New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year yall! 2014 is here and I feel older than ever. Womp womp! I seriously can’t believe that I’ll be 24 this month. What the hell? Where did all of those years go?

Anyway, as many people do each year, I’ve drafted a list of “resolutions” or what I’m going to consider loose goals for the year. For a few of my goals I’ll have an accompanying post later in the month to discuss the goal in more detail. For now though, here is my list of things I hope to achieve in the new year.

• Take better care of my hair. This is something I attempted in 2013 by letting my natural hair color grow out and taking a break from the constant dying. Unfortunately though, I still need to get better about having my hair cut regularly. When my ends start to break and split my entire head of hair goes insane and the underside dreads up almost daily. I would like to aim for avoiding this completely by making sure to get a trim regularly.
• Be more mindful to actually use up the products I purchase (or give them away/trash them if they aren’t for me). I try to do this all the time to a certain extent, but this year I’m placing emphasis on it. I have so much stuff (ok well really not that much compared to other bloggers and many YouTube beauty gurus, but too much for me personally) and I just want to use it all up. I love trying new products so I am always buying new things but I really want to make a bigger effort to finish them up or pass them on. I’m looking forward to decluttering my life and filming more empties videos.
• Be more active. I am not someone who is going to make some crazy weight loss goal or declare that I must hit the gym 5 days a week. Honestly I hate working out and it just isn’t a big part of my life right now. With that said I do want to be a bit more active than I have been. For me that means going on a walk or hitting the trail for a hike with my boyfriend more often.
• Pursue my interests. I love blogging and taking photos and reviewing products. This is what I enjoy doing and I would love to make a career of it so this year I’m going to make much larger strides towards getting the blog to be profitable.
• Move out of my parents’ house. I am likely to self-implode if I have to live at home much longer. I have no space and it drives me crazy. I need my own home now.
• Invest in more great wardrobe basics. I have a great blazer and my favorite jeans, but I want to find myself a holy grail white tee, a great classic pair of sunglasses, and the perfect little black dress. I’m also making this the year that I finally save up for and purchase a Balenciaga.
• Find positivity in each day. This is something I have done for a very long time, but I fell out of the habit for a while in 2013 when I was really unhappy with my old job. I find that if I allow negative thoughts to enter my world they begin to compound and I enter a perpetual state of unhappiness rather quickly so for me positivity is very important. I am going to do a separate post in a few days about how I work positivity into my life each day.
• Read more fashion magazines. This is something I really enjoy doing, but I just forget to do once the Summer is over.
• Film more, better quality videos for the blog. I really like filming videos for the blog. I feel like it’s the easiest way to show a haul and that empties videos are far more efficient than writing a review for  every product I use. The lighting in my room is awful and it’s much easier to film on my laptop than my camera, but I am determined to make these videos better this year. I’m just not sure when this year it will happen, but it will!
• Get tested for food intolerances. This is just something I’ve wanted to do for a while. I know that there is something in my diet that frequently makes me uncomfortable, but I just cannot pinpoint what it is.
• Hang out with my friends more. It may seem like a simple goal, but everyone is always so busy with work or school or other engagements. I am going to make much more of an effort to be available and ready to chill on the fly.
• Prepare more meals at home. I like cooking and being in control of exactly what goes into my body. There are so many obstacles that make it particularly hard for me to cook at home often. I have my own mini-fridge in my room because certain members of my household constantly steal my food if I leave it in the main refrigerator in the kitchen. The rest of my family isn’t really into eating well like I am so its very frustrating when I buy expensive fresh foods just for me and they disappear. With that said, it’s such a hassle to carry things up and down the stairs every time I want to make a meal or snack. It’s just not the best arrangement. Just another reason I really want to move!
• Reduce my intake of saturated and trans fats, especially within processed foods. I don’t eat a ton of processed foods to begin with, but the ones that I do eat are definitely full of bad fats (I’m looking at you Hershey’s Bar with almonds!). I feel like this goal will definitely be a no-brainer if I stick to my previous goal of preparing meals at home.
• Relax more. This final goal is something I am constantly striving to do. I would really like to work meditation into my daily routine, though, for now I would settle with unplugging myself to read a book or magazine.

I think I set myself up with pretty realistic goals. I was trying to do many of these things in 2013 so for 2014 I’m hoping to refine my execution of these goals. I hope all of you have set yourself up with many achievable goals and are looking forward working hard this year!