Update on July Goals

1. Try out some regular office hours at Love INC.

I spent the first week of the month in the office each day with Ryan, filling in for his office manager while she was on vacation. It was incredibly helpful for me to sit in that role to learn (by immersion!) how the daily operations go. I really enjoyed it, even though at times, it was overwhelming to figure out how to make it run smoothly. (It probably didn't help that Ryan said he had never seen the place as busy as it was the week I was there - ha!) After that, I spent one day each week in the office and worked the rest of the days from home. The two environments are very different, and there are pros and cons to each. But I enjoyed the change of pace, for sure. Maybe sometime I'll do a post about the difference in the two environments! 

2. Return to a regular workout schedule.

Remember how great I felt after a month of stretching? I didn't feel quite as great (even though I kept the daily stretching!) after adding workouts back into the schedule. WHEW! Even though they were manageable in every way (time, intensity, equipment, etc.), they also made me so, so sore. And then I got an actual hamstring injury. Ryan advised me to take a few days to recover, and I listened to him. After all, he's the one with the degree and the one who has to work on me when I get hurt! The whole thing taught me quite a bit about the purpose of working out, as I shared yesterday! Ultimately, I hit the reset button on the workouts and decided to keep pursuing a search for something that works better for me. (More on this in another post?) So to officially update the goal, I did work out some this month, but it did not happen every day, and I still haven't found the final answer on my next plan. 

3. Continue making plans for our tenth anniversary. 

And....done! Well, mostly, anyway. We started the month by making sure all our lodging reservations were secured, and then I moved on to mapping out the itinerary. It is done in its main form. The disadvantage of planning so early is that most places haven't released their event schedule that far out. (The bonus of getting married in the Christmas season is that holiday celebrations are underway no matter where we go. But not every location had their festivity calendar listed yet. I found what I could and worked it into the schedule. I'll keep checking as we get closer to see if I need to do any tweaking!)  We are both super excited about everything we have planned! We would be wishing it here in a hurry if that didn't mean wishing away the rest of our warm summer days.

4. Try one fun hair thing each week.

The first week of July was the last week before I got my hair cut and colored, so I had to be pretty careful about what I did. No need to accentuate the roots, right? I did a half-pull-back thing that I actually really liked. It kept the hair out of my face nicely while I worked at the office!

By the second week, I had gotten my roots touched up, so I had a bit more freedom. I did a couple of braids on one side the day we went to the fair. We were running late as we left, so I didn't get a picture until the end of the day, and it was starting to look a little bedraggled by then. Ryan said it had looked more polished at the start of the day.

The third week, I tried a Dutch braid that morphed into a ponytail. I did this the day of the parade we attended, because the forecast said it was going to be suuuuuuuuuuuuper hot, and I wanted everything out of my face. I am rusty on my braiding, but I thought it turned out pretty well, considering! 

And the fourth week, I did a twisty thing that kept the hair out of my face but still looked sort of professional. I did this on a day when I was both hanging out at home and representing Love INC for part of the day, too!

5. Do a couple more of my top ten house project items. 

Well, I didn't get the painting done. That's a sad day. I really did think this might be a good month for it, but we'll try again another time. I did, however, get all the window candles put in windows. (Now we just have to get new batteries for them.) I did not have enough to put them in ALL the windows, but it's a start. Some day I'll get more. I also put lamps in the guest room and am very happy with how that turned out. 

6. Work on decorating Ryan's office at Love INC.

This will be a continual work in progress, but it's a fine start. The paint color in his office is challenging for decorating. It's a very bright green (even though it's light, it's still REALLY bright) and doesn't match much of anything we own. We don't have a decorating budget for the office, so I'm relying on things we already own or things I can find thrifted/inexpensively. I have put a few things in there to make it feel more like home for him, and I have also begun a list of things I want to look for to continue making it a better looking room. 

7. Start my Love INC training. 

I did this! You know what I learned first in my training? Those two years at WillowBridge really helped put me in the right frame of mind to understand the work of Love INC. God wastes nothing! The training I did this month was an online, introductory, self-paced module that taught me about the philosophy of Redemptive Compassion and the work of the Clearinghouse Coordinator, which will ultimately be part of what I do in working with Ryan. I really enjoyed the speaker and learned MUCH from what she had to say! What I did this month is the most I can do at this time. I have some other trainings coming up, but I have to wait for them, because they are live (either online or in person) and have to be done on specific days. This was a great start, though, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to start learning more specifically!

Other

 * I went through all our scrapbooks for the first time since we moved and put everything in order, made sure nothing was missing/unaccounted for from the move, and put them away in proper order. I also finished/ordered three more books, since there was an unlimited pages sale, and started on our next chronological album. I also knocked out an album of a trip from a few years ago that I had never scrapbooked. There's a whole story behind that, but completing this project was good for me in a variety of ways.

* I also went through all my old journals for the first time since we moved and made sure none had gotten lost/misplaced in the move. I put them all in order and made a mental note to read through them sometime just for funsies.

* Paula inspired me to crack down on my cleaning schedule, so I returned to that in full force this month. (I blogged about my cleaning schedule here, but I had slacked off on the weekly division of chores. Thanks, Paula, for getting me fully back on track!)

* I recreated most of the signs for the Love INC office so they would reflect the new logo the national office released earlier this year. I had so much fun making them! 

* While I was creating, I also made a number of promotional items Ryan can use when he speaks at churches and events. I made a couple of fun infographics for him to share with his board, to show what he's been doing throughout the month. I really enjoyed all the creating! 

* I did a lot of research on the whole wardrobe project I started back in June. I learned so much and began looking at clothing through new lenses of what ACTUALLY works for me. I started sorting through my clothes to see what needs to go and what I should bring in to replace them. I'll do a post about this sometime. 

* Ryan and I were able to speak at the Rotary Club this month (for Love INC), which we did not know about at the beginning of the month. But we were able to put together a presentation, and I thought it went really well. And then a week later, we spoke at a church, too! It was a quick time of sharing, but we were able to be there to meet some of the local people. We really enjoyed both things!