And lighting the spark for the year and the decade.
2019 goals recap and 2020 goals - these are things I want to accomplish in the coming year. I’m up 2 goals from last year - this year I set 44 goals - but I’m focusing more on just a couple areas of my life. Goals require deep work, but a major element of deep work is rest. So I need to make sure I build in periods of rest this year to avoid burnout and to ensure I stay creative and keep some plasticity in my mind. Additionally, I feel like I’m getting to the point where I’m happier with the things I’m doing and I just want to do more of those things, so I have fewer goals/resolutions where I want to change my existing behavior, and more goals/resolutions where I want to grow a behavior or habit that I already have.
I had to get a little creative with this month’s goals cover photo because Ryder had bilateral colorectal hernia surgery (poor boo bear!) and he’s been an absolute pitiful mess ever since his surgery. He’s got a big shaved section of his rear end for the incision sites so he looks like a cross between a poodle and a feather duster and for weeks now he’s been practicing his pitiful expression for an ASPCA commercial audition. I really had no idea what to do for this goals photo - his glum outlook clashed terribly with my festive idea for a big New Year’s glitzy glam photo, and I didn’t really have any back-up options. So I looked at my sad shaved dog. And I looked at my sad muddy yard. And I picked up sticks in frustration to make a pile for the outdoor fire pit. And once I gathered enough sticks, I realized they kinda looked like a nest. A little creative rearranging later and…ta da! A giant dog nest! Add in one pathetic-looking dog, some little wings, and a creatively draped blanket and I’ve got myself a little bird-dog. Get it? Bird-dog. Har har har.
And filling my jars with light.
2018 resolutions recap, and then 2019 resolutions, goals, or guidelines - these are things I think I want to accomplish in the coming year.
And Ryder gets to be a real snow dog
It’s not too often we get a bunch of snow, so when this big storm came through I knew I had to dress Ryder up as a proper snow dog! He was originally going to be an elf for these December pics, but a combination of his elf costume that I ordered being too big by an order of magnitude and this recent snow means a holiday-styled snow dog, yay! But first we’ll look back at November’s goals.
And Ryder pretends to be a lumberjack.
When I was a little kid I thought my dad was a lumberjack. He looked just like one! He had a big full beard and he wore plaid shirts and work denim and he’d split and haul firewood for our wood fireplace. With his sharp axe he was the rugged spitting image of a lumberjack, and yet I never understood why, when I told him he looked like a lumberjack, he’d immediately start singing Monty Python.
Now, to this day, I can’t hear the word “lumberjack” without that song playing in my head. I should probably move on to more sensitive comedy sketch songs, but nope, I think that one is going to be with me my whole life - for better or for worse.
And Ryder parties with some pineapples.
“Ughhhh I’m so behind on my goals posts,” I lamented to my best friend recently.
“Liz!! Those are my favorite ones!”
“What, the goals posts?!”
“Yeah!”
“Well dang. Now I feel guilty that I haven’t been posting them.”
So yeah! Here’s a goals post. Finally.
And Ryder wears stars and stripes sunglasses
How cool is my dog Ryder? He's so cool I taught him to wear sunglasses! It was a struggle, but he wore his American-styled shades just long enough for me to fire off a few photos. In honor of 4th of July this month's photo shoot was all about the red, white, and blue and Ryder never looked so all-American!
Ryder asks, “Do these flowers make me look pretty?!” and a recap of April (and May) 2018 goals
Do you know what I have *not* been doing? Monthly goals! (Ooooooops!) My last monthly goals post was the beginning of April and I totally dropped the ball on May. For the most part, my April goals could have easily carried forward to May with a couple additions, so I recapped the two months together and came up with a fresh list of goals for June. What are your goals for this month?!
