Lindsay's Sweet World

Friday, January 16, 2026

Five on Friday - January Goals

Today I’m recapping my December goals and listing my January goals. As always, I’m using a Y for YES and N for NO to indicate whether or not I accomplished my goals.

December Goals

Personal Health / Wellness / Fitness / Beauty

N Meditate and quiet time every day. – I missed two days of meditation.

N Close all rings on my Apple Watch 20 days. – I only closed them 17 times.

N Aim to average 8,000 steps per day. – I averaged 7,541.

N Walk at least 25 days, even if it’s only 1/2 mile. – I only walked 17 times.

Appointments / Meetings / Other Requirements

Y Go see the upper cervical chiropractor for a checkup. – My atlas stayed in place!

Y Visit with my therapist.

Y Kids go to orthodontist checkups.

Y Assist with the Reindeer Run at the kids’ school.

Home / Organization / Planning

Y Put out treats for our delivery drivers every day.

Y Mail Christmas cards.

Y Finish Christmas shopping.

Y Wrap all gifts.

Y Clean off back porch.

Y Pay HOA dues for 2026.

Y Work on cleaning out and organizing my List Master app.

N Work on updating album artwork in iTunes.

Y List more items to sell.

Y Put away all Christmas decorations before New Year’s Eve.

Y Clean the whole house.

N Put out our new rug in the living room.

N Redo tape under rug in primary bedroom.

Blog / Social Media

Y Finish end-of-year blog post.

N Finish catching up on posting links to blog pages.

Y Get 2026 editorial calendar done.

Y Start planning 2026 word of the year and goals.

Y Start working on backlog of old Reels I never posted, take one billion. – Technically, I did actually start working on a couple of them, so even though I haven’t posted them, I’m still getting credit since I started them. Hahahaha.

Fun Stuff!

Y Watch Georgia play in the SEC Championship Game on TV.

Y See Teddy Swims in concert!!

Y See Frozen – The Broadway Musical at the theater.

Y Watch Olivia play in her guitar recital.

Y Have a poker night with friends.

Y Have a girls Christmas dinner and ornament exchange.

Y Enjoy a nice, long Christmas break. – We truly had the most wonderful break.

Y Celebrate Christmas with family.

Y Watch lots of Christmas movies. – We knocked this out of the park! This month, we watched the Disney TV Christmas special, A Very Jonas Christmas, Home Alone 2, Love Actually, Elf, The Family Stone, The Holiday (I watched this alone), Serendipity (I watched this alone, too), Red One, The Santa Clause 2, Die Hard, Oh. What. Fun., The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and The Family Man. This might be the most we’ve ever watched at Christmas!

Y Listen to lots of Christmas music.

Y Plan a trip to Fantasy in Lights. – We opted for the Botanical Gardens this year instead, so I’m counting this as a win!

Y Drive around and look at Christmas lights.

Y Start our Christmas puzzle. – We didn’t get very far on it, but we got it started.

Y Make gingerbread houses.

N Visit Santa (if the kids will still agree to it). – They decided they didn’t want to. Waaaahhhh.

Y Host our New Year’s Eve get together as we always do.

Y Enjoy another peppermint mocha.

Y Go on a day date with B.

Y Read 2 books. – I read 8!! Hence, the reason I failed at so many other goals this month. Hahahaha. It was worth it.

Summary

36 tasks accomplished

9 tasks not accomplished

Monthly Stats

Books Read: 8

Dreamland by Nicholas Sparks

It’s Different This Time by Joss Richard

The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff

The Intruder by Freida McFadden

What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella

Ward D by Freida McFadden

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Everyday Gospel: A Daily Devotional… by Paul David Tripp

Meditation Days: 29

Rings Closed on Apple Watch:

Move Ring: 17

Exercise Ring: 17

Stand Ring: 31

Workouts Completed: 22

Barre: 0

Core Training: 0

Dance: 0

High Intensity Interval Training: 0

Hiking: 0

Mixed Cardio: 2

Outdoor Run: 0 (0.00 miles)

Outdoor Walk: 17 (27.33 miles)

Pilates: 0

Pool Swim: 0 (0 yards)

Stair Stepper: 1

Strength Training: 2

Yoga: 0

Time Spent Working Out: 8:52:39 (hours:minutes:seconds)

Calories Burned During Workouts: 1,984

Total Steps This Month: 233,784 (Average: 7,541 / day)

Pictures of My Successes

Apple Watch rings fail

Meditation fail

Delivery driver goodies

UCC appointment data

North Pole breakfast

Gingerbread houses AKA Target shopping carts. Lol.

Date night

Teddy Swims with the whole family

Frozen The Broadway Musical

Olivia's guitar recital

Poker night!

Reindeer Run!

Girls dinner

Elf! One of the many Christmas movies we watched

Lights at the Botanical Gardens

Celebrating Christmas

Driving around looking at Christmas lights

Annual viewing of Love Actually

Now for the January goals…

January Goals

Personal Health / Wellness / Fitness / Beauty

Be intentional about creating joy every day.

Meditate and read my devotional every day.

Start doing a new kind of meditation – EMDR.

Start Bible study again after putting it on hiatus for an Advent study.

Visit with upper cervical chiropractor.

Visit with therapist.

Visit with orthodontist to get retainers made.

Get my braces off!!!!

Visit with primary doc for a vertigo medicine tapering checkup.

Taper my vertigo medicine from 1/2 pill per day to 1/4 pill per day.

Go to annual mammogram and ultrasound appointment.

Start using gua sha tool on my jaw to help with nighttime teeth clenching.

Get hair cut and highlighted.

Walk 41 miles.

Appointments / Meetings / Other Requirements

Get back on our regular schedule after 17.5 days off.

Jacob start spring golf season.

Attend monthly Home and School Advisory Board meeting.

Jacob visit allergist.

Olivia visit eye doctor.

Start planning Daddy/Daughter and Mother/Son dances.

Home / Organization / Planning

Clean out my closet.

Clean out my dresser.

Clean out my nightstand.

Clean out playroom.

Clean out pantry.

Clean out fridge.

Clean out freezer.

Clean out games cabinet.

Deep clean microwave.

Deep clean kitchen sink.

Deep clean blinds in primary bedroom.

Revamp charging station to accommodate Olivia’s new items.

Start reorganizing List Master app.

Update 50 album artwork in iTunes.

Put down new rug in living room.

Redo tape under rug in primary bedroom.

Finish One Second a Day video for 2025.

Blog / Social Media

Start working on Ode to 2026.

Work on catching up on blog page links.

Work on backlog of Reels.

Fun Stuff!

Have a poker night with friends.

Go on a date with B.

Have dinner with my girls.

Get outside with the kids.

Work on our puzzle.

Read 4 books.

Friday Funnies & Feels

On the Blog This Week

A Year of Gratitude – December 2025 Snapshot

Our Week – The One with the Last Day of Christmas Break, an Upper Cervical Chiropractor Visit, and the Start of Cleaning Out the House

2026 New Year's Goals + My Word of the Year

Previous Monthly Goals Posts

January 2020 Goals

February 2020 Goals

March 2020 Goals

April 2020 Goals
May 2020 Goals
June 2020 Goals
July 2020 Goals

Happy Friday, y’all!

*Linking up with A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites.

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

2026 New Year’s Goals + My Word for the Year

I’ve started typing the intro to this post at least 20 times, and each time I erased and completely rewrote it. It’s weird because I’ve known for months what I wanted my word to be for 2026, but for some reason I’m having trouble articulating the reasons why I chose it. Does that make sense?

I’m about to be vulnerable here (and wordy, although that’s nothing new – hahahaha), so bear with me…

I want to start by saying that I am so blessed – I have a wonderful husband, two amazing kids, and an incredible village of other family members and friends who love and care for all of us. We are all healthy. We have food on our table. We have a roof over our heads. We have every single thing we could ever need. And I am so very grateful for all those things.

But despite having all these things, the hardships we’ve had over the past 15 years have worn me down, and at times, overshadowed the good. Maybe that is just adulthood? I don’t know. *Shrugs shoulders*

After sorting through all of it with my therapist, she helped me see that the things that happened that were out of my control these last 15 years – a miscarriage, a traumatic birth, multiple (serious) childbirth injuries, being told I may never walk unassisted again, not being able to fully care for my own first baby due to injuries from childbirth, horrific chronic pain for seven long years with no relief, constant tinnitus that started seven years ago that I likely am stuck with forever, a breast tumor scare (that ended up being, thankfully, benign), vertigo and unsteadiness and dizziness for more than two years, a few other issues I haven’t mentioned here on the blog + the never-ending stream of doctor appointments and doctors telling me they don’t know how to help me the last 15 years – all caused PTSD which resulted in my body getting stuck in a fight-or-flight response for years.

This, in turn, caused massive anxiety and then, said anxiety caused a bunch of other physical issues throughout the years – panic attacks, neck tension, breathing issues, throat constriction, general dizziness, headaches, stomach issues, etc. – and I’ve been stuck in this vicious cycle of all. the. bad. things. ever since.

So, while generally healthy from a typical standpoint (blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, no terrible diseases, etc.), all the issues listed above have still negatively impacted my daily life for years, and that, in turn, has affected my mental health in a very negative way.

And I don’t say any of this to garner sympathy – trust me, life is good for the most part, and I am so grateful for all the good in my life – I only say these things to give a little overview of what led to my decision to choose my word for this year.

After years of riding the struggle bus for a multitude of reasons, I am choosing a word that will not only help me focus on the good things in life but actually remember that I can also create the good things. Therefore, my word for 2026 is…

OPALITE

Now. If you’re not a Taylor Swift fan, then you have NO CLUE what I’m talking about right now. So, I will tell you – Taylor Swift dropped a new album called The Life of a Showgirl back in October last year, and it’s, perhaps, the happiest album we’ve gotten from her in years. After brooding for the last four albums (Folklore, Evermore, Midnights, and The Tortured Poets Department AKA all my favorite albums by her – LOL), you can tell she’s in a happier space, and I want to be in a happier space, too!

One of the songs on the new album particularly inspired me, and it is titled Opalite. When Taylor spoke about the meaning behind the song, she explained that Opalite is a man-made stone and she uses that as a metaphor for making your own happiness since we can’t just expect happiness to find us… we can make our own happiness, too. And although Taylor refers to her love life in some of the lyrics, the concept can be applied to all aspects of life and hardships in general, not just love.

Ultimately, the song is about finding lasting happiness through self-creation, growth, and resilience and choosing happiness in your own life even when things aren’t going your way… spoken straight from Taylor’s mouth to my ears.

Isn’t that great? It ended up being one of my favorite songs on the whole album, and it just has aaaallll the happy vibes. From first listen, it jumped out at me, and I knew it would be my word 2026.

For funsies, here are the lyrics to the whole song…

I had a bad habit

Of missing lovers past
My brother used to call it
'Eating out of the trash'
It's never gonna last

I thought my house was haunted
I used to live with ghosts
And all the perfect couples
Said, "When you know you know."
And, "When you don't you don't."

And all of the foes and all of the friends
Have seen it before, they'll see it again
Life is a song, it ends when it ends
I was wrong

But my Mama told me
It's alright
You were dancing through the lightning strikes
Sleepless in the onyx night
But now the sky is opalite
Oh oh oh oh, oh my Lord
Never made no one like you before
You had to make your own sunshine
But now the sky is opalite
Oh oh oh oh oh

You couldn't understand it
Why you felt alone
You were in it for real
She was in her phone
And you were just a pose

And don't we try to love love
We give it all we got (we give it all we got)
You finally left the table
And what a simple thought
You're starving til you're not

And all of the foes and all of the friends
Have messed up before, they'll mess up again
Life is a song, it ends when it ends
You move on

And that's when I told you
It's alright
You were dancing through the lightning strikes
Sleepless in the onyx night
But now the sky is opalite
Oh oh oh oh, oh my Lord
Never met no one like you before
You had to make your own sunshine
But now the sky is opalite
Oh oh oh oh oh

This is just
A storm inside a teacup
But shelter here with me, my love
Thunder like a drum
This life will beat you up, up, up, up
This is just a temporary speed bump
But failure brings you freedom
And I can bring you love, love, love, love, love
Don't you sweat it, baby

It's alright
You were dancing through the lightning strikes
Sleepless in the onyx night
But now the sky is opalite
Oh oh oh oh, oh my Lord
Never made no one like you before, no
You had to make your own sunshine
But now the sky is opalite
Oh oh oh oh oh

I mean, dancing through the lightning strikes… this is just a storm inside a teacup?! YES. That just puts things right into perspective and makes me so happy even reading it. And the song is even better when you listen because it has such a happy, boppy beat.

Bottom line – there are so many things that can bring us down (the current news cycle sure isn’t doing anyone any favors), so that’s my goal for the year… to make my own happiness even in the midst of strife. And I hope to share the journey here with all of you if I can figure out exactly how I want that to look.

Okay, let’s get into the goals…

Personal / Health / Wellness / Fitness / Beauty

Do more of what brings me joy.

Get my braces off once and for all!!!!

Completely taper off my vertigo meds.

Continue working to eliminate dizziness, etc.

Implement new meditation practices.

Condense my daily quiet time.

Finish reading the Bible and The Bible in a Year.

Make healthy changes to my diet.

Serve at our school and church.

Work out 3-5 times per week.

Walk / jog 350 miles.

Implement upper body strength workouts (if my doc approves it).

Read 24 books.

Appointments / Meetings / Other Requirements

Jacob complete Confirmation service hours.

Jacob celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation.

Home / Organization / Planning

Clean out the house.

Deep clean the house.

List items to sell / donate as house is cleaned out.

Alleviate a few pain points around the house.

Work on some more house projects.

Clean out two large keepsake boxes in storage closet.

Wash and put away all of Maui’s old stuff. Yes, it’s all still out 11 months later. :o(

Finish updating all album artwork in iTunes.

Move some of my lists from paper printouts to my List Master app.

Reorganize my List Master app.

Record our year (more intentionally this year!) using the One Second a Day app.

Clean out my camera roll on my phone.

Tackle a few things from my Master To-Do List.

Blog / Social Media

Document my word of the year monthly on the blog.

Catch up on backlog of old Reels. Sigh.

Create some evergreen content (recipes, organization, crafts, holidays).

Do more fun “get to know me” posts (Top 10 lists, throwback posts, etc.).

Work on year-end blog post (Ode to 2026) all year so I don’t get behind.

Fun Stuff!

Go to a few concerts.

Go to a couple of plays / shows.

Go to a couple of Georgia football games.

Aim to average at least one date night per month.

Aim to average at least one girls night per month.

Get together with our poker night friends once a month.

Try new restaurants / things in our city.

Go to Disney World.

Go to the beach.

Go to Nashville.

And those are my goals for 2026! And here are a few things I saw on social media that inspired me...

If you want to see my goals from prior years check out the posts below!

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Pages

Friday, January 16, 2026

Five on Friday - January Goals

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

2026 New Year’s Goals + My Word for the Year