2015 "Dream Big 15"

"If you aim for nothing you will hit it every time." Zig Ziglar coined some wise words when he spoke this phrase, and it's one that I believe to be very true. For the past few years, and especially in the last year, I have grown to love the concept of setting goals and dreams.

Not only is it fun for me to pray about and dream about the places that I am called to go, and set goals for the things I am called to do, but it gives me direction. Without the goals, sure, I have ideas floating around of things I want to do. But I am a visual person, and I need a concrete list in front of me to remind me of the direction I am headed in.

I heard recently in a personal development call for my coaching that to thrive, you need to set at least three goals, and to really triumph, you need to set 12. Well, considering it's 2015 this year, and that's only three away from 15, I decided to make this year's goals my "Dream Big 15."

Fifteen goals and dreams that I am actively working to achieve and make happen. There are a mix of personal, relational, financial, health and work goals in this list of 15. And honestly, I have a few more than 15 goals, and have written those down into four categories (spiritual growth goals, marriage, personal, and business) and hang those on my fridge.

But I wanted to take a minute today and share my "Dream Big 15" with you in hope that it encourages YOU to write your own goals. Give yourself direction this year, I promise, it is worth it. Even if you do not achieve all of your goals this year, you are moving in a direction and can check your progress along the way.

My Dream Big 15

1. Help 60 people on their health and fitness journey.
2. Take two vacations with my sweet husband.
3. Save up for a down payment on a house.
4. Pay off two of our credit cards (working towards that debt free, baby!)
5. Lose 100 pounds and wear my special dress for our anniversary at the end of this year.
6. Read 12 books (at least).
7. Build an emergency fund of $1,000 (Anyone else done Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University? Seriously so good, and this is one of his first tips to financial freedom.)
8. Do at least one "Pay It Forward" outreach.
9. Create community by getting involved in a small group and host monthly gatherings for ladies at our home that foster spiritual growth.
10. Achieve the leadership position of two star diamond in my business by my birthday in May.
11. Achieve the leadership position of five star diamond in my business by Christmas.
12. Become a full time coach!
13. Hike Blood Mountain in north Georgia with Zach.
14. Go camping with my hubby!
15. Have one "intentional day" each month in our marriage. This is where one person picks something that both of us do together that we might not normally do together, but it helps us connect with each other on what the other likes.

There's my Dream Big 15 list for 2015! I am honestly really excited about this list of goals, as well as the other goals that I have set for myself and that we have set for our marriage this year. Something that the Lord has been laying on my heart for this year is "Excellence."

Excellence in everything that I do, in every area of life. Spiritually, relationally, in work, in business, in day to day interactions, in chores around the house, literally everything. So I am ready to put my all into this list of dreams and goals this year and see what God has in store.

If I don't achieve them all I won't be an utter failure, but I know what direction I am going in and I am giving this my heart and am working towards hitting each of these goals! What are some of your goals for this new year? I would love to hear your dreams and goals!

My Holiday Health Goals

Thanksgiving is a mere 20 days away. How is that even possible? I don’t know about you, but for me this year has just flown by, and now that Halloween is out, Thanksgiving and Christmas are fast upon us.

And I have a confession to make: this is the time of year that I struggle most with my health.

That’s pretty common, I feel. Cooler weather makes us bundle up in layers, makes us want to sleep in a little longer. The holiday parties are stacked with an amazing spread of food as all the family chefs come out to play and create their tasty dishes. And of course there’s the Christmas cookies!

Can anyone else relate to me?

I know some of you can! On average, most people will put on weight over the holidays, and I was no exception. This past holiday season I put on a ton of weight. I honestly don’t even know how much I put on. I had just gotten married, so worrying about fitting into my dress was no longer a concern, it was Christmas, then New Years, and a newlywed life.

That meant I packed on the pounds, and quickly. Fortunately, I began getting on track with my health in February, and I don’t plan on slowing down this holiday! In fact, I’m setting some big goals to reach over this holiday season so I stay on track, can enjoy the meals, but not over do it!

And to keep myself accountable, I’m sharing my goals with you! When I speak out a goal, I know I’m much more likely to stick to it. So this is me, telling YOU my goals, and inviting you into this journey!

November health and fitness goals:

1.    Lose 10 pounds. This is my big goal. And normally I am not all about the scale. In fact, we still don’t have one in our house. But, I am bound and determined to reach this goal, because I know that I am going to FEEL healthier for it. This is a way for me to tangibly measure that goal!

2.    Complete the 21 Day Fix. I am currently on Day 3, and going strong! I intend on going through one round of the 21 Day Fix before Thanksgiving, and once again before Christmas.

3.    Workout every day! I know that I personally need to be active every day to reach my goal of losing 10 pounds this month.

4.    Drink one gallon of water every day! That equals to just a little over five of my shaker cups full of water. This helps keep my hydrated, I’ve been slacking on my water intake and that’s going to change!

5.    Lower my Yellow container intake (carbs) and make sure I am getting all of my Green (veggie), Purple (fruit), and Red (protein) containers in every day! These color containers are from the 21 Day Fix program, and have taught me SO MUCH about portion control. Carbs are still my weakness, and so I’m really honing in on staying low on carbs, high on fruits, veggies and protein!

6.    Do one three day cleanse. This is going to help flush my body of toxins, and set it on track to really make sure I’m getting the best results. I struggle with cleanses and temptation, so this will be a good growing experience for me!

7.    Only one plate of Thanksgiving dinner! This has been a BIG struggle for me in the past. I love Thanksgiving food…especially the high carb stuffing and mashed potatoes. This year, I told my hubby that he has to keep me accountable to only one plate of food this year, and I will enjoy that to the max!

There you have it. These are my seven health and fitness goals for the month of November. I have to be honest, I’ve rocked my workouts so far, but I’m still not completely on point with nutrition yet. I am buckling in, and going all in for my goals!

I am determined to make this my healthiest holidays ever. I will absolutely enjoy Thanksgiving dinner, and not want to roll away from the table because I’m so full. I am going to have more energy, and life to devote to my family and friends and really focus on all of the things I have to be thankful for!

What are your health and fitness goals for this month? Share below and let’s keep each other accountable!

Fall Bucket List for a Married Couple

Some of your may remember that Zach and I wrote down some goals and “to do’s” for our fall back in September! We take time every once in a while over coffee or dinner to write down and intentionally talk about what we want the next season to look like. Whether that’s a literal season (like fall) or a season of life.

It is SO important to write down your goals, especially as a couple! It gives you direction and you both are on the same page about where you want to go, and what you want to do. The goals that you set can cover a whole variety of things!

For us, it looked like fun fall activities we wanted to do, things we need to save for, places we want to go, and other priorities that are important to us! We have actually made a pretty good dent in our list, and I am excited to check off the remainder of our items.

Here are a few of the things that we have done so far:

Visited Elijay and picked our own apples. This was a TON of fun. I haven’t been to an apple orchard since I was kid. Zach surprised me with this one as our date day a few weeks ago, and we drove up to the mountains to an apple orchard! We got to pick a whole peck of apples (and taste test a few as well). We visited B. J. Reece’s Apple Orchard, and it was a fun time!

Bake two apple pies with the apples we pick. Keep one and give one away!  This was also a lot of fun, because I love to bake! We picked a total of 23 apples, which was a plentiful amount for two pies (we didn’t use them all). But we baked up two delicious apple pies (you can find my recipe for apple pie here, it’s super tasty for a special treat), and shared one with Zach’s parents!

Have three different couples over for dinner. Zach and I have a big heart for hosting people in our home, and especially cooking for them! It’s our goal to have at least one couple over a month in our home for dinner. We actually have already met our goal of three couples, and each one has been such a joy to have in our home. It’s a wonderfully special thing to gather around a table of good food together, and share good conversation.

Watch “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” I hadn’t seen this movie in a while, so it was a great one to watch on the first day of fall! The air was cooler, so we had the windows open and made some pumpkin cookies to go along with the festivities.

Visit Burt’s Pumpkin Farm in Dawsonville, Georgia. This wasn’t too far from where we went apple picking, actually! And it was a blast as well. There were a ton of families there, and it was adorable to see some kids riding in wheelbarrows with pumpkins bigger than them. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pumpkin costumes in my life! But they had some great fun there, and I definitely recommend the hay ride! It was my favorite part, the view is gorgeous. You can even see Amicalola Falls from the hay ride!

We still have a few things to check off of our list by Thanksgiving, but that’s just a short look at some fall fun that we have had as a couple so far. We’ve even made a few of them our designated “date nights” or date days, and it was so fun!

A few of the things we are still looking forward to crossing off of our list: going on vacation, having a Thanksgiving dinner (before or after Thanksgiving for the two of us), taking a few hikes, carving pumpkins, making hot apple cider, visiting Helen, GA and Dahlonega, GA, and finishing up the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University series (it is fabulous and I definitely recommend it).

What are some of your fall bucket list items? What have you done so far?