Create 2019

Photo by Studio 7042 on Pexels.com

By now it’s basically the end of January, and many of you may have already abandoned your resolutions for 2019. Right? I get it. You get all pumped up and ready to go when we ring in the new year, and then a few weeks go by, reality sets in and you see your resolutions slowly slipping through your fingers. Well, here in the Behr household we have ceased setting resolutions every year. We are, however, firm believers in goal setting. I know, I know, they sound so much the same. But believe it or not, there’s actually a big difference.

Probably about 3-4 years ago Blake purchased Michael Hyatt’s 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever course. He and a friend completed it, and that whole year I watched incredible growth in his life. There were some kinks to work out, to be sure, but he just kept accomplishing goal after goal after goal. So the following year, he invited me to do the course with him. I wasn’t quite sure it was “for me,” but after watching him grow so much I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. So I did it with him! And you know what? It was super fun, I learned SO MUCH, and I got a whole lot more accomplished that year. We’ve been doing it together every year since. Hyatt’s whole “thing” is creating SMARTER goals for yourself. I’m a terrible goal setter. My goals are usually crazy vague and far too open ended. I have a hard time really zoning in my goals. Luckily for me I have Blake right by my side to help me narrow things down, and ask the right kinds of questions to get my goals where I need them to be. I highly recommend taking this course! The registration for the class is currently closed, but join that waitlist and sign up the second you can. It is worth every. single. penny. (P.s.-this is no way a paid advertisement for the class, I just really love it that much).

All of that to say, one of my goals for 2019 is to exercise my creativity more. That was my first goal, which is way too broad. As a creative, it feeds my soul whenever I get to create. And I love to create in all sorts of manners. Some people are exceptional photographers, and others are amazing seamstresses, while some are professional level bakers or chefs. As for me, well, I’m not an expert in anything, but I love to dabble a bit in everything. I knew I could commit to trying to really hone in on one skill, but I know myself, and how I can get burnt out doing that. I just love doing all sorts of creative things, it’s too hard to narrow it down to only one. Which got me thinking. As I worked through what I wanted my year to look like, I decided to try something new. And guys, I am so excited about it.

Every month this year, my goal is to pursue some sort of creative endeavor. At the beginning of every quarter, I’m going to map out what that specific quarter will look like. This month, my goal was to make macarons. And friends, I took off with it. Blake is so awesome and supportive, he planned an in-date for us to make them together. We made Smore’s Macarons, and other than not being able to get our marshmallow fluff to fluff up, they turned out surprisingly well. Plus, they were delicious. My Pinterest dessert board is filled with macaron recipes and I’m dying to try them all. I signed my oldest up for a macaron making class at a local Macaron Bar as a surprise. I’m so excited to tell her-and to learn right alongside her. Plus, a good friend of mine who has nailed macaron making after taking a class has offered to have me over to teach me all the tips and tricks. To say I’m excited would be an understatement.

Mmmmmmm

That marshmallow was goopy, but man were they delicious

I’ll be chronicling my creative endeavors on social media, and here on the blog using the hashtag #create2019. I would love for you to follow along! It’s gonna be seriously fun. I would love any ideas for what to create as well! I have this quarter planned out, plus a few ideas for the following months, but the calendar isn’t full yet, and I would love to have some input! As always, thanks for coming along. I’m so excited to see what this year holds for my creative soul.

Advent: Days 12-16 2017

I know I’ve been off my game this year. It’s ok. I’m letting it slide. I want to let you all in on a little secret. I don’t have it all together. I know it can seem that way so many times. We see each other once a week or so, or only through social media, and everything seems perfectly in place. I’m not saying my life always looks like that (in fact, I feel like it seldom does), but that’s often (almost always) how I view other people. It’s this lie that the enemy likes to whisper in our ears, “everybody has it together except for you….you are not enough…you’ll never own up, so just. stop. trying.” It’s super embarrassing to post this for all the world to see, but I had a little meltdown Sunday night. We had a fun, busy weekend, and we came home to a disastrous house. After we got the girls in bed, Blake went down to the basement to finish up some work that he had and I spent the next hour or so cleaning our pit of a house. The whole time I kept asking myself, “How on earth did it get this way?…I try so hard all day long, and this is still what I end up with?…Why can all the other moms out there get this, but I just can’t?…I will never be enough. I can’t do it. This is too hard.” And on and on and on. I cried myself to sleep that night. That almost never happens.

I tell you this, not because I want your sympathy or your pity. I tell you this because I know every other woman out there has felt this way at some point or another. It seems as though we are always in some sort of unspoken competition with each other. I see it in my daughters already and I try to fight those kinds of thoughts out of their sweet little heads. The enemy we face is real, he starts to prey on us while we are young, and he never stops.

Truth be told, I have a lot of good reasons for not being on top of things. We’re homeschooling, which is awesome, but we’re only in 1st grade and I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m 30 weeks pregnant. The aches and pains and limitations are real. And with our history, I’m taking every precaution possible. I refuse to push myself too hard this time. Blake just started his own company a few moths ago with 3 other partners. Everything is new, and exciting, and hard. He works 50-80 hour weeks every. single. week. It’s just a season, it won’t always be like this. But it is the season we are in now. And it’s hard. Raegan had her tonsils out a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. And while she was recovering, she came down with this awful virus that made her recovery 10x worse-and longer-and harder. We had sick kids for basically a whole month. Life. Just. Happens. Things fall through the cracks. Sometimes we can’t keep up. And that’s ok. But it is oh so hard to remember that in the moment.

I was “off” for a couple of days after that. I just felt so defeated. Then Eleanor fell off of our rocking ottoman just before bedtime on Tuesday and I rushed her to the ER so she could get stitches. The waiting room was jam packed and we were there until just after 1am. She got 3 stitches in her tiny little eyebrow that night. When I got home, the other 2 kids had woken up and didn’t go back to sleep until 4am. It was the second night in a row they had done that. Needless to say, this week has been more than exhausting. Then on Thursday morning, Blake paid for me to go get a (very much needed) prenatal massage. We went out to eat that night for my Mother-in-law’s birthday. It was so nice. Just what I needed to turn my week around. I’ve been ok since then. I still have to fight to press down those lies that I get fed all day long. But it’s a battle that I feel like I’m winning right now. The counters in my kitchen aren’t clear from the clutter that’s on them. Our laundry room needs picked up. Our floors could be mopped (even though I’ve done that just about every day this week). But our room is clean, the girls picked up their room, I’ve kept the playroom clean for 10 whole weeks now, and our dishes are washed. I’m counting my wins. Trying to focus on what I’ve accomplished instead of what I’ve not. And tonight, I am going to post what we’ve done for the past few days-it may be late, but I’m doing it, and that’s a win.

SO, all that to say, on Tuesday, we made a gingerbread house. I learned something that day: gingerbread house making is not my strong suit. Next year, I’ll probably buy an already constructed one for us to simply decorate. 😅 You guys, the struggle was real. My mom was actually able to come over for a bit to help us out with the project-so that was really fun!

 

And 30 minutes later, this is how it ended up:

Wednesday, we went through the drive-thru at Starbucks so momma could get a Chestnut Praline Latte (my absolute fave), and so the girls could each get on of those snowmen cookies they are always begging me to get for them. We had some errands to run, so this was the only picture I got.

Thursday, I gave the girls some really fun, incredible Christmas activity books from Usborne. Those books kept them occupied for the longest time.

Friday, we decorated those plastic ball ornaments with the girls. We pulled the glitter out again. It was a HUGE hit. I should have taken some “after” photos, but Blake and I had to rush out before they were done for a Christmas party. My parents helped them finish up, but I never snapped any more photos. 

And this morning, Saturday, we had our second annual Ron Swanson themed Christmas party with another family. We were having so much fun, I forgot to take pictures. But we had bacon, and eggs, and ham, and we exchanged gifts. The kids played and we parents got to talk. It was such a good, refreshing morning.

Well that’s it! Thanks for sticking with me! Even though it’s been crazy, I am truly enjoying this holiday season, and I hope you are too.