Every year, I go back and review the resolutions that I posted the year before  to see how I did.

2013 was really not my best year. I had a lot of stress and things going on that made this a tough year.

Still, there were lots of bright spots in the middle of the rough ones — we had a great time taking vacations to Cape Coral, FL, Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA. I got to see one of my favorite bands, Matchbox Twenty, with my best friend, Amy. I photographed some fun portrait sessions and weddings. My kids celebrated their birthdays with happiness and health. I spent quality time with my family and friends. And this year, Adrian and I started exercising regularly, running, and getting in shape!

Hopefully the good things from 2013 will continue in 2014, and all of the bad things and stress from this year will be left behind.

Now, on to my resolution review!

1. Do one fun thing without the kids each month. Grocery shopping doesn’t count!

I actually did pretty well with this! There were only a few months where I did not get to do something kid-free. My husband has been amazing with taking some time off from his crazy work schedule to give me some much-needed me-time.

2. Continue to meal plan at least 3x a week with healthy recipes in an effort to achieve a healthier weight.

I meal planned for only part of the year. I fell off the bandwagon for the last half of the year, even though I did end up achieving a much healthier weight! I think I’ll be adding this to my 2014 resolutions, too, since I want to get back on track with eating healthy after this past month of holiday munching.

3. Print our 2010 family book (already designed) and design and print our 2011 and 2012 family books, plus William’s birth story book.

I printed our 2010 family book and William’s birth book! Go me. At least I managed to do two books this year.

Unfortunately, I did not end up designing our 2011 or 2012 books. Of course, those will go on my 2014 resolutions, along with designing the 2013 book, too! 🙂

4. Take a family portrait in front of our house, in the driveway, with Maya in the picture. We have never had a portrait session with our dog, and I want one. She will be 10 this year, so it’s a great excuse to celebrate with a family portrait.

I did not do this, and I’m really sorry about it, since it’s something that I thought about all year, talked about to several people, and still continued to not do. I am going to try to get this done in the next month or two.

5. Get together with friends whom I haven’t done a good job of keeping in touch with over the past year or so.

I did get to see lots of friends this year! Hopefully I will continue to the trend in the next year of staying in touch with friends.

6. Read 50+ books this year – and at least ONE great non-fiction book. I’m not a big non-fic reader and love fluffy fiction, so I want to try to break the mold!

Negative on this one. Not only did I not hit 50 books, but I didn’t read anything non-fic. I will hit 30 books by the end of 2013, though, which I’m happy about. This one is going back on the resolutions for next year. I really want to have a 50 book year again!

7. Have more patience. Dealing with 2 children can be really hard sometimes, and it’s much easier to lose your patience over little things. I don’t like who I am when I act that way, so I want to make an effort to be better.

I had a really hard time with patience this year. I tried my best, but I know I was not as patient as I had imagined being this year. This was a very busy, stressful year, and I know that 2014 is going to be much better in this department.

8. Get out of the house more often as a family. Do more things together. Plan outings to some of our favorite spots as well as places we’ve never been before (like that Airboat ride we keep saying we want to take one day or some of the museums).

I think we did a really good job with this. We took the kids to the science museum, to the City of Tamarac’s fireworks display, we went to the park a lot, and we took them for family walks in the jogging stroller(s). Not to mention, the family vacations we took. Next year will have many more fun-filled family activities, too!

9. Use my iPhone less. As everyone in my life knows, my phone might as well be surgically attached to my hand. There are times that deserve my full attention, so I really need to learn to put my phone down and enjoy the moment.

I know that I did not do very well in this department. 🙁

10. Do one thing each week to strive towards organization in my home, life, or business.

I know it doesn’t look like it from the state that my house is usually in (post-tornado chaos?), but I really am trying with this one. Going to add this to my 2014 resolutions too, I think. I need to try harder.

11. Continue to purge things we don’t use or need. Give things we don’t want anymore away to the needy, sell them, or just throw them away!

Continuing to do a GREAT job with this!! We’ve had a bunch of garage sales in the past few months and also made a big Goodwill donation earlier this year. Adrian and I recently did a huge closet clear out and sold a bunch of our old clothes this month in our last garage sale. We are getting rid of a lot of things that we do not need, which is awesome!

12. Photograph everything. Try to use my 5D Mark III more for personal stuff in addition to the business.

Well, I certainly did photograph everything, but I didn’t use my 5D3 — I shot pretty much everything with my iPhone. This is not a big deal, although my iPhone images are not nearly as organized on my computer as the photos from my 5D3! I think my big resolution for 2014 is going to be organizing my iPhone images… which is going to be tough, since they are completely unorganized and there are 15,000+ from several years.

13. On the business end, only take jobs that make me happy. No more accepting big jobs that I know will do nothing but stress me out. I’m at a point in my life where I have the rare opportunity to enjoy what I’m doing 100% – I should be taking full advantage of that.

I did an okay job with this. The first half of the year was a bit stressful, but things got a bit better and I started to really enjoy the jobs that I was working once again. I’ve really solidified this resolution and am at a really great place now!

How did you do with your resolutions in 2013? Was this a good year or a bad year for you?

Check back tomorrow to see my 2014 resolutions!