2011 Priority List and Goals – March Check-in

I thought it might be a good idea to review my goals at the end of each month and see if I am still making sure to prioritize them. I also thought this would be a good time to shift, adjust, add, take away as needed. So here we go. This is the list I posted on January 1, minus the few I deleted in Feburary, with status updates for March.

Family
1. Read and do workbooks with David daily (Project A Book A Week with David).
We’re on a roll here. We just found a series we really like and we’re reading our way through it for now. But I love all the books we’ve read in March, too.

2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Us Right Now).
Still going strong. I have scrapped so many of these already, too. This project makes me so very happy.

3. Write a daily diary of us + gratitude (Project Daily Diary)
So far, so good.

4. Start a family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights 6pm)
We’re still doing this as well. We’ve played mostly math games and dominoes this month. David looks forward to them each time so I am really happy we’ve decided to do it.

5. Sign up for a mommy/me class with Nathaniel (this still needs to be scheduled)
Amazingly this still hasn’t happened. But now that Jake’s schedule is about to change, I might have him sign up for it.

6. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
We’re doing well on these. Date nights rock.

Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Do a combination of walking and running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
So far, so good on this one, too. I’ve exercised at least 2.8 miles every single day in March for a total of 86.8 miles.

3. Do strength exercises 3x a week
I still haven’t started this. I will likely start it either mid-April or post June once I’ve reached 3.1miles which is going to stay steady.

4. Track exercise+food+sleep+water using the fitbit
I am still tracking sleep and exercise. And paying strict attention to food.

5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
I am mostly doing well on this still. 7-8 hours most nights!

6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables daily and chicken/fish 3 times a week
Doing well on the veggies. Not eating enough protein.

7. Walk at least 8500 steps a day and work your way up to 10,000
I am doing ok on this as well. Not as high as I would like but now that the weather is getting better, I might add a 15-minute walk to my days which will take me to the 10,000 point, I think.

8. Walk/Run a 10K
This is still a November goal 🙂

9. I also want to work on the coffee+graham crackers intake but not sure of the plan here yet.
Bleh. I decided to put this goal on hold for now.

Art + Photography
1. Draw and paint a portrait six days a week (Project Six Portraits a Week)
This project is on hold for now but I did actually draw one portrait for my art journal.

2. Art journal weekly (Project Weekly Art Journal)
So far, so good. The weeklong daily is definitely my way of doing this for now. I love it to bits and do not want to do anything else. It fits me almost perfectly.

3. Sketch something small daily (15-30mins)
I didn’t do well on the sketch daily goal. I made a total of 7 in March. I am aiming for two sketches a week in April.

4. Go on a Monthly photo excursion alone or with a photo buddy
Amazingly I am not doing well on this. Not sure why. I will try to schedule some ahead of time now that the weather is more promising.

5. Write weekly extended photo articles on my blog
I am not sure I want this. The idea is not appealing so for now I am not doing it. I have been writing my thoughts in general though and I do like that.

6. Figure out for once and all if I want an etsy shop and what will go in it
no progress here still.

Scrapbooking
1. Create one layout a week just for me
I’ve been doing this. Sort of…

2. Do monthly The Girls’ Paperie layouts
Done done done.

3. Do monthly Pink Paislee layouts
I am all over this.

4. Do monthly Creative Therapy layout
Did several of them, all the way to July.

5. Do monthly Write.Click.Scrapbook layout + write one more week during 2011
Did all of them up until July.

6. Successfully teach all four scheduled 2011 classes at Big Picture Classes and the one I am a part of in Masterful Scrapbook Design
So far so good on this too. Still in the middle of teaching Finding Your Way.

7. Aim to do 5-6 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
I was a guest for My Creative Scrapbook kit club for March. Between this and the two last month and the four classes, I met this goal already.

8. Submit to one magazine a month (maybe, I can’t decide if I want to do this just yet.)
I submitted in February and one layout got picked up but didn’t work out in the end. March didn’t happen. I will try for April. Not sure if I like this after all.

Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read one book with David each week (Project A Book a Week with David)
Both of these are going great.

3. Regularly attend both book clubs
I’ve sort of decided I might not want this anymore. One of them I still attend but one I might move to only attending occasionally. Still pondering this one.

Writing
1. Write at least one long thought/idea oriented blog post a week
I did well on this for March. Wrote quite a few.

2. Write one new class (if you have requests, please share)
3. Write one downloadable pdf for my site or etsy (if you have requests, please share)
I still haven’t done either of these.

4. Write+email a newsletter each month
Doing this so far! Next one goes out in a few hours 🙂

5. Possibly do NaNoWriMo (not sure of this one…)
We still have quite some time till November thankfully!!

I decided to add one more here mostly because it’s been so beneficial during January.
6. Journal at least 5 times a day. Even if just for 15 minutes a day.
I am still working on this. I am doing the art journal each night but I also decided that for April I will commit to long journaling at least twice a week.

Learning
1. Learn to draw and paint portraits (Project Six Portraits a Week)
On hold for now.

2. Take 5-6 online classes this year
I’ve already taken 8 this year. I believe I have no problem meeting this goal! I took Christy’s class in March. Taking her next class in May and taking Soul Restoration II in June. I will likely add more.

3. Learn to write an iPhone/iPad application (sort of out there but achievable – let me know if you have an app you want)
Ah. Still didn’t make any progress here.

4. Learn how to make a stop-motion movie
No progress here either.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
So this area was a struggle for me last month and I decided it might be best to revamp it. Here’s what’s left now:
1. Do a weekly-open house for Nathaniel’s moms group
Woot! I did this and it’s been a lot of fun!

2. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
We had a guest just last week. It was wonderful.

3. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a month (to work or elsewhere)
I have this scheduled for tomorrow, does that count?

4. Reach out to people I admire more often (leave more comments/send emails)
I’ve still been doing this in the form of offering help and will continue to do so.

And that’s it for March. Overall, I think I did pretty okay especially considering how stressful work was. Let’s see how productive April is.