ahh, new year's resolutions. 

i feel like there are two kinds of people... those who love new year's resolutions, & those who don't. personally, i happen to adore them. i love the beginning of a new year. a fresh start. a time to redirect & reconnect. a time of endless possibilities. new year's resolutions give me a chance to think about who i am & who want to be, & make my goals accordingly. i'm not super strict with myself, but i really enjoy setting a wide variety of resolutions to focus on throughout the year.

this year, instead of more goal oriented resolutions, i created quite personal resolutions that were mostly focused around bettering myself. i made resolutions to find confidence, to lean into positivity, to learn to hope & to love myself, & so forth. but then i did get carried away & i made a whole other list of resolutions... & this was a list of more concrete goals, of things i wanted to accomplish this year. a list that could more easily be check-marked at the end of the year. (yes, i am way too eager & crazy). anyway, i thought i would share some of those resolutions & goals with you. & i hope you enjoy!

some goals & resolutions for 2019 ::
i totally just typed 2018, this will keep happening for months before i learn... 

1.  spend more time outside.

i spent a vast majority of 2018 indoors. from school to recovering from surgeries to wedding planning to unpacking into our new apartment to a neck injury to many more reasons... i was never able to spend as much time outdoors as i would have liked. & so, in 2019, i want to make a conscious effort to experience every season & truly enjoy what mother nature has to offer. & i want to go on lots of adventures... i want to go on road trips, traveling to new cities, & find all the cute coffee shops & delicious bakeries. you know, the important stuff.

2. keep a journal.

in my younger years, i used to write in my journal every night. i filled volumes & volumes in no time; i had so much to say! however, once life got crazy busy in high school, i stopped writing in my journals. at the beginning of every year, i promise myself i'll start journaling again, but it never sticks. i began to realize i never wanted to reach for my journal because it was an old one that's beginning pages were full of a lot of terrible memories. i needed a fresh start. so this year, i bought a brand new journal. there was something so satisfying about beginning a new journal on the first of the year. i've enjoyed journaling here & there, & i look forward to making it more of a habit!

3. read all the books on your reading list.

over the last couple of years, i've been given a lot of books that i have not had the time to read! but to be completely transparent, i never set aside time for reading anymore. which is crazy, because i used to be such a bookie (like i would read like 5 books at a time). so this year, i am setting out to read all the books on my reading list. what's on my reading list, you ask?

-secrets for the mad, dodie clark (a memoir by one of my favorite musicians)
-the princess diarist, carrie fisher (a memoir by my favorite space princess)
-grace but not perfection, emily ley (a gift from a friend, a book full of wisdom)
-harry potter & the goblet of fire, jk rowling (yes, i got to the fourth book & then stopped reading... i swear i will make progress this year & eventually i will finish reading this series)
-jane & the twelve days of christmas (a gift... it's a christmas murder mystery & the main character / detective is none other than jane austen. i'm skeptical, but it was a gift, so i might as well give it try?)

4. keep a 2019 memory jar.

a few years ago, a friend of mine suggested kevin & i start keeping a memory jar for the year. at the beginning of the year, you start writing down memorable moments on scraps of paper & you put them in a jar, all to be read the following new year's eve. i've been wanting to do it but just never found the time. but we're doing it this year! so far, january hasn't been super memorable so we don't have too many entries yet. but our anniversary is coming up, as well as my birthday, so i'm sure there are a slew of memories to be made on the way. i'm really looking forward to reading these at the end of the year; i love being all sentimental & nostalgic.

5. fully unpack & settle into your little home.

i think i mentioned this in my 2018 wrap-up, but kevin & i moved into a quaint little one bedroom apartment last year. we named it the hundred acre home after the hundred acre wood, & we love it. even though we sometimes hate it... i think your first apartment is bound to have bad neighbors & a faulty dishwasher & a dysfunctional landlord, right? i'm totally ashamed, but we still haven't fully unpacked. the place may or may not be in total disarray. we moved in last april, but life has been absolutely insane for the both of us & i've only been able to unpack at a snail's pace. i unpacked & finished our kitchen immediately, but the living room & especially our bedroom have a long ways ahead of them. anyway wish me luck, cause i would love to unpack before it's time to pack back up & move out...

6. write more & write often.

probably one of the most important resolutions to me is this one. i desperately want to start writing more! as a kid & young adult, i was always writing. i wrote in my diary every single night, & i'm talking pages worth (i still have them & they are hilarious). i started my own blog when i was 11, which was filled with highly embarrassing anecdotes of my life that most likely nobody found interesting. i had journals full to the brim of book ideas; love stories, & stories about friendship, & even a mystery novel here & there. when i got older, i started writing poetry. it was during the darkest, most difficult years of my life that all of my best poetry was written. they were written from the depths of pain & abuse & heartbreak. & i never showed them to anyone. they meant a lot to me though, & to this day i feel really proud of the way i turned my pain into poetry. after changing my major twice in college (due to two different injuries, long story) i finally ended up as an english major. my childhood dream. i concentrated in creating writing, & i adored all of the essays & short stories & prompts we were given. after leaving college, i missed writing but i didn't know where my writing belonged. i began writing on social media & sharing my words with my friends. again, looking back i feel really proud of how much emotion & pain i was able to express through writing. & here i am today. writing has always been therapeutic to me. & i believe writing is like exercising a muscle, you have to keep doing it consistently to remain strong! so i want to keep writing, & write more, & write often. more specifically, i want to keep writing on this blog! for me, it's a new & wonderful space for my words to live. & i truly appreciate anyone who's reading them, too.

anyway, that's probably enough words for now ;) i truly hope you enjoyed seeing a few of my new year's resolutions! & hold me accountable to them, will ya? i'd love to hear if any of you have any new year's resolutions or goals, so let me know in the comments if you'd like! otherwise, thanks so much for reading!

until next time...
all my love,
meredith