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Showing posts with label 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2020. Show all posts

2020 Favorites


Helloooo and happy 2021!! I hope you all had a safe and lovely start to the New Year with loved ones! Joe and I were in Chicago which was very chill but so nice. We had delicious Italian food for dinner, celebrated the ball drop at my brother's apartment, and then slept most of January 1... haha. It was a relaxing, lovely weekend. Also included watching an entire season of the Crown and lots of good food :) 


At the beginning of each month last year, I shared my monthly favorites, so I thought I'd kick things off in 2021 by sharing my favorite things I tried, used, ate, enjoyed, etc. from 2020. You can expect my goals for the year to come in the next few days, as well as the January mood board! So, let's get into it!

Moments from 2020


For the past 5-ish years, I have been recapping my year by sharing the highlights from each month. However, this year it feels inappropriate to talk about all of the highlights in my personal life when so many people had a year of loneliness, loss, financial struggles... the list could go on. For many, this year didn't have many highlights. This was a year flooded with struggles, sadness, and uncertainty. But, this year also brought hope, love, compassion, togetherness, and taught us what is truly important as human beings. So, here are my highlights, lowlights, and mostly just moments from 2020 that stuck out from all of the rest (because let's be honest, a lot of the days looked the same...)


Disclaimer: I have never had Covid, for which I am incredibly grateful. I have been taking the virus seriously from the moment I got home from spring break. I am incredibly grateful for my health and have always tried to make the right decisions for myself and for the greater community to not spread the virus... which you don't always see online. Of course, I have made mistakes along the way, but I promise I have been trying my best and will continue to do so.


Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year and followed along. I love this community and those of you who have been nothing but kind to me are truly the reason I continue to blog and share my life online. So, thank you, you know who you are. I appreciate you. Happy New Year!


Without further adieu: here are some of my memorable 2020 moments:

Nordstrom Sale Faves: Clothing, Beauty + Home

I haven't done a post dedicated to the Nordstrom Sale since 2016, but since I am actually planning to shop it this year, I wanted to share my faves from the preview. You guys know I love a sale moment, and I was surprised by how many things I genuinely loved in this year's sale. If you don't care about the sale then just ignore this -- I get it, that's been me for the last few years, too!

More Goals for 2020....


Now that a new semester is officially here and I'm getting back into a routine, I want to share a few more "concrete" goals that I have in mind for 2020. I shared my overall goal for the year at the beginning of the month, but there are a lot more things I've added to my list in the last couple of weeks that I want to share to hold myself accountable for!

At the beginning of 2019, I looked back on the goals I had set and analyzed how well I met them! I forgot about that post but rediscovered it the other day and want to do the same thing to kick off this new year!

From 2019:

1. Stop overthinking every little thing -- I did not do this... at all. Maybe it's just a personality trait ingrained in me that I can't change? I am the biggest overthinker. If I text someone without using like five exclamation points, I will think about it for hours if I sounded mean (or something ridiculous like that). Maybe I just have too much time on my hands?!

2. Blog at least twice a week -- I didn't do this at all. More details in the 2019 recap I wrote the other week, which you can find here.

3. Be kinder. -- I think I did a good job of this! I am so lucky to have so many amazing, fabulous friends, and my precious little family, and I'd like to think I did a good job of just being nicer to all of them in 2019. 

4. Be okay on my own -- I did this! In 2018 I was really dependent on other people to make me happy. In 2019 I definitely think I had a good grasp on myself and tried harder to be my own person. Going to get into this a little more below!

and I know no one cares, but I can do my laundry now... kind of :)

For 2020:

The first couple of weeks this year have given me a good feeling for what's to come... I'm feeling inspired, refreshed, and motivated! Here are a few things I'm hoping to work on throughout the year... I've split it up into general goals, and then a few specific ones at the end! I think having specific, more measurable goals for myself will be interesting.

General Goals:

Eat more vegetables // This sounds so dumb, but I actually love eating vegetables and I just don't prioritize it! I want to eat a vegetable at least once a day, lol. 2019 was a year of lots of exercise, so 2020 can be the year of lots of vegetables!!

Read more books // I read a lot over winter break, so expect a blog post on that coming soon! In doing that though, it made me realize that I want to try to read more consistently throughout the year... not just on vacations or over breaks. I'm going to try to at least keep a book in my possession at all times so I won't have an excuse not to read. 

Do + Post what I want // I put a lot of pressure on myself to post certain things that I think will be well-liked by whoever sees it, and this year I just want to give up on trying so hard and just post whatever I want. At the end of the day, no one cares what you post as much as you do, so you might as well just post things you like! For example, you may have noticed while I was on Long Island that I posted a lot of interior photos on my Instagram! I love interior design and I know those photos don't get as many likes, but I love them, so that's what matters!

Be Myself // Going off of that, I just want to be myself more this year and stop feeling like I have to do things for other people or be a certain way when people are around me or watching me. I mentioned above, I feel like a did a better job of being on my own in 2019, but I didn't necessarily do a good job of just being myself when I am with other people. I don't know if this will make any sense to anyone, but I'm kind of like a chameleon personality in the sense that wherever I am, I'll adapt to that situation. I am a very go with the flow person, and while I think that's a good thing, this year I want to make sure I am doing things because I want to and not because I feel like I have to for other people. I don't think I ever do this intentionally, and I wouldn't really consider it a people-pleasing thing (because I don't think I'm a people pleaser at all), but more just that I don't really make executive decisions for myself and I want to!

Specific Goals:

The Daily Stoic // This is a little connected to the previous goal! Basically, I want to hold myself accountable every day to be a better version of myself. I saw someone on Instagram post about this book, The Daily Stoic (can't remember who) so I bought it and I've been reading it every day! There is a passage every day that just inspires you and sets your mindset for the day and gives you something to think about. My goal for this year is to read it every day and stick with it! So far I am loving it. As someone with an overthinking issue, I find meditation really uncomfortable, so this is a great alternate form that feels much more guided and productive!

Investing // I started investing in 2019 and I am obsessed with my investment portfolio (I use Ellevest!). It's an amazing (and easy) way to get a head-start on your finances as a young adult. In fact, it's really one of the smartest things you can do for yourself and your future. I don't often talk about finances and real-life, important things on here, but wealth management and financial independence are two things I am strongly passionate about, and this year I am hoping to not only triple my current investments but share with you all in blog posts my tips and how I got started! Would you be interested in this?!

Listen to more podcasts! // I was better about listening to podcasts on my way to my internships the last few summers, but at school, I get so caught up in my music that I rarely switch over to podcasts. Podcasts are a great source of inspiration for me, so I want to try and listen to at least one episode a week... my favorite podcast is Gals on the Go! What's yours?

What are your goals for 2020?
xoxo