Looking Ahead to 2013...

Alright, here they are - the resolutions (goals? aspirations?) for 2013.  I always come up with the list at the turn of the year but lately I've found I need a little bit of time after the holidays to "marinate" on them (as my former boss used to say).  My original inclination is to have a list that has at least 25 items on it, but I know from experience that's not realistic.  When I go back and look at my list I also see that some things fit together and are really about something else.  So with that in mind, here's what I'll be working towards this year!

1. Pause, Compose, Focus, Click, Move On...
Lately I've noticed in my pictures that I'm getting shot after shot that's out of focus.  And for awhile I didn't do anything to correct it, I just kept taking more, leading to more shots that are out of focus, more shots to sort through, and more frustration.  And during the last couple of months of the year, as we were running back and forth amongst a million different things, I think I could say the same about myself in general.  I need to just pause, get it together, figure out what I want from a shot, take it and then move forward.  When I take it wrong, I need to pause again and actually think about how to fix it - doing the same thing wrong over and over again doesn't count as practice if I don't make an attempt to correct it (it just counts as a waste of time).  So both in my pictures and in general, I think I just need to think more, shoot less, but get more from each shot I take.

2. Read to my daughter more.
We try to do this already but now that the diplo-tot is two, reading is becoming essential.  Not just looking at books, although I'd like to think any time spent with books is valuable time, but actually taking the time to tell the full story, to have her add her own details, to learn to love the art of following an arc.  I want her to grow up knowing what books are, and hopefully loving them, and I think it's important to foster that early on, even when it's easier to come home and put on a cartoon after a long day. 

3.  Start an art collection...and display it.
I think we all get to a point where we want to be more deliberate in the things that we choose to surround ourselves with and it becomes less about having more stuff, and more about having objects that are either useful, meaningful and/or beautiful.  Part of that comes from art and I think it's time that we started a little collection of our own.  I've been saying I want to do this for awhile but always put off the decision to buy - I'm never sure if it's the "right" piece, or even if I would be paying the "right" price.  But in our iterant lifestyle, having some pieces of home and beauty that come along with us over the years will become more and more important, and I want to be able to look at my wall one day and see a history of what we love.

4.  Be a little bit more personal.
Sounds funny right? What's more personal than a blog? At the same time, I try not to share too much about family or friends - after all, they didn't sign up to be on the Truman Show.  But at the same time, by wanting to not share too much, I feel like I sometimes don't end up sharing anything at all and that's starting to feel weird to me too.  I don't want this just to be a newsletter of products or interesting things to do and see.  I'd like to find a way to better balance in little snippets of our own take on these things. 

5.  Don't leave so many things to come back for - do it right the first time.
My mother always taught me that you should always leave something (for example, forget something, not do something...) on a trip that you love so that you always have something to come back for.  And I completely subscribe to that.  But lately, I've been leaving too much to come back for, especially if it's just an object or souvenir for myself.  Sometimes I'm lucky, we come back and it's still there - like the Muhlbauer hat.  Sometimes, I'm less so - like with the Sissi Farassat pictures.  I try not to get attached to "things" but I can't believe how much I regret not buying one of her prints when we still lived in Vienna.  Last year, while in Tulum at Coqui Coqui, they had these beautiful leather necklaces that I hesitated on.  It was too beachy, it wouldn't look right in Washington, it was probably too expensive.  And guess what, a year later I still wish I would have bought it.  We're headed back there next week and you better believe I'll be showing up at the store, hoping they still have them. 

6.  Celebrate my marriage with the little things a little more.
Just this past year, we celebrated five years of marriage and it's one of the greatest gifts I can imagine. Like many, when you have a little one, you want to make sure they get everything you've got and some of the big things we might have traditionally done in the past aren't as possible. So my goal this year is just to be more mindful, look for little ways to celebrate, and appreciate the many gifts that the wonderful partnership of marriage can bring.

7.  Don't be stingy with family time.
With our upcoming move, much of our family will be further away again.   Moving is a lifestyle for us, but it's not for most people.  So even when things get hectic again, and they will, in these last six months, it will be important to carve out the time - and more specifically, the money - to visit family while they're still closer to us.  It's important for us, but it's most important to make sure that we're laying the foundation for our daughter to have memories of all her family members to stay with her on our trips.

8.  Chronicle our year.
So I have this idea and I've had it awhile...  I've always loved the end of year retrospectives we do, and when I read them, I always wish I had a little more of the detail and memories all in one place.  This year, I'd like to put together some type of magazine that pulls it all together with our travels and highlights.  Fingers crossed that I will follow through, but I think if I start organizing now, setting aside what to write about and which pictures to show, hopefully that should makes things easier as we get further and further into the end of the year.

So there you have it - 8 things to work on in 2013 - what's on your list?