I spent a lot of time debating on whether or not I would even make a post about goals for 2018. Resolutions typically end up forgotten or broken a few months into the year and then you end up feeling horrible about it. The more I thought about it though, the more I thought that it would be a good idea. Honestly, 2017 was a major bust for me. My mother's heath issues put me into a bad place mentally and I found it really hard to get things done. Now that I know her heath is okay, it's time to get my own life back in check.

A lot of people start the year off with a "word of the year" and I spent the last few days trying to come up with just one word to describe how I want to live my life in 2018. I just couldn't. A single word wasn't enough to fully describe how I want my year to go. I have decided that I will have a "phrase of the year" and that phrase is: GETTING THINGS DONE. This is going to be the year of hustling and working hard, both in my personal life and here on the blog. I'm sharing a short list of things that I want to get done this year to hold myself accountable.

Last year was the year where I began to take the blog more seriously and began posting more often. With everything going on in my personal life, I still struggled more than I had really wanted to. This year I want to start putting more work into the blog and really turn this into a place where people really enjoy coming for inspiration.

One of my biggest inspirations for starting this blog was how I didn't see many style bloggers like me out there - curvier girls that have a more classic, preppy style of dress. Somehow the blog ended up focusing more on life in California, which I love too. This year I'd like to start bringing back more style into the blog, including photos of myself and my outfits.

I know that social media followings are not the most important part of blogging but I still think it is important to be able to have an audience for the blog and social media is the best way to share posts with readers. I grew quite a bit on social media in 2017 but things pretty much stalled in the last few months. It's much harder to grow on social media right now but I still think it's possible. I'm not setting actual number goals because that really isn't the most important. I just want to grow and create a positive community on my accounts.

I've said this before but I love watching vlogs and video content on YouTube. I think it could be really fun to try vlogging when I have something really exciting going on. I don't think I'd ever try daily vlogging since my daily life is pretty boring but if I'm going on a trip or going somewhere exciting, I'd like to share that!

With everything going on last year, I really stopped worrying about my own heath. I can really feel a difference in myself as well - I get tired easily and I have less energy overall. This goal is not about losing weight (even though I need to). This goal is all about actual health - eating better foods, drinking more water, being more active, etc.

I finished all of my courses for my Master's last year but I have a couple state exams that I have to pass before I can actually apply for graduation. I just kept putting them off at the end of last year. It's time to get stuff done! I know I can pass these exams and I have no reason to keep putting them off!

I have so many little things that still aren't fully put away or put together in my house. I moved in during December of 2016 so there is no real reason why I still have boxes that haven't been unpacked, furniture that I haven't fully put together, and art that hasn't been hung. This year all of those things need to be finished. This house is starting to feel like home now but it won't ever fully feel like home until everything has a place.

My biggest goal for this year is to get hired for my first full time teaching position in the fall. I put way too much time and money into getting my teaching credential and Master's degree to be afraid of starting my career. Any change is scary but that's how you grow as a person. I know that I'm qualified to be a teacher and I know that I'm going to be great at it. Hopefully I'll end this year with my very own classroom!