Briana's 2014 Goals

Melinda shared her goals for 2014 this morning, and now it's my turn. She kindly came up with a theme (and all the categories!) that was not the stereotypical New Year's resolutions. Those sorts of statements don't work for me, but discussing short and long term goals is wonderful and should be done through out the year. We will definitely be keeping y'all updated on the relevant goals. And if you want to read another perspective, my sister-in-law wrote a wonderful piece on why she is also not a fan of New Year's resolutions.

Beauty: I am pretty satisfied with my makeup routine. I switch it up enough to not get bored, but I also have a set of basic steps that I can do to look presentable quickly. However, I never ever do my hair just for the fun of it. If my hair is dirty and I don't have time to wash it, I will put it up in a bun or a braid and sometimes I experiment with scarves. I would like to try out new hairstyles this year that aren't necessarily because I don't want to wash my hair that day. You can follow along with which styles interest me on my Stylin' Pinterest board.

Health: I will continue to zumba with my sister Rebekah twice a week. The other night I had a brief lapse in judgement and actually considered running. Haha no. But perhaps I should find another source of exercise? That one is still open for discussion. As for diet, we do a really good job of eating our vegetables but I want to take advantage of the winter fruit season in Florida. I will prepare and serve fruit to J and myself every day while the strawberries and grapefruit are being picked. Once citrus and strawberry season are over in Florida, I will research what other Florida fruits are fresh at that time. Summer here is really too hot for a lot of farming, so that may be tricky, but overall I want to eat more fresh produce while it is in season locally.

Finance: As you may know, J and I moved back to my hometown in Florida last May. We decided it was the perfect opportunity to start our own business. Right now we have two in the works which is very exciting, but of course owning your own businesses is not easy. I have really improved in budgeting our money since we have been mostly living out of our savings account (more on that later!). Our short term goals are to earn enough money to cover at least 75% of our living expenses for the next few months. We hope to break even by May and to restore our savings account to it's former number by this time next year. These goals are definitely attainable, but that last one will be a stretch.

Spiritual: My number one goal is to attend church more regularly. J and I go to the church I grew up in (and the church where our wedding took place) and we recently hired a new preacher. He is wonderful and enthusiastic about leading our congregation. Now I just need to wake up and get dressed! I'm shooting for three out of every four Sundays we are in town.

Creative: J's parents gave me a sewing machine for Christmas and I can't wait to use it! I took a sewing class when I was in elementary school and have played around with sewing from time to time, but I have no real training. I want to make a few skirts and actually learn real techniques rather than my traditional approach of just winging it (see DIY monogrammed gloves). I also will finish those Habitat chairs and my end table.

Intellectual: This one is similar to Melinda's. I will read more often in 2014, at least one novel a month and a handful of news stories every week. I actually already started working on this goal! After Christmas, I rediscovered iBooks on my laptop and read the first novel of Sherlock Holmes. The wonderful thing about iBooks is that most of the old pieces of literature are available for free download because their copyright has run out. If you have ever wanted to read Jane Austen's entire work, you should definitely check it out! This month I will finish the second novel of Sherlock Holmes. And my secondary reading goal is to finish all the novels I start. I have a bad habit of picking up books, enjoying them, but then taking forever to finish because I start reading other things. I need to finish Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment. I see a theme here..

Blog: My favorite topic for the blog is Thrift Store Finds. I will be more diligent about taking pictures of cool/wacky things I spot in our many thrift stores and then actually sharing them with y'all. And since I can't help myself when it comes to buying interesting and cheap furniture, I will step it up on the DIY restoration blogging. Believe it or not, I am totally not an arts and crafts person. I don't love it like many bloggers do. However I am extremely particular. I came to the conclusion that I must get involved in crafty things so that I can have the look and style I want. Overall, Melinda and I want to continue providing interesting content about the Posh Purpose lifestyle but this year we will have better pictures (work in progress).

Melinda and I love writing this blog together and we hope y'all enjoy reading it. I am very excited to see how we improve in 2014. Now that the holiday season is over, we will be focusing on topics that are relevant to daily life, such as budgeting, housekeeping, beauty habits, and recipes. We won't forget the fun stuff, though! Melinda and I have lots of party ideas to try out and of course share with you. And I know y'all are dying to hear about my foray into sewing.


March update
February update
January update