You guys, can you believe it’s the first “back to work” day of the new year?  It’s overwhelming to me how fast the Holiday season flew by, I feel like I didn’t have enough opportunity to just enjoy it, am I the only one?  Now that I have watched the ball drop, drank the champagne, and enjoyed a lazy New Year’s Day it is officially time to dive head first into all the things I have planned for 2018.  I am hesitating to call my goals “resolutions” this year because to me it feels less important.  Typically we all make the usual resolutions of working out and eating better and by February it’s been completely forgotten.  Not this year!  Personally, I feel that if I set goals for myself and keep them realistic I am more likely to stick with my plans and actually achieve something.  Instead of setting huge and overwhelming goals I have decided to set small, attainable goals each week/month that ultimately contribute to a larger year long goal of mine.  So, without further adieu, here are my 2018 goals!

Create a healthy and fit lifestyle

There is always a version of this goal in my resolutions and it never seems to stick long term.  As you may remember I started BBG over the Summer and was really loving the small changes I was seeing in my body but with the stress of our move, going back to work, and then the Holiday season I totally lost my momentum.  Couple the lack of workouts with the less than amazing eating this time of  year and I am not feeling my best.  To get things back on track Chris and I are changing our diet to high lean protein/high vegetables & fruit with little to no carbs/sugar (similar to South Beach Diet).  For any of you who don’t know, I did low carb for nearly all of my 20s and my body thrived!  I looked great, I felt great, and I was always inspired to workout.  A few years ago I joined Chris in his decision to cut out meat and went to a high vegetable/fish/grain diet that just didn’t work for me.  I gained weight (probably from all the grains my body wasn’t used to) and felt tired ALL THE TIME.  About a year ago I decided that what I needed was to add more protein back into my diet but in that process I never cut the grains/carbs back out.  In researching my decision to go back to a low carb life I found tons of information linking carbs/sugar to poor sleep, increased anxiety, and stress…who needs that???  We have also decided to change our wine/whisky habits and make those more of a weekend or special occasion treat…wish us luck!

The second part of this goal is working out.  I’m a realist over here and know that I can’t simply say “I’m going to work out 6 days a week” and stick to it.  I’m starting small and committing to 4 workouts a week for the month of January.  Today I took my first step and got up at 5:30am (on my first day off work with no plans in 6 weeks) and went to the gym for 30 minutes.  It’s small but it’s a step in the right direction!  I have spent time researching gyms that are convenient for me and my schedule like Anytime Fitness that is open 24 hours a day and close to my work.  I also want to try more classes and Next Level Fitness in Palm Desert has so many options that I can’t wait to try.

Continue to grow my brand

This is a big one for me this year.  I started my blog going on 5 years ago with no real direction or idea of what it would ultimately become.  2017 was the biggest year yet for me as far as page views, Instagram engagement, and partnership opportunities which has inspired me to push even harder to create new and unique content this year.  I have been able to leverage my own blog into freelance writing jobs and social media content creation for local companies in Palm Springs which is so unbelievable and I want 2018 to bring even more success.

Plan, Plan, Plan

I am a planner by nature.  I like to plan things months in advance and know exactly what is going on at all times but I tend to let life get in the way of things that are important for me.  Want an example?  Every year I want to do a Christmas card and every year I scramble the first or second week of December to get a shoot scheduled and by the time I get the pictures it’s too late to order cards.  This year we didn’t even get photos scheduled because our work lives were so busy.  The day after Christmas I went to Anthropologie and bought a planner to schedule all of the things I/we want to do so that nothing gets forgotten.

Work to become debt free

Okay, this is a hard one to put out in such a public platform so I am just going to rip off the bandaid…I suck at managing money.  Ahhhh, that wasn’t so bad!  Really though, I am the worst and I can’t sit back and make any number of excuses about why this is so difficult for me but that isn’t actually solving the problem.  Back in 2016 I took the first step in the process and consolidated a bunch of my bills into one payment with the help of Freedom Financial (not sponsored) and will be done paying it all off by the end of this year!  There are still a few other things that need to be handled including a renegotiation of student loans but once that is handled it’s on to part 2 of this process.  So, what is step 2 you may ask?  Taking a really close look on what I’m spending my money on (here’s looking at your, Starbucks!) and making better choices on a daily basis so that instead of giving $100 a month to Starbucks I am putting that money into savings.

Pursue my passion

This is a bit personal and I won’t be sharing too much detail but in the last 12 months Chris and I have been putting a lot of thought into what we have a passion for and what we can use our creativity towards.  There are some ideas floating around and all I can promise is that there are goals being set to bring this all to life.

What are some of your goals or resolutions for the new year?  I would love to hear what you are doing to hold yourself accountable…you never know what it may inspire!

XO, Niki

Jeans: Frame (old color) // Tank: Elizabeth & James (old) // Bag: Rebecca Minkoff // Heels: Stuart Weitzman (vintage) // Jacket: Vintage (similar option HERE) // Sunnies: Perverse (sold out but cute option from Quay HERE)

Thanks to Dre Naylor for the photos!