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2015 Resolutions (And a Survey!)

Happy 2015, my sweet followers! I don’t think I’ve said this recently (or enough), so I now want to thank you so much for reading Snapshots & My Thoughts. The past six months have been rather exciting, not just because Isla has come into our lives and made us happier than ever before, but also because my little labor of love has had some fun partnerships (BABYBJORN, Rifle Paper Co., Carter’s, Honest Co., Dr. Browns, amongst others!) and more than doubled in readership. In addition, I recently created a Facebook page and a blog-dedicated Instagram account (are you following along?), and I have more exciting content for you in the near future.

In the spirit of New Years resolutions, I’m sharing seven of my own today (but have many more!): [1] Get more personal, [2] Improve my skills, [3] Prioritize my family, [4] Read more books, [5] Be more present, [6] Give up control and [7] Practice being content. I’ve explained all of these in detail below. What are some of your resolutions? I’d love to read about them in the comments below.

One quick favor to ask of you! Would you mind filling out this anonymous survey with a few quick questions (five, to be exact) about the blog content? I want to make sure that I’m giving my readers content they enjoy, and this survey will definitely help me do that.


personal

This summer, I started my ‘Week in Review‘ posts, which honestly felt like an ‘easy out’ for a post. There was no research involved, no scouring the internet for photos, no design decisions to be made… it was just me (well, us). I simply recapped my previous 7 days, and I started to see a trend – these posts get higher views and comments than any other post in the week.

When I filled out the ‘Tour Through Blogland,’ one of the questions asked ‘what makes your blog unique?,’ and I struggled with answering that. I want to make Snapshots & My Thoughts unique in that it’s about me and my life, not in a narcissistic way, but I want to get more personal with my readers. Life is not always rainbows and butterflies, and I think it’s important to be transparent and more real. This is partly inspired by Brighton Keller (of Brighton the Day) – the other day she posted this on Instagram and started the hashtag #beBRIGHTbeREAL, and I love it.

Shapshots of 2013

For the past four years, I’ve made an annual Shutterfly book that covered all travel and adventures for the year. I just finished my 2013 book yesterday, and it was extremely tough to keep it at 111 pages! I literally had to delete 6 pages in order to complete it. What an amazing year! We went to SF/Napa three times (more pictures here), Durango, Dunton Hot Springs, Boston, New York City, Miami, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Minneapolis, and Bali. We remodeled a house that became our home, got married and are now expecting a baby girl in 2014. I’m almost sure that fits the definition for ‘whirlwind.’

How was your 2013? What are you most looking forward to next year?

Click here to view our 2013 in snapshots (pictures below by Ryan Ray).
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Click here to view my 2012 book. Click here to view my 2011 book.