Here's to 2014!!

Well Happy New Year Ladies!

Sorry I haven't managed to check in this year yet, been ever so slightly busy! But here I am, and here's to a great 2014, hopefully this will be the year of some major changes in my life, some great changes! So instead of a New Years Resolution Post which most of us bloggers do at this time of year (and no doubt most of us fail within the first month! Lol) I am going to make this post about the changes and progressions I shall hope to make this year. A declaration of positive reinforcements that I shall be aiming for shall we say. (Oh that all sounded a bit heavy didn't it!)
Number 1: Lose Weight!  Right I know what you are all thinking - this is the most popular New Years Resolution out there and yes it is, lol! But me and the hubby actually decided to be pro active about it this year, we joined Slimming World on New Years Eve! I am determined to get back down to a size 10-12 (I have an entire wardrobe of clothes that currently do not fit me and it is rubbish!) We have been on it almost a week now and are finding it OK, just waiting to see if I have actually lost anything on Tuesday evening - so I hope to be making Wednesday 'Weightloss Wednesdays' where I will talk about food/healthy eating, fitness, weightloss or anything related to that.

A much slimmer 18 year old version of me and Jon!

Number 2: This will be the year we really get our business off the ground! Cross-Jones Photography is mine and Jon's dream, photography is his passion, he comes alive when he is behind the camera, and I love seeing that. We are in our element when creating beautiful memories for parents, brides and grooms and everyone else we work with, we love it so much. We made a huge jump moving back home with the parents, giving up a salaried job with career prospects to survive on my Part Time job, but we felt we had to do it! We want to make this business our lives, we want to be working for ourselves, controlling our own lives!

Number 3: Get a little closer to owning our own home!  Whether we actually get there this year or not I don't mind, in fact I don't expect us to at the moment, I simply want us to be one step closer. To keep adding slowly to our savings so that we know at some point we will be able to put down a deposit on our own home. That really is the dream, it's simple to most people, but it will be a huge financial struggle for us whilst trying to also start a company and live on just 1 small wage. But we will get there!
Number 4: Develop a better work/life balance! I juggle multiply jobs, a start-up company, freelance work and a blog - and somehow try to have a life too! I realised that the last few months of last year I barely had a life, I did very little with the spare time I had other than watch TV or do more online work! This year I want to try develop a better balance. I'd like to read more books, get out of the house more and find more time to exercise (links to Number 1!) plus keep up with my pen pals! I just want to enjoy my life more!
Number 5: Take more Photographs! I know this sounds odd from someone who runs a photography business, logically I would spend all my time dealing with photos, but in all honesty I don't actually take that many, Jon is always behind the camera lens. But actually I mean more photos of my life and not just for instagram! Me and Jon have very few photos of the 2 of us because we are always the ones behind the camera! And I realised there are lots of events and times in my life that I have no photos of, and I want that to change. I want more photographs, more long term memories. And I will be sorting them all into albums for a change, not just posting them on Facebook or leaving them stored on my computer!

Last Number 6: Build my Freelance Website and Get more Private Clients Ok this one might sound like it would just mean more work, so even less of a decent work/life balance, but in fact the hope is that I will be able to work for myself full time at some point - Writing/Editing/Proofreading and running the photography company. The overall goal is for me and Jon to be able to run our lives in a way that will work for us, and no longer on someone else's time frame. So although it may mean I have to work harder at the start, I really hope it will pay off in the end.
So that is it I think! These are the major changes and advance I want to make this year! What are your 2014 plans?