2019 Goals

I hate the phrase "New Years Resolutions" so I always call them my goals for the year.

Blog
Like I said the other day. I want to bring the blogging back in blogs. I'm hoping I can come here several times a week and write about daily life, exciting new things, etc. I use to blog all the time and I know saying having a baby would be the easy out but it isn't. We all still spend time on our phones, looking at instagram etc. I try to be really careful about my time with my son though. When I'm with him, I try to be present. So it does make it challenging but hey, I figure I can sleep when I'm dead.


Read
I love to read. Seriously, if my husband could live without a television, I think I could be OK with not having one for several months at a time. I could get caught up on the giant stack of books that I have and want to read. Last year I read 22 books and this year I'm hoping to continue reading that many if not more. My mother got me several books for Christmas (because I'm old school and like to actually hold the book in my hand, not a device to read) and I have already started one. And what's better than curling up under a warm blanket and reading in the winter?!


Travel
Ahh... travel. Anyone who says they don't love to travel just hasn't had the right experience yet. I love to travel and while it can be tiring and exhausting with a baby it's all worth it in the experience department. I would love for us to go a few places in 2019. I have always been wanting to go to see Mount Rushmore. I think that could be really fun. I've always wanted to go to Niagara Falls. My husband went years ago with his family so he's actually been there already. I would love for us to go back to Hawaii. We of course, have to go to Pigeon Forge. Travel could be a little different for us this year though considering my next goal.


Save
One word- Money. I want to save money. I want to retire when my son graduates high school so I've got 17 years and 2 months to save and pay things off. I'm a somewhat responsible adult and have a retirement with my job and a pension being added to every month, I also have a 401K but saving is always a good thing. I've actually started saving for my son too. I need to get him an account set up and when he turns 18 he can have access to it. Maybe it'll send him on a senior trip.


Cook
We eat out a lot. A quick trip to In n Out, a Chipotle dinner, pizza on a Friday etc. Well enough is enough. We have decided to only eat out once a week. That includes all three meals so if you pick up that sausage biscuit for breakfast tomorrow that was your ONE time for the week. So far I've made 2 days of food and we are lined up for the next two. If you have any meal plan tips or recipes then send them my way! And... as a bonus this adds into saving because food isn't cheap!

What are some of your resolutions or goals?

Bringing the Blog in Blogging Back

Where did blogging go? I started back in May of 2010 and things in the blogging community were far different than they are today. Back then everyone was on a BlogSpot or WordPress. No one had super fancy, website looks with links and tags to instagram (well to be fair instagram didn't exist yet). We didn't link our entire outfits to a site and made you click on it to find out where we got our shirt from. We just told you in the post. We didn't wear 500.00 shirts either! Who has the money for that?! And those Gucci belts...


We had other bloggers come over and be our guests. We did link ups talking about our Mondays, meals and television shows. We talked about our daily lives.


I miss that kind of blogging.


Half the people I follow on social media today- instagram and facebook, are the people that I "met" online back then. We shared our entire lives. If they went through a break-up then you went through it too. When they bought houses, you celebrated, when they started having babies you cheered them on and wished them good luck. Very few blogged full time for income. Now so much you see is "click this link to find out where I got this" or sponsored posts of "Oh, this tea is so fabulous!". Is it really? Is that tea that fabulous or are you trying to make a buck? Just say it girlfriend! We know you don't really like the tea! Haha! It's ok that you want to make money. Just throw us a little content about your life on the blog too! Don't post ads all day long and call it your life. Last time I checked we weren't machines.


Well I'm making it my mission this year to bring real blogging back. I'm hear to TELL you what shirt I'm wearing, talk about the vacations we go on. The shows we are watching. The books I'm reading. The real life ups and downs because that's what blogging should really be about. Not 10 different angles of me in an overpriced t-shirt and belt that half the people reading can't afford or better yet, place in their online shopping cart but will never buy.


So what will I be blogging about here the most? Life. Daily life because when you have a 10 month old, a full time job, a husband, a cat real life happens daily. Do we go on vacations during the year? Yes and hopefully this year we will again. We also have a first birthday party to plan for February! But I plan on trying to blog and blog about life. I miss going to my old favorites and reading about their life as well. While I love instagram, it's only photos a few lines of caption. It doesn't tell a real daily life story.


Also, I'm really going to get into food this year and not just the shoving it into my face kind. We are going to try to only eat out once a week in our house. We are going to make all our meals for Breakfast, lunch and dinner. Shewww, just saying it out loud makes me a little nervous but I know we can do it! So I'm sure I'll be sharing and talking about those ups and downs with new cooking adventures. I'm also going to get back to baking. Did I mention I have a 10 month old? Yeah... let's throw that into the mix of cooking and baking. I'm a first time mom and I plan for him to be an only child so this is a whole new territory for me. That in itself is a daily blog story.


Am I the only person who misses real blogging? While I have my favorite girls on instagram that I follow who do link their clothing etc, I'd just love to see them blog as well! Come join me in this blogging journey. I'm calling on all my old favorites!

Christmas Wish Came True

In November, I told all of you that I wanted one thing for Christmas.

To Go HOME

Well guess what? We went to West Virginia for Christmas! We got to spend a glorious 8 days and 7 nights in my hometown. It was great to spend time with family.

Presley got to spend his first Christmas in my hometown.

We hit up all the local places to eat.

We opened presents.

And we just enjoyed being together.

It was the perfect first Christmas for Presley.