Hello, 2016.

Happy New Years everyone!! I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and holiday! I sure did, and will be posting more about that in a bit but in the meantime I wanted to chat a bit about my goals for 2016 and my year while it was fresh in my mind! I spent my New Years in the best way possible in my books; surrounded by family & friends, stuffing our faces with food and watching New Years TV specials and playing games in our PJs — My kind of New Years!!

2015 was an interesting year for me. In some ways, it was one of my best 5 years yet; but in other ways it had some pretty hard moments. It was the year I made my TV debut, I appeared on a local talk show to chat about blogging, social media, branding and demonstrated a recipe from my blog (as seen here); I landed two of my dream gigs and jobs in my area of study; I finished two courses with a final grade of 100%; I had some amazing partnerships on the blog (such as the Oshawa Centre!); I had the opportunity to work with the Regional Municipality of Durham and help plan, promote and manage social media for a local festival; and many opportunities for 2016 were finalized. (Stay tuned – details to come!)
 
On the contrast, 2015 also came with some tough times; a company I worked for in the early part of the year went bankrupt and left me jobless (until those dream jobs happened a few months later!); I recently severely injured my foot which has left me unable to walk for the past two months (although I’m making progress now!); and I lost some people along the way, most importantly and the hardest, my grandmother.
 
I’m not much of a resolution type of person — instead I prefer to set measurable goals for myself because then it gives something for me to work towards and I’m more likely to accomplish them. So I thought I would share a few here today!

Kait’s Goals for 2016

1.   Be able to walk properly and normally again with ease!
I think this is a pretty good thing to work towards soon given the current state of my foot/leg ;). I’m in physiotherapy now and it’s helping a lot!
 
 
2.   Start doing “monthly favourites” posts again.
I used to post a list of my monthly favourite products and moments back before I re-branded and launched Teacups & Things – I had a lot of fun doing these types of posts and am starting to think I should start doing them again!
 
 
3.   Post on the Facebook Page more.
I feel like out of all of my social media channels, I tend to neglect my Facebook Page for Teacups & Things the most. This is something I would like to change. I’m not saying I’m going to be posting every day, but I’d like to start posting more than just when I write a new blog post.
 
 
4.   Volunteer at least once.
I volunteered quite a few times in 2015 and it was great. I forgot how amazing it can be to get involved in the community and to volunteer. This is definitely something I’d like to do more often so why not make it a yearly goal to volunteer at least once a year!
 
 
5.   Bake and cook more.
I’ll admit it; the last year I kinda slacked in the department of baking and cooking things and experimenting in the kitchen which are two of my favourite things to do. This year, I want to change that and get back into the swing of doing this on the regular. (You’re welcome, mom.)
 
 
6.   Save more $$.
I’d like to think I’m pretty responsible with my money to begin with (especially when compared to other years). I make sure most of my paycheque goes into savings as I don’t have many bills to pay (yet). But I’m going to have to start paying back all those student loans soon, so I want to make sure every penny counts. (Again, you’re welcome mom.)
 
 
7.   Travel somewhere.
It’ doesn’t have to be like Europe or Asia or anything like that; it can be anywhere. In 2015 life got the best of me and I didn’t end up taking any weekend trips anywhere just for for or anything. Terrible, I know.
 
 
8.   Keep up with my seasonal bucket lists.
Not only am I loving these types of posts, but I’m also loving creating a list of things I want to accomplish throughout each individual season and the holidays! So, my goal is to keep up with this kind of stuff throughout the year.
 
 
9.   Redo my portfolio.
It’s in major, major need of updating style wise and content wise.
 
 
10.   Try making videos!
I’ve always wanted to get more comfortable with editing and creating videos — this is something I’d like to finally set out to do and work on this year!

And there you have it! Did you make any goals or resolutions for 2016? I’d love to hear them! If I had to make one resolution aside from these goals, it would simply be to resolve to be better, which I think sums up all of my goals perfectly!

Happy New Years everyone!