Ringing in the new year!

So as I am sitting here in the car on my way to my husband's birthday dinner with his parents, I thought what a great time to write a blog update. I mean, what else is there to do without Ava in the car to sing Old McDonald's Had a Farmer to (I keep telling her it is FARM, but oh well!).

With the new year I have been thinking a lot about what I want to accomplish this upcoming year, and I already have a few projects planned.

First of all, there is always that battle with my health and weight... I would really like for this to be the year that I try to concentrate a little more on truly taking care of myself.

Second is to work on growing a healthy baby :) yep, I am pregnant and about 15 weeks along. There is only about 1 person who still watches for posts from my blog, and this is how I thought it would be fun to tell you :) baby will be here the end of June.

Third is to work on being a little more frugal and less impulsive in my purchases... Whether that be groceries and working on meal planning, or in my trips to Target. I am even going to try to cut back on going out to lunch and my (decaf) Starbucks habit.

I am also wanting to improve my photography skills, and I would love to master Photoshop... I even have enrolled in a couple online classes in order to be Photoshop certified, as well as really learn digital photography.

Along the lines of doing things for myself, I want to get back into my hobbies. That includes blogging... My sister and I had planned to begin a new co-blog which I still have hopes for, but I don't think I am ready to give up this blog yet either... So I plan to continue blogging this year, especially as I learn more about photography and using photoshop for web design.

I also plan to scale back on my Goodreads goal for this year and set it at 25 books... In 2012 I read 67 (or was it 68) books. It was too much reading, especially since I frequently dipped into free or cheap e-books that did nothing to inspire the intellect :) don't get me wrong, I love fluff too, but I want to read books that make me say "now that was a good book" when I am finished.

As far as crafts/sewing goes, I have plans for a couple of quilts, using these adorable fabrics: Ruby by Bonnie and Camille for Moda and Children at Play by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller. I decided to make the leap on these purchases pretty late in the game since they have been out since last summer, so I had to do some searching to find all the prints I wanted. Happily they are on their way!


Finally, and most importantly I want to be the best mother and wife I can be... I think working on the goals above will help, but I also want to remember to do something nice for my family each day, spend time with God, and make real time for our relationships. Events this past year have really hit home for me, and have made me realize how precious life is, and how precious my family is to me!

So that is it in a nutshell... Thanks for reading!