We are already a week into the new year and to be honest, I am just now finalizing my goals for the year. This past week was all about wrapping up our short get-away to Colorado and getting back into the swing of reality – hello again 5:30 a.m. alarm. Although I’m getting a bit of a late start, I love the feeling of a blank slate and time of reflection to prepare and plan for the year ahead. I enjoy writing down my goals so I have them to look back on and hold myself accountable to.

Remember to choose joy each day

This isn’t a new concept to me but it’s still something I need to work on. Sometimes I find myself in a spiral of negative thoughts and I eventually stop myself realizing that I have so much to smile about and be grateful for. Even on our worst days, there’s some good and it’s so important to stay focused on the good.

 

Move

Our lease is up in June and although we have no plans as of right now, we will be moving and I’m excited for a change of scenery. 

 

Approach eating healthy from a crowd out perspective.

Instead of restricting myself from certain foods I want to focus on incorporating more whole foods which if I do enough of will limit the room of possibility for less healthy options. 

 

Push myself in the gym

I have been working out consistently for a few years now and I’m proud of myself. However, I want to keep improving my workouts, trying new things and challenging myself to become strong and not be complacent. 

 

Keep training Leo

Before we brought Leo home I was so determined to be strict with training and teach him cool tricks. He has definitely learned a lot and improved in many ways this last year but there’s still a lot of room for growth. 

 

Find my style

I love clothes and I like to think I have a decent fashion sense, but I’d love to get to a point where everything I wear feels like “me” and not just a cute outfit. I don’t want to limit myself and if anything, I want to be more experimental with clothing, but I want to perfect a wardrobe that feels true to myself. 

 

Make small changes to improve my eco-footprint

I say small not to make the importance of this seem small but to remind myself that small changes can make a big impact. I have made modifications in the past to improve this but like anything, there is always room to do more. A few specific things I want to do is bring a reusable tumbler when I get coffee on the go, remember to use my reusable grocery bags more often, invest in reusable cotton pads and dryer balls.

 

Travel 

I would personally never want a year to go by without traveling. Although we don’t have any plans at the moment, I’m looking forward to the possibility of exploring new placed or revisiting ones again. 

 

Keep growing my hair

If you know me well then you know I get bored with my hair easily and have grown it out and chopped it off many times. My hair is finally starting to feel long again, and I want to keep it long for at least another year, if not more. 

 

Take more photos

I already take a ton of photos but 2019 lacked taking photos for the sake of capturing something beautiful or interesting. I want to challenge myself to pull my camera out on random occasions, not just when I have something planned.

 

Rebrand my blog and refine my personal brand

 I have big goals for my personal brand, especially regarding my blog and Instagram. I will be writing a more in-depth post of my plans soon.

Keep learning more about blogging and influencer marketing

I learned a TON on these topics this year but know that there is so much more knowledge to gain. I am so passionate about listening to podcast, reading articles/post from other bloggers, reading books and anything else I can get my hands on to keep myself educated and improving as a creator.

Read more books

I think I read less than five books in 2019. I already have a lineup of books I want to read and feel confident that I will have more time to do so this year.

 

Set aside time weekly to stretch or do yoga

I try to stretch a little bit after my workouts but I’m not nearly as flexible and balanced as I used to be when I was a dancer. Nick and I are going to try to make time for this on Saturday mornings, wish us luck! 

 

Switch up our walks with Leo

We tend to walk the same paths in our neighborhood every day with Leo. On the weekend and in the evenings during the warmer months, I would love to drive to parks or even go downtown more to get a change of scenery on our walks.

 

Call my Mom more

When we were in the thick of wedding planning I swear my Mom and I were constantly talking on the phone about plans and the endless to-do list. Since the wedding, we haven’t chatted nearly as frequently, but I’d like to find a happy medium of time spent chatting with her. 😉

 

Re-discover passion for my career.

 

Try new recipes 

2019 was the first year I felt somewhat comfortable in the kitchen. Although the first time I tried to use our instapot a warning that read “FIRE” came on and I haven’t used it since. We got two awesome cookbooks for our wedding and I want to start using them. 

Stick to a budget

A dedicated blog post to come on this one.

 

Connect more with God

 

Keep dating Nick

Everyone says how important this is after you are married, and I completely agree. We are the type of people that try to spend less money weekly so that we can travel more which makes our official date nights less frequent. We were also so busy last year between Nick studying for the CFA2 and me doing most of the wedding planning, we didn’t even have many opportunities. This year Nick will still be studying (for the CFA3) but I hope we can find more time to hang out one-on-one apart from our evenings on the couch. 

 

Put others first

Last year one of my goals was to volunteer more, something I did all the time in high school and college but failed to do much of in 2019 apart from one day. Instead of making a goal to volunteer I want to challenge myself to frequently find small ways to help others whether it’s creating helpful content online, scraping off someone’s car when it’s covered in snow or even being patient with others on the roads. Small acts of kindness can make a huge difference.