Looking Forward

So, I posted the last year recap, now for the next year to do list-

Physically-
Spend alot more time in these-

(bad cell phone picture, I know)
Even if it means having to buy new ones soon!

Getting to the point where all of my pants, dresses and skirts for work fasten easily, without having to be stretched out or having to be worried about what underwear I'm wearing since things are a little tight in back these days.

Get my stomach ready for tanning season, just so that I can feel good about myself, I know it's stupid and shallow, so shoot me.

Basically, I've worn the same size since I was 19, have never been pregnant and want to keep things that way, but, I'm already (at 25) seeing a change in my energy levels and metabolism, so working out, here I come again!  I was running quite a bit when we were first down here, I ran daily from 19-21, and seasonally after that, then it hit triple digits every day, then work went crazy for the holidays, so now I'm getting back in routine, hopefully daily, not just 3-4 times a week so that when I have to skip a day I miss it, not am relieved to not have had time to work out.  I don't even care about losing pounds, or even inches, just keeping things tight.  If I could do that without adding any extra bulk though, I'd certainly enjoy it.

Spiritually-
Pray through the "Power of the Praying Wife" quarterly this year.  I'd shoot for monthly as there are 30 topics to pray over, but seriously, things come up that are specific prayer needs at times other than fitting into the cycle, so I'm leaving room for error. 

I've prayed through it once every 6-8 months during our marriage, so most of the topics are memorized by now, but I want to do them more regularly, using them as a base for all of my prayer times. Whenever I'm focusing on praying for my husband, selflessly, not just to change to stop doing things that annoy me, or to do things exactly how I want him to, I see a huge difference in our communication, and our patience levels with each other. And, I see a huge difference in my outlook towards our marriage.

Emotionally-
GET OVER MY IN-LAWS.  Yep, that's a big one, kind of huge and has always been an issue, but I need to get over the past stuff and be ready to move forward and just be myself with them without freaking out about what problems they're going to find in me and our marriage and my treatment of their son. HE LOVES ME, they can deal. I just need to get over it all so I can stop being afraid of talking to them, or being around them, and stop dreading anything having to do with them. I know those fears come across when I'm around them and I need to get over them.

Personally-
Perfect my manual shooting skills. Meaning, get myself fast enough and comfortable enough with adjusting my aperture and iso settings that I can start using them on living beings, not just scenery that doesn't move.  I've never done much with manual during portrait shooting except for seniors and sleeping babies, and I want to kick it up so that I can get those levels fast enough that I can improve all of my baby and children photography shots.  Thanks to Rachel for her I Heart Photography tutorials, because seriously, my husband's explanations didn't make nearly as much sense as hers did.  He tried explaining all the settings and numbers when I first got my camera, but I didn't get it, so I mostly just played around with trial and error, now I kind of feel like I know what I'm doing. I just need a few young test subjects to see if I really get it or not. :) 

Professionally-
Branch out and network and advertise my piano and guitar lessons somehow!  I seriously miss teaching full time, so even 6-8 students would be such a joy!  Of course I'd take more, like enough to quit my day job, but that might take another year.  Of course, who knows, once I took the leap of faith and advertised in NY I went from 10-25 in 3 months.

Offer a few free photoshoot opportunities and get the word out. I work with the children's choirs at church, we're part of a newlyweds and young families group at church, and I work with women all day, so seriously, I just need to open my mouth.  It worked in NY, so shooting for free for a month or two should be totally worth it. I booked most of my shoots in NY by word of mouth, so all I have to do is get the ball rolling.

I'm off to grab a shower and some lunch, and basically just reverse my run since my husband is off and that never means fixing healthy lunch food, but whatever, I'll run again tomorrow.