2012...new year, new goals.

Happy New Year!!
I got the privilege of ringing in 2012 with Julian and Eddie. That's right - my toddler was up until midnight! (12:30 to be exact.)  Not exactly planned...but we spent the evening doing a family Christmas at my brother's house and literally stepped back in our home at 11:45, so we sat and watched the ball drop, then got our little guy ready for bed after lots of new year's kisses.

It's 2012...now what? I'm not much for resolutions....those seem to be excuses to quit something you aren't supposed to be doing, and since I quit all my worst habits when Julian was conceived, I really would rather focus on my goals and hopes for what will happen this year. Feel free to be bored and move on from reading right now. This post is mostly for myself. I like to see things on paper, and since paper is scarce around here, I will post it on my blog!!

Goals for 2012:

Get organized. (I think I said this last year, so apparently I didn't do a very good job.)  This is mostly related to business stuff as I have a really hard time keeping track of things in any organized manner. This is not helped by the lack of usable work space in my home right now...and since that isn't going to change in the immediate future, I need to find some way to carve out an area just for me - and organize it. Then baby-proof it. Then keep it organized and baby-proofed.

Spend more time with my husband (didn't I say this last year too?) It seems to be the one area of our lives that falls off the totem pole. Too much going on at once plus a lack of babysitter (or I should add, lack of a child that will sleep or eat for a babysitter...that doesn't help either) and you have a recipe for disaster. We need to make the best of the moments we do get in each other presence and not sit side-by-side on the couch surfing the web. Yes, it's sad...we're THAT couple some nights.

Stop letting people get to me.  This is going to be vague mainly because it's actually a blanket topic concerning many types of people who get to me in many different ways...whether it's family members and/or friends who hurt me or disappoint me, or other photographers who belittle or glean from me...I need to stop giving them my mental energy and just keep truckin'...living my life for ME and not worrying about the naysayers.

Complete a Project 52....and I don't mean one of those stuffy boring 'themed' weekly photograph things. I don't need the practice with my camera anymore, what I need is to remember to document MY life while I'm out there documenting life for others. And so this year (and I'm excited about this), I will be doing 52 weeks of Julian. I will make certain that I get one photo of Julian every week to save to a special folder....my only criteria being that it tells a story. It doesn't have to be a technically great photo...it doesn't have to be edited perfectly, it just has to be a memory (however small or simple) that I want to keep of my son. At the end of 2012, I will take all 52 (or possibly 53....it's leap year) photos and print them in a book for us both to look back on his year...It's amazing how much a child can grow and change in one year, and I want so badly to document that and PRINT it - which is my biggest challenge to date with my own photographs.  I will probably post these to my blog as well, but I'm not holding myself to that. As long as I take them and I save them to the specified folder, I will call it a success.

Next goal....balance. I need to work towards finding it. After completing my first year in business and looking back on the good and the bad aspects, I'm ready to make changes and one of them is learning to balance my time between my son and my work and keeping our house livable. I am not a housewife...I never promised to be one, so it's not possible (nor expected) for me to do 100% of the duties around the house, but I will be honest in saying that towards the end of this year, I was hardly keeping up with my 50%.  I felt overwhelmed 90% of the time. It was not a happy time for any of us. I need to be able to spend quality time with my son, keep up at least marginally with the house and still get stuff done...and that means streamlining my workflow, raising prices and taking on less clients and learning when to put the laptop down!

Now on to the house...oh my...the house.
My lovely husband is actually starting 2012 the right way - he's working away in our bathroom (with our son 'assisting')...this has been our biggest challenge yet - getting this stupid bathroom DONE. People usually remodel bathrooms in weeks - this one has taken us YEARS and everything is hinging on it being done. We have actually come up with a remodel plan to make this home workable for us for the fairly distant future, but I refuse to put time and money into anything else until we get this stupid bathroom done. Once it is complete there will be a wide array of OTHER projects that have been patiently waiting, and then maybe we can start on some of the bigger things that need completed.  My goal here? HIRE OUT. The end. There is a fine line between saving money doing everything yourself and being miserable because you've lived in a torn-apart scrap heap for 3.5 years. LET IT BE DONE.

Well, that's pretty much what's been bouncing around my head in terms of goals for the last couple weeks. I am excited to start fresh with many things regarding my business and my family...a feeling that I hope lasts a little longer than a few weeks. The down time this Winter has been good for me, so hopefully I can get everything in place by the time things start back up and get 2012 started off on the right foot :)

If you've made it this far, I commend you and if you are able to comment on this blog (because apparently 90% of people aren't allowed to for some reason), share some of your goals as well....and have a wonderful New Year's Day!