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Monday, July 29, 2013

July Recap and August Goals


I stole this idea from my dear friend Abby @ Just a Girl and Her Blog. I read her June in Review + Goals and decided to follow suit for July. What a great way to reflect on your successes and work towards your goals!

Here is my July Recap:

July Recap

How I Moved from WordPress.com
to Blogspot.com
In July, I Shared How I Moved from WordPress.com to Blogspot.com. If you are contemplating the move, give it a read. It talks about how to transfer the WordPress data to Blogger data and how I set up a dummy site to redirect the old URL to the new URL. It wasn't a perfect transfer, which is why I go over the things that worked well and what didn't.

I also received the Very Inspiring Blogger Award from Anjana @ At the Corner of Happy and Harried. This is my third award nomination but the first one I actually played along. Read up on my 7 factoids and see the 15 very talented bloggers I nominated. I made sure to add them all to my Blogroll.

My Camping Wish List
After camping in June, I came up with My Camping Wish List. This is 5 things that I would like to acquire for car camping. Nothing too outlandish. Just some attainable things that I think would make it a more comfortable experience. Some of them are small and would cost less than $20. Others might be a little more and we will probably purchase them over a few years.

It has been 2 months since I started using My Fitness Pal to track Calories, exercise and water consumption. I shared in my Two Month Fitness Update that I didn't actually lose any weight this month. :( I did, however, lose some waist line! Woohoo!

Lastly, I shared pictures from the Iron Goat Trail, which was our main hike during our June camping trip. This is a very cool trail! It is perfect for kids and beginner hikers. It is even wheel chair accessible! Very cool sites along the way. I would really like to go back and finish the whole trail.


The June/July Photog Show and Tell had 19 participating entries. It's pretty cool, but I do want to work on trying to grow it more. We have had some wonderful participants though. Some of whom have been dedicated to participating months in a row. Yay!

Besides the above blogging, we had my stepson with us for June and July. It was wonderful having him here with us! Time just flies way too fast. I can't stress it enough. Eight weeks is just not enough...

We went camping to Lake Wenatchee and hiked the Iron Goat Trail. Watched Superman and Star Trek in theater. Went to Fort Casey and Bite of Seattle. Visited my brother, sister-in-law and nephew on Waldron Island.

Some happy news with work is that I hit my 5 year anniversary at work. I am so stoked, because this means I accrue 3 weeks of vacation over the year instead of 2 weeks. Yay!

Well, that was July! Let's look forward to August.

August Goals

I want to wrap up my blogging series about Moving from WordPress.com to Blogspot.com. I have at least two more posts I want to publish. The first will be how I made my blogger blog my own and the second will be a comparison between WordPress.com and Blogger.

DIY Kitchen Table Part 1: problem
statement, brainstorming ideas, and my
end goal.
My big DIY project for the month is to finish my DIY Kitchen Table (click to see part one). I bought the counter top back in January. I had meant to get it completed before my stepson stayed with us for the summer, but it just didn't happen. I got really really busy at work and the weather was cold and then wet. I knew I couldn't complete it while my stepson was in town, as we were too busy hanging out with him. He goes home on August 4th, so this month I plan on finally completing my table.

I also want to work on blogging. I had started doing two posts a week for a New Year's Resolution, but it fizzled out when work got crazy busy. I want to publish a DIY/tutorial post (which could include projects like my table, crafting, jewelry or recipes) one day per week.

I then want to publish a different type of post a second day per week. This post could be a photography, review, thoughts, or blogging tutorial. It could also include a fitness update or month end recap. These posts will be something that don't require me to take photos in tutorial form and should be something I can work on during the week after work. I want to publish at least one jewelry post, one DIY tutorial and one photography post per month. Some months I might do more of one than the other.

I've lost 7 lbs since I've started using My Fitness Pal. I have
also noticed a reduction in my waist line. yay!
Keep up with exercise and eating right! I lost 7 pounds the first month but only a fraction of a pound the second month.

I want to ramp up my work out routine for the rest of the summer. I know I'll crash again in the winter, but I am hoping that if I can get a routine going before then that I will stay on track during the winter.

I need to post pictures from Fort Casey and Waldron Island. The pictures are still on my camera (well, I did JUST get back from Waldron Island). I have been very slow on getting pictures posted. It took me a month to get the Iron Goat Trail pictures posted.

New Major Goal: Maintaining Relationships

I want to have good friends when I am this age.
(image courtesy of Microsoft Clip Art)
My new major goal is to maintain the connections I have made, in both real life and with my Bloggy Buddies. To accomplish this, my goal is to visit one of my Bloggy Buddies once per day.

I know I have fallen off the radar of several of them. Take no offense please! I do this to my real life friends too. I just get so wrapped up in my life and the things I need to do that I forget to reach out to others.

The second (or really the first, since this is even more important) thing I need to do is contact my real life friends and arrange get togethers with them. I only have two real friends.

I used to have three, but I let one of them slip away. I can now see my other two slipping away. I have got to do this, otherwise I won't have any friends! It doesn't help that my fiancé is just as bad or worse than me.

He has also commented on needing to do this. He was really upset about a month ago when he realized his best friend from his twenties back in Arkansas isn't a very good friend at all. I have been saying this forever, but he didn't want to admit it because he has so much fun with this person.

He got his feelings hurt and turned around and deactivated his Facebook account. {It happened on Facebook.} He then told me that he wants to reach out to people here (in Seattle) and make real friends.

I think this is a major goal for us both. To make and keep real connections. And we need to encourage each other to do this.

So that is what I accomplished last month and my goals for this month. What is something you accomplished last month that you are really pleased about? What is something that you need to work on this month?

Happy blogging!

13 comments:

  1. Love your goals! That table looks so cool--I can't wait to see the finished product! And I'd love to know more about your jewelry too! Hope you're having a great week, friend!

    ~Abby =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Abby! I am really excited about this table. Now I just need to buckle down and make it. Have a great weekend, friend!

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  2. I am very interested about your move from wordpress to blogger and your reasons for it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should check out my posts Why I Moved from WordPress.com to Blogspot.com and How I Moved from WordPress.com to Blogspot. I am definitely happy about the decision. It wasn't a perfect move, but I have so much more freedoms now. :)

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  3. I always read Abby's month recap and I love it, I loved reading yours as well and I wish you good luck with August goals and I agree it's important for you to keep in touch with your two real friends, I'm sure they will be there for you! :-) also wish you a great weekend Bethany!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Ingrid! I am just terrible at picking up the phone and calling people. I really need to change this. I think I am going to push my fiance into scheduling a boys night and I'll schedule a girls night at the same time. Have a great weekend too!

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  4. Lovely post! Best of luck and keep us updated!!
    xo,
    Anjana.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Anjana! It's nice to reflect on successes and work towards goals. Have a great weekend!

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  5. What a great idea to have your goals all mapped out.. looks as if it has been a busy, fun and productive month. I'm a wee bit envious of the hiking trail trip..It's been too many years since I hiked and I always enjoyed it so!
    Onward to a happy August!
    Lynen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, you should get back into it! I am really enjoying hiking. The boys are so weak though. They never want to do as much as I do. I might have to go hiking without them. Maybe take my camera, since they complain that I take too long when I bring it. :)

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  6. Love this idea of doing a recap of the month and goals for the next one...ya know, people who set goals are more likely to be productive than people who don't! I used to have my students set goals at the beginning of each quarter. Yes, I was THAT English teacher. ;-)

    Sounds like you had a great time with your stepson was really precious! Hope you can reunite again soon. And congrats on 5 years at work! 3 weeks of vaycay is worth celebrating! Ow ow!

    Warmly,
    Lauren
    The Thinking Closet

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Lauren!

      We had a wonderful time with my stepson. It is so quiet without him!

      Three weeks of vaycay is definitely celebration worthy! I've always have run low on vacation time. I don't know why I can never build it up. I don't think I have ever taken two weeks straight. My boss actually has commented on it a few times. Guess next summer I'll be able to do two weeks straight! (and have the vacation time) Woohoo!

      I really like this monthly goals review/setting. I read Abby's monthly goal review/setting and just had to steal it from her. I've always been a list person. I write out lists of what I want to accomplish, so why not blog about my blogging goals?

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    ReplyDelete