My Intentions & Goals For 2018

After the holiday season, I get the itch (like many) to reogranize my house and life for the better for the upcoming year. I love reorganizing, decluttering and decorating my house at the new year! Maybe it’s the nesting phase of pregnancy setting in, but I’m pretty sure that’s just how I’m wired. Not only to do I love ‘making over’ my house, I love taking a good look at my daily life and overall path and hit the reset button! Here are my intentions and goals for 2018…

PERSONAL:

1. Take more photos of people. I find a I like a lot of photos of stuff, like interiors, beauty products, clothes, etc on my phone for instagram. I want to get better at taking more candid photos of people, myself and our future little girl! I’m great at taking videos, which I personally love the most, but I want more photos of people and then print a recap photo album each year.
2. Meditate daily. This one has been on my resolutions list for like two years, but I never seem actually stick with it. This is my year to learn to set aside a little bit of time each day (ideally in the morning) to meditate. If I start now before the baby arrives hopefully I’ll create a habit and stick with it after the baby is born. Fingers crossed. This morning was my first time meditating for 10 minutes. It was great.
3. Start meal planning. This is something I’ve been wanted to start doing on Sundays to prep myself and kitchen for the upcoming week of dinner plans. Got any meal planning tips? I’m not entirely sure how to start, but I just need to give it a go! Again, another habit I’d love to get into before the baby is born.
4. Remind myself to trust my gut. I hear stories from moms everywhere who say it’s hard to trust your gut and instincts as a new parent, but you’re often right because you know your baby better than anyone. I need to remind myself daily, hourly, weekly (whatever it takes) to trust my own instincts and gut, take everyone’s advice with a grain of salt and just be present.
5. Prioritize healthy me time. I’m good at it now, but that might all get turned upside down once our little one arrives, but I think it’s very important for new moms and dads to prioritize healthy ‘me time’ to keep yourself grounded. Healthy ‘me time’ to me is exercise, massages, taking extra time on my skincare routine, meditating and reading books or listening to podcasts that inspire and motivate me to be a better human.
6. Date my husband. Joel and I started working together at my family business this past year. It’s been great, but when you see somone most of your day you can get a little burnt out and into routines when you come home. In 2018, I want to prioritize dating each other again, try new things together and help us break out of our routines.
7. Be kind to my body. Pregnancy changes your body A LOT! I need to remind myself that this change is natural and take recovering after baby in strides. Our internal thoughts can be some of the most powerful and hurtful words we tell ourselves. Keeping myself away from negative body image thoughts will be especially important for me this year.
8. Remind myself that perfection is impossible. This goes back to trusting my gut instincts and being kind to my body. No one is perfect, because perfectionism is impossible. I think it’s important to let go of expectations to avoid the overwhelming feelings of perfectionism. I want to stay present and work within my life, not against it to create what my mind might be telling me is the ‘right’ way to do something.

BLOG & YOUTUBE:

1. Get back to posting twice a week on YouTube – Sundays & Thursdays. Not only does YouTube love channels that post twice or more a week, I know you guys love it! I want to challenge myself to post two videos a week to my channel. I saw the biggest growth happen when I was uploading with that consistent frequency!
2. 100,000 subscribers in 2018. I’d love to hit the 100k subscribers in 2018! Wish me luck and spread the word!
3. Post to my blog at least once a week, maybe two, well see. My blog has definitely taken a backseat to my YouTube channel. I think people often underestimate the amount of time and effort that goes into creating blog posts (myself included), but I want to share more things here that just don’t make sense as a YouTube video. For example, photos of my house projects and progress, wellness, capsule wardrobe tips, minimalism and more!
4. Revamp my logo and blog. Nothing drastic here, but I’d like to make this space look and function better. That was one of the main reasons I let my blog fall behind. I don’t love how my blog looks now and want to change that in the near future.
5. Bring back the newsletter! Remember that? I did one newsletter last year, then shortly after found out I was pregnant and just didn’t have the energy to keep up with it. So 2018, newsletter is coming back monthly at end of each month.

HOME:

1. Remodel our upstairs bathroom before baby comes this spring. This is an ambious goal I know, but I would really love to have our last major project all done before our litte girl arrives, because, frankly, I no idea when we would get to it after she’s born. I’d really love to enjoy our mostly finished house for the next couple of years. This isn’t our forever home, but the perfect starter home!
2. Jazz up the exterior of our home this summer. Our backyard and front yard could really use some love. It’s not terrible, but it’s really boring and a bit sad. Our little rambler needs some curb appeal.
3. Finish the baby’s room. I know the nursery isn’t really that necessary for a newborn as they often co-sleep in the same room as the parents for the first couple of months, but I’d love to have it ready for whenever she’s ready for the room. Plus, it’s totally part of the nesting process right?!
4. Continue to minimize our belongs before the baby comes. I do consider myself a minimalist. I might not have the minimlist aesthetic, but I try to keep my possessions in check and only hold onto the things that bring me joy and are essential to my life. This way when baby stuff arrives (hopefully a minimal amount) we will have plenty of empty drawers and shelves! Should this become a blog or YouTube series?

Photos are from one of my best friend’s New Years Eve wedding! It was so much fun!

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