New Year Goals | 2016

What is a new year good for if you don't spend a little time to reflect?  Even if you are not one for resolutions (like me), it's a great opportunity to look back on your year and see what was accomplished, what brought us joy and what we would like to improve in the year to come. I like to make goals. I made a list of goals last year which I used as a guide throughout the year even though I definitely didn't complete them all.  It felt good just to write them down.

I spent an hour in the car with a good friend of mine on our way home from our NYE celebrations and we started talking.  The two of us happened to meet right before we both got married in 2012 and we started going through the last four years (which oddly are almost identical).  But here's mine:

2012 - Moved to Pensacola, got Married and got Pregnant
2013 - Started building our new home, Brody was born & my Dad got sick
2014 - We lost my Dad, moved into our new Home & Pregnant Again
2015 - Had baby Madelyn

I'm exhausted just typing all of that.  I'm ready to slow things down a bit.

This year I really want to focus on me.  There is always a growing to-do list of things that I want to do and accomplish.  There are so many days where I wish I could just sent in front of my desk with complete silence and zero interruptions and catch up on life.  There are so many things I want to accomplish and do with this blog.  Everything with the blog is so fun for me, but yet so darn time consuming.  I'm going to try and keep this compilation of goals short and sweet this year.

Personal
+ Lose my Brody baby weight (5 pounds) and "happy marriage" weight (10 pounds). This is my year to focus on me.  I need to prove I can get healthy again even with two kids and a husband to take care of :)
+ Cook new recipes - I honestly love to cook and I love posting new recipes to this blog.  Last year, I think I posted about 5 total because I was so sick during my pregnancy that cooking was near impossible.
+ Travel!!! This is always my favorite thing to do and now that I won't be pregnant, I want to enjoy some fun vacations with and without the kids.
+ Photography - this was on my list last year and I still have so much to learn.  I want to keep taking lots of pictures and learn more about my camera and Photoshop Lightroom.
+ Keep Blogging - This little hobby has turned into what feels like a job (a fun job, of course).  A job that gives me outside, adult socialization and a feeling of accomplishment.  Even though it doesn't pay the bills, I still enjoy the little perks.

Blog
I've mentioned many times before that this blog has evolved from what started out as an online diary about my family to so much more.  I realized how many of us our reading online looking for inspiration, encouragement, and sometimes failures.  We like to know that sometimes we are not the only ones struggling being a Mom, finding time to do what we love, or having trouble losing those last 5 pounds.  I want to really try this year to make sure that I write to inspire at least one of you with each post.  Tell me, which type of post help inspire you the most at Home of Malones?  Do you like Mom posts, travel, fashion, home decor, or entertaining posts?  If you can answer that, you can help me with my blogging goals for 2016.

+ Get back to posting 4-5 per week

+  OOTD posts- I had so much fun taking these photos and doing these posts in-between my two pregnancies and then I pretty much stopped when I was pregnant for Madelyn.  They really are fun to do and more than anything, they help make me wear the cute clothes in my closet instead of living in workout clothes all day long!! 

+ Grow the blog - I've picked up a lot of new tips the last half of 2015, but really haven't had any time to implement them.  I hope to keep learning and keep spending time to grow the blog.  

+ Keep Advertising on this blog and spend time advertising on other blogs

+ Have Fun with it and continue to meet and promote other fabulous bloggers out there.

I'm certain I've left a few things out, but I'm glad I was finally able to get these goals written down.  Have you made your 2016 goals yet????