Hello everyone! Somehow, in the blink of an eye, it’s now April and 2019 is 25% over. This is insanity, people!!! Anyways, life has been pretty busy over here and I have not been posting as much as I would have liked. The girls are crazy toddlers and I’m lucky to get out of the house each morning with my head on straight. That being said, I thought it would be a fun idea to reflect back on the first few months of this year and how I am tracking to my 2019 goals and intentions (you can read that post here – I know I know, I still need to move all of my older posts to this new platform… it’s on my ever-growing To-Do list!).

Be Present, Be Mindful, Be Patient. 

This is my mantra for the year, as I feel it accurately reflects areas of myself that I want to work on. I want to be less tied to my phone, more mindful of my actions, and more patient with my girls and myself. Admittedly, I am guilty of playing the comparison game and being too hyper focused on being active on social media (especially Instagram). This is something I am really trying to work on, as I really do not want to be the parent that is ALWAYS on their phone. I want to be present in the moment so I can actually live through these experiences instead of watching them out of the peripheral of my eye as I scroll through Instagram or Twitter. With that, I do feel like I have been better about this! I’ve stopped caring so much about consistently posting to Instagram and trying to create those perfect curated moments. I’m putting my phone away more and more when I’m with friends and just trying to live more in the moment. Patience… well that is a daily battle I face, but I am taking it one day at a time. My patience is mostly tested with the girls, as truthfully, this age is HARD. My girls are amazing and I love them, but they are 2 and a half, and with that comes daily testing, tantrums, and fits. In the heated moments where my patience is gone and I’m about to go nuclear, I try to take a step and take a different  approach or gain another perspective on how to handle the situation. It doesn’t always work, but I’m actively trying different approaches to see if there are better ways to diffuse situations. I’ll keep you all posted if any actually work (HA!) 🙂

In the beginning of the year, I also mentioned that I intended to write down weekly goals, along with my larger goals I hope to accomplish this year. Well, happy to report that I have actually been doing this! Every Monday morning, I start my day by writing down 3-4 weekly goals that I hope to achieve that particular week. It can be something as simple as “go to the gym 3x” or “finish my book”. As someone who is Type A and LOVES to make lists and then subsequently check things off those lists, this has been a game changer for me in getting things done. I am so much more intentional about my wants/needs and writing them down somehow makes me commit to getting it done.  If you are like me and also feeling like you never accomplish the things you want to because life gets in the way, try this and see if it helps.

Ok, enough of that! Now onto my progress with my 2019 goals…

2019 Goals:

• Travel to a new state and/or visit two new cities. Ok, sadly, I have not made ANY progress towards this goal. UGH. I am dying to travel somewhere. ANYWHERE. So long as it’s not work related ha. I need to add to my weekly list to just book a dang trip and then that way I’m committed to going. More to come on this one…
• Launch my photography business website. DONE! I finally launched my photography (and new blog) website right here at mackenzestevenson.com. I am so so excited! While I still have a lot of work to do on it, it’s up and running for the world to see and that’s all I wanted. I also just created a new email address for my business, which was another goal of mine, so things are really starting to move.
• Be more consistent with blogging. Whelp, haven’t really done this one either. This is only my second or third post for the year, which means I’m averaging maybe 1 a month.. no good. I’ve been trying to think through why I haven’t been able told to do this and I think it’s comes down to 2 reasons: 1) I’ve been more focused on starting my photography business and 2) I don’t have any sort of plan for my blog posts. Maybe it’s time I start sketching out blog post ideas and blocking off time to shoot photos for the posts. Almost like an editorial calendar, of sorts. I know other bloggers do this so it may be time for me to, as well. Will report back on how this goes.
• Save more, buy less! I successfully completed No Shop January and may look to do it again soon. I’m definitely trying to buy less and being more thoughtful about my purchases, rather than impulsively buying trendy items that I will likely only wear once. As I write this, I just came back from the best TJ Maxx/Homegoods and didn’t buy one thing while I was there, so that’s a win for sure! All jokes aside, I admittedly can be better about saving more, so definitely a goal I’m going to continue to work towards.
• Train for a 5K and run one within the first half of 2019. Ok, I’ll admit that I TOTALLY FORGOT this was one of my goals… whoops! While I have not been full-on “training” to run a 5K, I have incorporated exercise back into my life and for the first time since high school, actually have a fitness routine down that I HAVE STUCK WITH SINCE DAY 1. Guys, this is HUGE for me. I am the queen of excuses when it comes to working out, but I have BBG to thank for getting me back on the fitness train. I am beginning Week 9 of BBG 1.0 this week (Week 13 if you count the 4 weeks of BBG Beginning (like a pre-training course) I also completed, which I do count because those first 4 weeks nearly killed me – HA!). I plan to dedicate a whole post to my BBG Journey once I have completed the 12 week program, as I have never felt better. I’m mentally and physically stronger than I have ever been. All of this being said, I have been doing more cardio and do intend to sign up for a race. Now that it’s top of mind, let’s hope I actually commit to finding a race and signing up for it! Side note: I just purchased these APL sneakers and I am OBSESSED. The perfect lightweight sneaker for strength training. Also, they are currently on sale at Lululemon!

• Read at least 50 books this year. I’ve made a lot of progress towards this goal! I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again – Audible has saved me!!! I love to read but finding large chunks of time to sit down and read a book is difficult these days – unless it’s nap time on a Sunday and I have miraculously gotten all of the things done around that house that need to get done (#doubtful). That being said, between errands, chores, exercising, and commuting, I am flying through audio books.  We’re only ~3.5 months into the year and I’ve already “read” 25 books! I feel confident I’ll exceed this goal by the end of 2019 (#bookworm). What are you all reading? I’m currently reading The Huntress by Katie Quinn and am LOVING it. Has anyone else read it??

• Take a photography class. While I haven’t taken a formal class, I did have a mentor session with one of my favorite photographers recently. It was so nice to talk to someone about my long list of questions around technical aspects of my camera and also just general advice on getting a business off the ground. I did finally invest in a good camera and lens (I had previously been renting all of my equipment!), which was a huge step and probably the scariest purchase of my life. LOLz. But look how pretty it is!

• Take another solo vacation. While I don’t have my solo trip scheduled yet, I 100% intend to take one. Last’s year trip to FL was one of the best things I’ve ever done for myself (you can read more about that trip here) so that will MOST DEFINITELY be happening again. Everyone needs a few days to rest and recharge, and I intend to take mine. 🙂

So while I haven’t tackled all of my goals just yet, there is still plenty of time left in the year to cross these off my list! At this point, I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made and plan to keep that momentum going.

Also, can we just discuss how happy I am that Spring is almost here — is anyone else so over winter?! This past weekend was so nice out, with mid-60 degree weather and sunny skies. We brought the girls to the playground and they had such a blast swinging on the swings and going down the slides. I can’t wait for the warm weather to be permanently here!

Ok folks, that’s all I’ve got for now! I hope you all have a great start to the week!

Xo, MacKenzie