Other - Café Con Monica

Currently: February

February 25, 2019

Listening|| The neighbors kids playing outside and AJS showering with some Lindsey Sterling playing.

Loving || All the planning we are doing for our trip in few couple weeks!

Reading || Just finished American War Friday night and am 3/4 through Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton

Watching || I convinced AJS to watch Game of Thrones so we are watching from the beginning to prep for the final season!

Eating || I am making Panang curry chicken tonight and I had a really yummy breakfast bowl with the Gals that Brunch group yesterday.

Anticipating || 19 days till Spring Break…Paris & Amsterdam!

Wanting || Something sweet like always. I am trying to avoid processed crap for a bit to kind of detox and it is HARD!

So that’s my currently for this month! Share yours!

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February Goals – January Check

February 1, 2019

January Review

No Spend – So this was at about an 80%. I didn’t do as well as I wanted to BUT I did really well for me. I didn’t purchase a single thing (books, clothes, random crap) that I didn’t need or have a gift card to pay for. THAT IS huge for me.
Cooking– We cooked so much in January. I would definitely say it was a 85% since there were at least two days that we should have cooked but were both not feeling it and ordered in.
Planning – 95% I rocked the hell out of my planner in January. I made it pretty, checked it very often and already got started on February.
Being Present – I consider this one a big fat fail. With focusing on growing this blog again I have been taking alot of time to be on social media, try to get good pictures and I feel like there are a lot of gaps of what did I do during that time.

I did good, better than I thought but not as good as I could have! I did love seeing the numbers in my savings account jump up when I was able to move over all the money I didn’t waste last month. So these goals are kind of the same going in February with a few added but I want to get these to 90-100% on all of them!

February Goals

Less Spend – There are a few things I know I held off purchasing that I really want/need so I will be doing that this month but I’d like to continue focusing on not mindless spending.
Working Out– I started to pick back up in January but for February I want to focus on having my body feel a lot less crappy. Back in the gym and to yoga!
No takeout– I want to see if we can get through this month without Grubhub in our lives. We waste a lot when we order grubhub and I think we can cook way better meals than what we are ordering!
Blog Planning– I am falling into my old habits of working on posts the day before or morning of. I have plenty planned out, no reason to be procrastinating!
PUT the phone down – Again. I really need to be present. I downloaded an app that tells me how much time I spend on certain apps and has a limit so I can remind myself when I am getting there!

How did you do in January? Ready to kick February’s goals in the bum?

Don’t forget to check out my new Instagram! Or you can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest or Bloglovin

2018 in Review

December 31, 2018

I’ve had years where doing a review is a hard painful process and leaving it behind is something I can’t wait to do. I’ve had years where I don’t want the year to end. 2018 was a good year for me. Not amazing, not bad but a good year.

I traveled….I started the year in Orlando, visited Austin for the first time in April, went on a Cruise in June (Honduras, Belize, & Mexico), went to San Antonio & Dallas since moving
Quit the job I had been at for 5 years in July
Moved to Austin in August and started a new job 3 days later
Hosted my first Meetup in Austin in September!
Flew back to Chicago for a Wedding in October & K visited me!
Flew back to Chicago for Thanksgiving in November
Had my first Austin Christmas with AJS this month & flew home again
Started the Girly Book Club chapter in Austin this month

My goal for the past 4 years has been to do what makes me happy and I feel like I have done that so it was a successful year in my book.

It is easy to highlight the great right? No one has a perfect year, I had struggles with medical issues that plagued me for half the year culminating in a surgery in July that I did not properly allow myself to recover from because I had family visiting and needed to fly to Austin for a job interview. Or how hard it is to get settled into a new place and move in with a boyfriend you haven’t lived with yet at the same time. Or how much I miss my family.

I don’t like the word “Resolution” for some reason when I use it I fail hard and I feel crap about it. So I have a goal and I make smaller more attainable goals throughout the year and this helps me to feel accomplished by the end of the year. I plan to post more about my goals over the next couple days too!

All that being said I looked back at some photos from the year because I take A TON of photos and I wanted to share a few of my favorites!