AHHHH!

Do you ever just feel overwhelmed? I'm sure you do! It's part of human nature, right?!


The problem with me feeling overwhelmed, though, is that I create it all myself. I create my own chaos! And my stress. And my anxieties.

I've been working very hard to come with a system to stay organized and make sure I get the things done that I want to accomplish. But either I'm awful with time management, having a baby in the house slows me down tremendously, and/or I just have too much that I want to do. It's probably all three.

Currently, I want to....

• Be the best Mom I can be, 24/7/365.
• Capture, record, remember, and enjoy all moments, large and small, with our daughter.
• Learn photography (just bought a Nikon D5200!)
• So that I can take beautiful pictures of our daughter
• Take great pictures for my Etsy shop (which I need to do a lot of work on!)
• Take inspiring/eye-catching photos for this blog
• Grow this blog so that people follow me-
• I want to inspire others
• I want to relate and connect with others
• I want to inform others with topics that I find interesting
• I would love to generate some sort of revenue since I stay at home, but I don't know how to do this and know that I am a far way away from that.
• Develop my Etsy shop to support the activities that I love doing and perhaps provide some stream of income into our household
• Maintain financial literacy education, make smart financial moves
• Continue working on and sticking to budget---- we just started our third month of using YNAB and love it!
• Continue to save for retirement and learn which investing vehicles are best for us
• Save for college
• Make sure buying a house is right for us, do renovations only within our budget and that will add value to the house
• Learn how to invest money
• Continue saving for a rainy day and for vacations in the future when our kid(s) are older
• Continue all crafts that I am already involved in and continue to learn others
• Three cross-stitch projects
• Crochet another blanket
• Crochet a birthday present for sister
• Make an stuffed elephant taggie for daughter
• Learn to quilt
• Learn to machine embroider
• Learn to make a small quilt for when daughter can have a blanket in bed
• Buy a house
• Plan renovations and decorations for said home
• Find a way to organize my time so that I can keep up on housecleaning and cooking, so that everything gets done and it's not a huge job at any one time
• Try to find time to keep reading... my first passion and hobby, and the one that keeps getting pushed back since it's for when I have time to "not do anything"
• Try to find more time to relax with hubby. He not only commutes over 3 hours a day, but just got approved for overtime, so he's working 10 hour days. It's tough.

While I definitely can't work on all of this list at once, I keep jumping around. And I'm just feeling frazzled. If anyone has any tips or input on how to handle everything that you want to do, please leave me a comment- I'd love to chat! Even if you just want to let off a little steam about how much you have to do! 

Photography

I want amazing pictures of our little girl! Beautiful pictures! And lots of them! 

Pictures that I can print on canvas and let them surround us in our home. 

I feel like I really missed out by not getting newborn pictures, although we were really way to busy to do them (C-section recovery, moving across the state, blah blah blah). 

So I've started looking into some local photographers, and I would love to support them.... but have you seen how expensive it is to purchase the digital images? I'm not interested in having them print pictures for me, I want the digital images so that I can print them, post them online, put them in my photobook creations. But if I want good pictures several times a year, it would cost me a fortune to do that!

Because of the expense of purchasing digital images, my husband and I are looking at purchasing a DSLR, figuring out a good lighting set-up, taking some classes and figuring it all out on our own. It will definitely be a very large upfront cost, but if we stick to it and do it right, it will save us a lot in the long run. I hate not supporting local photographers, especially since so many do such great work, but I just can't stomach paying $150+ for just a few digital images, not including the sitting fees. Especially in the DIY-culture that we are a part of.

We've both always wanted a DSLR but we could never justify it enough. Now we look at our little girl and think how could we not spend our time and money documenting her life. 

So now I have another goal to add to my list of things to do right now! Learn about saving retirement, buying a house, and how to take and edit beautiful photographs. Ready... set... go!

If anyone has any advice on what cameras to look at (we're thinking one of the Canon Rebels?) or where to get some good information, please share!! I'm all ears, well, eyes.

Goals and Resolutions

I think before I really attempt to get this blog going I should set some goals and resolutions for what I want to do and what I want to gain from this experience, besides I love lists. By laying it all out, I am more likely to follow through with what I set out to do. Hopefully anyone who reads this blog can also hold me accountable to my goals.

My goals and resolutions form two different aspects of my blog. My goals will have concrete tasks that can be accomplished and checked off a list. They are things that I want to do to achieve my vision for this space and my daily life. My resolutions, on the other hand, are ideals that I will continue to work towards but may not have set steps that can be finished. My resolutions will be more ongoing and less tangible in the physical sense.

Goals:

Blogging:
~Post 2-3 times weekly
~Try out a new recipe at least once a month
~Review at least book a month

Baby:
~Take monthly pictures
~Record special moments- big and small

Finances:
~Set up a budget
~Prioritize saving
~Learn about IRAs, 401ks, 529s, investment options
~Begin process for buying a house

Crafting:
~Continue to learn to quilt
~Try knitting
~Finish baby's cross-stitch
~Re-start etsy shop
~Try crocheting a baby hat

Fitness:
~Start Zumba exercises
~Lose at least the ten extra pounds left from pregnancy weight

Reading:
~Continue reading baby-related books to gain new perspectives/ideas
~Read "for fun" books to give myself a break/stress-relief
~Read classics for the fun of it, even if they are denser than fluff books

Resolutions:

~Place importance on achieving happiness in daily life- focus on both the here and now as well as working for the future
~Enjoy the present, it will never happen again
~Appreciate all that my husband does for us

I'll try to add more to this throughout the month, I would like to have a cohesive, inclusive list set for the new year.