2018 Favorite Memories + 2019 Goals

Happy New Year from Hilton Head Island, SC! We are having a blast here in HHI and not ever wanting to come home. Since the new year is upon us, I wanted to share some of my favorite memories from 2018 along with some goals for 2019. I have to say that 2018 was a hard year on my family. We had some bad news concerning my aunt (see post here). But, also had so many wonderful memories too! I am hoping 2019 will be filled with lots more memories and fun! We are planning on traveling some more in the new year along with some very exciting blog collaborations. 2019 will be one for the books and I can’t wait to share it with you all.

Let me also say that you all have been fabulous and I couldn’t have asked for a better community of followers. You all are so sweet and it makes me want to continue to create better content this year! I am so appreciative of all the comments, purchases from my links and YOU! I don’t think I can say thank you enough!!

xo, Nataly

FAVORITE MEMORIES BY MONTH:

January

It was a family affair to celebrate my niece who turned 13. Brian’s family hosted a Bat-Mizfah to celebrate at the Dallas Aquarium. It was so much fun! I haven’t danced all night like that in quite a while. It was my one night of the year that I drank too much too! I only allow myself one of those a year!

February

This was a very low-key month. But, one of the biggest highlights was starting a partnership with James Avery. I have been working with them consistently over the past year too!

March

We went out to Pilot Point, Texas to see the Tulips in bloom. It was the first time we had been. It was beautiful and totally worth the trip out there. I would suggest arriving early though…it gets really busy!

April

Literally, nothing happened in the month of April besides preparing for May. We booked our trip to Austin to celebrate our anniversary and my birthday.

May

My favorite month of the year…birthday month! I turned 31 this year. I am officially in my 30s and not mad about it. We also celebrated 6 years of marriage by going to Austin. We had such a fun time in Austin and I just love traveling with Brian.

June

My mom came to visit this month. This was the first time I had seen her in almost a year…so to say we were excited is an understatement! I also shot with Kasey and we showed up matching in gingham!

From Left to Right: me, Amanda (Glitter and Spice Blog), Jaclyn (My View in Heels), Yasmina (Dress Well Travel Often), Whitney (Whit’s Whims), Kasey (Running in Heels Blog), Geordian (Adore More with Geor)

July

In July, one of my blogger friends Yasmina (Dress Well Travel Often) headed off to Chicago to get her Masters. A bunch of us got together to celebrate at Javier’s.

August

August was a busy month. First, we celebrated Brian’s 36th birthday with his family. I attended a blogger brunch with the best host Rhonda. A highlight of the month was attending the Victoria’s Secret event at the Crescent Hotel. This was by far the biggest event I have attended and it was so much fun! We even got to meet VS angel, Romee Strijd and influencer, Negin Mirsalehi.

 

September

September was also super busy! I attended a fun event with Frederic Fekkai and changed up my hair color for the first time in a while. We also traveled to St. Louis to see one of my best friends from college get married.

October

This month was pretty low key. We did start the tradition of family dinners at my parents house this month and all went to the pumpkin patch together.

November

We stayed in Dallas for Thanksgiving this year. It was the first year in quite a while that we stayed in town for Thanksgiving. I also attended a fun event with Kasey at Trunk Club. We made Fall floral arrangements, saw a fashion presentation and made some festive drinks.

December

We celebrated Christmas with both Brian and I’s familys. Then, we headed out to HHI to ring in the New Year. I have been wanting to come back to HHI and Charleston since we left back in 2015. South Carolina holds my heart. I am a Texas girl…born and raised…but I could totally see myself living in HHI with Brian. I’ve never felt so strongly about living anywhere else but here.

2019 GOALS:

1. Workout – I hit a major goal of mine for 2018, by working out consistently for the whole year. I attended over 50+ classes at Solidcore this year. I am so happy that I actually stuck to my goal and found a workout that I love. I will be continuing my workout journey right on into 2019.
2. Blogging – My blog and social media have grown so much this year. I hit 17K followers in November. This was huge for me because I have been stagnant for a while and not growing as much these days! I hope I can grow to at least 20K by the first of 2019. I know that numbers don’t matter as much these days. But, this has been a personal goal of mine for a while.
3. Quality over Quantity – Another goal of mine from last year was focusing on creating better content than just a bunch of content. I feel like a did a great job of this last year. I post longer posts (i.e. this post…LOL) and share better quality photos. I am going to continue this goal right on into 2019. I am starting to really enjoy writing more too.
4. Buy a House – This has been on Brian and I’s list of goals for a while. We haven’t been able to focus on it as much as we would like to in the past years. I am hoping that this year we can finally buy a home and make it ours.
5. Less Stress & Anxiety – I feel like 2018 was a year of stress and anxiety as a lot of family issues happened. I want to go into 2019 with less stress and not worrying about the future. I want to focus on what is good now and all the wonderful things I have in my life right now.
6. Daily Gratitude – I want to start a running list of things I am grateful for each day. This way I am focused on more positive things in my life than negative. I am a firm believer in you get what you put out into the world. If you are negative, all you are going to get it negativity.

A quick note about Instagram: Instagram has been a struggle for us bloggers this past year since they keeping change the algorithm again and again. And that awkward update or glitch that happened about a week ago. Now, you aren’t seeing my photos. My engagement has really suffered this last year. I have been trying to put more focus on my blog rather than Instragram because honestly who knows what is going to happen there. But, I still would love you all to follow me and engage with me.

I asked you all a while ago if you were seeing my posts when I posted and most of you said no. That is pretty sad to me that not as many people, even my followers are seeing my content. Trust me, when you spend a lot of time editing, shooting and styling photos you want people to see them.

Here are some ways that you can make sure you see my photos:

1. Interact – Like, comment and even press that get notifications button so you can see your favorites posts, not only from me, but from all your other favorite bloggers.
2. Sponsored Content – This is always a tricky subject especially these days, but it is how bloggers make their money, so even if the post is sponsored make sure to give it a like. Engagement is how most of us land those sponsored posts to begin with. It really helps us out and allows us to continue to create content for you all.
3. Share with Friends – If you like our content, chances are your friends or family will like us too!

My top nine photos for the 2018. I love looking back and seeing what you all enjoy!