new years eve + my 2012 goals

First I thought I'd slip in some photos from our little New Years celebration.  It was quite the exhausting weekend, we stayed up past 11pm two nights in a row!  I know, we are wild kids.  We started the evening off with a nice dinner at my parents house, plus some party hats and party poppers.  Then Christopher, Ryann and I headed over to our friend's house.  Ryann was only there for about 45 minutes before Christopher took her back to my parents to put her to bed.  Once she was asleep he came back to celebrate the new year with everyone.

a few of my favorite girls.  i was so happy to see them.

it was the first time in over a year that the four of us were able to get together!

Looking back at my 2011 New Year's post (which is extra fun because I love love LOVE those pictures of Ryann :o), I am proud and encouraged to say I feel as though I accomplished everything I hoped for.  I didn't set up any specific goals, but I think over the past year I definitely changed for the better.  I learned a lot about myself.  I am stronger.  I am wiser.  I am better.

In 2012 I definitely hope to continue striving for all of the things I hoped for last year:  to take better care of myself and my body.  To be a good mom, a loving wife, a wonderful daughter, a caring friend.  To find balance between my needs and the needs of others.  But this year I also feel strongly about setting some more specific goals.  I'm no longer as scared of failing.  I know if I put my mind to something I can do it.  I just have to suck it up and try :o).

My 2012 Goals
1.  Accomplish my fitness goals.
I explained all of my fitness goals in this post.  But really the biggest for me?  Just keep running :o).

2.  Be more organized.
Seriously.  I have to work on this.  I need to write to-do lists.  I need to clean out closets.  I need to set aside a specific time for answering e-mails and comments.  Being more organized would just make my life function more smoothly, and who doesn't want that?

3.  Complete a photo project.
This year I love love loved both Shawna's project 52, and the daily photos over at Lila Was Here.  Both women shared such gorgeous photos, and I can only imagine how amazing it must feel to have all of those shots that can be compiled into an awesome series.  I would love to do a project 52, but I am struggling with an idea for a theme.  I want the photos to relate to my family, to Ryann and to myself, because I am always wanting to capture our memories.  I'm just not sure how to give the photos more meaning and a cohesive subject.  I will also (hopefully!) be taking at least one photo of Ryann a day.  I know it will be tough to stick with it, but I am sure going to try. 

4.  Learn more about photography and using my camera.
In order to get shots I love for the above photo projects, I need to learn more about photography.  I know enough to capture some decent shots, but I know there is more I could do.  And I'm extra bad with anything other than my nifty fifty lens.  I just don't know how to compose the larger shots as well, or deal with the changing aperture when I zoom.

5.  Start selling my invitation designs.
For a few years I've strictly done custom design work.  But people are saving pennies wherever they can, which means the market for custom designed wedding invitations is relatively small.  In an attempt to make some of my own money, I hope to sell designs that can be customized with the clients personal information, and that they can print on there own.  I will hopefully have wedding stationery as well as party printables.  This one may take me a while to get going, but I've got just under 12 months to get started!

6.  Have blog books printed.
Seriously.  I have 2.5 years of my life saved on the web.  I tend to assume it will always be there, but I know of more than one blogger (on wordpress, not blogger) whose posts all disappeared overnight.  They might have been able to get them back, but could you imagine?  That would be terrible.  So next time I get a coupon code for Blog2Print I think I might have to jump on it.

7.  Clear out some of the photos on my hard drive and have photo books printed.
Brace yourself.  There are currently 49,068 photos on my computer.  Don't mind the fact that my computer crashed in July of 2010 and I lost thousands.  That my friends, is absurd.  I have WAY too many photos hanging out on my hard drive.  And barely any printed.  I'm now backed up on an external, so hopefully nothing catastrophic will happen, but this is something I really REALLY need to work on.

8.  Be more productive.
Obviously that is kind of broad, but I waste a lot of time on the internet and watching TV.  It is very easy for me to get distracted on the internet, because most of my work is done on the computer.  I'll take a five minute break from an invitation set that turns into an hour and then I run out of time to get stuff done.  Something easier for me to control is the amount of TV I watch.  And I watch bad TV.  Like Teen Mom.  This year I'm cutting that out on my DVRwatch a show when it is airing.  Even if I plan to watch it that night, I will start 30 minutes later and fast forward through the commercials.

9.  Invest more time in my marriage.
I have no doubt that Christopher and I still love each other like crazy.  But we both tend to zone out in our own spaces when there is free time.  We need to spend more time together doing things, not watching TV or sitting next to each other on our separate laptops.

Eh, I wanted to have 10-12 specific goals, but this is what I've got for now.  I think it is plenty to get me started this year, don't you?