I’m doing things a little differently this year when it comes to an end of year post! For a while I was rounding up my favorite posts of the year, and last year I shared my favorite posts along with my most popular posts of the year, but this year I’m sharing my favorite moments, the BEST of 2018, along with what you can expect in 2019, and just for fun I threw in my 5 best purchases of 2018 at the end! 2018 was quite a transitional year for me. A lot of major things happened in my life, both personal and blog related, and they definitely set me up for a much different looking 2019. I’m actually really excited to see how 2019 pans out.
Best of 2018…
Of my favorite (and proudest) moments of 2018 was getting the opportunity to work with so many local businesses! Over the past 2 years or so I’ve sort of put out in the world, that I want to start collaborating with more Westchester and Tri-State area businesses (both big and small). And after a subtle re-brand, it finally happened! I’ve added a Westchester tab to the top of my blog and I hope to continue working with and sharing more local favorites into 2019 and beyond! Here are just a few of my favorite just to name a few…
Read my favorite Nordstrom @ The Westchester post here!
Check out my favorite post with The Jefferson Valley Mall here!
Check out my favorite look with Lola NY here!
Read all about my hosting duties for The Makeup Date at Bloomingdales White Plains here!
New cut & color thanks to Elegance Salon!
Tying into my first “Best of” moment, another one of my favorite parts of 2018 was being able to shoot photos at some of my favorite local Westchester and Southern Connecticut places! This wouldn’t have been possible without one of my favorite photographers, Lisa Schiller, who entertained all my crazy ideas and scouted out some of the best locations in the county. I can’t wait to see all the amazing backdrops she finds in 2019! I’ve also started adding the location to the bottom of each outfit post so you easily find where we took them.
Irvington, NY (See full post here)
Playland Park | Rye, NY (See full post here)
Lyndhurst Castle | Tarrytown, NY (See full post here)
Playland Park | Rye, NY (See full post here)
Irvington, NY (See full post here)
I went on the most amazing trip of my life to Hawaii with my friend Tracy. I know I haven’t really shared too much about it on the blog, but don’t worry the posts are coming! I’m going to break them out into a couple posts so be on the lookout for them SOON! In the meantime here’s a couple snaps from my trip just in case you don’t follow me on Instagram, and the Instagram stories from the trip are saved in my Highlights!
I bought, renovated and moved into my first home! When you live in New York buying a home isn’t exactly the easiest process, most people rent because prices and taxes are completely out of control, but I felt like it was time to live alone and buying was just the best option for me. Now like I said I live in New York so buying an actual house wasn’t an option right now financially, but being a single girl in her thirties I didn’t really want to be responsible for an entire house anyway. Buying small gave me to opportunity to renovate and create something that was really my own and I’m so excited to finish decorating and share everything!
(See full post here)
2 of my most popular posts from last year were travel related and I’m SO excited you guys loved them as much as I loved putting them together. Even though my Punta Cana post wasn’t actually a positive travel post, I loved receiving so many messages from you guys appreciating my honesty! I really love traveling, and even though I don’t get to do as much as other people I love being able to share my trips with you.
Read my Orlando in 3 Days post here!
Read my Punta Cana post here!
What to expect in 2019…
More video reviews on Instagram stories and Facebook. The few that I’ve done about clothing items and beauty products have gotten a great response and I need to get better at doing more of them and sharing them more regularly! I’ve created Instagram highlights that live on my profile where I can save the videos for you to watch so make sure to check them out if you’re interested in this type of content.
More decorating posts. I hardcore slacked on these types of posts this year (probably because I was stressing about renovating and decorating my own home), but I’ve got a slew of ideas for 2019. My inspirational decorating posts of years past is actually some of my best performing content and I honestly enjoy putting it together so much! Here are two of my favorite posts from last year! And if you have a topic you’d like me to tackle email me or leave me a comment!
The 10 Best Kitchens on Pinterest with Gold Hardware
How to Decorate with the Pantone 2018 Color of the Year, Ultra Violet
FINALLY a full reveal of my complete renovation! While I’m not done decorating my apartment, my renovation is complete for the most part. I’ll be photographing it once all my Christmas decorations are down and sharing it soon! I’m also planning inspiration posts for each room in my home so you can see where I drew inspiration from when I was renovating.
Less focus on Instagram. Sorry guys but Instagram straight up sucks for me. It’s super time consuming and honestly I’m just not seeing a return on all of the time I spend working on it. I’ll still be posting on it, but I just can’t dedicate as much time as I do now on it. It’s super discouraging to spend so much time and energy creating content for a platform that is constantly against you, my engagement and reach are terrible and it honestly just brings me down when I post a photo that I’m super proud of and it doesn’t perform like it should. I’ve actually set an hour daily activity reminder on my Instagram account so that I don’t spend more than that on it everyday.
More collaborations with other bloggers! I’m so lucky to have found such a great group of blogger friends in this absolutely crazy blogging world. These girls keep me motivated and grounded, they inspire me, and they’re there for me when I want to bitch about a terrible collaboration or an insanely stupid email. If you’re not following these ladies you need to be because they are the real deal!
Follow all my favorite ladies…Megan, Sabrina, Gita, Jenna, SJ, Melanie & Simone!
If you have any questions you want me to answer in my posts about Hawaii, my renovation, or anything else email me!!
5 best purchases of 2018…
Shop Club Monaco Daylina Coat (See full post here)
Shop similar Shein Plaid Coat (See full post here)
Shop American Eagle Mom Jeans (See full post here)
3 Summer Straw Bags…I know this is technically 3 things, but they were too good not to include!
Shop my Round Rattan Bag! (See full post here)
Shop my Circle Straw Bag! (See full post here)
Shop my Circle Top Handle Straw Bag! (See full post here)
Shop Vans Old Skool Sneaker (See full post here)
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Hey Jackie! Happy New Year! I enjoyed reading this post, especially about working with local Westchester business I personally want to do the same. I can totally relate to the frustration with Insta and the low engagement on photos sometimes. But keep posting, I love seeing your photos! Cheers to more wonderful content in 2019 🤣