personal:: goals for february

happy new year's! better late than never, eh? [yes, i suppose canada has rubbed off a bit.]

by the looks of this post, you'd think i did nothing in the month of january. and you'd almost be right ;-)... actually, january was a very good month around here, jam-packed full of catching up on rest and quality time with my charlottes. after the busy holidays [which were amazing, by the way. our time in alabama had a multitude of lovely moments and memories, which included the birth of my brother's first child, visits with family and friends, a simple and wonderful Christmas, and a fun trip to new orleans with marks.]. anyway, i typically begin every year with a lot of self-reflection, but, this new year's i was struck more with gratitude and hopefulness, and the desire to look forward, rather than on the past year. so, i didn't make goals at the beginning of january, which was really relaxing and a refreshing change of pace. everyone seems to know the importance of balance but i don't know that many truly grasp it on a personal level. 

my hope for february is that i will continue to learn where the balance is for my life; more importantly, that God will be my priority and passion before anything else. i'm also looking forward to house guests throughout the month of february, beginning this weekend, w/ no break between guests 'til the 26th!

DECEMBER GOALS::

personal::

• drink 8-10 glasses of water/day.
• call momma 2x/week.
• help charlottes. skype w/ family on mondays
• make november facebook photo album
• write my Christmas journal entry on Christmas day
• finish reading “nurture shock”
• finish 3 crochet projects
• research swim lessons for charlottes.
• make a weekly schedule
• house tour
• get our wills signed/witnessed
• get meal schedule organized for nelsons for jan-march
• mail out Christmas cards by december 16th

picture((me))foto:: 

• shoot 2 sessions.
• wrap up year-end on blog. 

JANUARY RECAP::

• read "the red queen" by phillipa gregory
• helped charlottes. create her Christmas thank-you's [haven't finished writing them yet.]
• undecorated the house/tree
• enjoyed marks.' parents visit from jan 19-22nd
• booked flights to birmingham and detroit [headed to the fam, and to sarnia, mid-to-late march!]
• organized my office
• edited Christmas pictures and posted december and january facebook albums
• shot two portrait sessions

FEBRUARY GOALS::

personal::

• ·         exercise regularly [3x/week]
• ·         journal an update on charlottes.
• ·         read “outliers”
• ·         read “shepherding a child’s heart”
• ·         read john
• ·         look for dressers or cabinets for tv stand
• ·         find big pillow for c.’s bed
• ·         find mattress for c.’s bed
• ·         recover pillows for couch
• ·         get headboard finished for our bedroom
• ·         red hearts in dining room
• ·         help c. make marks. a valentine
• ·         schedule swim lessons for c.
• ·         glasses frames shopping

picture((me))foto::

• ·         shoot 3 sessions
• ·         shoot c.’s 21-month session
• ·         edit january sessions
• ·         update website

oh! lastly, because i feel my last few post have been lacking in visual interest, here's an image taken of my new precious niece, over Christmas. she's darling!

personal:: goals for december

i haven't forgotten my monthly goal-setting... it's just taken me a little while to actually take time to sit and work on this! here you go...

NOVEMBER GOALS::

personal::

• run or workout 3x/week.
• stretch/do crunches each night
• cut sugar from diet
• cut caffiene from diet
• drink 8-10 glasses of water/day.
• call momma 2x/week.
• help charlottes. skype w/ family on mondays
• organize savings goals for house projects/purchases.
• decorate my office corner.
• choose photos for empty frames
• make october facebook photo album
• keep a daily log/journal
• finish reading “nurture shock” (read 4 more chapters)
• finish 5 crochet projects (i did 7!)
• research swim lessons for charlottes.
• make a weekly schedule
• do prep for church Christmas parade float
• organize meals for a friend
• style/shoot our family Christmas shoot

picture((me))foto:: 

• finish editing 1 outstanding wedding
• finish editing 2 outstanding family sessions
• blog at least 2x/week
• shoot/edit 3 sessions (more like 5! Annnnd, done.)

this month was nuts. the list synopsis doesn’t do it justice. even though I cannot mark off the first four items on my personal list, my health isn’t a failure… i fulfill each of them [an exception being the crunches] 70% of the time, but, don’t feel like I can mark them off so it looks like I don’t do them at all. they are noticeably missing from december’s goal list, b/c, hey, I’m not too worried through the holidays whether i am a good girl or not.

my friend who i scheduled meals for, angela, had her surgery on november 21^st, and a week-and-a-half later, was diagnosed with stage 4 gastric cancer. it’s been a lot to absorb over the past few weeks, but, people from church, and friends and family, have all been volunteering to help angela and her family, and i’ve had the privilege of helping organize much of it… i would consider that a big accomplishment for this month.

DECEMBER GOALS::

personal::

• drink 8-10 glasses of water/day.
• call momma 2x/week.
• help charlottes. skype w/ family on mondays
• make november facebook photo album
• write my Christmas journal entry on Christmas day
• finish reading “nurture shock”
• finish 3 crochet projects
• research swim lessons for charlottes.
• make a weekly schedule
• house tour
• get our wills signed/witnessed
• get meal schedule organized for nelsons for jan-march
• mail out Christmas cards by december 16th

picture((me))foto:: 

• shoot 2 sessions.
• wrap up year-end on blog. 

that is all from me for now... i'm off to wrap up some cleaning and laundry because we're leaving town for the holidays!

personal:: goals for november

here's to getting this done on the first day of the month!!! i made my last set of goals with 10 days to spare, so, i'm not going to complain about the things that aren't done. i was a busy girl. proof::

OCTOBER GOALS::

personal::

• run or workout 3x/week.
• stretch/do crunches each night
• cut sugar/caffiene from diet (did okay on sugar, not so good on caffiene.)
• drink 8-10 glasses of water/day.
• call momma 2x/week.
• help charlottes. skype w/ family on mondays
• organize savings goals for house projects/purchases.
• hang pictures in charlottes.' room
• finish decorating crib space in charlottes.' room
• decorate my office corner.
• choose photos for empty frames
• make september facebook photo album
• burn disks for family/friends who have visited us this month
• keep a daily log/journal
• finish reading current book
• research swim lessons for charlottes.
• plan marks.' big 3-0 birthday
• make a weekly schedule

picture((me))foto:: 

• finish editing 2 outstanding weddings (one down, one to go!)
• edit sister-friend~* and twin~* portraits
• finish editing 2 family sessions
• blog at least 2x/week
• shoot 4 family sessions (ended up being three family sessions, one rescheduled)
• organize fall mini session event and post on facebook   

i'm really happy with what i've accomplished... i hopefully won't lose momentum on the following list, just because i have three times the amount of time!

NOVEMBER GOALS::

personal::

• run or workout 3x/week.
• stretch/do crunches each night
• cut sugar from diet
• cut caffiene from diet
• drink 8-10 glasses of water/day.
• call momma 2x/week.
• help charlottes. skype w/ family on mondays
• organize savings goals for house projects/purchases.
• decorate my office corner.
• choose photos for empty frames
• make october facebook photo album
• keep a daily log/journal
• finish reading “nurture shock”
• finish 5 crochet projects
• research swim lessons for charlottes.
• make a weekly schedule
• do prep for church Christmas parade float
• organize meals for a friend
• style/shoot our family Christmas shoot

picture((me))foto:: 

• finish editing 1 outstanding wedding
• finish editing 2 outstanding family sessions
• blog at least 2x/week
• shoot/edit 3 sessions

here's to hard work and well-deserved rest in the month of november!!

a favorite photo from october.

personal:: goals for september

i love how making a list of goals can help me stay productive and prioritized. my lovely fellow photographer friend, tori, gave me this idea a few months back; i'm finally getting around to using this blog for a bit more than just posting recent shoots [no worries, though, i won't neglect the picture-sharing!]. it's september, and i love how, even though i'm not going back to school [or sending anyone to school, for that matter.], it feels like a new beginning! it helps that i'm feeling a lot more settled into our new home. anyway, here's to accomplishing things and in october, i will revisit this list and see how much i got done. so, without further ado, my goals for september::

personal::

• run or swim 3x/week.
• drink 8-10 glasses of water/day.
• call momma 2x/week.
• help charlottes. skype w/ gran on mondays and mimi on tuesdays
• organize saving goals for house projects/purchases.
• nanny 2 days
• paint chest of drawers in charlottes.' room
• finish decorating crib space in charlottes.' room
• organize office with marks.
• choose/print photos for empty frames
• make august facebook photo album
• book flights for Christmas travel if reasonable
• back up summer photos and make disks
• take self-portrait each week for personal photo project

picture((me))foto:: 

• finish editing 3 outstanding weddings
• edit sister-friend~* and twin~* portraits
• finish may family photos
• blog at least 2x/week
• shoot 3 family sessions
• organize fall mini-session event and post on facebook
• update one section of website with recent work.

if you made it through that entire list, don't worry, fall tv starts soon and you won't be so bored you find things like this interesting! :-)

a sneak peek of this gorgeous couple's wedding. more to come!