Revising my 2024 Word of the Year.

     Each January or February for the past several years, I've selected a "Word of the Year" for myself for that year. Kind of a year-long personal mantra if you will? A word that I always hope will encapsulate my personal growth, experiences and memories during the next 12 months. As per usual in 2024, I had picked a Word of the Year and written a blog post about it back in the winter. But for the first time I ever, I am changing my word midway through the year! 

2019: Resolutions + Word of the Year.

     Time to dive into all things 2019!! I wanted to get this blog post up last week, but then the Lilly Pulitzer After Party Sale happened, so this is getting published a little later. 😊I'm so excited to share my 2019 resolutions and word of the year with you! I think this is the first time ever that I've picked a word of the year, but I'm really happy about the one I chose. I'll also recap my 2018 resolutions and let you know which I completed, and which didn't work out. 

{Photo from this blog post}

2018 Resolutions Recap:

     Last January, I shared my 2018 resolutions in this blog post. I had three for the year that I wrote about in that post, and one more that didn't make the blog. Here's how I did with everything:

• Complete 52 Week Savings Plan again (previously completed as 2016 resolution): Yes and no for this one? I did a specific savings plan in 2016 to grow my savings account, and at the beginning of 2018 I tried to follow it again. Once I began my job in Virginia in March, I just started having a certain sum out of every paycheck taken out automatically for savings... which added up to be more than the plan I was following at the beginning of the year. So I'm going to say YES for this one?
• Do a minimum of two workouts a week, with goal of running a 5k in 2018: A big fat NO on this one for the running part- I actually had a revelation in 2018 that I hate running and shouldn't keep forcing myself year after year to stick it out on the treadmill and become a runner. It's just not something I enjoy and I stopped being motivated to do it! I did however join a gym this fall in Charlottesville, and I was able to find workout classes that I do love and finally get into a solid fitness routine.
• 3. Spend quiet time each weekday morning in uninterrupted prayer: Sadly this one ended up being a NO. I was great about this while I lived in Vermont, but after moving I didn't stick with morning prayer time. Now I think I'm awake too early in the AM to do this before work, but it would be nice to set aside a time for this each day in the afternoon or evenings now.
• 4. Read 30 books: YES! So proud of this one. I read 48! My goal is 52 (a book a week) for 2019.
• Pay off broadcasting school: YES! The majority of my education debt was from this, so since I paid that off in 2018 the rest of my debt from undergrad feels very small in comparison.

2019 Resolutions:

     Here are my goals for this year!! A couple self-improvement/serious ones, and a couple fun ones:

• Pay off my remaining student loan: I want to get DEBT FREE this year!! And I am so close! I am very thankful that my parents paid a good bit of my college tuition, and I also had a generous merit scholarship as well. I did have to take out one loan to cover the rest, and this year I want to finish paying that off. Once I'm done my student loan debt, I plan to start saving for a car and a trip abroad! 
• Get baptized: I feel ready to take this next step in my Christian faith journey! I accepted Christ in middle school, but all through high school/college I always felt like I wanted to wait until I was a young adult to be baptized. I feel very at peace in my faith here in Charlottesville and I feel like this would be a great year to do it.
• Read 52 books: A slightly bigger reading goal than last year, but I love to read and utilize the library so I feel like this will happen! 
• Go to the gym / workout 3x per week, no expections: I'm done making excuses for fitness and I want to work out at minimum 3x week this year! While I hope most of that is at the gym (since I pay for that membership!), things like hikes or playing tennis totally count as well of course. The goal is just to make being active a few times a week a must! 
• Gossip less: This one will be harder to monitor, but I really want to hold myself accountable to watching my words this year. Less talking badly about other people, more words of affirmation! I really hope to honor Christ with the way that I talk about others.
• Cook dinner at home two nights a week: I got very out of my cooking schedule in 2018- part of that was due to my work schedule shifting a few times, and also having more of a social life here in Charlottesville. I've finally figured out that I really want Sunday/Monday night and Thursday nights to be my cooking nights at home! The leftovers from those meals will help with lunches and other dinners, and then I can still go out to eat with friends once a week as well.

2019 Word of the Year:

     I am pretty sure this is my first time ever jumping on the word of the year train, but I'm really excited about it! My word for 2019 is "rooted." I picked this word because this is the first year in many that I don't (foresee) moving to a new city and state. I'm excited to spend all of 2019 here in Charlottesville! 2018 was a year of discovery- learning all about Central Virginia, making friends, and starting to feel acclimated in my new home. Now that I am fully settled in, I want to build on that. I want to deepen the friendships that I made last year, celebrate my one year working for my company and continue to educate myself in the radio industry,  continue to explore Charlottesville and Virginia as a whole (and start re-visiting my favorite places), and feel more confident handling the "adulting" responsibilities of adulthood. Another big part of my word of the year is continuing to become more involved at my church! Starting later this month, I'll be hosting social gatherings for the 20s/30s somethings at my church, and I can't wait to bring more of my love for hospitality into my church community.

     I did a resolutions check-in post midway through 2018 (which helped me stay accountable!), so I'll plan to do another one of those sometime this summer! I'm looking forward to wrapping up my 2018 recap posts soon, and next week I'll be sharing my favorite purchases from the year.

     God Bless,

     xoxo Annaliese

2020 in Review: Highlights From My Year.

     It's finally the last week of the year that I've been ready to say goodbye to since March. As tough as 2020 was, there were still moments of joy and blessings in every season, month and week. Let's recap 2020 in my personal life outside of the blog! (As always, I'll be sharing a separate blog focused year-end recap post later this week.) 

My 2024 Word of the Year.

      I usually try to get my Word of the Year post published before the end of January each year, but it totally escaped my mind this year since the first month of this year was so busy with wedding planning. But better late than never, right? 😊 I am really excited about my 2024 Word of the Year. This year's is such a good fit for my current life stage, and it also has such a positive connotation attached to it. I'm also sharing a few photos of one of my favorite casual winter outfits! 

My 2023 Word of the Year.

      I've been picking a Word of the Year for the past several years, and it's always fun to watch the year go by and see how that word played into my experiences, goals, and memories of those 12 months. For 2023, I actually struggled a little bit with picking one! But I finally did make a selection, and I'm excited to share it today. 

My 2021 New Year's Resolutions + Word of the Year.

      I am a big fan of resolutions with the start of each new year, but if I had to be honest I had trouble for the first couple weeks of 2021 narrowing mine down for this year! Life still seems so uncertain as we are in such a difficult part of the pandemic. I didn't want to make resolutions that would be unrealistic for how the rest of the year ends up being. But after a lot of brainstorming, I finally came up with some that should be good goals to work towards- pandemic or not! I'm also going over last year's resolutions, and sharing my word of the year. 

A Shiny Start to 2020 + My Word of the Year!

     This past December ended up being busier for me than I anticipated, so sadly I wasn't able to share my favorite glam holiday look with y'all until today- a little over a week after New Year's. Whoops! Hopefully you'll excuse my lateness on that (and the fact there are Christmas trees in the background of these photos...). Anyways I still wanted to share this cute sequin dress with y'all as it could still be appropriate for other types of glamorous winter events besides just NYE. I'm also sharing my 2020 word of the year today!

2024 in Review: Highlights From My Year.

      Once again it's time for my favorite blog post of the year (and the longest post of the year!).  Let's recap all that happened in my life in 2024. Spoiler alert: a lot of life change! And that's what inspired me to change my Word of the Year halfway through the year for the first time ever. My original word of the year was "Celebrate" but I changed it to "Transform." 2024 definitely became an incredibly transformational year for me. 

2019 in Review: Highlights From My Year.

     Time for one of my very favorite posts of the year on Southern Belle in Training!! I do two year-end recaps: one focused on my personal life (that's what you're reading today!), and one focused on the year in blogging (that will be live tomorrow). The blogging one is more for y'all, whereas this post is more for me. 😊 My life has had a lot of big changes since I started writing these yearly recaps a few years ago, and these are the blog posts that I come back to the most to look at- kind of a unique blessing that so many of the big (and small!) moments of my life each year are easy to be referenced when I'm feeling nostalgic.

     Anyways- let's get into it: 2019 in my life!!

My 2022 New Year's Resolutions + Word of the Year.

     New year = new goals! I'm excited to share my 2022 resolutions with you today, as well as my word of the year. And we will also check in to see how my 2021 goals turned out. (Spoiler: although I didn't share it publicly in last year's resolutions blog post, my top resolution for 2021 was to move and get a new job. CHECK! 😊)

The Best Books I Read in 2024.

     2024 wasn't my best year for reading, but I did still manage to read seven books that managed to get a five-star rating from me!! Each year on my blog, I enjoy sharing the very best of the best (five-star rated) books that I read the previous year. Let's get into my favorites from last year!

ONE YEAR in Charlottesville - Reflecting on My First Year.

    One.Year.In.CHARLOTTESVILLE!!! Wow. I feel like a year ago today I blinked... and then woke up and here we are. 365 days of being a Virginian. 365 days since I became a Southern Belle in Training for the second time. 365 days of true joy, and peace in my heart and soul. Obviously today's blog post had to be a tribute to my first year in the city that I'm glad to call my home! 

2021 in Review: Highlights From My Year

     Time to share my very favorite annual blog post of the year! Even though I always title these posts "Highlights from My Year," technically they recap both the very high highs and some of the low lows as well. Everything that I want to remember in years to come- good and bad! (With a focus overall on the good though. 😊) I honestly mainly write these posts each year for myself first and foremost, as a journal entry to look back on in years to come. 

      I always write two Year in Review posts on the blog at the end of each year. The first one that I always share is the one you're reading right now, Highlights from My Year, which recaps the year in my personal life and career. The second is always The Year in Blogging, which recaps everything Southern Belle in Training related like my favorite outfits and favorite blog posts of the past 12 months.

     Buckle up- in addition to this being my favorite post of the year to write, it's also normally the longest post of the year! 😆Haha!! Without further ado- here's my 2021 in my personal life.

{Monthly} Midweek Ramblings

 January 2023

2017: Highlights From My Year.

      It's already that time of the year again! One of my favorite parts about the month of December is writing my annual end-of-the-year recap posts. A couple years ago I started doing two year end posts. One recapping the year in blogging, and one recapping the year in my personal life. I like to keep the two separate as I feel like that would be one really long yearly recap if I didn't- ha! Anyways, let's get into my personal life recap of 2017:

One Year Since March 2020: Everything I Remember.

      March 1st, 2020. I woke up in New York City. I was sharing a bed with my roommate Abigail, with our two friends Lily and Kelly sleeping in the bed next to us. We were in a hotel one block away from Times Square in NYC. That morning, my biggest concern in life was getting to the airport on time and making sure that whatever method of transportation that we took to the airport that day was hopefully cheaper than the expensive cab we had taken to get into the city two days prior. As we got packed up and headed back to the airport, something else was happening in NYC that day. The first positive case of COVID-19 in New York City was identified on March 1st, 2020.

    I have some of the most vivid and intense memories of my life so far from the first half of the month of March last year. I can't believe it's already been a full year. In a mere two weeks in March 2020, I feel like everyone watched their lives go from precedented to unprecedented, and with each day that went by, there were more surprises and changes to societal norms.

     I decided many months ago that around the one year anniversary of March 2020, I wanted to share a journal-type blog post to document everything that I remember thinking and feeling from that time. To be honest, I'm writing this more for my own benefit. So I can have a public record to look back on in years to come about what this strange time in life was like for me. But, I feel like you might also enjoy reading this and be able to relate to some of the things I was feeling and thinking at that time. This post isn't written to share my opinions on the politics of COVID-19 and/or the vaccine. Just an honest recollection of what life was like at the end of last February and March for me. 

{Photo from March 13th, 2020)

Midweek Ramblings.

 

{Enjoying some beautiful skyline views in Norfolk this weekend! Follow me on Instagram @miss_alk}

Results of My 2021 Blog Reader Survey!

     For the past few years, I've always looked so forward to doing my blog reader survey each spring. The feedback that I get from those of you that read my blog is so valuable to me! I always revisit the survey responses throughout the year for inspiration and ideas with my content. Here are the results from my 2021 blog reader survey!

Travel in the Time of Coronavirus.

     Travel content has been few and far between on my blog and Instagram since mid-March, because of an elephant in the room that starts with the letter C. I'm sure that a lot of you are in the same boat as me right now- itching for a change of scenery and a summer vacation outside of your city, but also a bit anxious and uncertain about what that could look like while being safe. The CDC guidelines and your state guidelines are an important place to start when it comes to travel plans, but what about day trips? In-state overnight trips at an Airbnb? Further road trips? Potentially flying? 

   I'm sharing thoughts on all things travel today: what trips I've had cancelled, the precautions I took for my Memorial Day Weekend trip, what trips I have coming up, and what I personally feel comfortable doing travel-wise for the rest of the year. 

Oh, The Places I Didn't Go (in 2020)!

      Can you believe that my word of the year for 2020 was "wander"? HAHA right! Boy, God must've had a good laugh when I picked that as my 2020 mantra. 😊2020 was the year I had the most PTO I'd ever had in my career thus far, my first year without any student loans, and I had just moved into an apartment with a roommate again in 2019, so I was saving money each month on my living expenses compared to the last couple years. All this to say- I was ready to TRAVEL! And travel I did, for February at least. After March... well, you know the rest!