Weekly Wishes #1 // Merry Christmas!

Tonight as I was sitting on my couch scrolling through Bloglovin on my phone, having a well-deserved quiet moment after days of all kinds of crazy, I came across something fabulous.

It's called Weekly Wishes, by The Nectar Collective.

You can see the post I found here.

This is such a great concept and it's just what I need to stay motivated. Basically, you make your "wishes" big or small of what you want to accomplish for the week.  You reflect on your wishes from the last week too, and you leave pretty photo art pertaining to the week's theme.

I got so excited about this that I had to jump up off the couch, head to the computer and get started.
So here's my very first Weekly Wish.

 ♥ p h o t o l o v e ------------------

My favorite place in nature on the West Coast.  Up in the mountains.  Every time I go I am amazed again at how breathtaking it is.  Heavenly Father is an artist, truly, I am mesmerized by the beauty.

♥ l a s t w e e k ----------------------

Since this is my very first weekly wish, I didn't technically have one last week.  However I did mention in a post last week that I wanted to finally get both of my Etsy shops running, the website, and Facebook page too.  I had originally planned on getting everything together and up by the first of December... Things are tough when you also work full-time, have a toddler running around, and are preparing for the holiday season, so I got a little behind schedule.  Okay a lot.  BUT I did manage to finally get things running this week- the pages don't have everything I want on them, they're not perfect yet, and they still need a lot of work, but the important part is the progress, right? I'll just keep telling myself that anyways :)

♥ t h i s w e e k ----------------------

Build a realistic schedule and budget so I can start stickin' to it.  This New Year we as a family have three main resolutions (which I will discuss more about soon).  But these are two of the three; a budget and a schedule.  Budgeting is something I have tried and failed at more times than I care to admit. Basically what it comes down to is I set completely unrealistic expectations, so we always cave in and use the money how we "need" to.  I'm really excited about using the envelope system, and this week I want to get going on that to be ready for the New Year.   As far as scheduling, this is mostly a personal thing, but it will absolutely affect my family.  I get so caught up with my giant messy to-do list that grows faster than I can keep up with- and since it's all in my head I often forget things, and then hate myself for it.   I quit my job this month thinking that would fix the problem, but I learned quickly that the problem is time management and I suck at it.  I need to sit down and make a legitimate work schedule for this month, make sure I have a sitter lined up, actually use my pretty planner so I know what's going on, and start organizing my thoughts, ideas, and plans.

Oh, and also to have an awesome Christmas.  My grandpa is flying in from my hometown- International Falls, Minnesota.  I haven't seen him in years, and let me tell you he is one outstanding person.  Aside from that, he gave me some of my favorite Christmas memories, I'll never forget my Christmas Eve personal visit from Santa Clause (he was very convincing, I grew up really believing he was Santa), and going to his house the next morning for Christmas pancakes. My daughter and husband will be meeting him for the first time tomorrow and I am going to soak up every minute we have with him this week, it will be a wonderful Christmas.

♥

A Little Holiday Chit Chat

Growing up, my family's Christmas tradition was to open a pair of pajamas Christmas Eve, and the rest of the presents Christmas Day.

Since my parents and my husbands' parents had that tradition in common, we're pretty covered on the jammies.

Our tradition is a new Christmas book every Christmas Eve.  Starting last year and going on forever, we wrap a Christmas book for our little one and on Christmas Eve she (they someday?) open it up and read it before bed time.  I'm excited to keep adding to our collection so we have lots of fun holiday books to read in the days leading up to Christmas.

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Merry Christmas Everyone!