Katie's Bliss

A Nashville lifestyle blog covering affordable fashion, baby finds, home decor and more

December 30, 2014
Advice + Life
Looking Back at my 2014 New Year’s Resolutions

New Years ResolutionsFor the past few years I’ve always shared with you guys my New Year’s resolutions (see 2013’s here and last year’s here.) Well, this year I thought it would fun (and therapeutic for me) to share how I fared at accomplishing each one. Have to say I think I did a prettttyyyy good job. Check back on Thursday for 2015’s – I have a feeling it’s going to be a great year ; )

Redesign my blog – I’m so proud of this one! Back in January I debuted the new and improved KatieBliss.com. I love my new layout and think it’s a much better reflection of my personality and life on the Internet. It’s definitely been an adjustment learning how to use WordPress versus Blogger, but I’m so happy that I made the switch. I hope that you guys like it too!

Keep my blog a hobby; Not take blogging so seriously – So it’s kind of funny, but basically the opposite of this happened. A few months into 2014 I noticed I was starting to earn REAL income from blogging. Now, I don’t mean enough that I could quit my job and blog full time, but enough to make a noticeable difference in my quality of life. When that started I realized in order to maintain my side income, I had to start being more strategic by planning ahead and thinking about what I was posting. My blog will always be a hobby as I do work full time for a PR agency, but I really view it as a business now too.

That being said, I have stopped taking blogging so seriously when it comes to looking at what others are doing. I think I’ve matured a lot. I don’t get all worked up with comparing myself to bloggers like I used to. I’m really proud of myself for how far I’ve come since starting this in college and that I manage to keep up with my site while working full time (see my tips for how I do it here). Can’t believe it’s been almost 5 years!

Save money; Pay off school loans – I did so well with consistently paying off my student debt this year! Thanks to the income I earn from blogging, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to pay well over my minimum required payments every month. I plan on continuing to work on my loans and hopefully have them to zero within the next two years. 

Move apartments – This is happening! Let me explain, in our minds we really were planning on staying in our current place (see the tour here) for another 12 months. Well, back in October we kind of reached a breaking point. Both Nick and my skin issues (eczema mostly) have amplified considerably over the past two years and we think it has something to do with the dust and mold in our place. We decided to explore the option of breaking our lease and fortunately, our current landlord was very accommodating and told us we were free to move without penalty as long as they could fill our current place. I’m happy to report we will officially be living in our new apartment come February (see a peek at the rooftop pool here!) We are beyond excited!!!

Eat healthier; Figure out a way to incorporate fitness into my life – Not surprisingly I failed at this once again. Our new apartment building has a gym so once we move I really do not have an excuse. More on this to come…

Stay close with my family – I think I did a really great job of consistently making time to see my family over the past year. I went to Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina and home to PA a bunch. It’s hard when everyone is so spread out across different states, but to me that’s all the more reason to plan little mini vacations. I definitely plan on keeping up with this in 2015.

Continue to be adventurous – I’ve always been a little impulsive, but my Nick surprised me this year with his willingness to be adventurous. Life is more fun when you sometimes decide to do things on a whim. There were definitely a few moments over the past year where we just let loose and did something that wasn’t planned.

- Katie

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16 comments

New Years Resolutions

Looking Back at my 2014 New Year’s Resolutions

New Years ResolutionsFor the past few years I’ve always shared with you guys my New Year’s resolutions (see 2013’s here and last year’s here.) Well, this year I thought it would fun (and therapeutic for me) to share how I fared at accomplishing each one. Have to say I think I did a prettttyyyy good job. Check back on Thursday for 2015’s – I have a feeling it’s going to be a great year ; )

Redesign my blog – I’m so proud of this one! Back in January I debuted the new and improved KatieBliss.com. I love my new layout and think it’s a much better reflection of my personality and life on the Internet. It’s definitely been an adjustment learning how to use WordPress versus Blogger, but I’m so happy that I made the switch. I hope that you guys like it too!

Keep my blog a hobby; Not take blogging so seriously – So it’s kind of funny, but basically the opposite of this happened. A few months into 2014 I noticed I was starting to earn REAL income from blogging. Now, I don’t mean enough that I could quit my job and blog full time, but enough to make a noticeable difference in my quality of life. When that started I realized in order to maintain my side income, I had to start being more strategic by planning ahead and thinking about what I was posting. My blog will always be a hobby as I do work full time for a PR agency, but I really view it as a business now too.

That being said, I have stopped taking blogging so seriously when it comes to looking at what others are doing. I think I’ve matured a lot. I don’t get all worked up with comparing myself to bloggers like I used to. I’m really proud of myself for how far I’ve come since starting this in college and that I manage to keep up with my site while working full time (see my tips for how I do it here). Can’t believe it’s been almost 5 years!

Save money; Pay off school loans – I did so well with consistently paying off my student debt this year! Thanks to the income I earn from blogging, I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to pay well over my minimum required payments every month. I plan on continuing to work on my loans and hopefully have them to zero within the next two years. 

Move apartments – This is happening! Let me explain, in our minds we really were planning on staying in our current place (see the tour here) for another 12 months. Well, back in October we kind of reached a breaking point. Both Nick and my skin issues (eczema mostly) have amplified considerably over the past two years and we think it has something to do with the dust and mold in our place. We decided to explore the option of breaking our lease and fortunately, our current landlord was very accommodating and told us we were free to move without penalty as long as they could fill our current place. I’m happy to report we will officially be living in our new apartment come February (see a peek at the rooftop pool here!) We are beyond excited!!!

Eat healthier; Figure out a way to incorporate fitness into my life – Not surprisingly I failed at this once again. Our new apartment building has a gym so once we move I really do not have an excuse. More on this to come…

Stay close with my family – I think I did a really great job of consistently making time to see my family over the past year. I went to Connecticut, North Carolina, South Carolina and home to PA a bunch. It’s hard when everyone is so spread out across different states, but to me that’s all the more reason to plan little mini vacations. I definitely plan on keeping up with this in 2015.

Continue to be adventurous – I’ve always been a little impulsive, but my Nick surprised me this year with his willingness to be adventurous. Life is more fun when you sometimes decide to do things on a whim. There were definitely a few moments over the past year where we just let loose and did something that wasn’t planned.

Comments

  1. Ashley says

    You knocked your 2014 resolutions outta the park, lady! 🙂 Saw your feature over on Class to Closet and had to come check you out- you’re a doll!

    Wishing you a happy New Year and a bright 2015!

    -Ashley
    Le Stylo Rouge

    Reply

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