My 14 Goals For 2024 – Week 37 of 52

Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

I did a great job of filling up on fruits and veggies again last week, but I must admit, I am SO TIRED of eating out. If I could just live off of bananas, oatmeal and beans for the next month, I’d be fine with that. And tea.

Visit 24 {new} Bakeries / Coffee Shops

So far this year my favorite tea shop that I have visited has been Fortnum and Mason. I have another one that I want to share with you soon, not because of its over the top tea cakes, but because of its simplicity. It was PERFECT! Stay tuned.

New Bakeries / Coffee Shops I’ve Been To This Year {That I liked}

• The Cookie Jar Pastry Shop
• Fortnum and Mason
• Ritual Bakehouse and Patisserie
• Caramel Patisserie
• Standard Baking Co. 
• Saltwater Farm Cafe
• Coffee Roasters of the Kennebunks
• Farine Bakery and Cafe
• Night Moves Bread
• Cape Porpoise Kitchen

Go On An Adventure

Our trip to London and the Cotswolds was SO MUCH fun and I still have so many stories to tell. It feels like things have been out of whack around here for the past month or so {Jen visiting, then our trip to England, then getting back, MORE visitors}. 

And now preparing for fall and trying to get in all the garden stuff before the weather turns. I need more hours in the day!! 

Hopefully things will be back to normal next week and I will have the time to sit down and go through the 4,000+ photos on my phone. Gaaa! When it rains, it pours.

Contribute to 12 Free Little Libraries. {7 town down, 5 to go}

Towns I’ve donated books to:

• Snowshill, England
• Gardiner, Maine
• Nobleboro, Maine
• Kennebunk and Kennebunkport, Maine
• Cape Elizabeth, Maine
• Raymond, Maine
• Bellevue, Washington

Spend More Time At The Beach

There’s been hardly anyone at the beach the last few days so it’s been nice to take Lucy for walks. She loves searching for treasures and I love looking for shells and heart shaped rocks so it’s perfect.

Read or Listen to 24 Books {8 down, 16 to go}

I finished listening to The Paris Dressmaker and thought it was well done. The library was having a book sale and they had a few audiobooks so I picked up three of them for $1.00 each. I like having something to listen to while I work on my rugs so these will be perfect.

Books I’ve Read or Listened To This Year: 

• Grateful American: A Journey from Self to Service by Gary Sinise. 10/10
• The Paris Dressmaker by Kristy Cambron 9/10
• Elizabeth The Queen: The Life of a Modern Monarch by Sally Bedell Smith 9/10
• Wait Till Next Year by Dorris Kearns Goodwin 8/10
• George VI and Elizabet:by Sally Bedell Smith 9/10
• Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson 9/10
• These Precious Days by Ann Pachett 9.5/10
• Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Paint 

My current project: Painting clamshells. 🙂 I know they look pretty tacky now… But I think it will come together in the end.

Paintings I’ve finished this year:

• Portrait of Joseph Roulin 
• Red Boats at Argenteuil
• Regattas at Argenteuil
• Vase with Cornflowers and Poppies 
• Sunflowers
• Garden Path with Chickens
• Goldfish

Hook 6 “Big” Rugs.

While not a big rug, {more like a medium sized one} I have started hooking again. With a little luck I should have this one finished by next Sunday, we’ll see.

I’m trying to use up some of my extra wool bits from other projects so I have a feeling this one will have an extra primitive look to it.

Large Rugs I’ve Hooked This Year

• Three Roosters
• Hidden In The Garden 
• Yankee Doodle
• Double Nantucket Whale Runner with the American flag

Visit 6 Greenhouses {4 down 2 to go}

We visited my all time favorite greenhouses at Kew Gardens and I have loads of photos to show you. But I think I might wait until this winter to share them. There is so much other stuff going on right now that I want to share.

Grow Baby Grow

A big THANK YOU for all the recommendations for a quality garden trellis. I found a winner!!! I ordered one from H Potter {they have tons to choose from} and I was very impressed with the quality. 

This should help with my vertical gardening needs next year. Yee-Haw! 

Donate to 12 Different Organizations in Maine

Last week after reading an article about the Grammy Rose Dog Rescue program I decided to donate to their worthy cause. What a unique set up they have!! You can read more about them HERE.

So Far This Year I’ve Donated To:

• Grammy Rose Dog Rescue
• Cleaning Up My Local Beach
• New Hope MidCoast {50 pairs of new socks}
• Humane Society {180 trays of cat food}
• Travis Mills Foundation
• Camp Sunshine
• Honor Flight Maine

So how are YOUR goals for 2024 coming along? I’d love to hear about them. 

~Mavis

Goals I’ve Already Completed This Year

In Stock and Ready to Ship by March 15th/ March 30th Now April 15th DONE!

I finally finished up all the major wool dyeing and pattern/kit making I had hoped too. All the “extra” wool is tucked away in bins so if I run out of wool in my Etsy shop I can whip up some more bundles in a jiffy. A summer off from dyeing wool… It’s going to be pretty rad.

Tidy Up / Clean Out / Purge DONE

We cleaned the whole house, inside and out. And then we sold it. Yee-Haw!

• Barn
• Garage
• Closets 
• Dresser drawers
• Kitchen 
• Sideboard
• DVD collection