September Goal Review (about time!)

As promised yesterday, today I will regale you with the tales of my goal progress. . .or in many cases lack of progress. As a reminder, you can check out my list of goals here, but I'll be going over all of them in this post so it's not really necessary. The last time I did a goal review was in June for the month of May. That doesn't seem right. I can't believe I've put this off for so many months. I'm so sorry. I haven't been accountable at all for the whole summer. Wow. Oops! I'll also go ahead and admit that I didn't keep track of any of my goals for the first half of September. They really just slipped my mind. Geez, I suck! Anyway, let's see what I DID do this month.

I just love the brightness of these glass pieces

As with previous months, I'll be sharing photos from throughout the previous month. These are all photos I've taken and edited with Instagram.

PERSONAL

Used my julienne-er to make raking stripes on this zucchini

1. Exercise- I really didn't do that much all month. I know I need to get out there and be active before it gets too cold to be outside moving around. 
2. Eat right/better - I've done exceptionally well this month on this one between the juicing and the low meat diet. Of course, I've had some slip-ups, but all in all I've been much more conscious about my food. 
3. Read more books/watch less TV - I've gotten through quite a few books since May and am not sure I can list them all here. I've re-found my love for the library system now that I have an app on my iPad for my local branch. It's awesome. However, this hasn't done much to quell my interest in TV. I'll keep working on it. 

   

   What I took home after a recent trip to the bookstore. LOVE!

4. Make a real effort to keep the house clean - I would have to give myself a passing score on this one. The house has been much cleaner and I've even done the floors (that's HUGE for me!) Having a tidy house makes me feel much better. We'll get to the craft room in a bit. . .eek! 
5. Discover new music - Nope. . .didn't happen. Moving on. 
6. Grow some plants inside and out - My succulents inside are barely hanging on and the veggies outside have just about withered away. It's sad. However, Pat has decided to try out his own green thumb and has been talking about hydroponics/aquaponics. In face, he just finished building a self-watering container in which he planted some spinach. I may have to leave the gardening to him and just stick to cooking the harvest. 

   

   I saw these bright cacti at the store and couldn't resist a picture of their Seussian nature

7. Make my visions of my dream house and this house co-exist - Again, we've been a lot of talk and very little action on this goal. We know what we like and some of what we want, but just cannot seem to get there. sigh. 
8. Declutter/organize at least one drawer/cabinet/area a week - The two weeks I was trying to keep up with my goals this month actually resulted in two areas getting decluttered/cleaned. So it wasn't all bad.  
9. Have a yard sale - We've still not had a yard sale of our own, but we DID donate a bunch of stuff to a charity yard sale for a friend of ours. As well, Pat's been trying to get rid of some of the other pieces in the house/garage that we don't use and has been listing them on Craigslist. That's a start I suppose. 
10. Take better care of my face and skin - As always, I come and go with this one. More times than not I just forget to wash my face.  As I see more and more little lines appearing, I know that I've got to nail down a better skincare regimen.  
11. Go to the doctor/dentist - Fail. . .just fail.

BUSINESS/CRAFT

These have been broken out quite a bit over the month

1. Make a real effort with my blog- I did okay as far as I can tell on the blog over the month. It's still not where I want it to be, but it's getting there. 
2. Include more tutorials on the blog - Unfortunately, the closest I came to a tutorial was my explanation of what I did on the Altered Dominoes.  
3. Keep the craft room more organized - Oh NO. That poor room has been an absolute disaster for as long as I can remember. I hope to get in there and make some progress soon. But, isn't that what I always say? 
4. Discover my passion - I'm still on a path to work on this. The Crafter's Devotional book and group definitely has me thinking hard about how I create so it's helping (when I remember to do it). I'm trying to pay more attention to what I enjoy doing versus what I make myself do, what I like in others' designs versus what turns me off, and those kind of things. I'm getting there. . .slowly.   
   

   

   The crackle on this piece of reclaimed wood really caught my eye

5. Get published - I'm pushing myself this month to get this done. I actually have a few pieces completed that I hope to send out today or tomorrow to a magazine. I just have to write up all the info on them and pack them up. It's a big step for me and I'm a little nervous about where my foot is going to land. I'm happy I'm making it though! 
6. Create something everyday - This is WAY HARDER than you would think. With all the business side of things and the marketing, sometimes it's hard to get in the craft room and push something out. I know this sounds a lot like excuses, but I think I need to be more realistic about this kind of goal for next year. 
   

   

   The contents of the bag of supplies I was toting around to my niece's dentist appointment

7. Explore other venue options for selling my jewelry - While I still haven't made any definite steps on this front, I have picked up some fliers for a local market. . .it's really just some storage units that they rent out for commercial space and do a yard sale on the weekends. But, it could work. I also talked to my neighbor at the beginning of the month about opportunities in the community. (her mother makes pottery and sells it locally) So there's that. . .all talk. 
8. Find a way to use what I have instead of buying more. I need less more in my life! - This has been a theme for me throughout the whole month. I do find it really hard not to just run out and get what I need, but I've got to train myself to think about what I have first. The hardest is findings (head pins, bead caps, etc.). I want to make a new commitment on this goal for the rest of the year. I just have too much stuff and I need to USE IT!

GENERAL

It's been a month of football-watching for me. Maybe I should find something to also do during that time.

1. Figure out where my time is wasted and put an end to it - I continue to recognize that a lot of my time is wasted on video games on the iPad. The hardest part is recognizing that when I'm playing them I could be doing something else. Now, I'm NOT going to give up my games, but I need to restrict them to when I actually don't have anything else I could be doing. So the goal right now is to put an end to the wasted time. 
2. Find some confidence and exert it - Still a struggle. . .always. 
3. Think outside of the box - While I wasn't keeping track of my goals very religiously, I think I did pretty good on this goal over the month. Between the Bead Soup Blog Party, the Sequin Hop, and the Domino Exchange I used my supplies and materials in unexpected ways. I need to continue that train of thought throughout my work and marketing now. 



Carved tree in a local park area

4. Be Grateful/Thankful - I've started trying to remember to write down some of the things I am grateful each month and then share them here on the blog. I've just started this practice, so I'm not sure how to grade myself on this yet. It's a work in progress for sure. 

So. . .how do you think I did? I guess it's more important for me to figure out how I think I did. 

I definitely need to get back on track focusing on these goals, but I'm pretty happy with how I'm advancing even if I did take some time off from thinking about them. Where are you in your goals for the year? There's only three months left!!