19 in 19 - July update

Well we're a week into August already so I need to update on July before I forget what happened!


1. Be more organised, plan ahead and waste less time
July was a busy month with ongoing birthday outings and Grandsitting.  I think I was fairly organised but there was still a bit of time wasting going on.  I really should delete time consuming games from my iPad lol

2. Work on the garden
Not too much work to do at this time of the year but I've been keeping the grass cut and my new bench is now assembled and in place as well as more plants.

3. Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)
We had a whole weekend away together in July, in Broadstairs, which was lovely and we enjoyed some good food.

4. Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants
We tried 1 new restaurant while we were away - an Italian Pizzeria - Posillipo.   It was good food and reasonably priced.  It was also quite busy (a good sign I guess) so it was a bit warm.  It overlooked the beach which was nice.  We also ate in one of the hotels but we arrived quite late and ended up having more of a supper than a dinner and missed dessert as we didn't realise they'd stopped taking orders :(

5. Complete the A – Z blogging challenge
Success!

6. Family weekend away for my birthday - in June
It was lovely! Read about it here.
 
7. Look after my health – eat well, sleep well, play well
Well I did all of those things in July but not sure it was great for my health! (or #19)

8. Visit my brother
At some point!

9. Visit the beach
Done!

10. Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)
I'd read  42 books by the end of July so way ahead of schedule.  In July I read:
The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley 2/5

The Girl Before - J P Delaney 4/5

Shelter in Place - Nora Roberts 3/5

After the End - Clare Mackintosh 3/5

So only 4 books completed but I also started 2 others from my hubby's finished pile:

The Shock of the Fall - Nathan Filer - seemed interesting to start with but then it became harder to engage with.  It's a debut novel about one man's descent into mental illness, following the death of his brother in childhood.  It's written in the first person and as his mental health deteriorates, understandably, it became a harder read.  I like a challenge but reading the same books as Nick isn't a challenge I feel I need to complete, especially when I'm not enjoying them.

The second one was Sweet Tooth - Ian McEwan.  The blurb says:   "Once again, Ian McEwan's mastery dazzles us in this superbly deft and witty story of betrayal and intrigue, love and the invented self."  Well I didn't find it witty and it didn't draw me in enough to persevere.

 

I hate not finishing books but I have enough book challenges going on without adding "read the sames books as hubby" to the list.

As always, details and reviews can be found on my Goodreads site.

11. Keep a journal
This is still not working. (Yep that's the same comment as last month but August has started a bit better.)

12. Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)
Well July was worse than June!  You may have noticed I've opted for a challenge in August which will hopefully boost the number of posts this month.

13. Organise/Take more photos
I'm going for a tick on this one last month.  I organised my digital photo display to include the recent photos we had taken with all the babies.  Previously it had photos following Nathan from birth to recently so it was time for an update.  Took me ages to sort it out - finally realised the family photos were too large in size for the digital viewer so I had to resize them all.

14. Update my clothes/accessories/make up etc regularly
Hmm - maybe come the end of summer I'll get around to this again.

15. Do more crafting – move the sewing machine!
I shortened some trousers!  That counts as crafting in my book - and I used the sewing machine after having to oil it again.

16. Try out a new recipe or do a bake each week
I'm not sure how well I did on this as my bullet journal wasn't up to date but we were still using Hello Fresh for some meals so most of them would have been new.

17. Visit/see Grandson Noah every month
We failed this month!  They came down to London on the weekend we were away but we have a date set for this month and we'll also be together at our family gathering at the end of the month.

18. Make progress on the house plan
Still on hold. Nathan & his Mummies have re-evaluated their situation and things will definitely happen soon (the house they are renting has been sold) but we're still waiting to see what that means for us.

19. Lose 19 pounds
I am back at square 1.  But that's better than where I have been.

Well doing these updates each month has convinced me of two things:

1)  It is good to have goals and challenges
2)  I need to be choose them better.  Some of them are too vague and not easily quantifiable. 

Food for thought for 20 in 20.  Oh no, I'm not giving up!