Intentional and Organized in 2016

My second goal for 2016 is to get more organized and intentional with my time. Between working real estate full time at Semonin, owning Crossfit Fixation, raising four kids between the ages of 6-15, caring for a horse, a dog, and a husband I am pretty stretched thin! I operate best with a full schedule and a lot on my plate...hench the name of my blog and what has become our family "brand"! My life is organized chaos. But I know I have room for improvement and this year I intend to be intentional about that. Here are a few ways I plan to get it together...

DINNERS:

Weeks when I meal plan for at least three days out I feel a lot more relaxed. The end of the day scramble to decide what I am going to make for dinner that is healthy AND quick isn't fun. I want to get back to meal planning and cut back on my trips to the grocery. Also, the grocery bill will drop when I am not running into Kroger or Fresh Market on impulse.  

LAUNDRY:

Ugh. Literally three loads of laundry a day is what I have to complete to actually stay on top of the laundry in my house! My oldest two daughters help with the laundry and my husband is laundry king but I am sporadic! When we built our home I made the laundry room large and fun so that I would WANT to do laundry...

MY OFFICE:

It stresses me out to think about it! I work a lot from home and I am certain that I work better with an organized workplace! This Christmas, my office became the catch-all for every catalog that came along that I didn't have a chance to glance through and every piece of artwork made at school! My dad (being the jokester that he is) left me a note after visiting with a "to-do" list. I put this picture on my Instagram with his note and a picture of my office in its current state making fun of my own mess...

But it should really look more like this pending I follow my own advice and get more organized...

PSYCH...

Of course I don't have  a picture of a clean office. That would mean it would have to have ever been in complete order...

TIME:

Something that I have been reading about and paying a lot of attention to is time. Last year I started a book club with a small group of women. We chose faith based books that focused on areas of our lives that needed improvement. One of the books we chose was THE BEST YES by Lysa Terkeurst. It talked about the importance of saying YES to things that really make sense in your life and not answering yes to everything to avoid conflict, appease people, etc. Lysa says to choose wisely what you do with your time so that you can have time for the things that really matter like family and quiet time. Sounds easy, right? Not so much! Especially with class room obligations at the kids schools, work demands, friends and their invites, volunteer options, etc. She reminded me that I shouldn't say MAYBE rather answer definitively if I know in my gut that I probably don't have time or even want to do whatever it is I have been asked. Lasty, she drove home the point that I don't have to explain myself. As the old saying goes..." No means No". 

         I highly recommend Lysa TerKeurst's book THE BEST YES

So, my goal this year is to just be intentional and organized. To think before I agree to something. To decide if it works for my family. To decide if agreeing to some obligation will make me stressed out and stretched and eventually effect the positivity of my home. To get organized so that things run more smoothly at work and at home and so we have more room for FUN! 

I could list a million more places in my life where I could implement intentionally and organization! I hop emu few examples will inspire some of you to do the same!   XOXO - Kelly

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Be More Present in 2016

My number one goal for 2016 is to be more present. I need to improve on being 100% committed to whatever I am doing at the moment I am doing it. I catch myself responding to texts while talking to my kids. I don't want to be the mom that halfway listens. That spends too much time behind a screen and not enough time in front of real people...especially little people that God has trusted me to raise! The moments are fleeting. They are precious. I need to prioritize and strategize to make each minute count.

One thing that really sticks out in my mind is the trip that my husband Todd and I went on about a year and a half ago. We traveled with a handful of members from our church along with a member of World Vision (www.worldvision.com) to Ethiopia. The trip was amazing and eye-opening and life-changing. We loved on the people of Abaya, a large village about 2 hours from Addis Ababa. We shared God's love and had a blast doing it. I remember so much about that trip. I remember the smell of the red clay. I remember specific faces of kids and their ripped clothes. I remember the songs that they sang and the scent of the school rooms that took your breath away. It occurred to me recently that I remember so much about that trip because I was UNPLUGGED. There was no WiFi. There was no cell service. I was PRESENT. I was in the moment soaking in the experience. I felt feelings fully and carry with me the memories of that amazing adventure and will forever.

I want to EXPERIENCE like that all the time. The smell of my kids after a warm bath. Their laughter in the halls. Their sweet voices and quiet whispers. Those things matter. I tell my older kids all the time that they should live life and not spend too much time watching other people live on Instagram, Facebook, Visco, etc. I need to take heed.

Below is a video that I put together of some of the bazillion pictures I took in Ethiopia. Take a look! I think it might inspire you too!

Another slideshow by Smilebox

GOAL SETTING

Resolutions and I don't really get along. I think it is something about the pressure of them. The commitment maybe. But GOALS, goals are something I set. I like the challenge of meeting them, the organization of watching myself reach the stepping stones along the way to completing them, and ultimately the feeling of success when achieving them. So, I have decided to publicly declare my personal goals for 2016.... (insert drumroll please)...

GOALS: (in no particular order...)
#1. To be more present.
#2. To be more intentional and organized.
#3. To be in the best shape of my life when I turn the big 4-0 on November 12, 2016!
#4. To read a book a month.
#5. To read the ENTIRE Bible. Including Leviticus...
#6. To blog more. Even if nobody ever reads it but me. It helps me document my crazy life. .
#7. To meet my real estate goals...
           - Implement new marketing strategies
           - Meet my sales goal  (I will keep that one to myself!)
           - Work towards saving, planning and finding my first flip house.
#8. Make time for date nights with Todd :)
#9. Make more time for friends.
#10. Start writing the book I have been putting off starting.

That is it. Ten goals. Over the next few days I will unpack in separate blog posts why I want to aim to achieve these goals. It is important for me to remember why I set them...especially months down the road when I begin to lose stride!

XOXO - Kelly