Happy New Year!

I’m ready to make some changes. And not just “I’m going to go to the gym three times a week” changes — although that is something I need to do and will be considering for the sake of my heart health — but real, lasting changes that will help me live the life I truly want. So this year, I’m going beyond the new year by establishing some “new life” resolutions!

I was given a new lease on life when I survived a spontaneous coronary artery dissection – a type of heart attack that comes out of nowhere for some healthy women and men – last year, which really etched into my being the fact that this is the only life we get. We should take advantage of all the good things and make this life one that is truly worth living, defined by how we choose to define it. For me that means being healthy to honor my body not giving out on me, doing more for the environment, creating a living space/environment that always makes me feel comfortable, and doing what I have to do to be the best Nikki that I can be so that I can truly lead by example.

A few things I want to do:

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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?

Now that I have my general life resolutions all set for 2016, it’s time to think about my style & blog resolutions. I recently read an interesting article by Kristy Ellington for ModCloth, featured on PopSugar Fashion titled I Let a Fashion Editor Dress Me For a Week, and Here’s What Happened. I figured it would be the typical I-was-pushed-outside-of-my-comfort-zone story, and it was, but what really struck me was the author’s realization that her fear of stepping outside of her fashion comfort zone was creeping into how she viewed her everyday life. The entire article is worth reading, but here’s where it really gets good:

“And it was there, in this unlikely outfit on a random Thursday, I realized something very important: “I could never pull that off” was creeping into how I thought about other things in my life and totally holding me back. […] Not being able to “pull that off” was becoming my excuse, my crutch, my limitation to avoid failure. But it was also keeping me from growing and learning new things. So I made a promise to myself to stop trying not to “pull things off” and just do it.”

Whoa, you guys, that’s deep. Especially when I’ve heard tale of so many ladies feeling like fashion is frivolous and unimportant and that they can’t “pull it off.” But I can definitely relate because not only have I said I can’t pull off some cool fashion trend, but I’ve also said I can’t pull off some aspect of my life. Like, I could never pull off that job because so I won’t even apply or I don’t know how to network so I could never pull off that event. Taking a cue from this astute view of “just do it,” I’ve decided to make some style resolutions for 2016. As for the blog, I resolve to post 3-4 times per week. I’d like to incorporate more life and writing posts along with my outfits, and I’m going to work on my photography skills.

Style Resolutions

1. Determine my style. I’ve tried a few trends over the last few years and some of them worked and some didn’t, and that’s okay. But somewhere along the way I lost track of what makes me feel like me, so I’m going to figure it out this year. I think this will require a full closet clean-out but I’m up for the challenge.

Getting my jewelry organized has already been a huge help in achieving my style goals for this year!

2. Invest in pieces I love. Once I’ve determined my style, I’m going to only purchase pieces I really love and can see myself wearing over and over. I’m ashamed to admit that on more than one occasion I’ve bought pieces simply because I didn’t have anything in that color or because I thought I needed it but it didn’t fit quite right or something else was off about it so I only wore it once and left it sitting in the back of my closet. Well, I will do that no more!

Now it’s time to organize my closet, starting with these sweaters.

3. Only wear high-quality shoes. Look, we all know that shoes are awesome and it’s exciting when they’re super cheap because you can buy so many pairs. But then they fall apart or cause your knees to ache because they don’t offer enough joint support (that’s a thing, right? or did I make it up?). So, to determine my style and invest in pieces I love will include buying high quality shoes with lots of support.

It’s not that my current shoes are bad, but they could be better. I’m not going to complain about a closet full of shoes 😉

4. Get better at dressing for my age. I stopped shopping in the Junior’s department years ago but I want to get better at dressing for my age. I’m 31 years old with an awesome career at a sweet nonprofit. I’ve resolved to start acting like it, and now my wardrobe needs to reflect it, as well. The good news is we don’t have a dress code, but keeping my age and lifestyle in mind will ultimately help me really determine my style.

5. Wear more lipstick. If I see a lipstick I like, I’m going for it. Until recently, I rarely ever wore lipstick because, you guessed it, I didn’t think I could pull it off. I always notice how polished it looks on other women and wished I could wear it, too. This year, I’m just going to do it.

Stick with me and find out how I do. Happy New Year!