Looking Forward

Guys, I am so excited for 2013! I can't even express how much I am looking forward to this year. I only have a week left of working full time and then I will have two and a half days a week to reflect, develop, and dream up new ideas for Cooper Jane Design. I am sooo appreciative that my day job is being so flexible and letting me live out my dreams!

I have some personal and professional goals that I want to put out there in the world and work like heck to make them come true this year. Here goes:

Professional Goals:

Offer print services for Cooper Jane. This is a big one for me. Up until now, I have only been able to design digital files for excited brides. Don't get me wrong, I love doing this... but there is just something so special about having a finished product in your hands, packaging it with love, and sending it on to that special bride. 

Take photos of all my designs printed out. Currently, I have the digital design files as the listing pictures in my etsy shop, but I would love to be able to show brides how they look printed out and put together. 

Design, Design, Design. This is my favorite part of what I do with Cooper Jane Design. I love dreaming up an idea and making it come true. I would love to finish out incomplete design sets; all of them should have matching programs, save the dates, wedding signs, etc...

Work on my Photography skills. Photography isn't directly related to Cooper Jane Design, but I think it would be a great asset to have in my toolbox. I love posting original pictures here on the blog, so I hope to take my dslr more places to paint more vivid pictures for you readers!

Blog content: More Wedding Stuff. I am so happy with what I accomplished last year with my etsy shop and blog but this year I hope to refine my content to things my brides are interested in: Weddings! I am sure I will still be sharing my life and things I think are cool, but I would also love to share what I have learned about weddings!

Personal Goals:

Laundry, Laundry, Laundry. Ugh laundry is the bane of my existence. Such a first world problem I know, but it honestly gives me so much anxiety because I can never get it to a manageable amount. Working part time should definitely help me with this goal... up until now I pretty much work all day and then come home and work all night. That didn't leave too much time for cleaning. I made a point to make sure that house was always presentable, but laundry... that dang laundry is what fell through the cracks. You won't win this year, Laundry! 

Meal Planning. I started meal planning with limited success in 2012. Ever since Stephen and I moved into a home closer to his school, there is not a lot of options for eating out. This is great for us, because left to our own devices we would eat out every night. Now it is terribly inconvenient to pick anything up so we are growing up {yay!} and planning our meals! I am going to try to always go grocery shopping on Sundays so that we have healthy and delicious menu options for the week. If you are looking to plan some meals, Pinterest is a great source for recipes but I also LOVE www.foodgawker.com. It is like Pinterest, but for food. So yum!

Read. I used to be an avid reader, but my work, work, work attitude this past year has forced reading to take a backseat. This year, I want to take time to read at least a couple times a week. I am so excited about keeping this goal... my kindle app is my favorite thing about my phone. It makes reading in bed so easy!

The pic above is from a sibling photo shoot we did over Christmas. My husband took photos of my brother, sister, and I to give as a Christmas present to my mother. It was my favorite thing we gave this year, and it had her in tears. Here are a few more from the sesh:

This is going to be a good year, I can feel it!