My Totally Attainable Goals for 2013

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Yep, just gave myself a pep talk in the title.

I'm almost afraid to write this post for the following reasons:

a) my goals will be out there in the internet universe and thus I will held accountable for all of them forever and ever

b) I sort of forgot about my goals from last year and don't want a repeat of saying I'll do a bunch of stuff and then not doing said stuff
 
(I'm so going to write an update post on my mini-goals from last year.)(Hopefully before the end of 2013 January, m'kay?)
 
So here's what I'm going to try this year. I'm gonna choose three goals, each from a different area of my life.
 
Then, I'm going to make a list of 50 40 30 20 or so "challenges" that I would like to tackle before the end of the year. Some of them will be hard, some of them will be scary, and some of them will be super easy so I can cross them off the list right away and feel like I'm doing a good job. ;)

The Home Goal
 
My only home goal this year is to o-r-g-a-n-i-z-e. I don't know how many times over the holidays I had to hurl myself across the room screaming NOOOOOOOO when a guest was about to open a drawer, cupboard, or closet. I've been hiding my hoarding for too long. I will, I WILL clean out every closet, every drawer, every dresser, every cupboard, every everything until my house is completely snoop-worthy. {I just made that up. It means that if someone came over and snooped in the bathroom drawer, I wouldn't have twelve toothbrushes in varying shades of pink and in varying degrees of crustiness crammed in there amongst all of the pairs of eyeglasses I've ever owned since I was fourteen.}



I'll be sharing my progress along the way, only because I know that deep-down you are totally a snooper and really want to see what lies behind all of my closet doors everyone needs a little bit of organization inspiration. ;) 

The Personal Goal

My personal goal this year is to take more pictures of my family. This includes me actually being in some of the photos, and it also includes printing them and putting them in REAL photo albums.

This picture is ridiculous.

Since I bought my DSLR two years ago, I've printed about five pictures. FIVE! And three of them were for my mom. I also have ten thousand pictures of flowers from my garden this summer, but only like, ten from Cooper's first Christmas. How sad is that!?!?!


 
I need to get out of the frame of mind that each picture needs to be "perfect" or "professional-looking". I'm sure when I'm eighty years old I won't care if there are shadows under people's noses or if the white balance is off a bit in a photo. I'll just want to see pictures of the Coopster with smooshed cheerios in his hair and drool running down his chin. (He makes that look pretty adorable I must say.)

 

The Blog Goal
 
My goal for the blog is not to gain more followers or to get more pins from my projects or to gain more sponsors. It's to be more consistent in replying to YOUR comments. I struggle with this one. Big time. I'm sure you can relate to this, but ever since I started this blog I've either been working full-time or looking after a baby. I find it difficult as it is to scramble together enough minutes to put together a half-decent post. So by the time I'm done writing the post and hit 'publish', I feel guilty that I haven't walked the dogs yet, or washed the dishes, or made dinner, or played with Mini-Coop. Later in the day I'll check my iPhone to see if there are any comments to moderate. If there are, I do a little happy dance inside, think of a cute reply in my head, and then make a mental note to go back later and actually write the reply. Except I never seem to have time to. Booooo, me.



There are times when I do go back and write a reply to every single comment in a post, but it's usually two weeks after the comments were written and I know that nobody will ever see them because I waited too darn long. 
 
So. You are my friends. And I want to be a better friend by taking the time to write YOU back when we were so lovely as to write ME in the first place.
 
P.S. Did you know that if you have your email address on your profile page or if you leave an email address in your comment it makes it so much easier to reply? For realz.
 
 
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Now, the fun part.
 
My Challenges for 2013:
 
1. Take a family vacation.  
 
2. Learn Photoshop and/or Lightroom better by taking an online or in-person course or workshop.
 
3. Wear pink lipstick out of the house on a weekday.
 
4. Choose a runner for the stairs already.
 
5. Teach the Coopster better sleep habits, ummm, like how to self-soothe. Apparently he likes to wake up every hour now to get cuddles.
 
6. Eat at a sushi restaurant even though it makes me queasy just thinking about it. 
 
7. Order some fabric with color (gasp!) and make some new cushions for the living room.
 
8. Go fishing. Of course I would let the fishies go.
 
9. Read ten books. From the library.       
 
10. Knit one thing. Maybe a scarf. Maybe a baby scarf because they are smaller.
 
11. Give away 10 small gifts to unsuspecting peeps just for the fun of it.
 
12. Help Alex finish the basement.
 
13. Take Cooper for swimming lessons even though being in a bathing suit in front of strangers is kind of horrifying.
 
14. Get braces. Again. Yuck, blech, boooooooooo.
 
15. Do a 1000 piece puzzle. Wow, I'm a nerd.
 
16. Make a (wannabe) real photography website. Eeek. That one is scary.
 
17. Do some family portrait sessions and charge a wee bit of money for them. Eeek! That one is super scary too.
 
18. Cook a recipe from the Thai cookbook that I bought two years ago.
 
19. Bake some cinnamon buns.
 
20. Adopt a baby. Okay so this one doesn't really count because we've been trying to do this for the last four years. But maybe 2013 will be the year it goes down!
 
 
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What's your #1 goal for 2013? If it's to do a puzzle then we're totally besties.

41 comments:

  1. Sarah- I am glad to know I am not the only one who hardly got any pictures of my newborns first Christmas! I was just thinking about it this morning and how awful I felt because my two other children I have tons of pictures from their first Christmas but hardly any of Tucker! :( We didn't even get a family pic! I considered dressing him back up in his Christmas outfit and just snapping a few pics! Haha- maybe I'll do it this weekend!

    Can't wait to see you obtain all of your goals! They sound fun! And can't wait to see what fabric you pick! I have been moving my home in the opposite direction of you- there is too much color and not enough neutral so I am trying to get more neutral so I can pop in any color fabrics I want!

    Hope the New Year is treating you well!
    Meggie

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    1. Hey Girl!

      I'm glad I'm not the only one who didn't get that many pictures during Christmas. I think I was too excited for Coopster to open his presents. Okay, and maybe I was too excited to open mine too, that I just kind of forgot.

      I like your idea of dressing up and re-enacting Christmas though. Haha. You should do it! We just took down our Christmas tree so it's a little late for us over here.

      I gotta say that your boys are THE CUTEST and Coops says hi to Tucker all the time when we check our Instagram. ;)

      I have no idea how you can have three boys and keep it together. I need to learn some pointers that's for sure!!!

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  2. seriously, girl get yourself to a restaurant for some sushi! #1 there's nothing to be afraid of. #2 you can get veggie sushi and cooked sushi so it's not anything you haven't eaten before. #3 Raw fish is actually much more soft and mild than cooked and you may just find it's your new favorite food.

    Enjoy!

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    1. Oh, I know you're probably right. My friends and fam have all told me the same thing - that sushi is delicious and that I'm missing out.

      I just can't get rid of the stinky raw fish taste idea. I'm so uncultured. Hahaha.

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  3. oh dear girl... everything that was in my mind, you just wrote down in this post, i'm soooo the same way! a perfectionist! (but i'm way ADD too) so things don't get crossed off my list very easily, and since i'm mommy, wife & HUMAN as well, i often make my goals unattainable! by my own self!! oy ...
    so i'm jumpin' in the boat with ya ... just to take pictures and leave them alone (and start a project life album)... clean out those dang drawers that get stuff thrown inside of them when someone comes over...and to take horseback riding lessons with my older daughter (yikes)(now that's scary :)
    this post was awesooooome! you go girl! ♥

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    1. Jaime,

      I've seen your blog. I've seen your craft room. There is NO WAY you have messy drawers and cupboards. :) If they are, I look forward to cleaning 'em out together. :)

      Isn't being a perfectionist hard work? We always make things so hard for ourselves.

      Horseback riding lessons sounds freaking awesome. Although I went for a horse ride on the beach in Punta Cana and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. :)

      Good luck with everything and ttys!

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  4. I know what you mean about taking more family pictures. I love your home very neutral and calming:)What is the paint color in the first photo?

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    1. Thank you!!!

      The paint color in the living room is Gray Owl by Benjamin Moore mixed at 1/2 tint or 1/2 strength.

      :)

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  5. What wonderful goals. You got this. :) Good luck with baby adoption.

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    1. Thanks for the pep talk. I'll be needing it! :)

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  6. This post made me laugh! Not your goals, but the way you tell the story.

    I totally think you should charge more than just a wee bit for your photography :) :)

    And how about printing these two family pics to start off the year well.

    PS I'm linking to you tomorrow

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    1. Ooooooh, linking to me? I'm intrigued. :)

      Charging money for photos is tricky because I feel like I'm still learning (and have a lot to learn) about photography. But, I think getting out of my comfort zone is a good thing so I'm going to go for it. Ahhhh!

      Thanks for the vote of confidence. I really appreciate it!

      Delete
    2. http://takechargesolutions.org/blog/2013/01/18/some-inspiring-links/

      Here;s the link :)

      Delete
  7. I love the your family pic-the way Cooper is looks like he is just hanging there, and looking off in another direction, with the serious look-it made me smile! If you were in Nova Scotia, I would have you do a family portrait of me the hubs, and our "fur children"! I think you would make it fun.
    You definitely have some attainable goals/challenges in the list. (But I would rather go fishing than eat sushi!)

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    1. I agree. At least with fishing you get to suntan. ;)

      What's super funny about that picture is that while I was doing a dorky pose I almost face planted my baby's face into a bale of hay. Haha!

      Delete
  8. Ha, sadly but honestly, I've been hoping to do a puzzle sometime too!
    I help my daughter with the 20ish piece puzzles...and I get to thinking how fun it would be to have an ongoing puzzle to work on. It would also be a fun date night idea ;)
    I'll be sure to let you know if we get around to it.
    Good luck with all of your 2013 goals! I look forward to following along this year :)

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    1. Thanks so much. :) Glad you'll be sticking around.

      I totally think that puzzles are a lost art. Let's make them cool again! Heh heh heh.

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  9. I had braces again too! Once when I was 13 and once when I was 22. Do it! Do it! Good luck with your challenges. Happy 2013!

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    1. And so you're glad you did it? Did people make fun of you? How long did you have to have them? Did you get the old-school ones or the invisiline ones?

      Uhhhh, sorry for the 20 questions. I need some virtual cheerleading obviously!

      :)

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  10. Sarah~ I love this post! I am new to your blog. I stumbled across it a while ago and added you to my reader right away, then life got in the way and I never read what caught my eye in the first place. But No matters I am here now. I love the goals you have set, I think we all struggle with that big "O" in organizing. I love the challenges you have set for yourself. Hey if you have any knitting questions or want some pattern ideas don't hesitate to ask, I will set you up! Have a a fun 2013!

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    1. That is so sweet! I pretty much only know how to do the basic stitch right now but I will hopefully be able to take you up on your offer for patterns in the not-so-distant future.

      :)

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  11. I'm right there with ya on the organization front! But my stash is even worse than "hide it in a drawer when you need to clean up fast/company is coming"...I very often throw the ever-growing pile of magazines/random mail/kid artwork/my latest craft project that usually lives on the corner of my kitchen table and chuck it into a paper bag and stash that somewhere. Yesterday I was making homemade lip gloss for party favors and *knew* I'd already printed off the labels months before, but for the life of me couldn't find them. I looked through cupboards and about 4 random paper bags of my stuff in the storage room until I came across them. Uhhh...one of the bags had a Christmas card in it from LAST year! Yeah, that's really bad. And let's not get me started on our 90% finished basement bathroom, which has plywood over the tub and therefore has become my new favorite "stash my crap" area...covered by a pretty shower curtain so no one will see, of course. :)

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    1. Well... At least there is the possibility of a surprise every time you look in a paper bag???

      ;)

      Delete
  12. I have to say I always love reading your blog, but today's post REALLY made me smile. I can soooo relate!

    I do a lousy job taking pictures unless we're on vacation.....and we don't go on vacation very often (although we just went to Disneyland last month so I'm set for awhile, lol!)

    I USED to clean out my closets, cupboards and drawers twice a year. Please note the words "USED to....." I need to work on that.

    As for commenting, I get very few comments but I STILL have a hard time keeping up with my comments (and my emails too) so I am now trying to set aside a few minutes every day to do it. So far so good!

    How exciting about adopting a baby. I hope this will be your year too! :)

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    1. Thank you so much!

      I love the idea of a twice a year clean up. Is it possible for me? Probably not. Haha!

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  13. I LOVE "snoop-worthy" I'll be reusing that one! Braces, ouch! But totally worth it and my prayers will be with you on the adoption! You rock!

    PS - I have the same issue with holding true to goals and wanting to become more organized so I've decided (and put in my calendar) to do a "resolutions update" on my blog every month. I'm hoping that will help.

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    1. I think a resolution update post is a great idea. I just might have to steal that one!! :)

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  14. With respect to taking photos and printing them out why don't you buy Poroject life by Becker Higgins. It's a binder with a set neatly sized cards that all you have to do is have a pen and pop the photo in. It can be simple as that or fancy with embellishments. Check out Becky's website and other people using it like Ali Edwards and elise blaha cripe and you'll have a lovely album with real photos and stories. It is so easy and you just print your weekly photos and pop them in the album.

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    1. Kathy!!!

      I've heard of it but haven't really seen it before. I'm off to check it out. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I'm all for anything easy!!! :)

      Delete
  15. Hi Sarah! First...I love the pic of you three by the hay, so cute! Organize is my word for the year and I did clean out the bottom part of my hutch, so I got that done anyway and the Christmas decorations too are all put away. I'm taking baby steps so I don't get tired of organizing:)
    I'm the same way with the comments, I do try though:)

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    1. You are on a roll!!! Good luck with the rest. We're in it together. ;)

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  16. I love goal #6 - nothing like attainable goals! I have a 1000 piece puzzle that we are debating decluttering because none of us want to commit to doing such a hard one, but it would be fun because it is part of a mystery. We are so lame that we saved the 400 piece puzzle to do as a family ;)

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    1. You should stick with it. I love the idea of sipping a nice mug of coffee or tea and working on a huge puzzle. Being away from t.v. And Internet seems like it would be relaxing!!

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  17. Love your goals for the year! Just want to tell you - you are not alone with braces after baby. My teeth moved so much during my pregnancy, I had to do Invisalign for an entire year after my little guy was born. What we go through for these little loves ;)

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    1. My teeth have moved little bits over time. They are not terrible but they are definitely not straight anymore. Boooooo!

      How did you like the Invisalign?

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  18. Your goals sound like lots of fun! I probably wouldn't have bothered putting that you need to get your baby into better sleep patterns!!! He and you will sort it out in time! Oh, and the bit about all your stuff being in drawers, cupboards, under furniture etc etc etc - I am so glad I am not the only one who needs to sort this stuff out. My home is very neat and tidy - until you look inside things! You have reminded me that this year really does need to be the year it all gets sorted!!! :-)

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  19. Thanks for the baby sleep comment. :)

    And, lets get organized together!

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  20. If you have a bread machine I have an AMAZING cinnamon bun recipe!!!
    http://www.funcheaporfree.com/2011/08/foodie-tuesday-recipe-worlds-best.html

    sooo good! I just made them :) :) Love all your other goals! Mine was to be more organized--but I have to get organized before I get organized--If you know what I mean-BAWHAHAHAHA!!!

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  21. Love your blog! It's so fun to read. Now I'm inspired to write a list of goals after I told myself I wouldn't make any resolutions and just DO what's on my mind. It'll be a long one!

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  22. I'm terrible about pictures. I have a giant storage container of my old photos just tossed in there. I think I'm secretly hoping scores photos of bad haircuts and friends that aren't friends any longer just sort of melt away in the humidity like they sort of have melted away in time.

    And I also want a snoop-worthy house because I'm a total snoop inside. But I think it's okay if your intentions are good, you're non-judgemental, and you don't actually physically snoop people's homes. lol

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