I love setting new goals and while I’m not a big fan of ‘New Years’ I love the feeling of the start of a new year.  I wanted to post this back in January but figured I’d give myself a month (or two) of implementing before I shared some of my goals and thoughts for the new year publicly.  Also, sharing the news earlier this week this post will make much more sense now 🙂

When I first started this blog, I was all about posting and creating fun content – it was exhiliterating and I was so happy to create simply for the sake of creating.  Then something happened when I went full time in my business.  I began to hustle, and hustle and hustle.  Other things started taking priorities (as they should have) clients, shop, orders, emails and slowly the things I once did to fuel me were completely not existant in my daily life.  Looking back at this space it’s sad that in 2015 I only blogged a handful of times.  With the birth of social media, I would just post on Instagram and be done with it.  Towards the end of 2015 and soon after I found out I was pregnant there was in inevitable shift inside me.  I had to physically slow down for the first time in three years and I had a lot of time to reflect and look at my business.  That’s when I realized my theme for 2016 would be ‘Back to Basics‘ Back to why I started, back to creating just to create, for no one other than myself.  Below are a few goals that have been swirling through my mind the last few months.

SHARING IS CARING:  I get emails all the time asking for how I got started, any tips and tricks I have.  I try to reply to as many as possible but during busy periods it’s impossible.  Reality is, when I started I didn’t have a mentor, I knew no photographers and only had a little point and shoot camera.  I was obsessed with learning about photography that I scoured the internet day and night to find anything and everything I could get my hands on.  For years I would come home from my day job around 6pm and be up till 1am doing a blog post and watching Creative Live or browsing sites like phLearn.  Truth is, I worked really hard to learn my craft, I practised and practised and practised.  In my opinion that is the best way to learn, through physically doing.  I’m still learning to this day – it never stops.  New lighting techniques, new ways to edit etc.  This year I want to give you all more insight into how I do things, why I do things, the behind the scenes process & share some knowledge that can help you all.  After seeing how great this post and this post did, it fired me up to create more. Comment below and write what you would like to see more of! Whether its my favourite instagramers, photographers or things that I feel inspired by I want to share that with you all and bring it into the mix!

GET CREATIVE: I’m probably most excited about this.  I’ve talked about it before but back when I was a kid I had a massive art table in our unfinished cold basement.  I didn’t care that it creeped me out, or that it was usually freezing, that place was my haven.  I would spend hours drawing, painting, crafting…anything and everything.  No, I’m not the best illustrator, or painter, or diy-er but it’s so much fun!  As I became a pre-teen I became obsessed with magazines.  I would clip out hundreds of pages and make my own booklets with all the images that inspired me.  I did this for years and still reference them to this day…old school pinterest let me tell you!  The last few years I’ve missed using my hands to create.  I’ve started to carve out a bit of time each week to simply create something.  No pressure, no rules just to have some fun and get away from my phone and computer.  It’s already gotten my creative juices flowing and makes me feel even more productive and fired up.  I’ll be sure to post more about this in the months to come, stay tuned!

FIT & HEALTHY:  Truthfully, this has never been my area of expertise.  I’ve always had a pretty good metabolism and for the most part could eat whatever I wanted (within reason) and exercise very little and keep up an average healthy lifestyle.  That has all changed now that I’m pregnant.  I’m not going to pretend I haven’t indulged in the rare *ahem* McChicken but overall I’ve been consumed with researching and learning what foods I should be eating.  I always loved a good smoothie, but now I’m obsessed with trying new combinations and loading in as much goodness as possible.  For those of you who have been reading the blog you’ll know I’m not the most domestic gal, but I’ve never felt more inspired than now to get in the kitchen and learn to do it all.  Stay tuned for the months to come for the return of the ‘Domesticate Me‘ series.  For fitness, I read somewhere online you should break a sweat every single day.  I can’t go too hardcore right now but that doesn’t mean I can dance around the condo, do some light cardio or hit up a pre-natal yoga class to keep my body healthy!

KINDNESS:  Lately when I’m online all I can think about is where is the love?! I think simple kindness is something people forget.  It always pains me when I see a mean, rude or unnecessary comment on other’s social accounts.  But, I’m not here to talk about the problem because that just breaths more life into it.  Instead I’m going to talk about focusing on kindness.  There are certain people I follow online that no matter what day it is are always post uplifting and inspiring content.  I love that and it inspires me to strive to do the same.  For example: Jeremy Cowart a photographer who I’ve followed for years (not to mention he is the founder of Help Portrait) He is always sharing incredible, positive & inspiring things.  The world is filled with beautiful, kind people if you’re looking for them!  Smile at a stranger, wish someone a good day or simply hold the door open for someone else.  Whenever I’m in a bad mood, doing simple acts of kindness always makes me feel better.  I want to focus more on sprinkling on the kindness in the little moments each day and incorporating it into the blog.  Bringing light to all the wonderful people in this world and focusing on them!  Kindness is contagious…pass it on!

ORGANIZATION: I’ll admit, I’ve never really had a problem with organization.  At the end of my work day I flip open a fresh new page in my Simplified Planner and jot down the important ‘to-do’s for the following day.  Last year this time I had just started the 90 Day Year Program which continues to be a huge part of how I plan, prioritize and schedule my months.  This year I was so lucky to receive Lara Casey’s Power Sheets, my gosh they are so fun.  There is a space to write everything.  If you’re not already a fan I’d encourage you to go check her shop out asap!  As our condo continues to get done (we are almost there!) I’ve become even more obsessed with making storage everywhere I can.  If everything has a place, cleaning up is easy and fun.  Now with a baby on the way I cannot wait to get the nursery started and of course have everything organized as best as I can! My only wish for this year is for Canada to get The Container Store…my gosh what a dream that would be!