A lot of you who were following my blog last year probably remember that I chose a One Little Word last year, inspired by the craze created by Ali Edwards. My 2012 word was Growth, and I feel like, in so many ways, I really did grow a lot in the past year.

I grew with my blog, taking it on as a full-time career and getting featured by Duncan Hines, Jell-O, International Delight, Citrus Lane, and several other brands. I ended up getting over 12,000 new visitors last year alone, and had many people visiting from around the world- 93 countries in all.

I grew with my baking, inventing over 100 new recipes over the past year, and even getting invited to the Duncan Hines test kitchen as a Frosting Creations winner.

I grew as an educator, getting into the swing of where I fit in in terms of homeschooling, and discovering the right curriculum for Zach.

I grew as a mom, figuring out how to create a better routine for Zach, meeting his needs better, and learning how to figure things out.

I grew as a photographer, finding my niche in terms of style, and figuring out exactly how I wanted my photos to look. I also learned how to do better post-processing to make my photographs look as brilliant as possible. I even had a company email me and tell me that my photos were “the most professional in-action shots of their product they’ve ever seen.” Hello, awesome.

I’m not saying any of this to brag. I’m saying that, by focusing on the word “growth,” and focusing on the areas in which I wanted to grow in 2012, I ended up achieving so many of my goals, finding new ones I hadn’t thought to plan for in January of last year, and really, truly, embracing my word with gusto.

And that’s why, this year, I’ve decided to choose a One Little Word once again. This year, my word is…

 

Capture.

I want to better capture life. Even with my blog, and even with my improved photography skills, I felt like I failed to capture the day-to-day life that we lived. I captured the big things, yes, but so many little things, like the way Zach’s hair stuck up into a unicorn horn one morning when he woke up, and the day that Zach finally understood the sign language for “all done” were lost to history.

This year, I’m really embracing the idea of capturing. I purchased a smart phone recently (yay! I’ve reached the 21st century!) and got instagram (follow me! @jengerbread88).

I want to photograph more, post more, share more, and remember more.

I’m also trying to do Project Life, a project initially created by Becky Higgins and adapted by hundreds of thousands of scrapbookers, in formats like paper, hybrid, and digital. The concept of Project Life is that you take a few photos a week, put them in an album, and include relevant journaling to capture the every day life of your family. You don’t have to take a photo every day, and you certainly don’t have to work on the project every day.

I can’t guarantee that I’ll make it through the entire year. In January, I start out with a lot of things, feeling very gung-ho, and end the year without it. But this year, I’m looking at it as, every week I DO actually complete is just one more week captured and that’s what my goal is all about anyway.

So here’s to focusing on capturing more than ever in 2013.

Do you have a One Little Word for 2013? What are you planning to focus on over the next year?