I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t take any excuse to make goals, would I? Ha!

Well, the boys are out for the summer, even though officially the school year doesn’t end until Thursday afternoon. Their AP tests are done, their finals – if they even had finals – are over, and all graded work had to be in last week. Everyone is out for the summer! Not that it makes much difference, given that they’ve all been home since mid-March, but we’re officially into summer break now, and that means GOALS.

A few years ago, I bought a sketchbook and began a new way of doing things. I drew out a title page – Cultivate a Life I Love – and began to draw out mini-sketches of things I wanted to do or experience in life. It was like a sketchbook bucket list and planner wrapped into one, and included everything from places I wanted to travel, to short-term plans, to house renovations and loose sketches of my happy place. See the link above for pictures of many of my little sketches.

Life has changed a lot over the last two years. Some of the short-term goals I made in May 2018 are no longer applicable (like “I want to do these by my cruise in September 2018”), and of course I’ve moved houses so all the renovation stuff has changed. I’ve also entered a very different place mentally, which is a really huge step forward. This weekend, I decided to revamp the sketchbook, as a rolling “new start.” Instead of “Cultivate a Life I Love,” I called this “The Impossible Dream,” as a tribute to What Alice Forgot, which helped me so much through my ghost-trauma last year in May.

Many of my goals are the same, and instead of re-sketching, I simply referred back to the old pages and left blank space for new sketched goals in the same categories. And because I tend to get really excited about things like “new starts” and “new goals” and “new plans,” I made myself a sketch-page for goals over this summer break through quarantine. Because of course.

Goals for this summer break (5/23 through 8/17) include:

• Finish the Real Life Ghost Stories Patreon backlog
• Finish Couch to 5K (three runs to go!)
• Finish my Yoga With Adriene backlog (~45 sessions, going back to April 2019 eek!)
• Complete at 100% my 20-20 in 2020 Goals in June and July
• Finish the next phase of xeriscaping the front yard (which includes digging, leveling, and paving a path and seating area)
• Build a cat wall (for scratching!)
• Print photos for frames and birthday coasters
• Apply to SNHU for the fall semester
• Go on four (or more!) dates with Jason
• Go swimming (if possible – this can be nixed depending on covid)
• Finish my running board (for bibs, medals, motivation, etc)
• Play Just Dance with the boys
• Go to a new-to-me location
• Try a new-to-me fitness or workout
• Support a local small business (or more than one!)
• Throw a virtual graduation party for Ambrose
• Start learning Spanish again
• Crochet a bag for my Modern Witch Tarot Deck (not pictured)

These include a bit of everything – some fun, some career-oriented, some fitness-related, some creative, some for mental health. They may not all get finished, and I might add more sketches to the blank space at the bottom, but I’ll check in after August 17th (the supposed start date for next semester) to let y’all know how I did (or if I completely forget to pay attention to this at all…)