New Blog For The New Year

Most people I've spoken to all agree that 2017 flew by. It feels like just yesterday I was ringing in 2017 and now we're onto 2018. I always find New Year's day to be bittersweet, it feels good to have a clean slate and a year full of possibilities but at the same time that means ending the chapter of the previous year. Looking back at the last twelve months I remember a lot of good things but there was some bad mixed in as well. At the beginning of December I lost my Grandma, it was a loss I knew was coming but that didn't make it any less painful. Christmas ended up not being the happiest time of year and I was glad to get it out of the way. It's a joyous time if you've had a positive year but if you've experienced loss it just reminds you of what you're missing. Because of the negatives I learned how strong I could be in tough situations, I can keep my head up and look forward to the good that's to come. I'm looking forward to this year and all that it brings. I don't like change and embarking into a new year can be nerve-wracking when everything is an unknown. My hopes for this year is that it will be full of more positives and my goal is to focus on them and find them in every situation.

Every year I set goals for myself, I don't like New Year's resolutions because I don't want to beat myself up if I don't stick to them. This year I have a variety of goals and hopes for the year ahead. I've always struggled with being self-motivated so I hope that setting goals will keep me focused on accomplishing them. Going into 2018 my focus is going to be on the blog and creating more consistent content. I promise to be better this year and give you more than just two posts in twelve months. I have a variety of content planned, and some ready to be posted, that I'm excited to share. I don't want to spoil anything so you'll have to wait and see whats coming. I will share with you the categories I'll be posting in though. I'll be sharing lifestyle, travel, fashion, and food posts. Anything I post tagged lifestyle is basically an excuse for me to share whatever I want. Most of the time it will be ramblings with a lot of photos. Although I love writing and hope you enjoy reading everything I want the photos to be the focus of my posts so I've made them large and in charge.

I have an urge to start traveling more and my goal is to make that happen. My last vacation was July of 2015, I went to England to celebrate my Uncle and Aunts 50th wedding anniversary, it was 12 days total and I miss it there terribly. Another trip feels long overdue so luckily I have one planned for March. After the stress of 2017 my family and I booked a one month vacation to England to visit family and friends. While we're there we'll be traveling to London, Paris, and Amsterdam. We might make it to the South of France and Scotland as well but well see about that once we're there. I plan on documenting the whole trip for the blog in a variety of different posts. It will be nice to have a break from Florida and be around more culture and history. As we make our way through 2018 I hope to do more traveling but for now I'm just thankful to have this trip booked. March can't get here quick enough. I love everything about traveling, the airports, planes, packing; you name it I love it. The trip is two and a half months away and already I've started making a detailed packing list. I would love to start packing, I would've if I were 7, but that seems a bit over the top so I'm sticking to the list for now.

My last large goal is to focus on my health more; I want to start working out consistently and eating better. My energy level is low and I know that has a lot to do with health and diet. Thanks to a recent-ish episode of Shark Tank I found a company called EverlyWell that has health tests you can do at home, they work in a similar way to the 23 and Me kits, which I'm hoping will give me useful information. I want to start eating better and getting some of the sugar and carbs out of my diet. My sweet tooth isn't going anywhere and I'll still share dessert recipes but I'll play around with healthier options. Trying to exercise more will probably be the toughest for me to stick to, I've always had a hate-hate relationship with the gym and don't see that changing anytime soon. I'm going to try yoga or possibly a personal trainer so I stay motivated, if you remember from earlier on I'm awful at keeping myself motivated. I plan on updating you on how that all goes; I'm keeping my fingers crossed it works out well. If there's one thing I'd like to get out of this year, which is something I like to get out of every year, is more personal growth. I believe we can never stop growing as people and learning new things about ourselves. At the end of every year I like to look back over the past twelve months and see the growth I went through as a person. The way we grow can change from year to year, and it can happen when and how we least expect it to so every year it's nice to stop and reflect.

I wish you all a wonderful and magical new year full of excitement, personal growth, and new opportunities.