Looking Back on 2018

As another year comes to a close, I’ve found myself reflecting on all that has happened in the last 12 months. If I had to describe the year in a word, I would use the word, “planted”. It’s been a year of settling in, slowing down, and feeling more rooted.

The Highlights:

We bought our first home! Making the decision to turn our temporary move to Virginia into a little bit more of a permanent one has been my favorite thing about this year. We got to experience the house-hunting and home-buying process for the first time and found a place that we love. After just a few short months, our house truly does feel like our home, which I’m incredibly grateful for. We’ve got some fun house projects on deck for 2019, too!

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary! Our first year was a year of learning how to live together and share one space, leaning on each other in the loneliness of moving to a new place, and learning our new roles as husband and wife. It wasn’t without disagreements and growing pains, but I would look back on it and say that we did pretty darn well with everything.

We traveled to new places! We were able to travel to Mexico, London and Amsterdam – all of which were fun and exciting to explore.

We made friends! Of all the good that 2018 brought, this has to be near the top. Our first few months in Virginia, just after we moved here, were lonely. We only knew Mike’s brother and his family, but they live about 1.5 hours away, so we didn’t have any people in our immediate area. We got involved with a church, joined a small group, and meet a wonderful group of people! I’m so grateful to have found “our people” here.

Professionally, it was a year that I felt overwhelmed and inadequate many times. With my business and here on the blog, there are always a million and one things I could be doing to grow, improve, etc. Business, especially on social media, truly never sleeps. It continues to evolve and change, which requires me to continue to do the same. I often feel like I’m not doing enough, which can be a heavy weight to carry. Much of it has to do with my perspective and mindset, but it’s hard for me to shift that. I often felt that I just needed to clone myself and then I would be able to get it all done!

This recurring problem finally hit a critical point during the holiday season and I decided to hire out for some of the responsibilities that I can offload onto another person. I’m so looking forward to bringing two more women into the “fold” of my businesses and having more help! As a proud and stubborn person, asking for help is not usually easy for me, but it’s a necessary skill to learn.

I’m looking forward to being able to accomplish more and continue to do what I love in the new year!

And now, a little note to you:

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your support and readership throughout another year. Sharing my personal style, beauty tips, home decor, and everything else I do here is so fun for me, but it wouldn’t be nearly as fun without you reading it! I have a lot of hopes and dreams for this space in the new year, all with you in mind. I hope to continue inspire and be helpful to you in whatever way that I can be.

If there is something specific you would like to see here on the blog in 2019, please let me know in a comment below! I’m here for YOU – I want to share and write about what you find value in, so tell me!