Happy New Year friends – welcome to 2015! I took a few last days off from the blog to hit restart. This year was an interesting one for C&C, to say the least. I revived the blog earlier in the year because I realized that I was missing that ‘creative spark’ that I so desperately needed in my life, the 9-5 just wasn’t cutting it anymore. But then life got busy and messy and somehow other things continued to wiggle their way in to distract me from regularly posting, and then it seems I just sort of gave up…again. “No one’s reading anyway” I told myself as a way feel less guilty about the situation. But as the weeks and months continued, people began coming out of the woodwork asking when the blog would be back. People from all different parts of my life; girls, guys, young and old, they were missing my blog! Who woulda thought?! Not me, obviously. That was my wakeup call.

The holidays began to creep up and I knew that if I was going to make a comeback, the gift giving season was the time to do it. I think I may have been right. Regardless of the fact that I wasn’t posting gifts specifically for compensation from brands or that I wasn’t using affiliate links to make money off of anything people decided to buy, I still absolutely loved creating them for all of you. I had so many people let me know that they either gave or received gifts that they’d seen on the gift guides. That really made my heart happy! So basically what I’m trying to say is that while traffic and daily page views are all good and well, at the end of the day I’m just trying to please the people that do visit C&C on a regular basis, and it seems I’m doing that!

That being said, I’ve come up with some goals for the blog, as well as for myself in general. I’m hoping that a lot of these goals are able to provide me with some quality blog content too! Also, I’m not normally one for mantra’s or anything like that, but I thought maybe I’d try it out this year. Each month I’m going to choose a new line of inspiration to make sure I’m staying on track and staying positive. I’ll create a phone background and a computer background so that I’m continually seeing it and living it. I’ve heard about people who change their passwords to things like “go2thegym!” or “stop5moking” so that every time they type it, it’s a reminder. I think this will sort of work like that? We’ll see. I’ll be sharing the backgrounds on the blog in case maybe you feel like this is an absolutely brilliant idea, you do right? Keep an eye out for January’s soon! In the meantime, here’s a look at my goals for 2015. Don’t get all judgey on me for sharing, I know most people probably don’t care about reading about other people’s resolutions, but it keeps me honest by actually writing them down. They’re like, real now!

BLOG/BUSINESS GOALS

develop new branding for the blog
I’ve been thinking about this undertaking for awhile, and after a lotttttt of thinking about it, have come to the conclusion that it needs to happen, so keep an eye out for big changes this year.

learn to code
This is something that I know is almost becoming a necessity in my line of work. being able to design is great, but if you’re able to design AND code, watch out, double threat!

develop a workflow that actually works
Right now, the way that I work on things for the blog (and life) is a little hairy. Or a bit hairy. I need to develop a system that really lends itself to saving time and organization. It’ll happen, I have no doubt, it’s just a matter of dedicating the time to figure out WHAT that right way of doing things is.

collaborate with bloggers
this one’s as easy as it sounds. only, for some reason I’m hesitant to reach out. I need to grow a pair and start joining regular link ups and things like that. maybe even attend a blog conference this year. I just need to get into the mix, I know know know that it will help grow the blog, so I’d just be stupid not to.

take on more freelance clients
a dream of mine has always been to be my own boss. so if I can position myself to be in a position in which that’s actually a reality, let’s go! I need to start building up my portfolio outside of the office in order to take on more clients, so this will be an ongoing process this year, hopefully setting myself up for a 2016 goal to be: go freelance full time.

 

PERSONAL GOALS

get into a morning routine
I’ve always been a morning person, it’s just a matter of actually getting out of the bed that has to happen first. I really want to start making better use of my time, and that means waking up earlier to get to the gym so that I have time to work or relax when I get home in the evenings. I think it might take a bit of time (and maybe some warmer weather, this 0 degrees this morning didn’t bode well for day 1) but it’ll happen, at least it better!

read at least 20 books
you may have seen this goal when I posted about 15 books I plan on reading in 2015, but pretty clear cut, read 20 books girlfriend, find the time, make the time, whatever…just do it.

save $10k
I wouldn’t say that I’m a spender, but I also wouldn’t say I’m a saver. I think I land right in the middle on this one, but that’s all about to change! Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say ALL, but you catch my drift. I really want to keep a close eye on finances and start working within a budget and by the end of the year, have 10k in my savings account. Think it’s doable? We’ll see. I wonder what would happen if I just saved all the money I’d normally spend on Chipotle in a year and see what happened…

try new things
This is my catchall category. There are so many new things that I want and need to try but haven’t. Top of the list? Yoga. And new cocktails. And more restaurants. And the list goes on. Maybe 2015 will be the year I finally try a Dorito! Ha, good joke, that will never happen. But for reals, I really want to put myself out there and try things that normally I’d be too nervous or scared or lame to try.

let go of the past
a lot of life changes took place for me last year, whether it was to me personally, or to family or friends that then affected me. But regardless of what happened last year, I need to start realizing that every day is a new day, and you can’t dwell on things that happened to you. You just have to accept and move forward. And that’s my plan; fresh slates, real fresh slates.

take care of myself
This is my Achilles heel people. Every year I start off so good about eating healthy and going to the gym regularly, last year I lost almost 20 pounds by April. But then I get bored. Or lazy. Or something. And everything just kind of dies. And by December I’m all like, give me the cooooookies! This year, I’m not going to let that happen, I’m going to continue getting in exercise for the whole of the year, not just at the start. Thankfully the gym at Soho House is perfect and on my way to and from the office, so that should really help my situation. I’m going to make it a priority to only let healthy food into the apartment (Sorry Max, time to lock up the ice cream!). I’m going to get a reasonable amount of sleep most nights and I’m going to make sure I’m keeping myself accountable. I’ve got a lot of weddings this year I need to look good for! And you know, for myself too 🙂

 

What kind of goals or resolutions are you making for the new year? Share with me in the comments, I’d love to hear what other people are focusing on in 2015. 

L