Sharing my 2019 goals & plans and why exactly these ten things made it into my top ten!
free people jaden ribber fringe scarf | madewell keaton fair isle sweater | similar high-rise skinny jeans | c/o ariat two24 wilder boot | similar tortoise shell hoops | david yurman cable ring
Tuesday I kicked off 2019 with a review of 2018. Including top performing blog posts, Instagram posts, and products. As well as favorite purchases, travel, and more. So if you missed that, be sure to check it out before diving into goals & plans for 2019. Which is exactly what I am sharing today!
I am big into writing out goals & plans. I feel as though that helps keep you accountable and make them happen. So while I have these all written down in my notebook (actually wrote them on my flight home from Bentonville) I decided to write them down here as well and share with y’all! Extra accountability, extra good vibes to make them happen!
So here are ten things I want to make happen in 2019 – ten 2019 goals & plans if you will!
PHOTOS BY KRISTEN BISHOP DAY
Travel More & Explore New Places
Travel has become one of my most favorite hobbies. The travel bug really caught me in 2017 and I made seven trips. 2018 that number was bumped up a bit with ten trips. This year, I would love to plan one trip per month, so bumping 2018 travels up by two.
I would also love to explore more new places. While I love revisiting certain destinations (Charleston, Asheville, and Chattanooga) I would love for this year to be full of new places, new experiences. A couple of places currently on my travel wish list: a ski resort, Austin, TX, Tybee Island, GA (more of Georgia overall too), Waco, TX + Magnolia Market, a cruise (Joshua’s never been on one), Memphis and/or Knoxville, TN.
Be More Adventurous with My Cooking
I tend to get in a groove/rut when cooking. I’ll make the same thing over and over again with just minor tweaks. Every once in a while I’ll find something new, make that and then make it till we’re sick of it. So I would love to be more adventurous with cooking this year – try out lots of new recipes. Luckily, Kristen gave me Joanna Gaines Magnolia Table Cookbook for my birthday so I have lots of inspiration there. I already tried out the Cola Cake and YUM!
If you have some blogs you go to often for cooking recipes (I bake too much, so skipping the desserts ha), please send me way! I would love to check them out.
Share More of My Health Journey
2018 I really dove into taking better card of myself, working out more often, and cleaning up my diet. I plan to do so even more in 2019. The first step, sticking to FASTer Way to Fat Loss and continuing it throughout the year (and beyond). Next, cleaning up my eating even more. Skip more desserts and items filled with refined sugar. Lastly, making sure workouts happen 5-6 days a week. Even if it’s simply a quick 30 minutes walk, just making sure I’m active daily.
I want to take y’all along on this health journey with me. Mainly because y’all have expressed how interested you are in seeing what I eat, the workouts I do, and what I’m changing up to see results. So this year, my goal is to really focus on sharing that with you and creating fun content around it!
Disconnect More Often – Take A Full Week Break
This goal probably should have went first as it is at the top of my 2019 goals! I am HORRIBLE as disconnecting. Even when I’m not posting or sharing content, I find myself on my phone or computer. Researching, planning, or grabbing inspiration. While that is great and definitely part of my job, I need more time off screen. So this year, that is going to be a focus. Disconnect at a certain time each night (thinking 8:30pm) and having one day a week that I don’t get on at all.
Also, I want to take a full week off from all social, blog planning/posting, and email. I did this in 2018 and it was incredibly refreshing! I came back so inspired, so ready to dive in and absolutely kicked up upon returning. So that is a huge goal/plan of mine for 2019. Make it happen again!
Learn More Hairstyles – Mostly Braids
Now that I have short hair (and may go even shorter) I need to learn some new hairstyles! The one in today’s post definitely won’t work anymore with 5-6 inches gone. So rather than curl it every day, I want to find and learn some fun hairstyles. Even if they’re super simple and add just a little, I want to spice things up and try new dos. Of course, I’m all about braids so those will be my main focus!
Focus More on the Backend of Blogging/Business
There is SO much on the backside of blogging and owning a small business and I want to get back to putting more focus on that. Part of what I am talking about it learning new skills as well as improving current ones such as Lightroom/photo editing, SEO, photography, and marketing myself.
I would love to set the goal of dedicating one day per week to just the backend of blogging/business.
Make Date Night Top Priority
This is something we honestly did terrible at in 2018. We would talk about setting up a regular date night schedule and I think it seriously happened three times in 2018 (not including special occasions, of course). To me, date nights are incredibly important and should definitely be a priority for every relationship. Therefore, our goal for 2019 is to put date night in the calendar and set up reservations at the start of each quarter. We already did it for quarter one so I think we’re off to a great start!
More Dancing
I LOVE dancing! I love taking dancing lessons, I love silly dancing in the living room, I love going to the local country bar and trying to figure out line dancing. Truly, I love it all and dancing always puts me in a good mood. Lucky for me, Joshua shares the same love and we always have the absolute best time dancing together. So in 2019 bring on all of the dancing! The goal is to make it happen more often and trade occasional movie nights for dancing!
Buy a House
This is something we thought we would do in 2018 but later realized it just wasn’t the right time for us. A huge part of that was Joshua switching jobs and us being unsure of where we wanted to plant our roots. Now we’re a little more sure and see this goal being met later this year. Send all the positive vibes our way for this one and the perfect first house for us!
Plan + Execute Better but Also Have More Fun
I’m a planner but I also plan and then wait until last minute to actually do. So this year I’m not only making a goal but vowing to plan further in advance and execute those plans. Mainly so I am less stressed but also so I have the content prepared that I want to share with y’all! To go along with that goal, I also want to have more fun! To plan more exciting, fun, unique shoots/features/posts. That way I’m enjoying it more and you’re enjoying it more! A win-win!
These are great goals! One of mine is also trying new hairstyles this year! 🙂
xoxo A
http://www.southernbelleintraining.com
Thanks Annaliese! Love it – here’s to hoping we both make it happen!
xo Laura Leigh
We have so many of the same goals! I’m most excited about your house buying but can’t wait to support and encourage you through them all friend!!!
Xo
Taylor
http://Www.reeseshardwear.com
Love it! And thank you Taylor Reese, I really appreciate that gal!
xo Laura Leigh
I’m with you on traveling more!! And I just need to learn to cook all together haha!
xo, Hillary | hillheady.com
Haha you need to grab the Magnolia cookbook – it’s wonderful!
xo Laura Leigh
Can’t wait to see you style your hair in more braids .. and all the house stuff of course!!!
-Morgan
How 2 Wear It [] http://how2wearit.com
Thanks girl friend! And fingers crossed for that house!
xo Laura Leigh
Love this list! I’m doing TRIM (same as FWTFL) and excited to take this round WAY more seriously!
xo Jessica
My Style Vita
Thanks Jessica! Ah that’s awesome – I didn’t realize it was the same. That’s so cool! Get it girl!
xo Laura Leigh
Love this post lady! Our goals are pretty much aligned! xo elle
Thank you Elle! Love it – we got this!
xo Laura Leigh
I love all of these-especially the dancing! We could all probably use more dancing-even if it’s in the living room in PJ’s!
Caitlin
LemonadePressBlog.com
Yes girl! I absolutely agree!
xo Laura Leigh
Happy 2019 babe! You can do this!
x Lisa | lisaautumn.com
Aw thank you Lisa! Appreciate it lady!
xo Laura Leigh
Really love the idea of dedicating time to backend work. I need to be better at this too, especially when it comes to income and expense recording. I’m always scrambling to enter data!
The Champagne Edit
It is so necessary but definitely not the glamorous side of things. Although, I do love some of it. Get to use a different side of my brain haha.
xo Laura Leigh
Inspiring and beautifully written post! Thank you for sharing!!
I also love your cute sweater, it suits you perfectly. 🙂
Aw thank you so much! I really appreciate that. It is a favorite sweater of mine, for sure!
xo Laura Leigh
Oh my goodness, I love this list! That is so exciting that you’re looking to buy a house in 2019! My brother and his fiance just bought a house and I’m so excited for them!
Also, these photos are stunning! Your outfit is so cute.
xo Logan
https://peculiarporter.com
Thank you lady! Congratulations to your brother and his fiancé – that is super exciting!
And thank you, I appreciate that!
xo Laura Leigh