Happy New Year, friends! I hope you’ve had a great first week. We are finally getting back into the swing of “real life”. Benjamin started back at school yesterday, I’m getting caught up on chores and getting myself organized for another year. I love spending some of this time of year reflecting on the last and looking forward to the future. Here are some notable takeaways from 2019, as well as my “one little word” and goals for 2020.
2019 Recap + Highlights
2019 brought a lot of change for my family, both sad and beautiful. We lost my beloved father-in-law in March. We moved from the only home my son knew over the summer into a new apartment, closer to my grandparents and in an excellent school district. Benjamin had an exciting year of firsts — from his first baseball season, to starting public school for the first time. First grade is halfway over now, and I can’t believe how much he’s learned and grown in such a short time!
My favorite blog highlights always seem to consist of the family experiences we have! Last year we had such a fun time exploring more of Georgia’s family attractions, like Great Wolf Lodge and The Rock Ranch. We went to our first Monster Jam show (so fun!) and saw the Hip Hop Nutcracker. In November, I celebrated blogging for 15 years!
I FINALLY moved my blog from Blogspot to WordPress in 2019. I worked with my assistant to utilize social media smarter, which included letting her take the reins of Pinterest: my largest blog referrer. I worked really hard on SEO, including starting to update old posts, and make this space serve my readers better. As a result, my pageviews increased 48.1% — something I’m incredibly proud of!
5 Most Popular Blog Posts in 2019
1. How to Pack the Ultimate Emergency Stroller Kit for Disney
An easy reader-favorite — over 16% of my entire annual pageviews went to this recently updated and republished popular post! Disney is my favorite subject to write about, and I’ve already got a few new ideas to share, in mind.
2. 10 Stocking Stuffers Under $10 for Young Kids
3. The Ultimate Atlanta Bucket List of Things to Do
When I moved to Atlanta in 2011, I never could have dreamed that it would become home. I honestly thought it was a temporary change. All these years later, I have embraced and love our life here. I love sharing Atlanta family travel content on Love, Joleen, and 2020 will be my 5th year contributing to the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau blog as well!
4. Disney Pin Trading for Beginners
This was a fun post to write, and I recently updated it a bit. You can expect a new post this year with everything I’ve learned about Disney Pin Trading, and some of my best tips!
5. Earn Extra Money With These Side Hustles
This was my favorite new post of the year. I am really buckling down on paying debt and saving money where I can. I learned a lot of good ideas for earning extra money while writing this post.
My 2020 “One Little World” + Goals
My word/ mantra/ inspiration/ theme for 2020 is a simple but powerful — YES! Yes to opportunities. Yes to attending events. Yes to meeting with people in person. Yes to traveling. Yes to scary things.
Other goals of mine for the year are as follows, in no particular order.
- Double my income. No small feat but I know I can do it.
- Optimize my blog and drastically increase my pageviews. I nearly doubled my pageviews in 2019. I’m going to do it again in 2020 and then some.
- Buy a car. We’ve been a one-car family for 6+ years. It makes saying “yes” to things very challenging.
Let’s connect!
I am so excited about the adventures I’m going to have in 2020, and I am ready to put the hard work in on Love, Joleen. I would love to connect on social media. You can find me @lovejoleen on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. Subscribe to my YouTube channel and sign up for the Love, Joleen newsletter for special content! I look forward to getting to know you better in 2020!
