I was reading my friend Nicole's blog today about goals she set for herself this year. I love the way she's "reminding" herself of her goals by checking in/blogging about them during each of the 4 quarters of the year. Genius! I am so good at setting goals each yet, yet so bad about keeping up with them or evening REMEMBERING what I set as a goal! So today I took a look back and made my own "reflections" on my goals for 2011! (Thanks Nicole! You can read her blog here.)

Goal 1: Read 30 Books
I realized I read an extra book last year, making my total 30 read for 2010. Therefore, I am "revising" my goal to read 31 books in 2011! Currently, I'm standing strong at 29 books read. Not bad for it being the end of September. I am in the middle of book #30 and will have to find one more book to read in these last three months of the year. And I've read some good ones! It will be fun to blog about them early next year.

Goal 2: Read through the entire Bible
Slap my wrist, I have put my book-list reading ahead of reading through the Bible! But I have confidence I can still read through it before the end of the year. During the summer of '03, I read through it in 10 weeks. I have 14 weeks left in the year now, so it seems doable. I'm going to make some progress on this one in October!

Goal 3: Eat healthier
Having a baby was actually a huge jump start for this goal of mine. Mostly from necessity! My awesome mom came and stayed with us for the first couple weeks, and she made some really healthy and tasty foods for us. We also had some great friends make us homemade meals for about a month. We found ourselves at the end of Maebry's first month of life not having eaten out once! This totally changed the way we eat meals in our household. We've definitely gone back to eating out, but I've made a mental and physical change to the WAY I eat. I've cut out DQ blizzards (so long, prego-cravings!), I have cut down on the portions I eat, and I try and make healthier choices when we do go out. I have been trying my hand at cooking homemade meals lately, and I've had a couple very successful weeks where we don't eat out at all. The last week and now this week, however, have been really hectic and we're back to "survival" mode! But as things hopefully slow down a bit in October, I hope to make this a routine for us: eating healthy, eating the right portions, and cutting out our meals eaten on the go.

Goal 4: Exercise consistently
Yeah. This is NOT happening. Unless you count all the running around we do! Exercise to me is lifting weights, stretching, walking/jogging, and getting a good sweat on. I haven't perspired since the heatwave of August (and that was merely from walking outside my house!). Marcus and I have been going for evening walks almost daily with Maebry and Brinkley, but we have come to call it "meandering" since our pace is kind of slow! We usually stop and chat with various neighbors and don't really get "exercise" from this. But I'm not beating myself up. We are raising a baby who is still less than half a year old and at least we're getting out of the house and walking around somehow! Maybe I'll get back into running or walking more on my own in the mornings once my body is fully recovered and Maebry can sit in her jogging stroller.

Goal 5: Be a better wife
I'd like to THINK that my goal is being met, but I really can't say. I'm trying so hard to work at my reactions and tone with Marcus when I get frustrated or angry. I think he would agree when I say that we are "fighting better" than we used to! It seems like our arguments are cut shorter and we are communicating a lot better, overall. We still have our moments FOR SURE but I will defer to his response to this goal. Maybe Marcus can "guest blog" about this at the end of the year :)

I'm glad to have reviewed this goals today! It helps me look forward to the last three months of 2011 with hope and a renewed desire to bring these to fruition. I hope to finish strong this year!