2016 - A Year in Review

As 2016 comes to a close, I have to say it was a pretty good year for me. Yes, the election was devastating and I'm nervous about the next four years but over all, I had a pretty good year. 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - I stayed pretty consistent with this goal and really found my exercise love when I joined Sync Fitness. I also lost almost 20 pounds since May. While I have more to go, I'm feeling stronger, fitter and so much happier. The grief weight was really dragging me down. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January - I did this and thankfully this year, I am not doing it again! 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan  - I purged a lot this past year and plan to keep it up in 2017. We have too much stuff and it needs to go. 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - This was a fun way to stretch my photography chops. I feel like my skills really grew this year and I am so thrilled with my improvements. 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I did not complete this but I made some great strides. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! - My garden was so awesome this year. I planted corn and it was fun watching it grow. My tomatoes were gang busters and next year I'm planting peppers earlier because when mine finally took off, they were taken out by frost. 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day - and by doing this, I read 60 books this year! I have a post coming up with a quick review of all the books I read. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls - I volunteered with PEPS this year and led two groups - one of which was horrible and one of which was AWESOME! The second group, the awesome one restored my faith in humanity. The girls and I also volunteered with Mary's Place and I look forward to doing more of this. We also did the Treehouse Toy Drive and donated socks to WeCount. 

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - Yeah.....

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing - Totally did this and I have big plans for 2017. 

Monthly Goal Check-In (November)

Wow! Seriously, we have just 26 more days left of 2016. It's time to start thinking about my goals for 2017! Until then, here is an update on my 2016 goals. 

1.  Workout 4 times a week 
2. Complete Whole30 in January 
3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan  - This is an ongoing project. I'm considering this done because every day, I'm purging! 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I did another 10 on 10 in November and will be doing my last Day in the Life Challenge this week! 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - Yeah, I have some thoughts on why I'm not getting this done. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! 
7. Read for 15 minutes a day 
8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls.

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - So yeah, still haven't done this. 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing.

Monthly Goal Check-In (October)

Just when I think that the months can't go by any faster, they seem to speed up! I can't believe it is already NOVEMBER! 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - I've been working out 5-6 times a week with my Transformation project and loving it. I've been going to PT and my hips are doing so much better! I'm considering this goal tackled and done. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - The purging continues! I'm about two weeks behind but getting it done! 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I'm going to do a Day in the Life Challenge in November (TBD) and did another 10 on 10 in October. 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I have scheduled time to work on this at least once a week to get this done but honestly I may need to finish this in 2017. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- This is such a habit now and I totally do this everyday. I'm considering this crossed off too. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls.

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - So yeah, still haven't done this. 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing.

Monthly Goal Check-In (September)

September touched down in a flurry of activity and routines. Both girls started preschool which leaves me three glorious mornings a week to get sh*t done! Before I knew it our swimming days were gone and we were bundling up into sweaters. 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - September was a hard workout month. I strained my hips and ended up with bursitis so I ended up bumping some of my workouts down to 3 times a week to give my body a rest. I still consider this good as I was listening to my body and not pushing myself into a deeper injury. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - I've started this over and it is glorious! The car has been cleaned. The pantry tidied and most of the kitchen done. The dining room was tackled and I'm moving onto other rooms. I'm purging, purging, purging! 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I'm planning on doing a Day in the Life Challenge this month and am doing a 10 on 10 today! 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I barely worked on this goal but I have grand plans. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- I'm still doing this and am so glad that I got back into reading this year. I was even on the Seattle Refined Book Club TV Discussion! It was a lot of fun. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls.

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - So yeah, still haven't done this. I plan to collect the photos this month so I can get these DONE! 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing.

Montly Goal Check-In (August)

August flew by in the blink of an eye! It was hot and fun and over before I knew it! 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - I was a workout machine in August and worked out 5-6 times a week. I'm finding that I am grouchy if I don't enough movement in my week! I'm going to count this goal as done. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - Now that both kids are in school, I've started this over. The car is first! 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I took a class on Documentary Photography this month and did two DiTL challenges - a mobile one with my iPhone and one with my D750. They were both great! I also did a 10 on 10 in August too. 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I barely worked on this goal but I have grand plans. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- I'll be publishing my August book report later this week but I finished the SPL Summer Book Bingo with a blackout board! Literally I was reading up until the last minute. I'm up to over 45 books this year and I have a huge stack of books I want to read. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls.

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - yeah, I really need to get going on this goal. 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing 

Montly Goal Check-In (July)

July was the month of TRAVEL! It was fun, busy, full of adventure and so much fun! 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - I did pretty good working out this month even with the traveling. I went to barre3 in Los Altos and did some boot camp exercises on my own while at the beach. It's hard to motivate oneself on vacation but I'm glad I did it. I also made sure to incorporate lots of walking, swimming and hiking on our trips. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - I've decided to start this one over in August.  

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I did a Day in the Life challenge while on vacation and it was so much fun to capture. I did a 10 on 10 in June. I missed my 10 on 10 which means I'll be short on my goal but oh well! 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I barely worked on this goal and abandoned my a swatch a day for 100 days project. I really just need some dedicated time to make some prefect swatches. I have time blocked out this month to do this. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- I published my July book report on Monday. I've been a reading machine. I'm up to 39 books for the year and can't wait to crush SPL Summer Book Bingo this month. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls - I did another round of NICU photography and finished up with my PEPS group. I'm going to count this goal as complete too. I've been volunteering and have plans to keep up the NICU photography, help at Mary's Place and lead another PEPS group in the Fall. 

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - yeah, I really need to get going on this goal. 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing - I did a writing workshop last month and honed in on my writing. I learned that I need to make time for my writing which is hard when I spend so much time writing for others. This month I'm honing in on photography with a course through Clickin' Moms. I'm taking Jessica Thomason's - The Documentary Approach. I'm loving it so far and how it is stretching my mind. I'm also considering this goal complete. I'm blogging more, focusing on my writing and photography and loving it. 

Montly Goal Check-In (June)

June was a busy month with July ramping up to be even busier. I think I've brought my level of crazy up to 12 from 11. 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - I crushed working out again this month. I joined Sync Fitness and their boot camp and go three times a week. I also have a ClassPass for 5 classes a month so I can spice things up a bit. I've been easily doing 5 workouts a week and sometimes even 6! 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - I was so busy this month that I neglected to purge and the house is looking a bit worse for wear. 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I did a 10 on 10 in June. I have two more Day in the Life Challenges to go and 6 more 10 on 10s. I'm going to do a Day in the Life challenge on Wednesday, July 20th. 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I made some great progress on this goal. I'm still working on a swatch a day for 100 days even though I am dreadfully behind. I really just need some dedicated time to make some prefect swatches. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! My garden is looking so awesome! I'm pretty sure that most of it is coming to harvest while we are vacation but oh well! I love the process more than the end result. I'm going to count this goal as complete! 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- I'll have my book report up on Thursday but I've been a reading machine! I'm also doing the SPL Summer Book Bingo so I'm obsessed with getting my Bingo Squares done. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls - I did my first photo session at the NICU and received some very kind compliments for my photography. It felt good to be able to give these parents something tangible. I'm also still leading my PEPS newborn group which ends in about three weeks.  

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - yeah, I really need to get going on this goal. 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing - I started a writing course with Coffee & Crumbs that is really forcing me to focus on my writing. It's scary, awesome and so wonderful. 

Monthly Goal Check-In (May)

May was seriously focused on fitness but I still did some work on some of my other goals. 

1.  Workout 4 times a week - I consistently worked out 5-6 times a week in May due to Sync Fitness and their boot camp. I am back in my fitness grove and loving it. I'm going to barre3 about once a week along with boot camp three times a week. My fifth workout is usually something new or a good walk. 

2. Complete Whole30 in January 

3. Keep purging the house with the Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Plan - I've been purging as I can. The kids mess up the house faster than I can clean it so purging sometimes falls by the wayside. 

4. Complete Four (4) Day in the Life Challenges and participate in at least ten 10 on 10's - I skipped May's 10 on 10. I have two more Day in the Life Challenges to go and 7 more 10 on 10s. I plan to do a Day in the Life challenge soon. 

5. Complete TKGA Master Knitting Level I - I made some great progress on this goal. I'm still working on a swatch a day for 100 days to get perfect swatches for this goal and worked on my blocking report some. I also tackled swatch #15 and need to do yet another one to see if I can knit it a bit cleaner. 

6. Grow a kick-ass Garden! I made even more progress on this goal. My garden is growing like mad! The intense sunny weather and heavy rain has made for some major growth. I need to plant more lettuce but things are going well. 

7. Read for 15 minutes a day- I have read every single day so far this year! I had a hard time reading in May due to a slog of a book but I still read everyday. I'm going to combine my May book report with June's. 

8. Volunteer with two organizations and include the girls - I've been leading a newborn PEPS group and they are really clicking! I also followed another photographer around the NICU to learn how they take photos. The babies are so small but mighty and their parents are so awesome. 

9. Catch up on my yearly photo books of the girls - yeah, I really need to get going on this goal. 

10. Get back to Blogging on a more regular basis and focus more on my writing - I feel like I've accomplished goal but I'm still working at it every day. I signed up for a writing course that starts in July with Coffee & Crumbs. I'm so excited!