I can’t believe we are already a third of the way into this year! It’s been a while since I wrote out my 2015 goals and while a lot of them are things I am striving for daily, there are a couple that I have already accomplished and even more that I still need to! Let’s take a look at how I’m doing!

Personal Goals

• Keep Mike my top priority even after Emily arrives. We may get a chuckle about this from some, and we know that there are going to be times (a lot of times) when our sweet baby is going to need all of our attention and be our highest priority, but it is our desire to always keep our marriage first in our family. We love what our pastor always says, “the best gift you can give your children is healthy marriage!” – We are definitely striving for this and working on it everyday.
• Get back to my pre-baby weight by July! Here’s to hoping! – I gained 35 pounds during my pregnancy and have currently lost 23 pounds. Feeling better each day, but excited to get back to my old self and attempt to fit into my skinny jeans again!
• Create our new post-baby budget and keep to it. –  We did create our post-baby budget, now let’s see if we can keep it!
• Pay off school loans and continue to save for our next home! – Paying a lot extra each month to knock out those student loans by next May!
• Read more – it seems like this is a goal for me every year, but I have so many books I am getting excited to read that it’s time I really make it a priority! –  I am proud to say that I have definitely been reading more, although that’s not really saying much!
• Make healthier eating and lifestyle decisions – So far I’m 3 for 3 on using my new Ninja blender to make healthy breakfast smoothies – loving this new start to my day! – I started the year off strong with this one (don’t we all?!), but I definitely slacked the last couple weeks of my pregnancy and these first couple weeks post-baby (with all the delicious homemade meals and brownies we keep getting!)
• Not fill up all of our weekends off – this is something that tends to happen every year. We try our best to keep at least 1 weekend off from shooting each month, but so many times we end up filling all our weekends off with travels and getaways (something we absolutely LOVE doing), but we know we want to and need to make sure we are giving ourselves some time at home for rest and rejuvenation! – We enjoyed many lazy weekends off together these first couple months of the year, but things are about to change! Here’s to hoping we keep it up during the busy season and keep our Fridays and Sundays open. 
• Watch less TV (after we finish making our way through Gilmore Girls on Netflix)! – So we didn’t finish Gilmore Girls (we took a little break) and I guess we can say we watch a little less TV but there’s surely more progress to be made!
• Meal plan and only go to the grocery store once a week – this is a hard one for me. – I have gotten much better at this making one trip a week out to Aldi’s and Sam’s Club!
• Slow down! Those who know me well, know that I am always on the go, always working on something…always busy. I really want to take time this year to slow down and live in the moment – not always looking forward to what’s ahead, but enjoying the day at hand that God has given me. – I was kinda forced to slow down those last couple weeks and months of pregnancy and it helped that the weather was pretty nasty as well. I was able to relax, nap and prepare (as much as I could) for Emily’s arrival.

Business Goals

• Outsource – last year, I outsourced my accounting and monthly bookkeeping (best decision ever)! This year, we are going to make the transition into outsourcing our editing to allow more time with Emily – as much as I hate to “give up” this part, I know it is going to be necessary. – I can’t cross this one off the list just yet since wedding season hasn’t started, but I can tell you we have every intention of outsourcing more this year!
• Continue to hone in on our shooting and editing style – we really feel like we learned so much this past year about our style, but there is always room for refinement. – Again, with wedding season just around the corner we are getting pretty excited to get back in the swing of things!
• Offer mentoring sessions for up and coming photographers – I wouldn’t be where I am today without the people and mentors I had to get me started and keeping me going. This past year, I was approached a handful of times about offering mentoring sessions, and I am excited to make that more of a priority this year! –  I have casually mentored a couple up and coming photographers, but to be honest, haven’t had time to set up anything official yet!
• Continue to build better and deeper relationships with our couples and other photographers in the industry!
• Get featured more – it’s hard to keep up with submitting weddings and sessions in the heart of wedding season, but I would love to add it to my monthly “to-do” list. – I’m definitely going to continue to submit weddings from this year, but I’m very excited to have recently been featured on The Knot and Wedding Chicks!
  
• Oh, create that monthly to-do list I mentioned above (i.e. track mileage, submit weddings, etc)! – It’s been created, and I’ve done a pretty good job keeping up with mileage so far this year. Here’s to hoping I can continue to keep up with my monthly to-do’s!

Spiritual Goals

• Daily quiet time – I always love and cherish my morning quiet time of reading and praying when I make the time for it. I did pretty good with it this year, but there is always a desire for growth and improvement. – I was doing great with this and enjoying it so much before Emily came. It was the perfect way to start my day, but with the unpredictable schedule, feeding and wake times with Emily right now, it’s been hard to get back to this.
• Keep a prayer journal – I started one when we were going through all the cancer/surgery scare last fall, and have already loved looking back and reading how God brought us through that. I hope to keep up with it this year. – I have kept up with this and am loving it!
• Grow deeper in my faith. – These last 3 are ones that I will continue to strive for daily!
  
• Choose to be joyful…everyday!
• Glorify God in everything I do – in my business, in the way I love Mike, in the way I serve others, in the good times and in the hard times!

Some NEW goals

• Work on Emily’s baby book
• Start a workout together and stick to it once I’m feeling 100% again (Any suggestions?! We’re thinking T25 maybe?)
• Continue to take pictures of Emily on our actual cameras (not just our iPhones)
• Finish a fun new pricing guide I’ve been working on to send to clients who inquire with us
• Get back to blogging 3-4x/week