2018 Goals

It's officially the second day of the new year and to kick it off, I'm sharing my goals. This last weekend my husband and I went on a dinner and a movie date, so while at dinner we talked about our 2018 goals. Some things we want to work on individually and others we want to do together as a couple. Instead of sharing January goals this month, I'm sharing our year goals below! I'd love to hear some of your as well. 

Dress / tights / kendra scott necklace (new style) / similar booties / black boots / * Just had to show you this cute and comfortable dress I wore on Christmas and New Years. And probably for Valentine's Day too ;) You can dress it up with booties or down with tall boots!

2018 Personal Goals:
- Make at least 1 new recipe per month (outside of our Blue Apron meals!) If you have any, link them below!
- Get back into my bible study time in the mornings. This got interrupted when we got Lincoln, and I was doing it anytime I could find time in between training a puppy, but he's so good now that I'm going to try to get back into my consistent morning habit! Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm going to follow along with Jen Wilkin's bible study podcast, reading the scripture before listening to her podcast. I also want to dive in deeper by getting a Keyword study bible or something.
- Teach Lincoln a new trick per month. This sounds silly, but I want to try to keep him entertained in our small apartment and always learning!
- Go to the gym OR be active at least 2x per week. I'm pretty sure this is on my list every year ;)
- Cultivate gatherings and community.
- Serve and meet needs of others in my life, putting others before myself. (Matthew 20:28) There's a senior living center around the corner from us, and I've always wanted to stop in and deliver flowers or something freshly baked. I want to remember to actually do that this year!
- Tighten up my business hours, so when my husband gets home I can shut the computer. Even if I'm not quite done with work, I want to give myself permission to close shop for the day when he walks through our door.
- Create a home of peace and respite. It's already decorated, so I'm more talking about the way we communicate and live in our little space. 
- Practice humility. When I make mistakes or mess up, I want to say "I'm sorry" quicker and learn to forgive more easily. 
- Practice patience. I'm very type A, so when something doesn't happen right away or exactly according to my plan, I get restless. I want to practice trusting in God's timing more, and then on a smaller scale, just being more patient with people around me.
- Read more. I'll be honest, I just don't like reading, but I want to like it. So I want to read a little more than last year, which won't be hard ;)
- Make memories with my husband. Big or small, I want to remember this time, when it was just the two of us. Well, three if you count the dog!
- Continue switching everything over to toxin-free products! I've felt so much relief starting this process in 2017 with Beautycounter.
- Spending WAY less time on social media. It's crazy how "social" media has actually made us less social. I refuse to be the older couples I always see out to dinner who sit on their phones instead of making conversation with their spouse across the table. Nope! I want to start good habits now.

2018 Couple Goals:
- No phones in bed. Ever. Unless setting an alarm ;)
- Memorize a bible verse biweekly. This is something I did a lot when I was younger, so I'm excited to do it again.
- One night / week we are not going to turn the TV on and instead, read together. Different books, but at the same time.
- Go on more adventures together. Whether this be a day trip to hike or go on a drive, or find a new game we both like, we want to do more new things together. First up, we're taking a cooking class locally in a few weeks (I got it for McCann for his stocking!) and we're SO excited!
- Pray together every night and write down prayer requests so we can look back and recount God's faithfulness.
- Find practical ways to save money, so we can make space for the most important things. Eating out less, only necessary clothing and beauty purchases, etc.

Something we both want to focus on this year is the mentality of "Enough". Having enough, because we know stuff (as fun and beautiful as it may be) doesn't fulfill us. Being enough, because it's easy to seek approval from others and forget that Christ is our enough and we can stop striving. I want to focus on what matters and say no to things that don't. I'll be sharing more about my experience with this during the season of Lent, if you're interested.
I'd LOVE to learn some of your goals this year!! Maybe you'll inspire me to add to my list.
xoxo Michaela


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