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Every year I set resolutions and every year I only make it about halfway to completing them. Well, some years I’m more successful than others, but mostly I’d say it’s 50/50 that I complete everything I want to do. One of my favorite resolutions was to try at least 6 new things in 2012. I think I did maybe 3-4 things, but I have a lot of good memories of them so I would say it was a success. This year I have several resolutions I’m hoping I can stick to.

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Life

Focus more on experiences and less on material things. This seems like a good one to start now with the little one on the way. I want him to have so many fun experiences that will help shape his life and personality. I will focus on trips, events, and local outings that will instill in him a love of community and adventure. Saturday morning farmers’ markets, trips to the park, and petting goats in a petting zoo; these are the experiences I want him to have.

Focus on my health and learning as much as I can about the rest of my pregnancy, labor & deliver, and being a good mother. I’m a pretty healthy person to begin with but it’s easy to fall off the wagon, especially now that I still have really strong sugar cravings. I want to make sure I’m being mindful of what I eat and how much exercise I’m getting, both now and after the baby comes. This is also a good one to start now so that I can model it for my son when he gets older to ensure he grows up as healthy as possible. I’m already signed up to take all of the necessary classes — childbirth, postpartum and newborn care, breastfeeding, etc. — but I will also research some parenting methods and choose the one that I think will be right for my family.

Read more books. My initial goal was to read at least one book per month, but I realize that might be slightly difficult when I’m sleep deprived and taking care of a newborn. Maybe just 6 books this year? No matter the number I decide, I will put the phone/social media apps down and pick up books more. I received so many good ones for Christmas this year that my list is already halfway made so, as long as I spend my time wisely I think I can do it.

Write more letters/send more cards to my friends and family. You know that feeling you get when you open the mailbox and find a handwritten envelop containing a handwritten letter or card? For me, it’s awesome and I’m so grateful because it lets me know someone is thinking about me. This year, I will not only take more time to think about the people in my life but to show them that I’m thinking of them with a nice letter.

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Blog

Write more content. It’s not that I don’t love taking picture of my outfits but I’ve always wanted to be a writer because I love writing. When I was a kid, I wrote stories all the time and won several school and county contests with them. Somewhere along the line I stopped writing for fun and I want to get that back. So, along with journaling more and writing more stories for myself, I will focus on creating some original and fun content for the blog. I’m not sure what that looks like yet but I think I can make it happen. And don’t worry, there will still be plenty of outfit posts!

Post more often. Along those lines, I will make sure I’m posting more often. I’m aiming for 3-4 posts per week. That seems simple enough but when life gets busy, it’s easy to put blogging to the side. But I will do a better job of holding myself accountable and if I’m writing more content, then posting more often shouldn’t be a problem.

Take better pictures. When Nick bought me a fancy camera for Christmas a few years ago, I was so excited to learn all about lighting and camera settings and all those things that would make my pictures look amazing. I read a few articles and tried a few things but I never really put much effort into it. This year, I resolve to learn and comprehend more about lighting, ISO, aperture, exposure, focus, etc. etc. This also applies to my Instagram photos, as well.

Grow my readership. I think this is every blogger’s goal, and while I don’t necessarily look to become famous or anything like that, I would like to create content that is fun and engaging for a lot of people and, therefore, gain more readers. I’m going to start following some of the advice offered by other bloggers on how to grow your blog, pay more attention to SEO, take better photos, etc. so that I can really start to feel successful in this little hobby of mine.

There you have it: four life goals and four blog goals. I’m feeling super optimistic about this year and the future, so I’m telling myself I can do it. And I really believe that I can! I’ll also try my best to follow up with periodic check-ins to help hold myself accountable. What are your New Year’s Resolutions?

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful day full of family and food. Today I’m thankful for everything, as cliche as it sounds. My family, my home, my health, and all of the other good fortunes I’ve had. 2016 has been very rough on us and the world so I’m choosing to focus on all the positive things, no matter how small.

Even though I was laid off from my nonprofit job this month, Nick’s work is still going strong and we still have our warm and happy home to shelter us everyday. We also still have a silly little dog that continues to light up our lives and make us laugh regularly. We still have it all together despite the hardships and for that I am thankful.

My health is in tip-top shape and my pregnancy is progressing along beautifully. I haven’t endured much of the sickness or pains that can often come along with being pregnant. I’m happy and healthy and for that I am thankful.

We have the most wonderful friends and family a person could ask for. Throughout everything we’ve been through, especially in the past year, they’ve been there for us and offered their help in any way they could. My community is the best and for that I am thankful.

Last but not least, I am very thankful to those of you who read my blog! I know the internet is inundated with life and style blogs, but you entertain my little hobby by reading and commenting and participating and for that I am thankful.

The way I see it, things could be so much worse than they are right now. For all the good fortune I’ve had and for having the ability to put in the hard work to make it all possible is something for which I will be eternally thankful.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner so I’d like to take some time ahead of the holiday to reflect on the things in my life for which I am the most thankful. Thankful Thursday is a weekly series for the month of November.

With the holidays upon us and expecting a baby in the spring, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I grew up. Parenting styles and decisions are extremely personal but they often originate with what we know, which is our own experiences with how we were raised and the traditions of our families before us. Nick and I have created a couple of new, small traditions of our own since getting married, like purchasing a new ornament for our tree every Christmas, and now that we have a baby on the way, I’m really excited to establish our own family traditions. So this Thursday, I’m thankful for all of the wonderful traditions and practices I have to draw from as we start our family.

My family has always made a big deal out of birthdays and holidays, and I love it. We all come together, eat good food, and open gifts when the occasion calls for it. My aunt always bakes a cake or makes some kind of dessert. My uncle is almost always in charge of the gravy. My dad carves the turkey or operates the grill in the summertime. My grandmother makes coleslaw (we are from the south, afterall).

My brother and I would help my mom put up and decorate the Christmas tree. Sometimes we would go pick one out of a lot, sometimes it would come from our back yard (seriously, we lived in the woods), and one time we dug the tree up, roots and all, and then planted it after Christmas. It lived for so long after that! Due to crazy work schedules and dispersed families, we would celebrate Christmas Eve with the extended family by enjoying a feast and opening all of our presents, and then Christmas Day would be much more low key with just the four of us in my immediate family: mom, dad, brother, and me.

I’m not sure yet how we’ll navigate the holidays once the baby is born since our families live on opposite sides from the state from each other and we don’t want to deprive any grandparents of holiday time with the little one. Luckily we have some time to figure it out. But I know one thing for sure: I’m extremely thankful to be so close to my family and to have traditions that make the holidays so memorable.

We all know that Pinterest is great for inspiration, especially when it comes to putting together cute outfits, yummy new recipes, and DIY  projects to save you money. Sometimes the content you find seems too good to be true and, in my opinion, that’s usually because it is. However, there are a few Pinterest hacks that really do work, and they work so well that I use them on a regular basis. They’ve changed my life so much that of course I have to share them with you!  Click or use your arrow keys to read through the hacks I use.

Which hack do you think would make your life easier?

Thanksgiving is just around the corner so I’d like to take some time ahead of the holiday to reflect on the things in my life for which I am the most thankful. Thankful Thursday is a weekly series for the month of November.

We had our pictures taken this past weekend for our annual Christmas cards. I get really excited about designing our cards every year because they always turn out so awesome, which leads to me giddily but impatiently waiting to receive everyone else’s holiday cards, photos, and letters. December is one of the best months because there’s a treat in the mailbox just about every day, and we just don’t get that anymore. So this Thursday, I’m thankful for any and all of the handwritten mail I receive all year long.

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When I was in undergrad, which was ages ago at this point, my aunt and uncle sent me a card in the mail every month. They would include family updates, news about my high school’s sports teams, and other little tidbits of information they thought I might like. I looked forward to those cards every month — and not just because they also included some cash in there 😉 Knowing that someone is thinking of me and taking time out of their busy lives to write me a letter, card, etc. is truly one of the greatest feelings in the world.

The other day I was reading an article about hobbies you could take up if you don’t have any hobbies and it listed “sending physical letters to people.” Um, why didn’t I already think of that? I love writing letters, I love getting letters, and I had several pen pals when I was kid so why not make someone else’s day by writing them a letter? I’ve been thinking about turning this into a hobby in the new year. We’ll see how I do.

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It seems like email, texting, and social media have made letters essentially obsolete, so the gift of real mail is one that I treasure and one for which I am truly thankful.