0 July Report Card

Click here to see my July resolutions and my reasons for setting them.  

Sorry this is up so late today. It took me a little longer than I expected to figure out the linky tool.

Jared and Anna's wedding photos | D
I made a lot of progress, but I'm not really close to done. I just didn't devote as much time to this as I should have.

25 items from the bucket list | B
I knew this was ambitious. I sort of expected that I wouldn't reach 25 items, but I hoped that setting such a high number would light a fire underneath us to get some things done. Well.. we did! We didn't get 25 things done, but we did cross of a few! Official Count is 10.. which is much lower than 25, but there are some "ongoing" items that we worked toward this month, so I'm not going to judge myself too harshly on this one. Sometime next week I'll post an update on the adventures we've been having!

Revamp the Budget | F
I completely forgot about this one. Didn't even start. But I just wrote myself a note and stuck it on my computer.. Hello, August Resolution number one.

Reorganize Dining Room Area | C
I can't really take credit for what little was done.. Josh organized the game shelves on his own. We've talked about selling our dining room table and replacing it with a desk, but we haven't done more than that.

Weekly Photo Shares | F
HA. Obviously.. this didn't happen. I even have a couple posts that are all but ready to share with y'all. This is where that laziness I was telling you about yesterday comes in!

Overall Grade | D
Well, let's hope y'all earned better grades than I did. But even if you didn't - now it's your turn to share! It's easy - just click on the blue "Add your link" button at the end of this post, and paste the link to your post (not your blog's home page). If you don't have your Report Card written up yet, don't worry! This link-party will be open for a week (closes August 7th at 12:00 noon CST). Finally, visit each other and leave encouraging comments! :)

13 Seems to Me, I Owe Y'all Some Things.

I've been watching too much Firefly. My inner voice is starting to sound like Malcolm Reynolds. Can you tell by the Western flair of this post's title?

First, I owe y'all a couple of Monthly Resolutions-related posts. And a link up party on top of that! Ah! Don't forget about the July Report Card Link-Party coming up! Grade yourselves on your monthly resolutions, then share with the class so we can encourage each other! (Don't worry, there'll be a post up in a couple days explaining the whole shebang a little better).

Second, I owe you a giveaway! I've been sitting on this great product giveaway for almost a month because I'm still trying to figure this stuff out as I go along. Keep your eye out for this giveaway, folks - it's a good one!

Finally, I owe everyone an apology for falling off the radar. I could cite busyness, but I'm also guilty of lack of inspiration and - let's be honest - plain ol' laziness. I'm not going to write too much more about it (I get tired of posts like this), but I do want to say that I've missed you guys.. and I've missed blogging. I hope y'all can be patient with me while I get back into the swing of things. Thanks! :)

So I've already mentioned an upcoming giveaway and my report card/August resolutions posts, but I also have a few other posts planned. Sidenote: I just went to see how many drafts I've started this month without finishing - would you believe that I have fifteen from this month and FORTY drafts total?! Seems I need to do some housekeeping! I was going to tease you with a couple subjects, but with so many drafts saved up.. that's something I'll have to wade through as I go.

I'll be sure to fill y'all in on what we've been up to this month, too. In the meantime, what's going on with you guys?? Didja miss me? :P

21 Blimey Cow Photo a Day Recap

Are you ready for a boatload of pictures? Because they're comin'! Last month, Blimey Cow hosted a photo-a-day challenge for the month of June. All three of us participated, leaving 90 photos in our wake. Ninety! I thought I'd share them here for those who weren't able to follow along in real time. Keep track of your favorites because I want to know! :P 

01. selfie (no mirrors!)
I think it's hilarious that we're all making similar faces in these. That was not planned!

02. grilled cheese sandwich
cow-shaped | sentimental | deli-style

03. something ridiculous
Jordan's friend "Rainbo" | the current political system | Backyard Survivor tribe name

04. messy
making sugar roses | Josh's desk | dirty dishes

05. how you support your local chivalry
Jordan holds open the door | Josh spends the day chilling with Kelli | Kelli makes pancakes for Josh 

06. something you LIKE
fan mail | board games | game night with family

07. something you LOVE
apple cider vinegar | filming videos | Josh/being married to Josh

08. #summerofblimeycow
summer bike-riding | summer board games | original blimey cow t-shirt

09. make it a milkshake, baby
smoothies, really..

10. mom
Jordan's mom as Big Head Kid | normal mom | me and my mom

11. messy
garage troll | exhausted from editing | messy birds

12. foodie
a deer (classy, Jordan) | the pizza that Josh made into a milkshake | tacos!

13. eyebrows
lol at Jordan's face.. (p.s. these pictures all in a row are kind of creepy)

14. your siblings
Josh and Amy filming | Josh, Amy, and Jordan 15 year later | me and my brothers heading to the pool

15. sunset and/or cat photo
lightning | sunset | sunset AND cat. boom. 

16. inspiration
the Adventures in Odyssey live show! here's my recap of our trip, if you're interested.

17. dad
happy father's day!

18. messy
dead butterfly | Josh needs a haircut | Kelli's chipped nail polish

19. 21st century america
downtown Nashville | broken political system | big pharma/big agra's war on small farms

20. something you WANT
to be better at geography | to be ahead of schedule | this cute dress

21. something you NEED
sunlight | to clean out the spare bedroom | to go grocery shopping 

22. your favorite superhero (aka batman)
I mean... obviously. 

23. pajamas
lol at Josh and I posting the same 6-month-old picture

24. your best friend
Sarah is Jordan's BFF | Kelli is Josh's BFF | Josh is Kelli's BFF

25. messy
Jordan's desktop/life to-do list | the weather | Mondays

26. big head kid impression
Sarah's niece impersonating big head kid | josh | kelli

27. a favorite quote
the most quotable movie ever | Josh's favorite quote | Kelli couldn't decide

28. joyous news!
Jordan grew up with Josh and Amy | Josh got a haircut | Kelli completed SS paperwork

29. best song ever
Thus From my Lips, By Yours, My Sin is Purged | Snowbirds and Townies | anything by Brooke Waggoner

30. mirror selfie
Jordan clearly spent the most time on his.

Did you participate in June? Which days were your favorites??

15 July Resolutions

Happy July, friends! That means this year is already halfway over. Can you believe it?

For those of you who are new - each month, I share 5-6 resolutions to work on throughout the month. After the 30-31 days, I'll grade myself and share my "report card" with you all here. Let's get to those resolutions, shall we?

Edit Jared and Anna's Wedding Photos
It's been two and a half months since Jared and Anna's beautiful wedding, and I've barely touched the photos beyond my initial look-through. Sadly, that means that Jared and Anna still don't have very many photos from their beautiful wedding! This needs to be a priority. Here's a taste of the very few that I've already edited:

Cross off at least 25 items from the Bucket List
We're only thirteen days into summer (officially, that is), and we've already crossed off about fourteen items! But there are so many left, and we've been so busy that it would be easy for us to just stay inside working the whole summer. I really don't want that to happen, so I'm challenging us to get out and do some of the things on the list before the summer starts slipping away from us! Hopefully the weather will cooperate. 

Revamp the Budget
Like I mentioned the other day, our taxes went up this quarter. Since we're self-employed, we have to write a check for the IRS every three months.. and that affects our monthly budget quite a bit. To accommodate these changes (while still saving the amount we'd like each month), we really need to re-examine our budget.

Reorganize Dining Area
We have a lovely dining room table, but we rarely use it for dining. Instead, it's become a dumping ground for whatever we carry into the house.. before you know it, our house is a train wreck. We talked about just getting rid of it, but I use the surface for writing letters and paying bills.. so I'd like to replace it with a desk. It would definitely open up our home A LOT.

Weekly Photo Shares
I want to take more pictures. I miss recording daily life with the DSLR. I want to improve my photo skills, and the only way to do that is through consistent practice. So I'm thinking I'll share my favorite images with you guys every week. I haven't decided on the day of the week yet, but I'll keep you all updated.

A few of you have expressed interest in doing your own monthly resolutions/report card posts. By all means, please do! I'm toying with the idea of hosting a link-party each month where we can all share our goals and results with each other each month. Would any of you be interested in something like that?