August Agenda

I absolutely cannot believe that today is 1st August! It is freaking me out how quickly this year is going, it's almost time to start thinking about Christmas again already! Too early to start compiling my Christmas Wishlist!? No, never! Just as well really, as I actually do have a bit of a mental one going on in my head already! 

Anyway, being the first of the month, it's time to dust off July's Agenda and see how I did with my little tasks, and also to set some new ones for the coming month.

So, here were the things I had hoped to achieve in the month of July:

1. Learn to do a fish-tail plait/braid.

Mission accomplished. I actually did this one on the same day as I put up the post. Check me out, being all organised and one step ahead. You'd think that boded well for the rest of the month, wouldn't you? Yeah.....

2. Bake Macaroons and Slutty Brownies.

Fail. And this one isn't even a chore! To be honest, I think the fact that my husband's family fed us so much cake when we went to stay with them kind of put me off a bit - I literally felt sick by the time we left to come home! And I've also been ill three times this month. Maybe next time!?

3. Save my pennies.

Well. Isn't that ironic. I did indeed save as many pennies as I possibly could this month.....and then, as many of you will already know, my car essentially died and cost me a LOT more than the pittence I had saved. So actually, it was like I took this task...and achieved the complete opposite. Yay. Oh well, not to worry -  apparently I (and most of the other #bbloggers on Twitter) have won a small fortune on the South African lottery without even playing it, so all our financial problems are soon to be a thing of the past! 

(Just in case anyone missed the sarcasm there....yeah, that's what it was).

4. Get away.

I don't think this one needs much of an explanation. It didn't happen!

5. Blog every day.

Huzzah- I'm going to give myself a gold star for this one, as even though I didn't technically blog every single day, the only exceptions were when I was ill and when I was having internet problems, and in spite of this I still finished the month on thirty five posts! Win!

6. Do something crafty.

Well. I cut up an old t-shirt I never wear and made it into something else I will never wear. Does that count?

In my defence, I have ordered some studs from Ebay, so expect to see everything I own, including my dog, covered in those very soon.

So, I scored a grand total of............................2 out of 6. How embarrassing. But do you know what? I'm not really all that bothered, as I feel that I've achieved a lot this month anyway. Blogging as consistently as I have was the most important challenge to me, and I have also managed to get some exercise most days and do some more work on my secret little venture, so I feel quite satisfied in spite of my score for the month!

August's Agenda will be as follows:

1. Plan looooads of extra activities for my classes in advance.

Some of you will know that I teach English as a foreign language, and lessons start again next week. I always try to plan lots of fun activities to keep my pupils' enthusiasm levels up, but often, they only last me until about half way through the term, and then I am desperately looking for more! So this time, I am going to make sure I have more than enough at the ready so that I don't have to stress about it later on.

2. Finish my secret project.

I'm afraid I can't really tell you much about this one until it's ready, but let's just say it is a new little business venture of mine. Hopefully, I will finally be ready to reveal all in next month's recap!

3. Keep up the daily exercise.

Self explanatory, really.

4. Have a nice day out with the hubby!

Again, this one is penny-permitting, but I'm including it anyway as I wish to start the month with optimism!

Just those four for this month I think, as the first two are going to be taking up a lot of my time!

(By the way, the photos in this post are just a couple of my favourite Instagram pics from the past month.)

What tasks and activities have you got planned for yourselves over the coming month? Do you find setting yourselves goals helpful?

xx

July Agenda

- My beautiful home town -

At the end of last month, I set myself a few little goals and tasks to reach and complete, but I only allowed myself a week to do it. Being the busiest week of the year for me at work, this was probably a little bit foolish, and unsurprisingly, I didn't get very far towards achieving what I had hoped to!
So this time, I'm giving myself the whole month, which means I have absolutely no excuses for falling short, especially as I now have a couple of weeks off work with nothing much planned!

So what do I have planned for myself this month?

1. Learn to do a fishtail plait/braid.
It's just a small goal, but it's something I have been wanting to do for ages now and for some reason I never seem to find the time to figure out how to do it. Well, go me, I'm one step ahead on this one and have already successfully taught myself how!I did it about five minutes ago, but I don't see this as cheating, because I was already intending to include this little challenge on my list. It just so happened that I had a moment of motivation before sitting down to write this post, so I am off to a great start...start as you mean to go on, and all that!

2. Bake Macaroons and Slutty Brownies.
Baking was on last month's agenda, but alas, it wasn't to be. My oven is absolutely rubbish, as I mentioned before, and it takes all day to cook anything! But as I've got some free time, this shouldn't be an issue. I love baking, and it's not something new for me, but I haven't had the time to do it in an absolute age.

        

      - Not really relevant...but on the subject of baking/ food, here's the delicious dessert I had last week! -

3. Save my pennies.
This is an absolute must for this month, as I've got a lot of things coming up that are going to require funding! June was a complete nightmare for spending, and I really don't feel like I've got anything much to show for it, so throughout July, I shall endeavour to keep my disobedient little hands away from Ebay and my Paypal account, which seem to have been the biggest hindrances to my saving of late!

4. Get away.
Ok, so this is a complete and utter contradiction to number three, but given that I have time off work, and that the hubby and I haven't been anywhere nice together in ages, I'm going to make an exception and figure this into the old budget. It won't be anything too fancy, but a day and a night away is going to be just what we need to recharge after all that's been happening over the past few months.

5. Blog every day.
This is a general goal of mine anyway, and not something I see as a chore. I usually do manage to post on most days, but during July, I'm going to make the most of my free time and post more, and hopefully I'll have the chance to get lots of nice photos and put together some things I haven't had the time to do yet. I want to branch out a bit.

6. Do something crafty.
I don't know what yet. But something. I love being creative, and I've been really fidgety and restless recently because I really want to do something! If anyone has got any relatively simple craft ideas then please do let me know in the comments. Again, this was something I wanted to do last month, but didn't have the time!

And that's my lot! I am giving myself until 31st July to complete these,

Do you have any little goals or plans for the month?

xx