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January Goals

1.07.2013






Happy Monday Morning Beautiful Friends! :)

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend doing fun, relaxing, and productive things! We celebrated Drew's Mom's birthday in College Station and I also landed myself an awesome gold chest from an antique store that I still can't believe is mine! I'm super excited about it! :) I also spent time editing (of course), watching Texas A&M win the Cotton Bowl, and hanging out with Elise and Scott (Hey, Sweet Pea) who packed up and headed to Austin this weekend FOR GOOD. They move into their new house today and I am so so so so excited for them! :)

This month is going to be a crazy one, but I'm ready to tackle it! It's also one of my favorite month's of the year because not only is it my birthday month (WHOOT WHOOT!), but it's also Drew's birthday month (three days apart to be exact) and that's just special isn't it!? :) I'm just gonna go out on a limb here and just say January babies are pretty much the best. I'm not biased or anything... ;)

Now that I've cleared my head, admitted my mistakes, and cleared out a lot of the clutter that's been holding me back in my last post, I feel ready and confident to write my goals for the month.

Drew and I had a meeting the other night at our kitchen table. It was so cute, y'all. We even set up a time to meet and had to be on time. We both arrived with our sexy serious faces, hot chocolates, and pens and pads of paper ready to just write out our dreams, goals, and visions for this year. We both promised to be realistic too because we all know how easy it is to put wants on the list that you wish you could do (back-pack through Europe, etc.), but deep down you know it's not do-able when other expensive and important things outweigh it. We first started out by listing out five goals we wanted to accomplish before next January, and when we said them out loud, we quickly realized that three out of the five things on our list were the exact same. I wasn't really sure what to expect, so our eyebrows were definitely raised just a little bit, and were pleasantly surprised (especially him!)! ;)

Some of these goals can't be shared yet for the sake of privacy, but I will gladly share the three we mutually agreed on.

1. Fix our house and move. (More on this soon, I promise but this is a HUGE stress in our lives.)
2. Pay off my car and credit card by June. (This is going to be so awesome.)
3. Brand our Photography Business.

We both have other goals, which I will share in the future here on the blog, but these are three that we are 100% on the same page about. SO, let's check back in a year and see how we did, shall we?

UNTIL then, here are the goals from December that were checked off and not checked off.

1. Post all of my summer sessions and weddings on the blog. WORK in progress. 

2. Put pictures in my frames in the house. Errrr....Still not done. I suck!

3. Do a giveaway. Just because. :) Haven't had time to even think about this yet...it's coming! :)  
 

4. Make my Christmas Cards and get them ready to send out. SO, BIG bummer alert. We didn't even get to send out Christmas cards this year. It's a long story but I ordered these costumes (lame, yeah, I know) on November 21st. They did not show up until December 24th. I was at my Mom's house and I got a confirmation e-mail from UPS saying that they arrived on my doorstep...on CHRISTMAS EVE! I went back and forth with the company a million times and they kept saying it was going to be delivered, over and over and they never came. Bad news is we didn't get to send out cards this year. Good news is we saved some money by not sending out cards AND we have the costumes for next year. Haha! DONE.

5. Finish up every session, and wedding from 2012 and post them on the blog and on Facebook. This wasn't realistic for me by any means, so I'm going to mark this off and add an edited version to my January list.

6. Plan a snowboarding trip with friends. :) We planned it but then everyone decided we were going to save money and not go this year. Sometimes being an adult really sucks! :) Marking off anyway. DONE.

7. Finish up my homework for my new brand. DONE.

8. Try a new recipe. DONE.

9. Make it a point to not work past 5:30 p.m. JUST relax and let my mind rest. I haven't done this since...I started my photography business and it just isn't healthy. I'm tired and I deserve time off from working sometimes. Rewarding myself with a little down time on the couch watching a show sounds small to you, but that to me is a BIG deal. We'll see how it goes. I made progress on this, and was able to do it a couple of days! :) 

10. Travel to CA with only one suitcase and one carry on :) Can't believe I did it, but I did! :) 

11. Work out three times a week.  I did this about 2 days a week. I feel like this is still a win for me haha. DONE!?

12. Have the MOST amazing Christmas with my family.  DONE


JANUARY GOALS are: 

1. Reveal my office. FINALLY! ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9th! :) It's timeeee! *Booty Dance* (_|_)(_\_)(_|_)(_/_)(_|_) :) 

2. Reveal my new photography business name. I am SO scared, anxious and excited about this. AHHH!

3. Be realistic and get at least 3 of my weddings up on the blog. 

4. Have an awesome birthday dinner with close friends, family and colleagues.

5. Look into taking a class (photography, calligraphy, sewing, cooking). 

6. STRESS LESS.

7. Only drink water; NO more Dr. Pepper or soda. 

8. Change my domain on my blog from www.thenelsondiaries.blogspot.com to the domain I bought A YEAR AGO! I don't know how to do it yet, but it's time I stop putting it off haha! It will be www.soshayblog.com.  I'll let you know when this happens. If anyone has any insight on this, please share!? :) 

9. Wake up no later than 7AM. I've gotten into a bad habit of sleeping until 8AM and want to work towards making 6AM my wake-up time and it actually feel natural. I'm going to start at 7AM and work my way to 6AM in the next couple of months. I really want to do this so I can get more done in my day!

10. Set office hours and follow them. 

11. Make Sundays NO WORK days. Drew and I want a day to relax, devote time to God and our marriage. A day of REAL rest if you will. :)

ALRIGHTY Y'ALL. That's it for January. I'm excitedddd!!!! Be sure to stop by on Wednesday for the OFFICE REVEAL that I've been needing/wanting to do for months! :) It's not 100% done and there are things that I eventually want to add to it, but for the most part, it's ready. I am SO in love with it! :)

SO tell me! What are your goals for this month!? 


Photo credit: Shalyn Nelson Photography

post circle 20 comments :

  1. Yay! I love just READING and FEELING the change in your heart, Shay. I am so excited for you and all that 2013 will bring. I'm here with you rooting you on. About to call you now, my accountability partner! xoxo

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  2. great goals love!! Billy and I have those "meetings" too but next time I should probably bring hot chocolate or maybe even some wine. I hope to MEET you this year soon! in approx 2 months :)

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  3. i love you and andrew. cutest.couple.ever. And i am so with you on some of your Jan goals. I have had my domain name since i started *cringe* time to change things up.

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  4. Love your goals, I think all are totally achievable (except the no soda thing would be super hard for me)!

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  5. Okay, so I found your blog this weekend and can I just say I could NOT stop reading! What a nice little corner you have got here :) On top of that, photography (my love!) and you are HILARIOUS!

    I'm just gonna put it out there that 1. my husband's name is Andrew 2. he always told me he would die before 30 3. My birthday is in January and 4. your relationship reminds me of mine. I just LOVE my hubby and we are best friends!


    Have a great week :)
    xo
    -W.

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  6. great goals pretty lady! if you want an early morning wake up call...have a baby! ;)

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  7. This is a great list!! :) You can do it!!!!

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  8. Good for you, Shay! I'm all about realistic goals. I shared my January goals on my blog too! Yay for goals!

    check it!
    http://occasionseventdesign.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-goals.html

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  9. I have a goal list too!! Probably a little bit too many, but I do have ones especially for December to March. I also have a goal to pay off all of my credit cards by December 2013. I have A LOT, so it will be a miracle if I do it.

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  10. Oooo I can't wait for the office reveal! And NO DR PEPPER!!!!!!????? Oh my gosh. I couldn't do it...I've tried numerous times. He's my man. Best of luck with all your goals! You are a rockstar so I know you can do it :)

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  11. love your goals! Sounds like you've been super busy. can't wait for your office reveal!

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  12. Great goals for January - and definitely goals I think you will be able to write 'DONE' next to them come February!

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  13. LOVE IT! YOU GO GIRL! WOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! xoxoxo

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  14. LOVE IT! YOU GO GIRL! WOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SOOOOOO MUCH! xoxoxo

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  15. I did it twice because I wanted my pic on there lol ... and its my SEXA pic too, your welcome.

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  16. Hey Shay, it's SUPER easy to make your URL redirect to your blog!

    Google has a good how-to here: http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/static.py?hl=en&ts=1233381&page=ts.cs

    Or feel free to email me (thebetterbelleproject (at) gmail.com) if you're having trouble! Good luck with all of your goals! :)

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  17. I swear, I love the honesty on your blog! It is so heartwarming! You are real and I love it! Just a thought, it seems as though you are trying to minimalize and simplify your life - kind of streamline it right? I am curious why you would add Take a class as one of your goals in January. Girl, you have enough on your plate!! :) You seem like such an amazing person and your last post really hit home with me! Thank you for your honesty and transparency!!

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  18. I hear ya on the putting pictures in frames. Why is that so hard for us photogs?!

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  19. Great list! All these goals people are posting have inspired me to do my own. Can't wait to see the office and the new brand!!

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  20. I'm so impressed by people like you who are able to make goals on a regular basis. It must help you keep life in focus! Kudos to you!

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