This is my Hello World post, traditionally the first post for any WordPress blog.

First, a bit of background information. I’ve been a front-end developer since the day I left University, over 6 years ago. I’ve been working with WordPress almost 5 years. I’ve had my own site/blog since… well, today.

I woke up this morning determined to have my own online presence for 2013. Which, using the famous 5 minute install for WordPress and the default Twenty Twelve theme it wasn’t a hard goal to achieve.

I’m going to jump straight into this blogging malarkey and set some goals for both this site and for 2013 as a whole.

2012, A Year In Review

Well quickly, 2012 for me has been a bit of an adventure. I’ve gone from being a freelancer, back into full-time employment. In June, I moved from North Wales to start my job at Alt Design in Derby. Then in December, Jemma Jones followed me and now we’re going in to the new year looking for somewhere to live together.

And in 2012, I didn’t get to do near as much travel as the previous year; a fortnight in Cyprus & a weekend in Amsterdam were as far as I got, but it was two new destinations for me to tick off my list.

2013, A Year of Goals Not Resolutions

Borrowing an idea from my good friend Rhys (@rhyswynne), a fellow WordPress geek from North Wales, I’ve decided to set myself goals for 2013, not resolutions. Not sure why but I think they sound more achievable. I’m calling it Challenge 2013.

My idea will be to set smaller, more measurable individual goals for each month and a few larger goals for the whole year*.

My first two yearly goals are pretty much a necessity, so if I finish the year without achieving them, something will have gone wrong.

First, I (or I guess that should read we) need some where of our own to live in Derby. At the moment, we don’t know if it’ll be rented or bought, it just has to be somewhere we can live and say it’s our first home.

Second, I want to develop this site into a regularly updated place for me to talk about what I do, my work, what I enjoy and all about me. I have some ideas in the pipeline, some new features and of course a new design but they’re not quite ready yet.

My third & final yearly goal is to launch a few personal projects. So far there’s three, and they’re both still on paper & only just making their way into Fireworks for the design stage. I’ll write a bit more about each one when I have a little more to give away ;-)

January, Monthly Goal Number One

My first monthly goal is to complete my first Drythalon. Which means I’m giving up alcohol for the whole of January. To raise money for Cancer Research UK.

I have a JustGiving page where I’m hoping to raise at least £250. I know it won’t be easy, raising that much money or indeed staying of the ale for that long but I’m looking forward to the challenge. If you’d like to help me out, maybe just by giving the price of a beer, please visit my JustGiving page.

So with all these goals, 2013 is certainly looking to be a challenging one, with lots to achieve. It’s in writing for the whole world to see so the pressure is certainly on. Fingers crossed I can do it.

* One goal I would have liked to have set, is to travel more. But, unfortunately the sensible me inside says it’s not that realistic with wanting to find somewhere to live, a lot of work to do and some projects I want to launch. It would be nice to get away somewhere so I’ll never say never but I’m not holding out much hope.