2013 Report Card

2013 was without a doubt one of the more eventful years in both of our lives. SO. MANY. CHANGES.

It was wonderful and busy, and now that it's 2014, it seems like a good time to take a second and reflect. At the beginning of last year, we listed out some goals we each had for 2013, so it sharing the results of those seems like a good place to start.

Holli Anne's Goals:

FIRST of all, can I just say that 2013 was the best and craziest year of my whole life! I got married, moved to two different houses, started two different jobs (and my husband got a new one, too), wrote the first draft of my first book ever...oh, and got pregnant! Phew! It was a tad overwhelming attempting to keep up with...well, any of that. But, I did manage to accomplish some of the goals I set out at the beginning of the year, and that was pretty exciting.

1. Start running regularly again.

• A - I did the Couch to 5K program to get started and was back up to running three miles on a regular basis. Unfortunately, due to some intense pregnant leg pain, I had to ditch the running toward the end of the year. I'll be back, though!

2. Take care of my health better in general: Taking all the medicines doctors tell me to take (I rebel against them), eating something green everyday and to drink more water.

• A - I've definitely been sick a lot less this year and overall feel in good health, physically, spiritually and emotionally.

3. Get on a "normal" sleep schedule (the 8-5 work schedule my soon-to-be husband is on would be good).

• A - I'm not going to lie. I didn't think I'd do this ever, but thanks to some day jobs of my own, I'm on an awesome schedule. I even find myself waking up without alarm clocks on the weekends ready to go.

4. Quit doing things I just like so I have time to do the hobbies I LOVE.

• B - I did this one for a while, but with lots of working, I've slacked on hobbies sometimes and find myself vegging out on things I don't really love doing (i.e. too much TV!)

5. Keep writing the book I started late last year.

• B - I DID finish the first draft of this book. But then I haven't really been brave enough or dedicated enough to give it the work it needs to be readable, so that's why I don't get all the credit on this goal.

6. Be a good wife come March 9, and to make our new home look awesome!

• B - Well...I'm a pretty good wife, probably! And our 2nd new married home is starting to come together, so that's good.

7. Start the vegetable garden I've been scheming.

• D - I sort of started a vegetable garden, but it did not produce so well.  

Tyler Anne's Goals:

1. Visit the gym more than 0 times a week and also start up running again too. I used to be an avid runner but man have I been slacking!

• C - OOPS! The most I do is walk with my boo or pull ups with my nifty pull up bar! Beyond that it's all still BABY STEPS!

2. Cook more and healthier. If you know me then you know I tend to shy away from cooking anything that takes more than 30 minutes.

• B - I definitely eat healthier and have lost the weight I set out to lose! Occasionally, I even cook! (Though, let's be real...Boy Tyler is the star of the kitchen!)

3. Also get on a more "normal" sleep schedule. I'm trying to make my schedule less night-heavy so I can, you know, see the sun occasionally.

• A - Considering I used to go to sleep just before the sun rose, my sleep schedule now has definitely improved! Other than a few upsets from reading a really great book that keeps me up, my sleep schedule is as normal as I'm going to get it! So, YAY, my first A!

4. Up my photography. I want to learn more and let my camera get a good workout.

• C - For the first half of this year I rocked this goal's FACE. Then...not so much. I intend to fix this in 2014.

5. ALSO finish my book! (Holli and I are such twins!)

• A!!!! This is perhaps why I did so poorly on all other goals. Not only did I finish an entire book (in one week, no less), I was asked to pump up the word count and then resubmit it to an interested editor! I can't give out details on who, but when I hear back I'LL LET YOU KNOW! Oh and this is the only book I've ever 100% finished. So, you know, that's a big thing!

6. Snail mail it up! I want to write some personal letters to family and friends! So personal, so awesome!

• -F - I was reaching with this one, BUT, I'm sending out New Year cards because I TOTALLY spaced on Christmas cards...whoops!

7. Keep working hard on Almost There! (Not hard because I love it!)

• B - I didn't do EVERYTHING I wanted (because of the whole writing thing) but I'm happy with the behind the scenes planning I've done as well as ALL of the 2013 posts! I hope you like them too!

- The Annes

Monthly Report Card: June Resolutions

Let's be real here, not every month's resolutions are going to be met with the diligence they deserve. Life gets busy, priorities shift, and not everything goal gets addressed in full.

It's fine.

Last month's resolutions post can be found here. As always, we are joining She Learns as She Goes in doing a monthly report card. Her report card can be found here.

Holli Anne's Report Card:

1. Write every morning! D

You know how people usually set goals and then get all gung-ho about them at first? Total opposite this month. I woke up and wrote in the mornings probably three times this month. However, I DID write at other times and make some great progress on outlining/character development for CampNaNoWriMo (where I will be writing the first draft of my book this month)! Just not in the mornings, most likely…

2. Keep up my running schedule A-

I definitely have kept running up. I haven't really gotten much faster on my times or anything, but I've been exercising regularly, which is the most important thing for me at this point.

3. Continue down the healthy eating track B+

I'm pretty happy with our household eating habits these days! We aren't like totally off the sugar/junk food, but we have cut back A LOT! The gluten-free diet wasn't really improving my husband's skin condition, so we've decided it's not for us, but we are still going to keep many of the healthy habits we've developed and go easy on the carbs/bread.

4. Read my heart out! B-

My goal was to finish all my unfinished books that I've started. There were five. I read 3.5…so progress?

5. Paint my house! FFFFF

Just hit me in the face if you ever see me in person.

Tyler Anne's Report Card:

1. Have a successful first part of TV Inspiration: Lost! D-

The ONLY reason I gave myself a D- instead a flat out F is because I loved the one TV Inspiration post I did (here). Why haven't I done more? Well, life happened and I couldn't watch enough Lost every night to be able to write true to what I originally wanted to do with TV Inspiration. Now, I'm not giving up on this series, I just didn't stay true to my "every week" thing. Whoops!

2. Keep true to my "diet" B

I'm pretty proud of my whole counting calories "diet." It's made me shun most of the sugar I craze and I'm at a better weight for my height now. I just have to be a little bit stronger with what I take in during the weekends. I have a tendency to smudge the numbers then!

3. Write 8 pages (or more!) everyday C

Wow, I was certainly ambitious last month with this goal! I've been writing everyday, but definitely not 8 pages per day. Stay tuned to July's resolutions to see how this ambitious goal gets amplified to straight up ridiculous! 

4. Read all the unread books currently on my Nook F

Okay, I had 8 unread books. I read one and a half. SO SUE ME!

Almost There's Report Card:

1. Be more active on our Facebook page C

Remember, we have both been social media managers for others as a part of our past/current jobs. So, when it comes to doing the Facebook dance for the blog, we aren't all up in it because we get social media tired. We are getting better at it though, slowly! Go see for yourself.

2. Stick to our blogging schedule B

No, we aren't counting our blogging series. It's fine. Everything else we are proud about!

-The Annes

Monthly Report Card: May Resolutions

For our May Resolutions post go here. 
For Kelli's May Resolutions (the inspiration) go here.


Holli Anne's Report Card:

1. Run that 5K: A-

I actually ran the 5K today, which is June 2, BUT since that's only two days difference, I think it still counts. I also missed some training time because of some hardcore pollen issues, so I'm proud to report this one. I'm also so glad to report I'm injury free!

2. Write daily on my book: C

Yeah, this one needs some major work. I had a week of just major creative block, not exclusive to my book. I've finally gotten back in a groove, but even that needs improving. This will be my TOP goal for June.

3. Finish painting my house! F

On Friday when I remembered this was a goal, I considered manically finishing the paint job, but I didn't. Anyway, it will probably take me an hour tops, but something about having to move furniture is just getting me down. 

4. No boxes in my house: A+

I am OH, so proud of this! There are absolutely no unpacked boxes in my house, and for the most part, things are where they need to go. There is still some major organization to be done, but I'm happy with the progress and finally feel like our house is "normal."

Tyler Anne's Report Card:

1. Get to that 75 percent marker of my book: C-
I didn't make it to 75 percent but I did manage to push a little closer. HOWEVER, I may or may not have written MORE on another project...that now is in the lead. So, sure I didn't make it to that 75 percent marker but I did almost make it to the halfway marker of the other book. That, I feel, compensates just a little?

2. Finish and distribute my super secret project for Almost There: A+
My super secret project (that wasn't that secret) was a writing prompt book! I indeed finished it and put it on Almost There's Etsy shop. However, I wanted to take it a step further and decided to try my hand at Amazon's self publishing. So, if you want to purchase my eBook (The Dark Side of Writing: 35 Writing Prompts) go here!

3. Walk/jog for an hour everyday: D
I was good at this for a week. Then I digressed. However, I did start swimming so that's cool too?

4. Find a place to put all of my books!!!!!: F
I failed this...again. Someone build me an awesome bookcase?

Almost There Resolutions:

1. Evolve the writer side of this blog: A

We are really happy about this one. We've been posting Writer Talk posts weekly (here, here and here) and our Writer Talk Facebook group is growing.

2. Keep posting new prompts/discussions daily at Writer Talk: A-
The beginning of the month we were banging on all cylinders with this goal. New posts, new scenes, tons of interaction. However, the world still manages to go on and the Writer Talk group collectively got busy so daily prompts weened down to weekly prompts. I don't view this as a failure, though. It was just a change that helped everyone out! We are still oh-so proud of this group! If you want to join go here.

3. Bring more interviews/guest blogs to the site: A

We had three really awesome guests on our blog last month, and we have plans to keep that going in June, too. We just love hearing from other creative people doing what they do best, and we hope you do as well! If you missed them, here are our interviews with Josh from Blimey Cow, Joe from Story Cartel and Edward from Edward Fieder Photography!

4. Work on our individual projects that we will put on Etsy: A+

Tyler rocked this by publishing her writing prompts book The Dark Side of Writing! We also put our blog consultations up, along with our ecourse on social media for your blog!

For Kelli's May Report Card (over at She Learns as She Goes) go here.


How did YOU do?

-The Annes