thank you! You are totally justified in some wall staring moments, I have those, too! I will say that the more I do in my free time the more motivated I am to use my free time so it can get easier.

  4. andee Avatar

    I want to buy a thirdlove bra when I’m done breastfeeding! Oh extravagant plans and dreams of the future!! : )

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Haha, yes! That will be a wonderful treat to yourself, it’s the little things right?!

  5. Julia Avatar

    oh man, a book club retreat sounds awesome! I started a book club with some friends back in January and it might be the best thing I’ve done this year. What books has your group read recently that you really enjoyed?

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Yes! Love book clubs, I’ve been in mine for nearly 8 years! We have such a range of reading tastes and it seems for every book I LOVE someone will HATE it so I offer these suggestions although I think we roundly loved The Royal We and Big Little Lies. I also really liked Station Eleven, All the Light We Cannot See, The Glass Castle (a top 10 favorite!), We Were Liars, Mrs. Poe, Beautiful Ruins…and currently reading Secrets of a Charmed Life and enjoying it!

      I also use the hashtag #kelseyreadinglately on Instagram for what I’m reading. I read a TON but for some reason don’t write a lot about it but I should! I think I just like to read and not write summaries although I love chatting about books. Other books not necessarily for book club that I’ve enjoyed: Where’d You Go Bernadette, The Eyre Affair, and anything by Ann Patchett, especially Bel Canto and State of Wonder (which was a bookclub book we loved as well!).

    2. Amanda Avatar

      My friends and I just started a small book club this year, too! It’s my second attempt at a book club; the first petered out after just 2 or 3 books, but my new book club is 5 books in so I have hope!

      I would love if you wrote a blog post about your book club! Some questions I have: How many members are there? How do you keep it “manageable”? Do you ever have a situation where not many people read the book? How do you choose your books and how far in advance? How often do you meet? Do your meetings have a format of some sort? Where do you meet?

      Haha I hope that’s not overwhelming! I’m just really into reading and books and libraries and really want to be in a successful book club!

    3. Kelsey Avatar

      I have been wanting to write about my book club because I think there are some key things that have contributed to it lasting for so long and fostering friendships, I will write a post on this and planning to post it next week so if you don’t mind holding those questions I will address them. Sounds like you are on a good track so far with your book club!

  6. Cas Avatar

    Composting idea (that I have been stalking on the web) get a round trashcan preferably with a locking lid and drill lots of holes for ventalation. add compostables, then lay it on its side and roll it on the ground to turn it. if you can’t get one with a locking lid you can use bungy cord or some other way to latch the lid securely.

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Ah, interesting!! If I end up needing to abandon my current compost “igloo” I will consider this, thank you!

  7. Lauren Avatar

    Kelsey,

    Thanks for mentioning Orange Theory Fitness in your blog! I looked into and followed up with a friend I knew who had tried it before. I dove right in to give it a try and now I am on the unlimited plan. Absolutely love it and feel so much stronger already.

    I love your blog and podcast-keep up the great work!

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Oh wow, AWESOME! It’s an amazing workout and I still love it after more than a year, way to go lady!

  8. Lauren Avatar

    Also, I know you are looking to minimize and also purchase some more local/made in America items. I love Maruca design: http://marucadesign.com/ They have seasonal designs and the items hold up really well. Some stores in the Valley have them too (Changing Hands books) and their selection online is awesome.

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Thank you!!

  9. Feisty Harriet Avatar

    I bought all new underwear in June, it had been YEARS and I cannot believe how AWESOME it felt to toss all the old, grubby ones and fill the drawer with new things. I should do this every 18 months, minimum!

    xox

    1. Kelsey Avatar

      Oh good for you, yes WHY do we put off purchases like this! Perhaps a recurring calendar reminder every 18 months is in order…

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