Yet again I am shocked by how quickly time passes. Will that ever stop happening?
In June I set an intention to invest in myself and my blog, and in July I continued doing that. As you might have noticed, I had several collaborations that came about because I set that goal. I also invested any earnings from Floradise blog back into tools that will help me continue to improve it. I enrolled in Instagram for Success, a course by Helene of Helene in Between that you may have heard about if you’re a blogger. We also made an exciting purchase last weekend: We bought the DJI Mavic Pro drone! I wanted to improve my footage of our travels, which will enhance both this blog and my YouTube videos. I also made other investments throughout the month and have more planned! My goal for the blog is to be a resource on travel, balancing fitness with everyday life, and being more intentional in general.
Before I share my August goals, I want to check in on how I did in July:
July Goal Check-In
Family:
- Finalize plans for our Canada trip. We booked our hotels and some activities, but we’ll probably wing the rest. Have any recommendations for Toronto? Share them with me in the comments!
- Go on a date night. We had two in one week: Chicago River kayaking and a murder mystery date night. Both were courtesy of their respective companies.
- Plan activities for my nephew’s upcoming Chicago visit. We had a fun week of showing my nephew around the city, including the Tilt attraction at 360 Chicago and Navy Pier.
Fitness:
- Start marathon training. Run at least 25 miles this month. I accomplished both of these, though I was only able to attend one group training so far. I ran 29 miles.
- Go to two yoga classes. I didn’t make it to any studio classes.
- Film a yoga video. I did this on the last day of July.
Blog/Career:
- Surpass June’s sponsored/freelance income. I accomplished this with my work on four sponsored posts this month. I would have loved to space them out more, but the deadlines worked out the way that they did.
- Film five YouTube videos. I posted eight videos on my YouTube channel this month. Would you check them out?
- Post consistently on my blog and social media. I posted consistently but there’s room for improvement on Instagram and Facebook.
Travel:
- Find accommodations for our winter trip. I haven’t done this yet.
- Explore two new places/activities in Chicago. I tried Chicago River kayaking, the Tilt at 360 Chicago and a murder mystery dinner show, in addition to checking out XO Marshmallow in my neighborhood. I also became a mermaid for a day with AquaMermaid!
- Add to travel fund. I saved more thanks to a bonus from work, and we added a new trip destination to our list, so I need to get more serious about saving.
August goals
Family:
- Be more present during family time, which means dedicating blocks of time to each category of my life: blog, work, fitness, family, self-care, etc. This also means a renewed focus on single-tasking over the illusion of multitasking.
- Go on two date nights. Re-prioritize our marriage. When we brought V home, a lot of our attention and focus shifted to adjusting, and I (and we) need to get back to making our marriage more of a focus.
- Enjoy a mom’s night out. This is already planned: I’m going to the Lady Gaga concert at Wrigley Field this month!
- Continue working through my decluttering list. More posts on this coming soon!
Self-Care:
- Meditate for 5 minutes a day.
- Listen to two Audible books. I’m currently listening to “The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck: How to Stop Spending Time You Don’t Have With People You Don’t Like Doing Things You Don’t Want to Do.” I also plan to read “Present Over Perfect.”
Fitness:
- Start tracking meals again. I stopped doing this recently and started eating whatever I want. I told myself it didn’t matter what size I am and that I would rather enjoy my food and life. But now I don’t feel comfortable or confident in my clothing. I want to track what I’m eating to hopefully cut back on mindless snacking and get back to feeling great in my clothes.
- Go back to the gym. Besides the treadmill, running outside and light yoga at home, I have not been strength training at all. I want to feel strong again!
- Film three yoga videos.
- Continue half-marathon training. I am running the Chicago Half on Sept. 25.
Blog/Career:
- Learn how to use the drone! I’m so excited to share more videos this month!
- Match my July freelance/blog income.
- Plan and write more posts in advance. I want to use the time-blocking method more to write in batches.
- Work through the Instagram for Success course modules. I’ve already learned about some helpful tools that I previously had not heard about.
Travel:
- Add to our travel fund. This will continue to be a goal.
- Plan a weekend trip to D.C. to visit my best friend. I miss her and it’s my turn to visit.
What are your August goals? Do you have any fun trips or events planned?