Hey all!

With 2015 coming to a close and Thanksgiving THURSDAY (yes, already!) I figured I would do a #goals post.
Hashtag. Goals. 

Haha.

Pickle & Pear: Goals 2016!

- Project life and/or finally scrapbook our wedding and honeymoon. 

I've wanted to start officially scrapping for so long and project life albums always come out so gorgeous. I would love to do one page monthly! These pages here and here really inspire me!

-Read 3 books over the course of the year

This sounds small but it totally isn't these days. I have about 20 books on the shelf with bookmarks in them that I haven't touched in ... A while. 

- Read to my little guy more. 

Same umbrella. The problem with working late means that usually when I pick him up he's either sleeping/almost sleeping or falls asleep in the car. It makes our bedtime book time non existent most days. Not an excuse though, I need to carve out more time. 

- Manage our budget better. 

This is a loaded one. We have a lot of things we could allocate differently as far as finances go. We've already done a pretty good job whittling down the unnecessary but I know there's more I can do! (Always!) My bestie Laura is the budget queen and is going to show me her ways. Thank goodness - numbers make me queasy.

- Get rid of the unnecessary. 

This goes under the previous one as well. We've done really awesome with donating our clothes and small things like that this year, if I do say so myself, but there's so much more we could donate or sell! I'm really trying in earnest to declutter our somewhat tiny apartment, it's so satisfying!

-Stay on top of eating breakfast every day. 

I am so bad at this, you guys. Like, super super awful. My husband makes me a cup of coffee in the morning, I'll drink it in one gulp as I'm putting my makeup on and get halfway through my work day before I realize - hey! I'm HUNGRY. And dizzy. And feel gross/sluggish/angry/etc. So then I usually eat something terrible for me (like a Dunkin donuts breakfast sandwich...) and feel worse. Packing small and actually healthy breakfasts is a bit of a challenge with my line of work and how much I rush around all day every day, but something I need to commit to. 

-Keep up with my blogging schedule. 

Or you know, actually come up with a proper one. I bought a planner and a wall calendar to assist with this! This is my first time actually fully committing to a planner, too! Year of change!

-Get Pickle & Pear into at least 2 local stores. 

Our craft community around here is just starting to blossom a bit more and I feel like it's a good time to get myself back out there!

- Plan one day a month for myself, one for a date night. 

My husband and I tend to be passing ships with our schedules, and we never really make time to find a sitter/have a proper date. We do payday takeout and watch a lot of our shows together but nothing beats an excuse to wear my favorite red lipstick and dress up all fancy out on the town! 

As far as a day with myself goes, back at the beginning of the summer I took some of my vacation time and had a day out in town while little man was in school to just be alone and explore! I used to do that a lot before my big guy and our little guy came into my life, and I forget sometimes that self love is super important too! I spent that whole day drinking delicious coffee, thrift shopping and wandering in the perfect weather and I'm definitely WAY past overdue for more! 

- Create a better studio space. 
 The word "studio" is a very loose term. My work space is actually a little section of our living room I carved out. I get beautiful views of the sunset every day, the snow in the winter, and the cute birdies on the fence next door. I'm in eye shot of the TV so I can watch all of my shows while I work! (Hello, Parenthood - my newest Netflix addiction) But, the redeeming qualities basically end there. Because we're renters I can't hang shelves, which means I have ugly, industrial looking rolling carts flanking each side of my desk. Infinitely functional and I'm so thankful for them, but they're not the cutest things to look at. My work station chair is actually one of my dining room chairs. My scissor fob/ stitch marker supplies sit on the bottom shelf of a particle board bookshelf that used to be my sons across the room. It's kind of a chaotic little nook and doesn't have much "flow."
I would love to revamp the space: Add some inspiring art, FINALLY buy a nice chair, and maybe even throw a new coat of paint on desk and give the old particle board shelf a face-lift once the weather gets nice again in the spring!

- Refrigerator organization!

My husband laughed at me for this one and said "this one makes no sense! You have all these other big goals and then you want to make the fridge neat?!" But I do! Ever see those pretty pictures on Pinterest of people with these fridges full of mason jars and labeled bins and those adorable fridge mats? I crave it!! Our fridge is decently sized but crammed full of nonsense and since I'm the one that does the majority of the cooking - why not make it pretty?! (And more functional, of course, but pretty totally takes the lead.) 

 -Plan at least one trip out of the state, day trip or otherwise

Last spring I went down to Gettysburg and it was such an awesome trip - I never wanted to come home! I felt so carefree and I LOVED exploring the town, trying new foods and seeing all of the history. Plus the people in town were the absolute sweetest! (in addition to the picture perfect weather all week - people were walking around in jackets and I was in sundresses!)
I haven't gone on a vacation with my husband since our honeymoon (eek!) so heading out to explore another state and seeing all that another town has to offer would be wonderful. We're thinking of hitting Vermont for our 2 year wedding anniversary so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that we can actually make this goal come true!
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And that's it for now!
I'm looking forward to this time next year where I can write about what I've actually accomplished!

If you have a "goals" post of your own, feel free to drop it in the comments! I'd love to see what you guy envision for the year!

Love,
Fawn.