Hello 2014! My Goals and Resolutions

our first kiss of 2014, right at midnight

This New Year, I don't want to make the same mistake I've made many years before, which is make a long list of unrealistic goals for myself. The whole purpose of goals is to make life better and more enjoyable for yourself, not make extreme goals that are too hard and results in giving up after a month.

So this time, I made a small list of goals that are realistic for me, and that I really look forward to achieving! This isn't a time to be hard on ourselves and look for problems, but a time to figure out what we can do to make our lives even better, and have fun while doing it!

My first goal is to get into wedding dress shape. I'm not saying I want to lose any weight and I won't be going on any crash diets, but like any girl I want to feel amazing in my wedding dress. I really want to mainly work on my arms, chest and back, since that's what mostly shows in a wedding dress, and just tone everything up. I've found a few exercises I'm going to try for these areas, but if you know any good ones, please share!

My next goal is to do more with charities and volunteering. I want to do more than donate extra change and old clothes and actually volunteer my time. There are so many organizations out there that can always use an extra hand, and I can't think of anything better to do with my spare time. I was thinking of doing things like help with children's hospitals and the humane society. Joe and I have even been talking about taking a little trip after we're married to somewhere that needs some extra help. I just need to do some research to figure out how to get into all of that.

This goal is something I've really been wanting to do for a long time but haven't gotten around to it. This year I want to learn calligraphy. As someone who absolutely loves handwritten letters and art, I feel it only makes sense to be able to know how to do calligraphy. I would love to be able to address my letters so beautifully, and write such lovely words. Especially because my handwriting right now is pretty awful.

My next goal is to bring my dSLR with me more often. I bring it places a lot more than I used to, but I still tend to get lazy and only take photos on my phone. It always seems like no big deal at the time, but then I end up taking a photo I really like and wishing the quality was better (exhibit A, the grainy iPhone photo above). iPhone photos are great for certain things, but most of the time it's worth carrying around the heavy thing to get nice photos.

And here are a couple goals I made specifically for this blog. Since starting blogging I've really realized how much I love it and how much I really want to put into it. I would love to look back in a year or two and say that I've come a long way and my blog has grown a lot. So in an effort to make that happen, I'm going to try to do a few new things that might possibly make it better and more enjoyable.

One goal for blogging is to make more DIY posts and be more crafty. I'm so jealous of all of those crafty bloggers out there and would love so much to be one of them. I don't feel creative enough to come up with amazing crafts on my own, so I think I will start with things I find on Pinterest or through other blogs before I can start coming up with my own. I also would like to do a few tutorials, but haven't thought of anything like that to do yet.

Another goal would be to make more blogging friends, and even try to meet some of them in person. I've only been blogging less than a year and I feel like I've already met so many wonderful people through it. It's so cool to have a few friends I wouldn't have known if I never started blogging, and I definitely want to meet lots more. I would also love this year to arrange meeting a few of them in person. I feel pretty close to some of these girls because of emailing, texting, and being pen pals, so it only makes sense to be able to hang out and talk in person!

And my final goal is both personal and blog related. I want to make sure I travel a bit more. I'm not saying I want to see all of Europe (not yet, at least) but I want to get out there a bit more this year. Joe really wants to take me to Vermont where he grew up, and since I've never been anywhere on the East  Coast I'm so excited for that. We also really want to visit New York City together. I've been dying to go there my whole life and it's another place he's seen that I haven't. We do have our honeymoon this year too, probably to a more tropical place. So I want to make sure if and when we travel around, I take a million photos and blog about it all!

So that's it for my goals. I am completely thrilled to get started, and will be so ecstatic to start crossing things off the list. What about you? What are your goals for 2014? Make them fun and don't be too hard on yourself!

Cam