Reflecting on 2018 and Saying Hello to 2019

2018 was an unusually busy year for me but most notably it was filled with new milestones and celebrations. 2018 was a year of change; I turned 30 in June, my fiancé [now husband] turned 31 in October, and my calendar of activities included 4 bridal showers, 4 bachelorette parties, and 4 weddings. Oh, and did I mention that one of those four weddings was my own?

Reflecting on 2018

On November 11, 2017 I got engaged and 2018 was filled with what felt like endless wedding planning, appointments, and decisions that had to be made. On top of attending 3 weddings and the events that go along with those, my schedule this year was also filled with my own bridal shower, bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and wedding, plus all of the time and stress that goes into planning.

Once we’d selected a wedding date and a venue, one of the biggest decisions I had to make was finding a wedding dress. I’m a bit of a procrastinator and didn’t start shopping for a dress until late June, which meant I had a difficult time shopping for a wedding dress that worked for my body and style and that could be ordered in time for my wedding. It was quite entertaining watching the sales girls look of shock when I told them that yes I was shopping for a dress for THIS November and their immediate look to my stomach to see if I was pregnant [no babies are brewing as of yet].

This led to a decision to have a custom-made wedding gown by the truly fantastic custom couture designer Daniel Magana that would be made in time and would be exactly what I had envisioned but didn’t think was possible for my body based on the gowns available in stores. Although it was stressful having a shorter timeline for my dress, it felt like it was fate that I had waited to shop for a dress because had I given myself more time, I don’t think we would have considered having it custom-made. It was well worth the stress of waiting to shop because I ended up getting my dream gown and I truly felt like a princess on my wedding day.

On top of the dress situation there was all of the other things that go into planning a wedding; save the dates, invitations, registries, bridesmaids, groomsmen, color and theme, planning a honeymoon, and countless appointments to select a; venue, menu, cake, signature drinks, flowers, DJ, and photographer, plus a few more things I’m sure I’ve forgotten to mention. Thankfully since I had 3 friends that got married before me this year and a few friends that were married within the past few years, I was able to save a bit of time by getting a list of vendor recommendations from my friends that had already done a ton of wedding research.

Our wedding was truly wonderful and I highly recommend all of the vendors we selected to make our day truly special. If you’re in the Orange County area and need recommendations, let me know! I have a particular fondness for our amazing photographer and I can’t recommend her enough. If you’re looking for a photographer for any occasion, Stefani Welsh is your gal!

Saying Hello to 2019

2018 was a busy year and thankfully 2019’s calendar is currently wide-open and ready to be filled. I’ve always been hesitant when it comes to making resolutions for the New Year and yet almost every year I somehow find myself making a list of resolutions. In the past few years my resolutions have generally included personal goals and blogging goals, most of which I failed to keep. Every year, without exception, my resolutions are forgotten before January is even over and I end up thinking, oh I’ll have this be my focus next year since I’ve already ruined this year’s progress. When life starts to get busy the things I know are important end up getting cast aside with the promise of starting ‘tomorrow’ or ‘one day’. My biggest intention for 2019 is to stop saying ‘tomorrow’ or ‘one day’ and start saying ‘today’.

This year my main goal is to create a positive, healthy change in my life, one day at a time. By doing things that are good for me – both mentally and physically – I want to work on improving my overall health and wellness. I want to focus on eating more at home and eating less processed junk by reminding myself that I feel better when I eat better and I treat my body properly. When I eat junk food I generally feel like crap and I know I need to work on treating my body better.

Lately I’ve been inspired by the many many cookbooks I got last year – yes I do have a shopping problem and by now I think I own about 30 cookbooks. Although I may own too many books, I’ve actually started making some of the recipes at home and we’ve really been enjoying eating real food that’s healthy for us and tastes delicious. It’s a great feeling when you can pack your lunch for work in the morning and know that you’ve got a healthy and delicious meal for later, rather than realizing you need to get fast food for lunch because you didn’t make the time to prep food for the week.

I’ve decided that instead of making lofty goals for the entire year, I’m going to make goals each month and make those my focus. When I say I’m going to do something for an entire year it seems daunting but if I break it down in smaller parts it seems doable. I’ve decided that January my concrete goal will be to participate in ‘Dry January’. This challenge will help me work towards my goal of improving my overall health and wellness. I know it won’t be easy but I know if I take it a day at a time I can accomplish anything I set my mind to.

Share Your Goals!

Tell me what are your goals for 2019 or have you set smaller goals and intentions the way I have? I’d love to hear what your plans are for making 2019 your best year yet.