Hello! So excited for the very first entry for On My Mind Monday: My Top 5 New Years Resolutions for 2017.

Can you believe 2016 has come to an end? It feels like it was literally yesterday when I said, “Can you believe 2015 is coming to an end?” Man, oh man, time sure does fly!

What did you do for New Years? Ours included a long morning workout at the yoga studio, a walk through West Elm, last trip to Starbucks for my favorite holiday beverage: Iced Praline Almond Milk Latte, lunch at home, and dancing & drinks with friends until Midnight: New Year’s Eve was pretty darn great!

Biggest Highlight for us: Caleb and I attended the 108 Class at Urban OM. This was and hour and a half long class with traditional yoga flow amongst 108 Sun Salutations. A Sun Salutation is basically a series of poses in a specific pattern. ((Click here for a full explanation)) To put it simply, even a few Sun Salutations is a physically demanding workout. With that all said, I am very proud of us for participating in this incredibly sweaty, yet fun class taught by my favorite yogi, Kelsey! ((Here is a depiction of a SS))

Before the new year completely sets in I want to take a brief moment to reflect on how great 2016 was for me. I have such an abundance to be thankful for – it was an unforgettable year both personally and for our business. I really have a great community of good-hearted family and friends, so a special THANK YOU goes to you!

2016 included purchasing our new home & renting the old one out to wonderful tenants, getting married in Black Water Falls in Davis, WV to the love of my life, trading in the Cruze for my dream car Jeep Wrangler Unlimited 75th anniversary edition,  road trips with Kenzo doggy, honeymooning in Iceland, booking a wedding in Iceland, planning our 2017 spring vacation to Scotland (including yet another stopover in Iceland), meeting incredible clients who have become close friends, features/publications on/in @martha_weddings @junebugweddings@marriedinmke @huffpostweddings@veil_magazine @lemonadeandlenses@theknot @milwaukeemag@weddingchicks @ruffledblog@littlepeanutmagazine @inspiredbythis@destweddingmag 

AND many more! Dang! What a year!! What goodness did 2016 bring you!? What are you thankful for?

I have a short list of resolutions laid out for 2017 and a long list of personal aspirations I hope to share over the next year via these routine Monday blog posts. ?

My Top 5 New Years Resolutions for 2017, in no particular order:

1- Learn to Edit Video Clips – I shoot with the new Canon Mark IV and the Nikon 810, both cameras have amazing video capabilities. I signed up to take a video editing course and I am so excited to start learning. I have lots of video footage of Kenzo I just cannot wait to compile together.

2- Cook more dinners at home. We own a crockpot, have an amazing kitchen, and the world has this amazing app called Pinterest. There is really no excuse why I am not cooking more dinners.

3- Drink More Water – This is a habit Caleb and I have been working on since this summer. We each carry our water bottles everywhere, but admittedly Caleb is way better at hydrating than I am. But ever since I discovered Lime LeCroix I am doing a lot better.

4- On My Mind Monday routine blog post. I am hoping to never miss a week without posting a non-photography blog entry.

5- Stop needlessly apologizing. Not everything is my fault. Not everything needs to be perfect.Not everything needs an apology. I can commonly replace the word “Sorry” for “Thank You”. ((See Illustration Below from  Yao Xiao))

That is all for today. Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back next Monday for the next On My Mind Monday post and follow our Instagram account for daily updates!

XO – Ren