Quarter #1 Reflections

At the beginning of the year, I decided that I was going to think about goals, both setting them and reevaluating them, quarterly in order to make sure they fit my life and to keep me more accountable.  The areas I want to focus on in each quarter are personal, family/relationship, physical, financial, professional and a fun seasonal bucket list items. Let's dive right into quarter one reflections. (everything in blue is a reflection)

PERSONAL - good 7.5/10 with some goals needing extra attention 

• Reading Goal:  10/10!  I am actually 2 books ahead of schedule, which is good because late spring, June specifically will be too busy to do much reading.  Here are the books I've read.  
• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team   ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (non-fiction)
• The Wish by Nicholas Sparks  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Many Lives of Mama Love: A Memoir of Lying, Stealing, Writing, and Healing by Lara Love Hardin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The Third Gilmore by Kelly Bishop ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (audio-book)
• The Unweding by Ally Condie  ⭐⭐⭐(audio-book)

This is a MUST read book.  I am calling it my favorite of 2025 and it's only the beginning,
but it's that good.

• Plan our Venice/Paris trip, including booking everything by end of January. 9/10 I just have a restaurant for Disney Paris to book at to finalize one more time our day to day itinerary.  I can't wait to share it with you all!

• Work on Halie's graduation scrapbook.  Specifically go through each year and select pictures to create a digital scrapbook. 5/10 
• Create another month long meal plan for February/March. 10/10 and am loving my new cookbook Seriously, So Good: Simple Recipes for a Balanced Life. 
• Keep a gratitude/refection journal 5/7 days a week. 8/10 fell of the last few weeks because my morning routine has changed.
• BLOG once a week for this first quarter! 8/10 sigh. 

PHYSICAL - excellent 8.5/10 

I've mostly kept to this schedule and have really been consistent with 2x/week strength training even if sometimes its only 20 minutes instead of the 30 minutes. 

        Monday - Spin

        Tuesday - Run & Weights

        Wednesday - Rest Day

        Thursday - Weights

        Friday - Rest Day

        Saturday - Long Run

        Sunday - Yoga

FAMILY/RELATIONSHIPS - success 10/10

• Host Halie's 18th birthday with her friends (wine-tasting and charcuterie board theme table, at her request). 10/10 so much fun and I built my first balloon arch!!!!
• Special one-on-one date with Halie.  10/10 Tattoo date!  She already has a second one.  Yikes!
• Plan something for Logan's birthday with friends in February. 9/10 Planned a day date of skiing on a trail we have been talking about for years and a dinner out at his favorite restaurant, so just missing friends but we had a great time just the two of us! 
• Host book club at the end of January and plan a date with friends at least once a month. 10/10 
• Continue to walk 3/week with my husband. 9.5/10 thank goodness for the pups to keep us accountable.
• We also got to host our nephews and niece for a few days without their parents, building amazing memories with them and my sister and her husband came in March for a few days for their yearly visit.
• My grandma also had an unfortunate accident resulting in hip surgery at the age of 93.  This of course was a worry and required daily hospital visits, but she is at home now doing very well.  Time spent with family is never wasted!

PROFFESSIONAL - completed 10/10

• Read The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fabel by Patrick Lencionie. 
• Update my professional education resume.  
• Complete my Assessment for Teaching Framework for our new teachers. 
• A & H Snapshots: focus on posting 2x/week on my IG page and FB page.  Enjoy the slower time in this area. 

FINANCIAL - success 10/10

• No spending January!  I actually had a no spending February as well in terms of clothing but did buy items for a cabin bathroom refresh, to be reveled in Spring/Summer.

FUN SEASONAL BUCKET LIST 5/10

• Go outdoor skating.  X
• Go sledding/snowboarding at the local hill. ✔
• Hot chocolate station for our home. X
• Go cross-country skiing at least 3 times before the beginning of March. ✔
• Go to our cabin at least once and enjoy the winter in the woods. ✔
• Do at least 7 items off of the "Winter Photo Challenge" and share. X

Overall, I am pretty happy with how the first quarter of the year has gone.  I need to do a deep dive into what I envision for spring.  Tell me a) how the first quarter has gone for you and b) what you are excited about in the next quarter.

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First Quarter of 2022 Check-In & Reflection

With the arrival of spring I am feeling my lighter and happier. As the days get longer and the sun shines more often, my spirts are lighter and happier and I hope yours are too.  Thanks for stopping in.

Welcome to the first Monday of May. First Monday of the month I always try to do a post that's related to my current life so you can get a glimpse into my family and day to day happenings.  The other Mondays are usually fashion focused posts.  

I am trying to sit with my goals quarterly to check in.  One of the reasons I am choosing to do it this way is not only to keep myself accountable to them but rather to reassess if the goals that I had set out are actually what I still want to invest time and energy into, asking myself, "Do these goals still serve me?"  Let's dive in!  

 

                                                     OPPORTUNITY

I needed this word when 2022 began and yet another trip was cancelled.  This word has come in handy so far and I have looked at various opportunities that life is providing.  Some opportunities that I have valued have been:

• First trip to the mountains was incredible!  Read all about it here and here.  I love a good hot holiday but I could see us doing thing more often.
• With the virus changing and all of us being boosted we took a chance and have a trip book to Italy for the end of June!

At the moment, I am not using the word as much in my day to day life because I feel like I am in a good place.  We will see if it shows up in other places as the year progresses.

1.  Relationship with my girls.  8/10 

Our trip to the mountains was great for reconnecting and doing something as a family that we all love.  I also enjoyed spending some time with Anya during her dance completions this year!  Being able to watch her with her peers and onstage was much missed, more so than I thought.  It was a really nice way to encourage her and tell her how proud I was of her.  In the same way, Halie is riding more often and I am usually the one that picks her up afterwards, and she is always in  a good mood and chats about school, friends, upcoming events, anything and everything.  I am really trying to tune into the small moments with the girls.  

Also, we have revisited NO CELL phones at the dinner table and that's going well.

2.  Read and write more.  7/10 

I've discovered that I DO NOT like non-fiction books as audio books.  I need to be able to sticky note or highlight.  However I've discovered I do enjoy listening to light reads while getting ready in the morning, meal prepping or driving.  I've also been reading a steady amount, but still have several non-fiction books to dive into on my nightstand.  I plan to do a book review post the first Monday of June, so June 6th.  As for journaling, I haven't done any at all, but I have gotten into a really steady blog groove so that's a win.

Just finished Four Winds by Kristin Hannah and it's a MUST read.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

3.  Photography.  8/10

This is going pretty well.  As a side business and learning opportunity I am really exited to say that I've moved forward in a number of small ways.  I've had the opportunity to do two newborn baby shoots, get a in home studio set up (see Anya's dance photos above), had Easter mini-sessions and a couple of teen dance sessions.  Now that the weather is improving I am looking forward to getting outdoors for family and a couple of grad photoshoots.  Also, I have a new IG page for must my photography so please follow along!

4.  Fitness!  8/10 

I wasn't sure what I should rate myself as on this.  I am actually doing really well on the self-care and wellness front.  I have continued to use dry needling and stretching consistently and it seems to be helping my back, glutes and hip problems that were causing chronic discomfort and pain.  I am running and spinning 4x/week, along with some strength training once a week, and enjoying walks with my husbands and pup.  So I actually feel really good and balanced.  What I am not moving towards is doing a mini-triathlon.  I haven't returned to lane swimming and honestly it just doesn't seem to fit my current schedule, so I think I might be legging it go.  Sometimes we just need to reassess if something that's still important and I don't think it is for me.

5. Finances.   0/10

Not that I am not doing well, but I actually haven't done, reflected or changed anything in this area at all.  So I am giving myself a 0 because it's absolutely in the same place as I was at the beginning of the year.  I do think my husband and I need to sit down and see what our monthly spending looks like to get a good picture of how inflation all around is impacting our budgets, but we haven't.  So maybe next quarter.  LOL.

YOUR TURN!  How are you getting on with your word of the year or the goals you set out for yourself at the beginning of 2022?