Hey Friends,

Happy October! This is one of my favorite months – for two reasons:

• It’s my birthday month! (My birthday is the 11th)
• It’s one of the prettiest months of the year! (I love Autumn!) 😉

I am really excited about this month – even though it looks like it will be another busy month, I plan to enjoy it to the fullest! Here are my goals for October:

October To-Do List {Monthly Goals}

1. Study Philippians and Colossians

Philippians is probably my favorite book in the New Testament. I have studied this book several times already, but my heart and mind need a refresh of all the wonderful truths in this little NT epistle! Because Philippians is such a short book, I decided to add Colossians to this month’s study as well.

I’ve had a Philippians Bible study book for months, so I will probably pull it off my shelf and finally read it! The Bible study book is called In All Things: A Nine-Week Devotional Bible Study On Joy.

>>> If you would like to study the book of Philippians I would highly recommend these two Bible study books:

• Experiencing God’s Peace: Philippians

• Be Joyful (Philippians): Even When Things Go Wrong, You Can Have Joy

2. Use My Prayer Journal Once a Week

I recently bought a new notebook to use as a prayer journal and I am really loving it! My goal this month is to use it just once a week for now. I’ve been writing out the verses and prayer requests mentioned in the book 15 Verses to Pray for Your Husband, so right now it’s mostly a notebook to pray for my husband and our marriage.

3. Write an Autumn Bucket List

This is something I should have done in September but I want to make a short bucket list of fun things to do this Autumn. From baking ginger snaps to roasting pumpkin seeds… whatever suits my fancy!

4. Read 5 Books

I’m still on top of my 2018 Goodread’s challenge but if I’m not careful I could easily get behind. Here are the five books I *hope* to read this month:

• Business Boutique – I’m already reading this one and it is so good! If you have a blog or business I would highly recommend reading this book.
• The Life Giving Home – It’s been sitting on my shelf since I got married and I know I am going to love it… I just need to sit down and read it!
• A Simplified Life – I just found this book for less than $4 at Ollies! I was so excited because it was the only copy left and I just read Emily Ley’s first book. Thankfully this book is on sale right here too!
• Book Girl – I just heard about this book recently and now I’m super excited to get my hands on a copy!
• ??? – I haven’t decided on the fifth book yet… but there are lots of books on my shelves waiting to be read!

5. Buy Christmas Gifts and Wrapping Paper

This sounds crazy – I know. However, I don’t want to go through the holidays feeling stressed out and behind in my gift shopping! I’ve already started some shopping and I hope to have everything bought and wrapped by the beginning of December (this is a really ambitious goal for me!). I’m thinking about completing one set of gifts each week. During the month of October I plan to purchase all the gift wrapping supplies and actually start purchasing the gifts I’ve been planning out. 🙂

6. Plan a Gratitude Bible Study

I’ve been wanting to plan a little Bible study on gratitude with some of my friends. I have yet to figure out all the details – except for the topic. I have no idea if it will end up being a one week Bible study or something that spans 3-4 weeks. We”ll see – I need to decide and then make my plans accordingly. A lot of the ideas and things I would like to share come from my favorite book on gratitude called Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy.

7. Memorize My Lines for the Christmas Drama

Our church is having a Christmas drama this year and my husband and I were both given a part! I need to memorize my lines for our first practice which is only a couple weeks away. Yes, I tend to procrastinate… but I don’t have too many lines and memorizing comes pretty easy for me!

8. Get a New Hair Cut

I turn 22 in just a couple weeks and I want to update my hair with a slightly different hair style. Plus, my favorite salon will give  me a discount for getting my hair done during my birthday month! I am not totally sure what I am going to have done -it probably won’t be drastic because I love having long hair and I’m not very daring with my hair!

9. Draft a Birthday Goal List

Every year around my birthday, I love setting goals to complete before my next birthday. I also love the idea of creating a “30 Before 30” list of 30 things to accomplish before I turn 30 (wow, thinking about that make me feel old!). Obviously, I haven’t made up my mind yet! Can you tell I just love setting goals? If only accomplishing my goals was easier than making them. 😉

10. Finish This Month with a Flourish

I haven’t totally forgotten about my one word for the year! This month I want to take enough time to think about my word and remember why I chose it for 2018. I also want to make sure I am taking time to flourish this month. It’s not how you start that matters – it’s how you finish. I want to finish this month (and ultimately this year) with a flourish!

Final Thoughts

Well Friend, those are my goals for the wonderful month of October! What would you like to accomplish this month? Please share in the comments below!

Giveaway Winners!

Now, I didn’t forget about the giveaway winners for the Daily Glow Kit! I was just delayed in sharing the winners. The winners of the Daily Glow Kit are…

Abigail D. and Grace F.

Please contact me with your email address so I can send you your Daily Glow Kit! ♥

Have a lovely month!