Aliesha, Author at Feathers in Our Nest

New Year, New You: Have More Date Nights

January 6, 2012 by Aliesha

I don’t know about you, but with having a toddler and a baby on the way, date nights with my hubby have kind of become a thing of the past! Add in the limitation of finances (after paying for a sitter, we wouldn’t have any left to spend on the date!), and you can understand why it’s been a while since our last “real date.”

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Tad and I talked about this goal together, and we decided that we will try and plan one at-home (or away from home, on the rare occasion that it works out) date night per month. Thursdays are a good night for us since we don’t have any church services, Bible studies, or youth events (usually) going on that night of the week.

We decided that we will alternate planning the date night, which will include cooking a meal and deciding on a game or activity. Vera goes to bed at 7pm, so we’ll just start our “date” after we tuck her in bed. We’re really looking forward to spending quality time together! We’re hoping to work in January and February’s date nights before Baby Mango arrives.

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If having more dates with your husband is one of your goals for the new year (remember, for this to be attainable you’ll need to decide this with him!), then here are a few resources that might help you (for many of these links, I can’t endorse every idea recommended… please use your discretion):

–Valentine’s Day ideas abound on Pinterest, so look there when planning your February date night (or to infuse a little romance throughout the rest of the year)!
–Leaps of Love (many great ideas)
–Doing Your Husband Good Part 1
–Doing Your Husband Good Part 2
–Doing Your Husband Good Part 3
–Doing Your Husband Good Part 4
–Doing Your Husband Good Part 5
–The Dating Divas have lots of creative ideas for planning date nights with your spouse
–DIY date night kit
–50 questions to ask your spouse on a date night
–can of date ideas
–year of date ideas
-take the 5 love languages test together
–52 date night ideas
–quick sweet treats to show your hubby you love him!
-the 12 daytz of Christmas

If you’ve blogged about creative date night ideas in the past, feel free to share a link in the comments section! I know we’d all love the inspiration!

How do you make time for date nights with your hubby?
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New Year, New You: Eat Less Sugar (with printable)

January 5, 2012 by Aliesha

While this doesn’t exactly fall into the category of a SMART goal, eating less sugar is definitely something I would like to do this coming year!

Here are some ways to break that goal down into measurable bites:
-take a sugar detox (I did this January 1-3 to help me recover from my holiday indulgences!)
-continue (or start!) replacing white sugar in recipes with healthier alternatives, such as sucanat, honey, and pure maple syrup
-limit daily sugar intake to just one special treat a day or less (we were given a box of Godiva chocolates for Christmas, and just one of those rich chocolates more than satiates my sweet tooth!)

Really, this area, like many others, comes down to self-control! To serve as a funny little reminder, I made a printable for you to put up somewhere in your house. Enjoy!

Printable for personal use only. Please link back to this post at Feathers in Our Nest when sharing it with others. To use, right-mouse click on the image, then press save image as. To print, open the image and print on a 4×6 sheet of photo paper using your printer’s photo settings.

Is eating less sugar something you want to do this year? If you already feel like you’ve arrived in this area, please share your tips with the rest of us!
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New Year, New You: SMART Goals

January 5, 2012 by Aliesha

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? Or, do you sit down at the beginning of the year and write out goals for yourself? I have not been very good the past few years about setting SMART goals for myself (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely), but I’d like to do better this year!

I’m starting a new mini-series here at Feathers in Our Nest to help me (and you, hopefully!) break down some larger goals into attainable steps.

When you set SMART goals, you first need to make sure that they are specific. Don’t set a goal like “read more books”; instead say, “read 10 books this year.” This will help you with the next point, which is…

Your goals need to be measurable. You can measure how many miles you run each week, but you can’t necessarily measure “exercise more.” Set goals that you can evaluate weekly or monthly to be sure you are staying on track with the vision you have set.

The third aspect of SMART goals is that they are attainable. Don’t set a goal that is for someone else (i.e. “get my husband to help out around the house more.”). Your goals should be attainable by you. They also shouldn’t be so difficult to accomplish that you get discouraged. Which leads to…

Your goals also should be realistic. If you are a total couch potato, then setting a goal to run a marathon by March probably isn’t the most realistic goal. On the other hand, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself! Just be realistic about your goal-setting so that you don’t give up.

Finally, your goals should be timely. A vague goal of “someday write a book” isn’t actually going to help you out. Don’t be afraid to set deadlines for yourself.

So, to kick off this new series, I want to ask you…
-what was/were your New Year’s Resolution(s)?
-what goals do you have for yourself in this coming year?
-what would you like to do this year that you’ve never done before?

I have some ideas for posts for the next few weeks, but I’d love to target them specifically to what you’d like to read about! If I don’t know how to do it, I’ll find the answer somewhere!

Stay tuned for the first post in the series coming later today!
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New Year, New You: Have More Date Nights

New Year, New You: Eat Less Sugar (with printable)

New Year, New You: SMART Goals

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