We have had the most delightful weekend celebrating Will’s 37th birthday! Really, all the fun started on Monday, which was Halloween (Sing 2, anyone!?), followed by an evening at the Drive Shack for a double date with Emily and John, then Friday we went for a family hike and ate at Torchy’s Tacos with the whole family, and Saturday included a high ropes ziplining course near us and the NC State game! A lot of fun, and I absolutely sabbathed so hard today and took an almost 3 hour nap (hence the late night blogging!)

October was so good, and so full. It started out with me having Covid, and then getting better just in time for the kids fall break. We stayed home the whole time, I got to photograph a birth (!), and we planned a simple event every day of fall break to enjoy together. I think I’ll share our little staycation fall break soon - it really was sweet! But between Covid, fall break, and then Strep (Milly) and some weird 3 day fever virus for Benji last week, and another cold for me… I just put my head down and kept going.

I texted a friend tonight in response to her question “How are you?” and said (after a week of no sickness), “Thankfully we’ve been healthy and it feels like such a massive gift to be able to just do life. I’ve felt so behind on just normal things - cleaning out the garage, etc - it felt to fun to do that kind of house maintenance bc usually I’m sick or taking care of someone who is sick. We celebrated Will’s bday this weekend and just had a lot of fun and outside time which was so great!”

NOTHING makes me more grateful than being outside with our family, all healthy.

So here we are, November!

NOVEMBER GOALS

• Blog twice ✌🏻 (one down, one to go!)

• Try new budgeting Software with Will

• Record all Podcasts for Nov and Dec of 2022

• Q1 Planning and End of year celebration with Sammy Jo!

• Schedule alllll the holiday things and put them in our calendars. Reservations and all.

• Benji’s Baby book : Months 1-12 pages

• Edit all 2022 photos through October

• Complete Christmas Gameplan and go over it with Will! (Podcast coming soon!)

• Get to the gym / workout outside at least twice every week

Here were my September / October goals. I don’t believe I completed one of them and I was very grateful to have read all of your kind comments from my last goals blogpost before realizing this! It made me smile and want to keep writing, instead of wanting to give up again. So thank you!

• Blog once a week

• Start our Christmas shopping list and budget

• Choose 5 go-to fall outfits

• Implement theme hours for my 1 work day (household, deep work, emails + communication, spiritual growth, etc)

• Edit all 2022 photos through August

• Benji’s baby book

• Podcast content plan for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023

• Write out a music project that’s been on my mind

Here’s to progress, getting outside, staying healthy, and planning all the holiday things!

Gina Zeidler

New goals, who dis? 🥴

But really it has been a HOT HOT minute since I have done a monthly goals post. And I’m not quite sure how to feel about it at the moment. But I’m going to give it a try.

(How’s that for starting three sentences with conjunctions? I digress.)

Here’s what I know. I have been in my feelings about a lot of things lately, and rightfully so. It’s been a challenging year of sickness, a year of adding a 4th kid to our tribe, and a year of not writing or working or creating much at all. I’ve felt a little bit lost, while feeling so very happy to be growing our family. Motherhood is something else, isn’t it?

When you feel lost, it’s hard to know where to start again. So I’m just going back to what feels like me: writing, taking pictures because I love to, and even writing down a few goals for this month. (If you didn’t know, this is something I did every. single. month. for years and years and years. I don’t think I missed a monthly goals blogpost for 8 years straight when the NRP blogpost was alive and well!) This blog is the perfect little house for those things.

I feel some fear doing this, as weird as that sounds. I used to do this all the time, and now… I just don’t. It’s easier to not have goals. It’s harder to set goals and then not reach them.

I’d also like to add that it’s been a much needed break for me, and there’s no rule that says you have to publish goals for them to be real. I’ve had plenty of goals that no one has seen or known about, and that has been very good for me in this season. I’ve also had months of not setting official goals, and that has been good for me, too.

But I remember the simple act of writing down what I wanted to do and sharing it on my blog, and how it held me to something. It made me stop and think, “what do I really want to do with this precious month.” Whether or not anyone ever read it, I knew I had put it out there, and I had thoughtfully curated my list, and I knew it really was something I wanted to do because only the most important things made it.

So, hey September! I’m gonna set my goals again and try it out here and see how this sits.

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it.”

— Dale Carnegie

This quote is perfect for me right now, not because I want to take action on my goals (which I do), or take action in some grandiose way, but because I’m afraid of writing and sharing them. The simple act of writing will hopefully breed a bit more confidence and courage in me.

SEPTEMBER GOALS

• Blog once a week

• Start our Christmas shopping list and budget

• Choose 5 go-to fall outfits

• Implement theme hours for my 1 work day (household, deep work, emails + communication, spiritual growth, etc)

• Edit all 2022 photos through August

• Benji’s baby book

• Podcast content plan for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023

• Write out a music project that’s been on my mind

Have you benefitted from sharing your goals? Or do you like to keep them to yourself?

November is my December! This year, because of sweet baby Ray #3 on the way, my work finish line is this month. My Christmas finish line is this month. Honestly, I feel like this month is IT for me, because I know how it is to be in newborn la la land, and I’ll pretty much be unavailable to do anything but nurse and sleep and eat the first few weeks after this sweet baby arrives! I’m due December 10th, and goodness I’m looking forward to the glorious Christmas I’m about to have! Snuggling a new baby, being at home, adjusting to life as a family of five.

I digress… back to November! I hope this inspires you to do things ahead of time this year, because whether or not you have a baby, planning ahead for the holidays is one of the best things you can do to relieve stress and be present. So while I have a hard deadline of a baby being born, you can TOTALLY determine your own deadline and get things done early!

Here’s to having a productive November so we can relax in December!

November 2018 Goals

• Read the Life Giving Home with the Nancy Ray Book Club

• Re-read Supernatural Childbirth

• Finish baby girl #3’s nursery

• Finish shopping for all of Christmas!!

• Host Thanksgiving Dinner at our house

• Finish 2017 Family Album

• Finish Lyndon’s Baby Book

• Launch new website (SUPER excited to share this project so soon!)

• Finish our Master Bedroom

• Photograph our home

• Go on maternity leave officially!

• One on one time with each of my girls before Baby 3