Hello February!

(photo credit)

 

 

I love January (it's my birthday month!) but I'm always sort of relieved when it's over and the year starts to really get going. After the holiday excitement and time-off in December, January just seems to be long and sort of boring. I'm looking forward to spring and summer (warm weather, picnics at the beach/park, cold beers, etc.) and February is a step in the right direction.

 

I do really well when I have lists and goals so I'm going to do that with my blog. I also have a 43things account for keeping track of my goals - if you are interested it is here. And yes, my nickname in real life (with some people anyway) is Margie May. I guess you can know that. (I'm still trying to figure out that balance of what to share or not share on the Internet. . . . any other bloggers have thoughts on that that you'd like to share? Just curious...).

 

So, back to February goals.  Here they are:

 

 

 

(Thank you to My Pretty Pennies for hosting - I am a long time reader of her blog, I love it.)



 

1. Bake and frost sugar cookies. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. I have these really lovely memories of the Christmas sugar cookies my grandmother used to make. They were something my entire family looked forward to each year. She passed away when I was in college but I often have thought that I'd like to try to become the resident sugar cookie expert in our family. Furthermore, for Christmas I received a package of Martha Stewart cookie cutters that represent every major holiday (I tried to find a picture online but Google failed me!). Yesterday I went online and found a recipe because I don't know what became of my grandma's recipe (sad face) and I watched a video on YouTube on how to frost with a paint brush. So now I just need to buy a few baking supplies and I'll be ready to go! 

 

2. Drink more water. This week I started bringing sliced lemon for my water cup at work and I've noticed that I drink so much more now.  I'd like to keep this up!

 

3. Stick to my budget. This means that I'll be on a very strict no/low spending challenge for the month. Luckily I am building off excellent momentum from January so I feel that this is going to be EASY. Yeah!

 

4. Have patience with the home buying process. I'm starting to feel frustrated because there aren't a lot of homes in our price range that I like . . . and those that I do love (at least online from what I can tell via photos and descriptions) are getting snapped up in days before we have a chance to even get out there and look at them. I know that I just need to have patience and the right home will come at the right time. It's just harder to practice that patience in reality. :(

 

5. Organize and declutter. I'm getting the bug to spring clean. And if we are going to move in a few months I might as well start thinking about getting things in order. My goal will be to organize/clean-out my closet and dresser drawers and my daughters'.

 

6. Romance my husband. It the month of love and his birthday month so this is a natural fit . . . but I've been consciously working on "romancing" him for about a week now.  By "romance" I just mean doing those little things that let him know how much I love and value him. I want to be more mindful of the looks I give, the words I use and the actions I make. We have very busy lives and often my attention is directed toward our 17-month-old daughter. I just don't want to look back 10 years from now and wonder what happened to our marriage. I want our connection to stay strong and that starts with me.

 

So, those are my goals for the month . . . what are yours?!