New Years Goals 2012

I always make new years goals but like most people they fall by the wayside by about week four of the year. I’ve made a point to keep going with my goals for the year and I feel as if sharing them here might make me stay accountable to the internet world. So here it goes…

Learn to Knit and Quilt

I’ve sewn and I’ve crocheted but quilting and knitting are two of those textile creative outlets that have escaped me.

While in college at ORU I saw their production of Quilters and it was probably one of their best productions (I was on camera crew which meant I saw ALL their productions, most of them twice). It’s a musical about the lives of American Pioneer women based on the book The Quilters:Women and Domestic Art by Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen. It was so well done by the ORU theater department and the whole show is incredibly moving. So much love and life used to go into quilts, each quilt was a community affair. I love the idea of creating a physical representation of our family’s memories into a textile piece that will serve as warmth for years. It makes my heart happy.

Get the Body Baby Ready

It takes a lot for me to share this out in the blog world, it feels like sharing it puts a ton of pressure on us to make a kid. But in all honesty it’s a huge part of what we’re doing this year and I feel it needs to be on this list. It’s uber-personal and we know it may not happen right away but in the mean time we’re changing the way we live of lives in order to create an optimal environment to have a baby. It’s the main reason we’ve gone all organic, but we have a lot more to add to that: take vitamins REGULARLY, create an exercise schedule/routine (this means cardio, weights, and yoga), cook healthier meals make better choices when eating out, and drink more water.

Grow and Refine Our Business

Running your own business is a lot of work, it’s like having two jobs. You have to create your product (for us it’s graphic design and photography) but you also have to manage your business (marketing, client communication, brand image/maintenance, and my least favorite, accounting…UGH). This year our goal is to grow the business ie. clients, income, etc. but also to refine it. We’re working on coming up with the perfect pricing structure for our market and what our clients need, putting in place structures for accounting and management, figuring out what we can delegate and outsource, and refining and extending our branding. It’s a HUGE goal but I’m excited about the place we’re in and where we’re going.

Continue Making Our Home OURS

I have a long list of large and small house projects some are aesthetic, some are maintenance, and some are organization based. I got Bill a table saw for Christmas (I was first in line at Lowes at 4am on black Friday, yep, I’m that awesome!) so I figure he needs some projects to break it in. We’ve already attacked a few projects: clean and organize the garage and build shelf ledges for the living room – don’t worry, we’ll be sharing these in some blog posts.

Some of the larger projects are fun, others are mandatory, and some may not happen this year (it all depends on what fits our budget). Replacing the rotting facial board on the front of the house is priority, next will be covering the patio so the rain splatter will stop coming in the back door and ruining our laminate floor. After that I’d love to get rid of our random patch of carpet and do new hard wood or laminate through all of the common areas of our house. Lastly (and sadly will probably not happen this year) I’d love to redo the kitchen: paint cabinets, add a tile back splash, paint the walls, and install new counter tops.

Gardening is also on my yearly to do list. I’m determined to have an awesome veggie garden this spring, the raised beds Bill built me are calling for a edible bounty and I’ve got some awesome compost brewing in my compost bin. My grandmother got me a subscription to Organic Gardening Magazine and I love it, if you want to get a little deeper into gardening it’s definitely worth checking out! My front beds are coming together nicely but I need to be consistent about pulling weeds. I’m also determined to have a fantastic yard, I’ve been reading all too much about grass and lawn care recently. After the drought we’ve been left with a few patches of grass, some weeds, and a whole lot of dirt. I want my yard to be green and to call out for people to walk on it bare foot.

Make Giving a Daily Practice

I’ve always loved sending cards and random things to folks through the mail. My favorite was once I bought these tiny puffy chicks and sent them to random people, it was fantastic. My BFF Joanne of You Can Call Me Jo challenged herself last year to send out more handmade cards and it inspired me to continue my own love and do the same. It’s SO nice to get something in the mail that isn’t a bill or junk mail.

I also want to make giving a daily practice where every day I do something that expresses love. It doesn’t have to be something huge, just things like striking up a convo with the checker at Wal-mart and calling them by name, paying the toll for the person behind me in line, volunteering to help friends with random things, giving people simple meaningful gifts. My heart is to express God’s love with simple acts.
And that’s about it, sorry this was such a copy heavy post. I’d love to hear about your resolutions, goals, yearly to dos, etc. What do you have planned for the new year?