A Fresh Start
Hi sweet friends! I can not believe that we are about to start a new year. 2017 flew by and now 2018 is upon us. A new year always makes me pause and reflect on what the prior year brought and I look forward to a fresh start in the new year. A new year is a clean slate for me. I time to set some goals and decide what I want the months and year ahead to look like for me personally and professionally.
Christmas was sweet. It was filled with all the craziness that comes with the holiday season. Travel, lots of family time, all the yummy food and some super sweet moments. It seriously goes by so fast! I didn’t even catch my own kids opening gifts as I was watching my baby nieces and nephew enjoy their first Christmas. I mean seriously, B O O M and it’s done.
Today I am packing up Christmas and starting with a clean and less cluttered house to kick off the new year. I have some goals to start 2018 strong including a big trip to the local thrift store. Who’s with me?
#1 – Get Healthy! My husband and I were talking about our health and we decided that we’d challenge each other to working out more. Our initial goal is two workouts a week. Doable, right? I said three but was quickly shot down. Ha! I try to walk a couple of miles 5-7 days a week as well. That’s for the dog though. Cause he needs exercise too! Yoga is my fave so I’ll likely get back to that. I also need to be better at meal planning and eating consistent meals vs. grazing. Adding in more color and trying new things. Maybe set a goal of eating 3 salads a week even.
#2 – Family! I’d like to carve out more time for family fun. My kids are growing SO FAST {too fast!} and I’d love to spend as much time with them as possible. I could change my mind on this as I have a teenager. No explanation needed. Ha ha! But really, day trips + vacations. Day hikes. Game nights. All of these things feed us as a family and I need to do more to make this happen. They are 12 and almost 15 so they are happy to eat, sleep, play video games and repeat.
#3 – Marriage! This is something that is so important cause once the kids are grown and gone, it comes back to where it all started. With us. Day trips, day dates, and of course a couple of fun getaways, even if only for one night. Honoring each other and also giving each of us the space to be on our own too. Marriage is about teamwork.
#4 – Business! This year I started to phase out of my part-time job and jumped into blogging more and more. I was officially unemployed in the middle of October. The goal was to give it a solid year of working by butt off. My ultimate goal is to be able to make money while working from home {or the road}. I have to really put in the time if I want to make it work. It’s a crazy big world out there and I have to really focus not only on blogging but also all of the behind the scenes stuff and social media. Let me tell you, there is a lot to learn and do every single day. I have moments of pure exhilaration and others of sheer panic. There is no 9-5 with blogging. You are on all the time. Everything becomes a photo op for a social media post and blog inspiration is everywhere. I am so grateful to my husband for allowing me this time to really try this blog thing. So grateful! If we hit the year mark and I am still spinning, we will reevaluate then. BUT guess what, mind over matter and I will kick some ass. I recently watched a video on Instagram. Rachel Hollis at The Chic Site said, “Dream big, Don’t be perfect, be consistent.” This needs to be my mantra this year. Honestly, I have spent so much time pinning and subscribing to all of the awesome people that swear they have the secret to making it work. Well guess what? I don’t have time to keep up with all of them. So I am gonna simplify. I will pull from a few top influencers. There is so much noise out there and that can be a time suck + a major distraction. So in 2018, I will focus more on less. I will unsubscribe. I will follow less on social media. I will take deep breaths. A lot of deep breaths cause I can do this!
#5 – Home! I love my home. Decorating is a BIG part of who I am. I am constantly inspired by colors and textures. This causes an ever-revolving display of things in my house. I have a collection of throw pillows and lanterns that come and go throughout the year. I love using printables and wood signs. This year, I plan to redo my guest room, laundry room and maybe just maybe, paint my kitchen cabinets {this one scares me to death so I am trying to tread lightly! #DIY #hugeproject} and I plan to repaint everything inside. The walls need a fresh quote of paint and I’d like to paint the doors, baseboards, and trim. The outside needs to be painted but we will hire out for this one cause well, two-story house. Need I say more? We also plan to get a new couch and with that, a big throw rug for the family room.
#6 – Crafts! I have a thing for DIY but I definitely don’t make it a priority. This year, I hope to get better acquainted with power tools and doing things myself. I am the queen of paint projects but saws and nail guns kinda freak me out. I’d love to create some fun new things for my house and also to sell.
#7 – Organization! I love organizing. Even the smallest project makes me feel so accomplished. I’d love to share more organizing tips + projects on the blog. Things to inspire and motivate you to have an organized home. For me, I can’t function with some kind of order. I know it’s not a priority for everyone but I have found that even those who say that they aren’t organized, crave it.
#8 – Videos! We live in this day and age of videos. My kids are obsessed. The world is even more obsessed. Stories on Instagram and Facebook. Live feeds on social media. I do not like recording myself or really even hearing my voice on a recording but guess what? It’s what pulls people in! Authenticity. So I’ll embrace it and learn and try to put myself out there.
#9 – Patience! You guys, I suck at having patience. I lose my cool easily. I make mountains out of molehills. I am a total overreactor. Usually, after my mama meltdown, I realize that I totally overreacted. I blame it on the Leo in me. But still, I vow to be better. It’s never really worth the negative energy that I expel. I never feel good about it and I know that my household isn’t a fan!
Do you set goals for the new year? The last three months of the year are a complete whirlwind around here. Besides all of the big holidays, it’s also the time of year where we host many other fun events in our home. I host favorite things party in October, a craft fair in November, a big holiday party in December. I love the last quarter but whew, it’s a whole lotta stuff! So cheers to 2018. I hope it brings amazing things. May your heart feel lighter, your mind inspired + and your home a happy one.
