Keeping Up With...My Fab 40! - July review

July was another fantastic month here enjoying summer break!  As you can see I have been enjoying life so much I'm very late with this review.  I almost didn't do one for July, just skipped to Aug, but decided to go ahead and do 2 updates in 2 weeks.  We have done a ton of fun things this summer.  You can skim around the blog to read my recaps for the month if you're interested in reading more about that.  I didn't focus a whole lot on my goals though in July, but that's OK.  Part of this was just to challenge myself to do fun things that I wouldn't normally do in my day to day life and I have done that this summer.

Here's how I'm doing after 7 months.  I have broken them down into three categories (on-going, one time and finished) so it's easier for me to update.  The goals are in black and my current month comments are in red.

On-Going
1.  Lose 40 pounds - one for each year - Lost 11 of the 40 lbs.  I was actually up at the end of July.  I'm not sure by how much since I was on vacation and didn't weigh in the last Weds on July.  But I know I was up.
2.  Read 12 books - I was so close last year! - Read 9 of the 12.  I finished 2 books this month, "Becoming Marta" and "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret?"  I started on this list of 50 books this month and am excited to read them all.  "Becoming Marta" was an OK book.  It was one I got for free from Amazon.  It was a quick read with a pretty good story, but it dragged in some parts.  It could have been a great short story.  "Are You There God, It's Me Margaret?" is one of my favorites!  I loved rereading this classic from my childhood!
3.  Go on 12 dates with Adrian - Went on 11 of the 12.  We had one date night in July while the boys were at VBS.  We went shopping for a few things we needed for our TN trip and started on back to school shopping for the boys, including their new sneakers.  We also treated ourselves to fruit smoothies from Dunkin' Donuts because it was SO hot!
4.  Get rid of 12 bags of stuff - I got rid of 1 bag of clothes this month.  Where are all of these clothes coming from??  9 of the 12 bags are gone.
5.  Take 1 picture every day for the year - Up to date on this 213 of 366.  You can see them here.
6.  Go on 2 special dates with AJ - Went on 1 out of 2.  I took AJ & Daniel to see Snoopy: The Musical at the local children's theater in April.  We had so much fun!  We stopped at Krispy Kreme for donuts on our way home too.  I'm counting this for both boys & may aim for 3 dates each, another together & one alone.
7.  Go on 2 special dates with Daniel - Went on 1 out of 2.  See above
8.  Go on 2 special dates with Zak - Went on 0 out of 2, I'll be saving these for the 2nd half of the year when he's in preschool everyday.
 9.  Do a 365 day exercise streak - 83 days of 365 for take 2 at this streak.  So far I've exercised every day from May 10th through July 31st.
10.  Finish the 30 Day Shred - Did 0 days of 30 - I need to get started on this one!
11.  Attend one class each week that isn't mine - Did this 12 weeks out of 52.  I didn't get to any classes that I didn't teach in July.  I pretty much only taught my classes, went swimming or walking this month.  I was trying to minimize the time the kids were in childcare.
12.  Teach an average of 5 classes each week - Did this 25 weeks out of 52.  I did it every week in July.  It was a busy month but I kept up with all of my classes.
13.  Menu plan and prep our dinners each week - Did this 24 weeks out of 52.  I planned every week this month.  Granted the last week was a lot of leftovers, but I also used up all of the veggies I needed to before we left for vacation.  I think this is the best planning of using up my food before vacation that I have ever done.
14.  Go to church every Sunday - Did this 21 weeks out of 52.  I missed 1 week in July because of vacation.  I have also started volunteering in childcare every other month.  July was my first full month in the classes.  I had a blast!
15.  Do one blog post each week - I did 15 posts in July, easily one per week.  I hope you're enjoying all of my posts! 
16.  Pay off our Best Buy card and not incur any new debt - The Best Buy card is payed off!!  We bought the new car so that counts as new debt and we invested in a costly (not insurance covered) therapy for AJ so that also created some new debt.  We have a plan for paying the therapy off and I feel good about where we are.
17.  Have a family board game night once per month - Did this 7 out of 12 months
18.  Have a family movie night once per month - Did this 7 out of 12 months (Inside Out, Charlie Brown Valentine's special, Justice League Frost Fight, Big Hero 6, Star Wars, Avengers, Pokemon movie)
19.  Have a family video game night once per month - Did this 7 out of 12 months
20.  Go to 4 Zumba jams this year - Went to my 2 out of 4 and I loved every minute of it! 
21.  Make one homemade breakfast for us each month - I did not do this again in July.  I'm slacking on this goal, probably because we're so rarely home for breakfast.

One Time

22.  Go zip lining
23.  Go on a family hike in Hocking Hills
24.  Host an alcohol exchange with my girl friends
25.  Power wash and stain our play set
26.  Renovate our downstairs bathroom
27.  Conquer the Lynd's corn maze in the fall
28.  Renew our Zoombeezi Bay passes and go at least once every other week over the summer - I renewed our passes this summer and we went one time so far this summer.  There are about 12 weeks in our summer break so my goal is to go 6 times.

Done


29.  Go to Dollywood - We will not be doing this one.  We decided between the heat, the cost and the fact that there was more than enough to do in TN we would not invest in this on our recent trip to TN.  It will stay on the bucket list for another year.   
30.  Go on a family trip to Tennessee - Done!!
31.  See 2 movies that aren't animated - Done!!  I've actually seen 3 - "Star Wars:  The Force Awakens," "Ant Man" & "Avengers:  Age of Ultron" 
32.  Go on family camping trip - Done!  NJ was a camping trip and we survived 8 nights in the tent.  Not sure if we'll get to do another one or not this fall, will have to see how our schedule pans out.
33.  Go on a family trip to NJ - Done!!  You can read part 1 and part 2 of the recap and part 3 should be up this week.  Spoiler Alert - It was an amazing week, we had a blast!! 
34.  Go to Six Flags Great Adventure - Done!  I rode El Toro & The Joker, I was a happy ride warrior. 
35.  Do something special to celebrate mine & Adrian's 10 year wedding anniversary - We bought a new car.  :)  We also had a very nice date night where we bought new dishes and went back to Carrabba's, the restaurant we went to for our first date.  We were hoping to do something a little bigger, but 3 vacations & a new car in the same year seems like enough.
36.  Go on a family trip to Dallas - Done!  You can read about it here, here, here and here.
37.  Get 1 fitness certification - Done!!  Got Silver Sneakers Classic & Silver Sneakers Circuit in March.  Also got Zumba Gold in May.  Going above & beyond on this goal.
38.  Go to the doctor for routine check up and tests - Done!  Did my physical, pap, blood work & mammogram in March.  Everything looks great, I'm supposed to keep doing what I'm doing! 
39.  Tour Dallas Cowboys stadium - Done, sort of.  It was actually closed for the guided tours while we were there.  But we drove around it, took some pictures & went in the Pro Shop.  I'm considering it done.
40.  Go to Six Flags Over Texas - Done!  Also hit Six Flags St Louis, loved that park

All in all July was a pretty good month.  I kept up with a lot of my on-going goals and finished a few of the one time ones as well.  I'm hoping to pick up some momentum when everyone goes back to school next month and finish out the year strong!