Summer Plans and Goals

Summer is in full swing at the Whirrett household! As I looked ahead to this summer, I realized it’s going to be a busy summer. We already have several fun things on our calendar and I’ve added quite a few projects I want to accomplish. To be fair, my husband has added several projects as well.

To give you a glimpse into our real life summer, I thought I’d share some of my summer goals and plans, with some Instagram pictures thrown in for fun.

Vacation Plans

Travel to North Carolina to see my family. We’ll be staying near the Smokey Mountains, for a week with my parents, siblings and their families. My parents rented a house for all 15 of us. We’re looking forward to the time away and together. I’m looking forward to seeing the Biltmore while Andy and Nathan are excited about the train ride through the mountains.

Drive to Nebraska to see college friends, with a stop in Iowa at my Aunt and Uncle’s. On the way back, we’ll drive through Kansas to see my Grandpa and Grandma Barz, and stop overnight at my brother’s in St. Louis on the way home.

Visit Mackinaw island with my in-laws. We’re planning on a short getaway with them near the end of summer. I only visited Mackinaw Island when I was little and my memories are vague so I’m looking forward to this trip. Of course, I always look forward to our travels!

Home Plans

Paint the kitchen. When we installed our new kitchen counter tops, we discovered the new back splash is lower than the previous one. However, we’ve been in our house 6 years now so it’s time to start repainting some things anyway.

Clean out the attics. I’ve been working on this recently but need to be ruthless in my purging. After the attics, we’ll see what other things I can find to clean out and organize because lately, I’ve been feeling like we have too much stuff.

Organize the pantry and basement stockpile. I need to do a reorganization of all this space. It’s gotten so messy over the last couple of months. However, my husband just put a new shelf up for me in the basement so I will have more space to store things now.

Get new kitchen flooring installed. We have attempted this several times now, but it always gets sidelined. We have the money set aside. We’ve even picked out the flooring we want. Now, we just need to find a contractor and get it done!

Level the piles of dirt in our backyard. My husband’s in charge of this one but I’m still adding it to the list. With almost 30 loads of dirt dumped in our background over the past year, it will be good to see this task finished!

Blogging Plans

Complete the Elite Blogging Academy. I’m loving this class and learning so much! It’s been intense and a lot of work but very helpful. This was a good investment for me. It has me excited about the possibilities that are ahead for Joyfully Thriving.

Continue updating old blog posts and pictures. As part of the class, I’ve learned how much I need to update some of my old posts and pictures. Slowly but surely, I am making my way through them.

Post on my Facebook page regularly and grow Facebook followers. Have you liked Joyfully Thriving on Facebook yet? You can do so here. Of course, I’d love it if you’d help me grow by inviting friends whom you think would like the page to join us as well! 🙂

Get back on Pinterest and resume pinning. I love Pinterest for the ideas (and recipes!) I discover. I also love Pinterest for the traffic it brings to my blog. It’s time to get back on Pinterest again, after a temporary break, simply due to busy-ness. You can find and follow me on Pinterest here, to see what I’m pinning!

Create two dozen custom “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” books. I recently started selling custom, Biblical version of “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” as I wrote about in my most popular post to date (found here). May was a busy month with graduations so I am re-investing some of my profits in buying books and working ahead to be ready for more orders. I’m excited to see how this side business develops!

Professional Plans

Renew my Indiana teaching license. I have all the hours I need, thanks to serving on several accreditation teams this year, so just need to compile all the forms and get it submitted by the end of June.

Teach the occasional summer piano lesson and make a piano schedule for the upcoming school year. All 13 of my piano students wish to continue on, and there are always students on the waiting list.

Help my teacher husband in his classroom. There is always so much to do and since I don’t have my own classroom right now, I can help Andy in his room. A teacher’s work is never done!

Personal Plans

Complete the Make Over Your Mornings challenge. I’m so excited about Crystal Paine’s new course! This is just the motivation I need. If you want to join in this challenge, you can purchase your copy of the course here.

Drink more water and continue eating lots of fruits and vegetables. I want and need to be more healthy. These are my baby steps in those areas.

Walk lots. Nathan loves to be outside so this shouldn’t be hard to do. He’d stay outside all day if we let him!

Finish Nathan’s 12 month Shutterfly book. I have it completed up through 8 months so need to sit down and finish the last couple months.

Start on our 2015 Shutterfly family album. I just received our 2014 family album and love it (blog post to come!). That means it’s time to get us caught up on this year so far.

Read lots. I’m participating in Creative Savings reading habit challenge as well as the Allen Country library program. I’m thrilled that the library has a new program for adults! I need to set aside the time to read more.

Enjoy the summer! Part of the enjoyment comes for accomplishing projects but I equally enjoy the relaxed schedule. Now that Nathan’s walking, the opportunities for fun this summer are just beginning.

Whew! There you have it. Those are just some of my plans and goals for this summer. What’s on your list to accomplish right now?