Happy New Year! I can’t believe it’s already 2018! Where did last year go?! 2017 was one of the most exciting years of my young life, because I was finally able to travel overseas like I’ve dreamed of since I was a child! I spent nearly 6 weeks in Europe and visited Poland (Warsaw), France (Colmar and Strausberg), Germany (Schwarzwald aka the Black Forest, Baden-Baden, Berlin, Heidelberg, Essen, Sinsheim, Frankfurt, and a number of towns in between), Italy (Venice, Rome, Naples, and Bologna), Switzerland’s Alps, Lichtenstein, Belgium (Brussels), we flew over Greenland and into Iceland, and a few cities in between these countries. Closer to home, I traveled to New York City for New York Fashion Week (I was shocked when I was invited to my first fashion show, and basically on the floor when I was invited to a dozen more plus after parties and a rooftop celebration with LiketoKnow.it!), I visited Arizona during monsoon season to see my sister graduate from nursing school, we took a trip to Chicago, IL, basked in the sunshine at Disney World and Universal Studios in Florida, and we made our annual trip to Kelly’s Island during our visit to Cedar Point. In Michigan, we took a few trips to Mackinac Island, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Petoskey & Bay Harbor, and dozens more places around our home state. The world is an incredible place, and I hope to see it all someday!
2017 was also the biggest year yet for my blog because I went from reaching a few thousand people each month to reaching more than one million people every month between my social media accounts, how crazy is that?! I collaborated with some of my favorite brands and places and had the opportunity to work with some of the coolest people out there! One of my best friends had a baby and I was able to photograph her new daughter at the hospital, my husband earned not one but two huge promotions at work, and I was given a promotion at my job as well and put on an exciting new project that allows me to utilize my 4 degrees in foreign language and environmental sciences. We moved to a new city and have made lots of new friends, tried new foods, and done lots of new things.
While I’ll never understand why the new year happens in the middle of the night in the middle of winter (if we didn’t have clocks, we’d never notice!), and not when spring arrives and all of the hibernating plants and animals wake up and the snow melts, I can’t help but feel excited about the fresh start the new year always brings. I know it’s cliche, but I’m setting goals for myself and in so doing, I’ve spent a lot of time dreaming about how I’d like my life to be in the coming years. I’m so thankful I found the person I’ll spend the rest of my life with at a young age, and I hope that we continue to grow closer and have more fun adventures this year. Below are some of my goals and plans for the new year, what are yours?
Goals
Travel more! I’d like to take a trip at least once a month, even if it’s to a neighboring state or city.
Run a 5k. I hate running, soooooo so so much, but I want to be able say that I did it! I’ve already gone skydiving, so this should be a piece of cake!
Speaking of traveling, I want to write a travel guide for each city I travel to this year! They’re such a great way to share what I loved about each place and keep my travel memories in one concise place!
Plant a garden full of sweet peas, dahlias, cosmos, sunflowers, and more!
Learn to French and Dutch braid my hair (I am hopeless when it comes to braiding my own hair or anyone else’s)
Finish editing my travel photos from 2017 (I still haven’t scratched the surface of our month in Europe, our time in Mexico, Canada, or Fashion Week!)
Photograph something beautiful at least once a day, even if no one else ever sees the photo.
Earn my commercial pilots license before the snow melts!
Post to Instagram 2-4 times a day, to my blog at least 4 times a week, and youtube once a week. I have so many photos, outfits, and places I want to show all of you, and I can’t do it unless I post more often!
I recently dug out my old Fitbit flex and I’m aiming to get at least 10,000 steps in every day this year (I’m shooting for 15,000 once the snow melts!). That’s 3,650,000 steps in a year!
Cook more meals at home.
Fill up my water bottle at least 4 times a day – I need to drink more water!
Read a book each month and play through a few new video games this year aka make time for my hobbies!
Get back into cosplay conventions! It may seem nerdy, but making costumes and having fun with other fans of the same shows/games at conventions and meeting the people in them is SO much fun, and it’s how I met my husband!
Plans
My husband surprised me with tickets to see Shakira, who originally inspired me to study other languages because I wanted to understand her songs in Spanish and Arabic! She had to postpone her tour because she tore her vocal cords, but I know it will be worth the wait! Get well soon Shakira!
Early next month we are heading to Toronto, CA and I’m so excited!
We are heading to Asia this year! Stay tuned for updates!
I’ll be touring my state and writing up detailed travel guides for each town, so when you visit MI you’ll know about all of the best places to go, when the best festivals are happening, new foods to try, brews to drink, and instagrammable places!
I’m getting my pilots license soon! Stay tuned to learn why! <3
What are your goals for this year?
xAnnie Fairfax
aka @AnnieWearsit
Jessica Malinowski says
Asia sounds amazing.