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Fall is a magical time of year. Winter has lovely white snow, spring makes promises of good weather to come, summer has the heat and the pool, and then fall has all the holiday magic. Plus our household celebrates three out of four birthdays over the course of the fall and who doesn’t love cake?

During the past few years, I have slowly added fun bits of fall and Halloween decor to our home. Which makes this little Halloween garland a perfection addition. The tassels are a really easy DIY and I will certainly be making garlands like this in other colors for the coming holidays.

This is a short 4 minute video of how to make the tassels. I found a couple of little tricks that make the process much easier and wanted to share!

For this DIY project, I used the following items:

-Yarn – The black and grey/white marled yarn can be found here

-Scissors

-A hardcover book if you use the tutorial I posted on youtube

-And wooden beads if desired

I think my next one will have to involve purple, black, and orange for a fun twist on Halloween colors. If you make the garland, or at least plan to make one, I would love to hear what colors you are using!

Not surprising to anyone who knows me, I set goals for 2019.  I did the pre-work on this in December, I finalized those goals the first week of January, and I’ve been working to implement them since then.  I shared a video of this in my Instagram stories and wanted to share here as well because there were two things that were very valuable during the goal setting process.

First, I used a template from Elise Blaha Cripe (again, see my Instagram stories where I share a look at this template and how I completed it).  The template breaks down your goals into three main categories.  You can certainly adjust the categories but the three worked for me.

Within those categories, I then made a list of the things I wanted to accomplish.  But if I’m being honest, I looked at the list and wondered if it would really get done.  Could it get done.  Some of these items were hangers on from past years, some of these goals were softballs because I wanted easy wins.

And then the book that I was reading – Atomic Habits – hit me with some deep and beautiful knowledge.  James Clear wrote, “true behavior change is identity change” which caused me to have a light bulb moment in my own life.

This was the second valuable tool that helped me in my planning process.  I examined who I wanted to be and where my goals were pointing me.  For example, I don’t want to just improve a few corners of our home, I want to be a homemaker that creates a cozy home devoid of clutter.  I want our home to feel as though it has room to breathe and for the people in it to create.

So I turned my goals from “read 40 books” into “be a reader” with the knowledge that if I make reading part of my daily life, I will read plenty of books this year.  I adjusted a very dollar specific savings goal into be a budgeter.  And I took one very massive goal and made it much more simple: be a writer.

There are so many things we have no control over.  Mostly, this involves an end result.  I can however, control many factors within the process even if I cannot determine the result of my work.  I can read regularly, create and track a budget, and pour the words of my mind onto a screen.  This habit based goals seem much more reasonable and closer to the type of person I wish to be.  These are the goals I’m running towards plus a few more.  This year, I plan to use the blog as a place where I can share the process.

Because this is the year to call my shot and send it.  Set a clear path to know where I want to be and then barrel after it.  I’m nervous, excited, but most of all, ready.  It’s time.

(For the video see my Instagram story about Goal Setting @cadysinks – can’t wait to hear about your progress as well!)