tomorrow - the big 3-5!

In a few hours, I will be hitting a milestone year -- my 35th year - and I've decided to set a couple of goals for myself to make the year even more memorable.

I've spent a few weeks on vacation this past December which allowed me to really think about what I wanted to focus on in 2012.  I'm going to share some of those things here...especially the creative pieces...but some will stay personal (as some things always should).

Visually/Creatively
One of my first goals this year is to take a picture a day and to make a scrapbook layout for each day.  I've never been much of a journaller (is this how you spell that?), but I've neglected capturing my own memories.  I'm literally packing up my apartment right now, but once I'm in my new space, I plan to scrap all the days from this year. I'm still trying to get into the habit of making sure I take the picture - I actually missed one day but a friend took a picture I'll use for that day. 

I did, however, use my vacation to practice taking some fun shots. I wanted to play with my visual surroundings and capture the color I see in life (both physically and spiritually).  These are two of my favorite pics from Hawaii.

My trip was filled with some adorable little munchkins and their presence was evident in everything around me.  Abigail's baby sandals sitting on the boogie boards is just a glimpse of some of that cuteness.

We were lucky to take part in releasing four sea turtles into the ocean.  On that day we also went snorkeling and ran into a huge turtle....a sign of good luck :) Hope that luck is for the whole year!

These two pictures bring a smile to my face...and I hope that my photos from this year will do the same when looking back

Professionally
While on vacation, I had a heart to heart with my friend and mentor.  We met while I was in college and I (almost) instantly became a part of her family.  Her children are sources of great happiness in my life, and I'm so lucky to still be a part of their lives.  During our heart to heart, she called me out.  She told me that I like to get comfortable professionally - that I'll sit somewhere just because I'm surrounded by good people and enjoy the work.  These aren't necessarily bad things, but they become bad when I stop creating goals for myself professionally.  I just settle.

So....a major professional goal is to NOT SETTLE.

I need to do some deep self-reflection to figure out what that means exactly, but it may require some tough decisions - some of which I may have been avoiding for some time.

Physically

In October 2010, I finally joined a gym....about freaking time!  The next month, I met an incredible physical trainer through my best friend who is guiding me through my toughest fitness goal.  Before this year is up, I will run a HALF MARATHON!

He has many other goals for me (some of which I think are crazy)....but completing the half marathon is the ultimate goal for me.  The subsequent healthy goals that will result from this training will be an added bonus.  Check out his site for info...he rocks!

I will also be taking better care of my health.  I work at a hospital, but I don't have a primary care physician.  RIDICULOUS.  I will be changing that this year for sure! I've been lucky to be generally healthy, but I'd like to have someone to call when I do things like strain my calf muscle while on vacation!

Financially
I'm super close to paying off all my credit cards.....one major credit card to go.  It will be gone by the end of this year!

Business-wise
I took a fantastic course by the amazing Laura Bray that forced me to think about my passive and active streams of income for my business.  Have I followed through any of the items that I decided would be good first steps to expand and develop my business?  Nope!

It's time to revisit, re-evaluate and strategically implement some steps to taking my business to the next level.

Why am I jotting this all down here?  To hold myself accountable. 

So here goes nothing...