A decade ago, I was a freshman in highschool, just 14 years old. It’s hard to believe how fast time goes by.

A year ago I was trying to recover from being laid off, working the worst job I’ve ever worked in my entire life. It was probably the most challenging time in my life thus far. I was completely unhappy with my job, the job market was horrible, i’d been applying and interviewing, yet not landing anything. I was forced to enter back into the world of food service, and it was completely devastating.

I think it’s the hardest when you have so many goals you set for yourself. You get ahead, and then life and circumstances send you 3 steps back. But I buckled down, persevered, and focused on the things in life that made me happy, like photography.

A year ago I registered my photography business with the state. It’s interesting to look back on the goals I had for my business over the past year, and how far I’ve come. I’ve accomplished many of those goals, exceeded some, and there are some which remain on the list for this coming year.

In July, I landed a career-oriented full time position, and I was able to escape the food service industry yet again (this time hopefully for good!). I feel completely blessed and lucky to have the job I have now. I get to utilize my education and degree, learn TONS, and there is so much room for growth and promotion within the company. Not to mention, it has enabled me to really focus on my photography business and it’s growth.

I’m VERY happy to say that this fall I was completely booked! It was busy, at times stressful and chaotic (it’s not easy to run your own business AND work a full time job at the same time), but I made it through, and I’m really happy with the work that I accomplished. I think that this coming year will be a great year for the growth of my business. I have recently re-branded and re-packaged everything, and I cannot wait to reveal it to everyone! I’ve also upgraded all of my equipment, so my quality has gotten much better.  I feel like I finally have a sturdy foundation for my business where I can now focus on perfecting my style and workflow. I am excited to see what the new year brings in photographs

I’m not much of a “resolution” person, but I am a crazy list maker and goal setter. I guess they are similar, but still different.
I, of course, have a list of goals for the coming year (and the coming 5 years, lol). Here are a few for this coming year that I look forward to working towards:

• Take more personal photos. Possibly, at least one a week– if not more. It would be great if next year I could re-cap the year in photos a bit more accurately.
• Bake more cupcakes
• Travel out of the country (I’m looking very forward to Costa Rica!)
• Blog a LOT more. With photos.
• Pay off some debt, if not all of it.
• Grow my cupcake collection
• Take Quincey on more walks
• Cook more dinners at home. Learn more recipes and start a recipe collection of my favorites.
• Let go of negativity, and those who are constantly negative. I don’t have time for this in my life anymore, and I refuse to be an “enabler”. This one could be really tough, but I’m just not willing to keep dumping positivity into people who keep dumping negativity on me. It’s completely exhausting, and a waste of energy. I look forward to surrounding myself with positive and inspiring people.
• Make a better effort to spend more time with friends.
• Save more, spend less, stick to a budget.

And there are some more which are top-secret for now! (I have to keep SOME things to myself, until they happen at least Don’t worry, hopefully you’ll find out soon enough)

Also, here is a list of things I’ve accomplished this year

• Turned 24 (gasp!!! getting so old…)
• Learned how to bar tend/cocktail/ mix drinks
• Made some great new friends
• Landed a career-oriented position at a growing company that I really believe in
• Spent time and made memories with friends and family
• Quit the job from HELL, on the spot, no notice. Something I have never done, but man with that job, if you only knew… it felt SO good.
• Visited Mark’s family in Reno for Thanksgiving
• Really focused on my Flickr account, and through it, had a couple of my photos published
• Built up my photography business: got serious, booked fall season, shot a few weddings, re-branded everything, upgraded all equipment, found new sources of inspiration.
• Celebrated 5 years with my boyfriend <3 (so crazy!)
• Had Quincey’s 2nd birthday
• Baked cookies, from scratch!
• Had my very first ever “paid vacation” days! eek!
• Booked my first “destination wedding”
• Went to my first Blazers game (thanks little sis!!)
• Finally tried In-N-Out, haha

I’m sure there are many more things, but I’m pretty sleepy haha. Anyways, this year went from crap-nothing, to everything I could ask for. I feel like I have finally found a place in life to plant, and this coming year will be about growing and establishing roots. I feel so lucky and fortunate that I have been blessed in so many ways this year, and I hope and pray that this new year brings more good than bad (by a lot). I also hope for some other things, but I’ll just keep that to myself for now

Thank you all for reading my blog, and loving on me and my work. It truly means the world to me!!! Look forward to many more posts, and even more delicious photos this year, as I intend to really bump up the blog! So excited. I hope that all of you had as exciting of a year as I did, and I hope that the new year brings a clean slate, a new sense of hope and optimism, and more good than bad.

And because I feel weird posting without a pic… here’s a random couple Mark and I on Christmas 2009

and Quincey and I <3

cheers to you and yours! <3