2014 Resolutions

Over the last day or two my brain has been doing what the rest of your brains are probably doing...thinking back on 2013 and ahead to 2014. Did I accomplish what I wanted to? Was it a good year? Well...it was a year...I wouldn't call it a great year, but I wouldn't call it a bad year either. I did go back and reread my resolutions or yearly "goals" posts from 2012 and 2013 (Thank you Molly W. for introducing me to blogging! I love sharing myself and my heart on my blog, & tonight I love that I can look back.), and realized that those two years have many resolutions in common...and many goals that I'll continue...and several that I didn't complete. :)

Here's last year's list:
1 - Be healthier --- exercise and balance those food groups!!!
2 - Make time for things I enjoy --- Blurb books, sewing, blogging, and cooking
3 - Plan monthly times with friends, or weekly if possible
4 - Hang out with my hubby and DO something together
5 - Establish a consistent bedtime and get out of bed time to support all of the above!!!
I think those are actually pretty wise. Hmmm...I think I might actually need to publish and post those in a prominent location to remind myself of their importance in our lives...

The themes that emerge from the last two years are SIMPLIFY and BALANCE. I'm not sure I've completely achieved simplification or finding balance in our lives, but both of those are ideals that I will continue to strive for into 2014 and beyond. I'm going to add on MAINTAIN. Maintain simplifying daily life, simplify the possessions in our home, simplify the process of completing meaningless tasks instead of making a big deal out of nothing...maintain a healthy marriage, consistent parenting, close and regular friendships, healthy habits...maintain working toward a balance between work & personal life, pleasure & business, with family & time alone, being a "housewife" & choosing what I want to do, maintain our budget, maintain our businesses, maintain hobbies and our family photos, maintain posting regularly on our blog...do you see where I'm going with this? That list could keep going and become a novel! After two years of truly working toward regaining control of what should be day-to-day and not trivial turned tumultuous, I want to maintain those efforts while rounding out life with things that often go by the wayside. For example...family photos...I have thousands of them...they keep being saved on my computer and going nowhere...they are a mess...I haven't organized, edited, or compiled them in three and a half years!!! IT'S TIME!!!!!!!!!

Can you guess my #1 goal for 2014? PHOTOGRAPHY, etc.

• Organize the thousands of pictures and folders of pictures on my computer (the pictures imported from my iPhone are a mess...no idea how it sorts, but it seriously has created thousands of folders in two and a half years...utter disaster).
• Learn to effectively/efficiently use Photoshop to organize & edit pictures
• Create photo books (through Blurb?) in the style of Family Yearbooks
• Create a photo-a-day blog & book for 2014 --- luv this idea & LUV that it will put the three bullets above into daily use to keep me going!
• Learn to use all the features of our camera to their full advantage & how to capture better images --- preferably through a photography class first

Yeah!!! I'm so excited to start!!! I already created our photo a day blog and am researching Photoshop Elements vs. Lightroom. Once I get that program loaded I can tackle managing all the photos we currently have with a vengeance. Next step...learning the art of photography!!!

Now...better wrap this up since I'm already violating my getting to bed early plan...shocking!

New Years Resolutions?

One of the things I love about New Years Resolutions is that everyone (or maybe not everyone) takes some time to consider how to improve their lifestyle, family, focus, health, career...and on and on and on. I have always been one to want to learn more, try more, and do more, and consequently have realized that I'm a great starter, but not a great finisher. So this year, knowing this, I vow to try to plot my New Years Resolutions on a course of things that are lifestyle changes and not a checklist, because, let's face it...I don't think I fulfilled last year's resolutions. I can't even remember what they all were, to tell the truth. I need to come to the realization that life isn't about getting things done, it's about enjoying where you are and who you're with. Someone tell me that about once a day, please!!!

So since I wasn't overly successful last year, I have been mulling over what to do this year for awhile. Ironically, reading a friend's blog post (last year) about her resolutions was what inspired me to attempt them for the first time in years as well as begin my own blog (thanks, Molly Wobbema!). So this year I'm going to be a little less ambitious and a little more practical.

Here's my original list...going to need to ax a few!!!
1 - Be healthier: attempt to exercise more than just following Josiah around on his bike.
2 - Finish 1 Blurb photobook for 2012 and start working on 2011.
3 - Organize the office and the basement (I actually did the rest of the house last year!).
4 - Only bring home school work that can fit in my totally gorgeous Ju Ju Be Giga Be bag (see earlier post for more on that).
5 - Plan monthly time with friends so that I actually see them on a regular basis instead of randomly.
6 - Hang out with my hubby. Keep working on my golf game in the summer and learn to play Race Horse / Pinochle in the winter. Maybe learn to enjoy an occasional movie...
7 - Finish a book before buying a new one.
8 - Go to bed before midnight (I'd say 11:00, but I need to work my way back gradually).
9 - Mary Kay: Begin to work my business to match my career goals (Become a team leader, finish All-Star Consultant Status in June, and facial 50 new women)

Time to get serious...the reality of life is that there will always be things to clean out and/or organize, so let's nix those... Since my "theme" for 2013 is SELF-improvement, not career, let's get rid of those as well... Now, let's combine and reword the other ones to not be something I have to check off, but rather things that will focus on a happy, healthy, wholesome way of living...

Here's my final list:
1 - Be healthier --- exercise and balance those food groups!!!
2 - Make time for things I enjoy --- Blurb books, sewing, blogging, and cooking
3 - Plan monthly times with friends, or weekly if possible
4 - Hang out with my hubby and DO something together
5 - Establish a consistent bedtime and get out of bed time to support all of the above!!!

If I can implement those I think I'll feel like I've achieved some degree of balance instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Yes, I'll still tackle any number of home organizing / decorating (already planning to paint our master bedroom this summer, among other things), and, yes, this plan will go out the window during certain times of the year (conferences, end of school, back to school...hmmm, might be a pattern there...might need to consider a "leave work at work" resolution sometime), but I need to focus on what's truly important and cut myself some slack on the rest.

Happy New Year!!!