2018 Goals

Wow happy 2018, happy January, happy Tuesday, and happy fresh start! I love this time of year because it gives us the perfect excuse to ditch old habits, finish old projects, and face future ones head on. Resolutions have never really worked out for me (come March I’ve generally forgotten them), but for the last two years I made a list of goals to complete by the end of the year.

In December, it’s usually a mad rush to complete the ones that I still haven’t checked off, but it works! I keep the list in my phone under the notes app and look at it whenever I think to do so. It’s basically my overarching to do list for the year, divided into categories: Personal, home, work, and finances

I thought it would be fun to share a few of my (many) goals with you today in hopes that it inspires you to create your own list of 2018 goals!

Work: Send quarterly surveys. I’m getting a head start on this one and put am halfway done putting a survey together that I hope you’ll take to help drive my content for the next few months. I want to know what you want to see more and less of. Stay tuned for that later this week.

Personal: Set up our last will and testament. This was actually on my list from last year so I just rolled it over to 2018. Now that we have a child, Anel and I really need to get on top of doing this. Have any of you had any success writing your will online? I feel like we should probably do it in person with a lawyer but it’s so expensive! Any advice is appreciated here.

Home: Design my home office: When we moved into our house, was the first room that I finished… And then a few things changed. First we got Boots and the light colored rug was no longer an option. It was gross within a matter of months of taking him home. Then we had a baby and had to turn the room into her nursery. So my current office/closet space is a hodgepodge of things that don’t go together and it’s not very creatively inspiring! I want a space that feels inviting, comfortable, and clutter free so I can be my most productive self.

Finances: Hit our yearly savings goal. Every year we make a savings goal that we then divide up over the course of the year so that we know what to put away each month. Our accountant, Brittany, helps us set up our goals based on what we can afford. She’s amazing!

Work: Buy a new camera. We’ve had our Canon 5D Mark IV for over five years now and it’s time for an upgrade. I use it every single day for work, so it is a smart investment for both my business and Anel’s. Cameras are crazy expensive, so I’m saving up money in my business account to pay for it by the summer.

Personal: Go on a trip with Anel without the baby. I had to leave Amalia for two nights when I went to LA last month when my grandfather passed. It was my first time away from her and that mixed with the loss was almost unbearable and hit me like a ton of bricks. That being said, I ripped the band aid and am now confident that she is just fine without me for a few days… and that it’s 100% worse for me than it is for her. Anel spent the whole weekend with her so I wasn’t worried about her child care, but one of our goals is to go away for a night or two without her by the end of this year.

Most likely my in-laws will take care of her, so she’ll be in great hands but the thought of leaving her without either of us still tugs at my heartstrings.

Home: HVAC help. We bought our house from a developer who installed a new heating system and central air which was a big plus to the home. At the time, we didn’t know that he did it in a really lazy/sloppy way and now we’re paying the price for that. Downstairs is always hot and upstairs is always cold in the winter and vice versa in the summer. And the sunroom (an addition they put on) isn’t insulated so it gets freezing in the winter. We had to buy an electric fireplace as a temporary fix (although it looks pretty great).

Personal: Try sleeping with a silk pillow case. This is obviously a smaller/sillier goal, but I decided to include it in the ones I shared to show that your goals don’t have to be giant, hard to achieve action items. I actually already have a silk pillow case and just haven’t wanted to use it because it seems so uncomfortable. But both my hairdresser and dermatologist suggested it for damaged hair and wrinkle prevention respectively, so it’s time to give it a go. I’ll, of course, report back on how it works.

Work: Amp up my Twitter game. I’m the worst at Twitter which is unfortunate because it’s a big part of what I’m “supposed” to do as a blogger. I am great at updating Instagram and my Insta stories but never seem to remember to post to Twitter. I have no idea why! That has to change this year.

Ok so those are a few of my 2018 goals. What are yours?

Faux Fur Vest c/o (Marked down from $139 to $49!!) / Similar Plaid Shirt (mine is sold out) / Clutch / Jeans c/o / 50/50 Boots / Sunglasses