When the year ends, I like to take a moment to look back and reflect on the year’s events- the good, the bad, the happy and the sad all come together to make each year special and unique. I also like to think about what my goals were for the previous year and how I achieved them. My goal for last year was to find a better balance of work and personal life and I achieved that by taking a part-time position with Brilliant Ink which allows me to have the satisfaction of working while allowing me to spend more time at home with my son.I asked the Brilliant Ink team what some of their goals for 2013 were and here are their responses:Kate: Read more. Run more. Sleep more.Ben:

• Must leave the house at least once a day - checking the weather on one's iPhone is not a good replacement.
• Must drink something (soup not included) non-alcoholic at least once a day
• Must realize that pajama bottoms are not suitable work attire however comfy they are
• Must develop a new monster/bad-guy voice to use when reading bedtime stories to the kids, as I think they are getting bored of my go-to Ray Winstone Gravelly Cockney
• Must never let on that these are my resolutions - the life on an urban hermit designer dad is far from glamorous.

Ann:

• Take more pictures and videos of my kids and figure out a better way to organize them.
• Exercise more!
• Take a kid-free vacation alone with my husband.
• Get a dog!
• Get better about not sweating the small stuff...

Alison:

• I’m going to steal one of Ben’s – I must leave the house on foot at least once a day – driving my husband to his office does not count!
• I will blog at least once a week – I changed my website to Wordpress this year to integrate it with the blog…and promptly stopped writing.
• I will make the time to read more – I think this year will be a year of biographies.
• I will get two proper vacations with my husband – and without my computer.
• I just learned about the positivity ratio ( www.positivityratio.com) so I’m going to aim for a ratio of 3:1 positive to negative thoughts… (these are aspirational, right?)
• I will definitely send more cake pops to clients.

Anna:

• In general to simplify my life. To let go of the unnecessary stuff and focus on the things that are really important to me
• To learn how to sew. A good friend of mine is going to join me on the challenge so even if my sewing skills don’t end up being the best, at least we’ll get to spend some quality time together (and drink lots of wine in the process!)
• To be more intentional with my time- to waste less of it watching bad TV and playing on the internet
• To be more forgiving to myself. I’m not superwoman, and it’s ok not to do it all, all of the time.

Liz:

• Finally take a surfing lesson (preferably in Hawaii or somewhere warm).
• Organize my garage (it’s been on my to-do list for over a year, so I’m not holding my breath).
• Get something – anything – to grow in my vegetable garden beds, even if it’s just weeds.
• Spend less time watching bad TV and more time reading.
• Do everything I can to make 2013 the best year yet for the Brilliant Ink team.

Cheers to a wonderful 2013 from the Brilliant Ink Team!