Another New Year

and another chance to get this blog up and running. I lost a bit of steam, motivation and time last year when I tried to move my old blog over (ultimate goal of deleting the old one once I get the tutorials moved over). But it's important to me and I really need the outlet again... so I'm giving it another try.

This year hasn't been like most New Years. I normally have a whole list of things I want to do, changes I want to make, new ideas I want to explore. But this year... I'm a bit unmotivated. I think I'm still recovering from the busy year. The rush of activity in my shops from September through December wipes me out no matter how prepared I am (and I have to admit, I wasn't as prepared as I would have like to have been).

I try to steer clear of the word "resolution" because I think far to often it equals failure. So I like to go with more of a theme.

Here are a few simple things that I plan on doing this year;

Maintain the blog - this used to be easy for me... it was never a chore. I want to get back to that place.

Prepare for the end of the year - I told myself last year that I was going to start making costumes at the beginning of the year... and of course, it never happened. I didn't make any until right before I left for vacation at the end of August, so it was a mad rush to finish them and keep up with custom requests (most of those costumes never got posted in the shops). Not this time. I NEED to prepare better this year. I've already started jotting down ideas.

Eat more veggies - I know I can't maintain a diet at this point. But I'd really like to start eating better again. I don't eat all that poorly... but I would like to get out of my veggie rut and eat more than carrots, broccoli and corn.

Grow our own veggies - Last year was our best year in our garden... and this year I hope it's even better. We finally gave up on having a lawn and we paved our back yard (with a giant chess board) and added a few well placed raised beds. I hope to fill them with lots and lots of yummy veggies. A friend of a friend just started a blog Urban Food Warrior and reading it has rekindled my desire to have my own vegetable garden. You know, one that produces food that we actually eat. I can grow a mean tomato plant... but we don't really eat them.

Get my health under control - I have lots of health issues. I classify a lot of them under my diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. And I know a lot of my difficulties are also due to the herniated disk in my back. But I think even with these things, I should be in much better health. The veggies are one step... and exercise (I feel like there should be a "dun, dun, dun" every time I say that word) is the other. I have a dream of hiking with my family. You know, exploring this beautiful state that we live in, without it putting me in traction.

Take more pictures - I used to have an awesome camera... and I loved using it. Right now, our camera is primarily for product shots, so it's not the best on-the-fly camera. But this year, I won't let that stop me. Good picture, bad picture - I'm going to take them anyway.

Send more letters - I started the 52 weeks of mail and I'm motivated to finish it. So far, so good. My favorite is sending to people who would never expect it.

These are all things that are more for me than for growing my business. So I guess this year, my theme is "ME".

Goals for 2011

I love the start of a New Year. Mainly because it seems to be a great time to make changes. I love change... and at the first of the year I can make changes without too many people questioning me. Change is normal at the first of New Year, right?

I'm not big on resolutions - they never seem to wok out for me. But at the first of every New Year, I do like to assess where I am and where I'd like to be. I try to give myself a few goals for the New Year to help me along the way.

This year, I have many both for myself, my family and my business. Of course, it's easier to make these happen if I put it in writing and commit. So, here it goes...

Personal Goals:

Improve my health. 2010 was a great year for my business... but it definitely took it's toll on my health. This year I hope to put more time, energy and care into my own health. This will include exercising and eating right. I'll work more on balancing my small business(es) with my personal life.

Become a better homemaker. Yep, it's finally starting to bother me. My lack of ability to keep a clean house, dinner on the table and kids on schedule. This is my year to be super mom & super wife (actually, I'll just settle for being a good mom & a good wife).

Family Goals:

More dinners together. This doesn't mean more meals out... we certainly had enough of those last year. I want more home cooked meals at our own table. It can be hard to get all four of us together at a decent time at night, so I'm aiming for at least two meals during the week with all four of us... the rest will have to be just three (my husband often gets home late... or I am often stuck in bed by 5). So far, so good. We have the table clear so that we can all sit at the same table without having to look over mounds of paper.

More quality time with the kids. This is hard working from home. The kids often get my filtered attention - if I'm not multi-tasking, my mind is elsewhere trying to figure out the latest issue with my business. But this year, I'd like to dedicate more focused time with each kid both together and separately. We will turn off the television and video games and we will do crafts again, we will play board games, and we will play outside. My husband and I will spend time with each of our children separately and give them a special day with one of us at least once a month.

Teach independence. My kids are spoiled... and it doesn't even occur to them that most of things they ask us to do for them, they could (and should) be doing themselves. This year I plan on making more of an effort to empower them... while I think this is going to be painful in the beginning, it's going to be good for all of us.

Business Goals:

Wholesale. With my business partner (mom) now retired, it's going to become more important that we have steadier sales. I'm hoping to achieve this through wholesale. I'm formulating a plan for this and hope to have it up and running my March. Stay tuned... I'll share details as I get them in place.

Plan ahead. I was fortunate enough to have a rockin' last several months of the year - and without doing holiday shows! But it took a toll on my health, so this year I am planning ahead. I'll do my best to spread the work throughout the first part of the year. Make more t-shirt costumes, bump up my popular items, work on a work schedule, etc. I'm still not clear on how it will all work out, but I'm starting to think about it now rather than in October.

Improve blog. This blog post will be posted both on my worldofwhimm.blogspot blog and my new on-a-whimm.blogspot blog. I'm starting fresh for the new year as I have new ideas and I'd like to try to make my blog a little more cohesive. This will be my final post on the worldofwhimm.blogspot blog... so please be sure to follow my new blog. All tutorials will eventually be moved over to the new blog and I hope to delete the old blog by summer (or at the very least, the end of year).

Of course, I do have more ideas of things I'd like to change... but this is a long list already, so I'll be reassessing in a few months.

I think I'll also make a one year bucket list... things I'd like to do before the end of the year... a list of fun things :) I could use more fun in my life.

I'd love to hear what you have planned for the New Year as well!