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2022 Life Recap & Goals for the New Year

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Hi friend!  I hope you’re having a great week!  We caught the rat yesterday, and it was such a traumatic experience.  Of course I’m glad it’s gone, but I still feel bad for the guy.  Thank you SO much for being in it with me and hanging in until the drama ended.  I love you so big!!

But let’s turn our attention to happier things!

One of the best things about having a “lifestyle” blog is that it reflects what you’ve been up to and been through over the years.  I’ve always enjoyed chronicling life’s journey and at the end of the year it’s good to look back and review.

Even if you don’t have a blog, you can keep a notebook, calendar or journal that helps you to remember life’s events – both big and small.

In my journal, I set aside 12 pages at the beginning, one for each month and number each line with a day.   Then, on each line, I’ll put whatever significant happened on that day.  Some days there’s nothing, but when I want to reference our year, it’s an easy way to look back quickly.

I also just bought a 5-Year Journal, where you just get a few lines to write and I was planning to keep that one primarily about my kids.

2022 RECAP

January

We kicked off the year with a Q& A, and covered everything from getting married again, to fitness (my macros), beauty (my hair stylist), vacations, favorite jeans and more!

In January, after taking down the Christmas decor, I like to live with a blank slate for a couple weeks, then I usually do a “home decor evaluation” and that’s when I might make some new decor purchases.  I found lots of new home decor at Target & Walmart and that was one of your favorite posts last year.  It’s fun to look back at the old house!

I wanted to read more books this year, so I started reading 10 pages a day and made it through some awesome books.  I’m going to continue that this year.

And if you like using books in your decor, here are some beautiful Coffee Table Books.

February

I finally got around to doing a Mudroom Makeover, where we added cabinet doors to hide all the things that don’t look too pretty just sitting out.  The job went really smooth and I LOVED how it turned out!

Cabinet PullsSmall PullsRug (Olive/Charcoal) • HoodieJeansBoots

I’m glad I did that project, because, later that month, I found a new home I wanted to buy!  I announced that We’re Moving and shared how I Staged My Home To Sell.

Also, we tried on lots of Swimsuits & how much better they look with Self Tanner.

Buffalo Check One Piece Swimsuit

Swimsuit • Gold Bangles

March

At the beginning of March, we moved into our new home and I was so excited to share our New Home Tour with you.

Buying a home/selling my old home and moving within the span of three weeks really took it out of me.  I got a bad cold, I think it was RSV, and almost had to cancel my Cozumel trip with Brian.

Cozumel Trip Recap, Bodysuit, Skirt, Woven Bag

Bodysuit (code HONEY10 for 10% off) • Maxi SkirtSunglassesBag

CoverupSunglassesHatBraceletsYellow BikiniSandals

April

One weekend in April, Brian and I went on a 10 mile walk (without planning to go that far) and it kicked off my running journey.  I decided I wanted to do a half marathon, which is wild considering I’m not a runner and my normal run distance is only 3 miles!

May

I did a 10K in May, and that was such a good way to get excited for the half marathon.

My favorite trip of the year was the one I took with my son to Minnesota.  It was just the two of us and we planned it together and had such a wonderful time.  We explored the city, caught two baseball games, and that extended one-on-one time was priceless. I hope we can do something similar again this year.

June

I was ready to do my half marathon by June, but given that it’s so.freaking.hot and humid in Houston at that time of year, there weren’t any races to sign up for.  One day I went to Memorial Park and just ran a half marathon distance.  The dirt trail loop at Memorial Park is 3 miles long, so I had to run it 4 times, plus .1 mile.  It was so hard and I walked a good portion of it.  It took me

I got to take another trip in 2022, this time to NYC.  It was a work trip with Amazon, getting ready for Prime Day! The best part of those kinds of trips is getting to visit with other women in the industry.

July

July was a big month.  Brian and I broke up after dating for over two years.  It really did seem like the relationship just ran its course and that it was time to part ways.  Now that over 6 months have passed, I have started dating again.

I know that ultimately I’d like to find a partner that I can share my life with.  You know I will keep you posted if anything gets serious.

Also, many of you have asked if I still keep in touch with Brian and I have talked to him a few times.  It’s been nice and friendly and I wish him nothing but the best.

On the fun side, Ali-Shaun joined me for the Nordstrom Sale and that was a blast, as always!  I just adore that girl and I love that we get to see each other often. Our boys play sports together so we are always at a game or on the phone.

Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, White tops, White tie blouse, blue jeans, apple black and gold watchband, gold layered necklace, dolce vita beige heels, sam edelman gold strappy sandals

Megan TopJeansHeelsNecklaceWatch StrapRing| Ali-Shaun Top JeansHeels

For Christmas, she gave me a framed photo of us in this cool acrylic frame.  I have it up in my new office🙂

And, Kitty started hanging around!  We have since pretty much adopted her and she sleeps here most nights.  We just adore her.

August

If one pet wasn’t enough, our sweet maltipoo Luke joined our family!

I gave an update here with all our potty training tips!

Luke's Favorites

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September

Y’all love a good sale.  Another popular post this year was all the Labor Day Sales!

October

In October, I finally got to run my Half Marathon in a real race with other runners.  It was so fun and something I’m so glad I did.  And my time was much better than the first half I did on my own.

Our beloved Astros ended up in the World Series and I got to take James to a game.  Such a special event for the two of us to share together!

And, I got to give a talk about being an influencer to a wonderful group of young Girl Scouts.

November

Ali-Shaun joined us again for Black Friday and she looks fantastic in so many things! See Part 1 here & Part 2 here.

I also shared my tips for keeping a clean house!  It will be much easier to keep it clean now that the RAT IS GONE! 

December

We closed out the year with our annual Favorite Things Party and I’m so thankful that my mom will be moving closer to us in just 2 weeks!

If you were curious what the best sellers of the year were, look here!

TOP POSTS 2022

I love looking back and seeing which posts you enjoy most.

1 • AMAZON

Amazon fashion hauls are still some of the most popular.  I typically do them every other Friday and share the video try-on on Stories on Sunday.

2 • NEW HOME

All of the posts about our move were highly read too.   The moving announcement was the most read blog post of the year.  In second behind that was the new home tour.

You can see what the house looks like now that we’ve moved all of our furniture in and have it decorated. I also shared some future decor plans.

3 • PUPPY

Our cute Lukipoo also garnered lots of views.  Who doesn’t love an adorable puppy?!

4 • GIVEAWAY

Everyone also loves a giveaway!  My monthly Loves Giveaway are a special thank you to my blog subscribers.  If you’re subscribed to get my blog in your email (never any spam), you’re automatically entered to win!

5 • EVERYDAY LIFE

I love getting to peek into people’s lives, so I totally get why these posts were popular:

A Day in My Life (summer edition) and the Q&A I did in January 

6 • FASHION

Like I mentioned above, Amazon outfits are the most popular (and have been since I started doing them), but y’all also like seeing me style other retailers (Nordstrom, Loft & Target being most popular) outfits.  Let me know where else you want me to shop in the comments.

And, as long as we’re still enjoying the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, I’ll continue to include that too!  The Wishlist post is always a fave!

You also loved seeing Ali-Shaun and Rhonda in outfits and I love having them join me!

7 • FITNESS

Most of the fitness content I shared this year had to do with my running goal.  I also love sharing meal prep tips and recipes with you.

And, y’all continue to purchase my Get Fit Done e-book!  Thank you so much for that!  It was a true labor of love.  You can buy it here for $31, normally $79.

Get Fit Done is 128-pages of health and fitness goodness!  As we started putting it together, it grew and grew because we wanted it to be completely comprehensive and valuable to you.

Included in the GFD guide are:

  • 4 Weeks of Detailed Workouts
  • Bonus 7-Day Fitness Restart Program
  • Visual Exercise Library
  • Modifications for Different Fitness Levels
  • 4 Weekly Meal Plans
  • 4 Grocery Shopping Lists
  • Meal Prep Tips
  • Recipes with color photos

I wanted to give y’all a peek inside so you can see how pretty it turned out and what the format looks like:

8 • HOME DECOR

Aside from moving, I shared a lot of decor from affordable retailers like Amazon, Target and Walmart.  They have such cute things to spruce up your home.

9 •  GOODIES

Every Tuesday on Stories, I share little ‘goodies’ with you!  It’s become one of the things y’all look forward to each week.

10 • HOLIDAYS

We all look forward to the Favorite Things party and seeing what everyone brought!  And, of course, the Holiday Home Tour!  This year was especially fun because we got to decorate a new house!

Towards the end of last year, I decided to do away with the Just Sales posts because it wasn’t resonating with me any longer.  Yes, there are so many good sales and I continue to share those on Stories, but I prefer to have my blog be more interesting content.  That change was well received by y’all who had kinda grown bored with it too.

In 2023, I plan to continue blogging 3-4 days a week and it’s still my first love.  I am honored that y’all choose to spend a bit of your day here with me!  It’s allowed me to do work I thoroughly enjoy with people I absolutely adore.

Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of time, effort and energy that goes into it, but I’m grateful that this is how I get to support my family. ♥

If you have ideas of what you’d like to see more or less of this year, please let me know in the comments!

Have a fantastic day friend!


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