Monthly Goals: July Results

I kept my goals for July pretty simple. Although I wasn't quite as busy as I have been in recent months, I still knew I'd be spending a long weekend out of town ... So I didn't want to overwhelm myself with a bunch of things I knew I probably wouldn't do. I mean, what's the point of creating goals for yourself if you're not even going to attempt to achieve them?

My goals for July were:

1.  Make an effort to comment on other blogs.

2.  Remember to reply to comments on my blog via email (and not just in the post).

3.  Read at least 5 books from start to finish, 3 of which must be for the Literary Ladies Summer Reading Challenge.

4.  Cook healthier meals at least 3 times every week.

I think I did a pretty good job overall:

1.  I get a definite pass on this one. I've started trying to schedule some time each week to devote solely to reading and commenting on other blogs. I don't always do it on the same days or at the same times, but I've just been making an effort to make it a regular part of my routine. 

2.  I definitely get a pass on this one as well. It's such a silly little thing, but I actually didn't realize for the longest time that people probably weren't receiving the responses I left on their comments. I don't know why I didn't figure it out sooner, but oh well ... The problem has been solved and now I always respond via email!

3.  Done! I actually went above and beyond on this one and finished 7 books (yes, 7 ... I think this may be a new record for me!). If you're curious, I read Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, The Good Girl by Mary Kubica, Under the Skin by Michel Faber, Identical by Ellen Hopkins, A Pleasure and a Calling by Phil Hogan, Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch, and Last Days by Brian Evenson. 4 of these were for the summer reading challenge: Big Little Lies, Under the Skin, Identical, and Summer House with Swimming Pool. Reviews for Big Little Lies, The Good Girl, and Under the Skin can be found here. I'll be posting my reviews for the rest of these novels (and at least one or two more!) next week for the Show Us Your Books! link-up.

Oh, and since I like to include at least one picture on every post, here is a photo of me with Under the Skin (it was posted on Instagram previously, so it may look familiar):

4.  Well, I'm just going to go ahead and LOL all over this one. I mean, did you see this post about my weekend with Kevin? Clearly I ate all the food and drank all the cocktails and beer and Starbucks and didn't give a fuck if I couldn't fit into my pants anymore. (Well, not until my pants were actually a little too tight the following Monday.) I also pigged out when I went over to another friend's house the weekend before. She ordered pizza and chicken wings and also had tons of popcorn and beer and Jell-O shots (because we like to pretend like we're back in college sometimes). I did try to make some healthier meals throughout the month, but not enough to give myself a pass. Better luck next time, I guess.

Overall, I think I did pretty well. I wish I'd done a little better with the food goal, though, since I'd like to eventually lose a little weight and form some healthier eating habits. I originally wanted to eat a little better in July because Eric and I knew our annual health screen was coming up soon (this basically gives us an opportunity to get discounts on our health insurance through his employer). We actually were able to push it back to late August, though, so maybe it's not such a bad thing that I didn't stick with my healthy eating goal last month. It's not good, but I'm not going to fail my health screen or anything.

I'll post my August goals tomorrow.