Hello New Year!

disclaimer...this is my new personal blog...I am not one to hold things back, and I plan to use this blog as a way to really share everything happy or not, good and not so good, and all the thoughts I have swirling around in my head. So this is going to be a real glimpse at the girl on the other side of the camera...hope you enjoy what's ahead...

I loved this quote...I really hope I can surprise myself in 2011...

A few months ago as I started to think of 2011 (being a photographer, I always think a few months in advance). I started to look over our little life and all the things I wanted to do. For the most part my life is amazing. I am one lucky girl. But there are always little things that I would like to change. I am always thinking about how I could better myself, my marriage, my family, my friendships, and my business.

I feel like everything in my life is a balancing act. One I am not always very good at. And so my biggest hope for 2011 is to find some more balance in my life.

Balance for me is probably one of the hardest qualities to master. I am just not good at it.

I have always been a person who wants to be the best at everything,

and as I have gotten older I have finally come to a few realizations...

#1 - I can't be perfect at everything. But that doesn't mean that I can't have a perfect life

#2 - Sometimes I have to say "no"...or at least "no, not now"

#3 - It is okay to let someone help me...in fact letting the right people help me magnifies my ability to be successful.

#4 I have to pick my priorities. Not everything in my life can always be number one on my list, so depending on the day, or even the minute, my number one might be different.

So balance is a huge issue to me this year...

...and really every goal I have is centered around finding balance...

...and in my attempt to find some here are a few resolutions...

Keep telling myself, "This can wait."

For those of you know me, I am kind of 24/7 available. You can usually reach me within 5 minutes. And in being that for everyone else it makes me unavailable to my family. I can't tell you how many times a day I tell my kids, "One second." But I hate to make people wait, I hate to not be able to instantly respond. Providing good service to my clients, and being there for them is a huge priority to me. But I hope this year that I can maybe extend the wait time to an hour or so. Same day service, will that be okay? In doing that, hopefully I can have a few minutes to read a book, play a game, take a walk, snuggle...and savor the moments of these little boys. Because I know with a business there are lots of things that "can't wait" but I have really seen this year that neither can my babies.

Push the "pause" button on technology

In being constantly available, it means I am constantly tapped into some kind of technology. Vary rarely is my laptop turned off. Vary rarely am I not on my email or facebook. And vary rarely is my blackberry not within 10 inches of me. But I need some space. So I am going to take a little break...Lots of you know how much I love facebook. I really really love being able to see what everyone is up to in their lives. But I am going to try and only log-on once a day this year, instead of being logged on all day. I am hoping this too will help me edit faster, and be able to get business stuff done quicker. But I also need a little bit of face-to-face time with actual human beings. There are three of them, in particular, that really need a daily appointment with me. So each day there will be a chunk of time each day when I will be completely unavailable. Instead of office hours, I plan to have what I am going to call family hours. And Wednesdays, these are going to be Mom Days...so everything ak studio will just have to wait. I may check on stuff during nap times...but no promises.

Be more than just a photographer...

There are some days when I seriously feel like all I am is the girl with the camera. But there are other things I love, think about, and want to do. So I want to spend some more time doing some of those. And one of those includes this blog...so if you want to get a sneak peek at what is on the other side of ak (hence the name...haha!) stay tuned to this blog.

Spend more time doing what I was born to spend my time doing...

I wasn't born to be a photographer. I wasn't born to own a business. Those are just things I love to do. And while they are most definitely part of who I am, they aren't all that I am. What I was born to do, the whole reason I was put on this earth was to love these three men in my life. Everything I do and everything I want to be is for them. So I have to spend more time being the person they need me to be. And while I have big dreams and goals for my business, and I am excited for the year to come. I have even bigger dreams and goals for the four of us. And just as hard work and huge amounts of time have helped me to make so many of my business dreams a reality, I have to make sure that I make our family dreams a reality too.

End one affair, and begin another...

So right now...I probably spend more time with my laptop than any other thing or person in my life. And really if I had to separate out my time each day and who got the most attention it would probably be the following...#1 - laptop, #2 - kids, #3 camera, #4 husband. Kind of pathetic right? So my final goal brings me to my biggest resolution this year...spend more time with my hubby. If you know him you know that he is pretty close to perfect. He is amazingly supportive, he has sacrificed so much for me and all the things I do, he is a better parent than I could ever even hope to be, and he is by far more than I deserve. And I have big plans in store to start making it up to him! (but the details of that are all mine...gotta have a few secrets right?)

So with all that said I'm excited for the plans of the new year...I am excited for the possibility...and I am excited to see what happens...let's hope whatever the surprise is that its a good surprise!