Oh hi 2015 (plus a giveaway)

Photo cred: KNW Photography

Ah, the new year. A time of new beginnings,. Truth be told, I’m not really one for resolutions. I used to be, and then I said ‘da heck wit diss!’ when I realized that setting resolutions mostly made me feel like a fatty fat francis failure approximately 5 minutes after setting them. Besides – where’s the logic in resolving once a year to make a bunch of changes or improvements? Nah – not my style. For me, the logic seems to lie in setting goals year round, attempting to stay motivated year round, and recommitting as often as needed. And ya know what my favorite part is? That recommitment part. I love knowing that as often as needed, we can recommit ourselves – to whatever – to striving to reach our goals, to being a certain kind of person, to doing things we said we wanted to do and to not doing things we said we didn’t want to do. “Failures” (if they must be called such) will surely come, but the chance to recommit and reboot and get re-motivated is always waiting right there, whenever we need it. And we don’t have to wait for a new year or a new week or even a new day to do it. Not even a new hour! It can be right then – in the moment. And I love that. As soon as that clicked for me, things changed. Suddenly, most of my goals felt far more attainable.

One thing I will say though – I do love the inherent energy that always seems to accompany the new year. It’s the energy that attaches itself to new beginnings, and it seems to naturally lend to self-reflection and analysis. How am I doing? What am I doing well? What could I be doing better? How do I want to proceed, and what’s my purpose? Are my actions and my use of time consistent with who I really want to be? I love re-reading this book (seriously a must-read) and listening to this talk periodically throughout the year. Gems I tell you. This one was a game changer for me as well. And of course, nothing compares to the time I spend with these on a daily basis.

I probably should be writing about what an amazing year 2014 was (and it was), or about how grateful I am for everything that happened (and I am, beyond what I can even begin to express), or posting a compilation of my favorite outfits from the year (snooze). But all I really wanted to do was keep it real with you guys and think out loud for a second, as if we were old friends sitting in the living room together, venting our faces off and talking about our feels. Hope you’re not mad about that?

For the record, I have set some goals. Not fancy ones, not real big ones – just doable ones, I hope. And GBO is a part of that. I hope you’ll see some real good things on the blog this year – some of them changes, some of them the same old-same old. To that point, the opinions I really care about as it relates to the blog are YOURS. Yours, yours, yours and yours! So if it’s alright with you, some time this week I may be conducting a little survey/poll thingy to get your opinions on stuff. I’d really, really, really love to hear from you. Pleeeeeeeease? It would mean so much!

Finally, for anyone still reading (crickets), here’s the most important thing: THANK YOU! Thank you for stopping by here and for following along. I’m less than a drop of water in an ocean of blogs and vlogs and frogs (k, not frogs), and so the fact that you choose to come here, even if it’s only sporadically, means oh so much. Ok guys? Do you know? I hope you know. I am so thankful for all of you.

Now enough with the cheese and sap and uncharacteristically high volume of text (woof. sorry) – let’s get our giveaway on! If you’re a GBO follower, you KNOW that I love me some Stella and Dot, and what better way to ring in the New Year than with new jewelry, no? One very special Stella and Dot consultant, Ms. Naomi (the best) and I have teamed up to giveaway a classic, no-fail bracelet that you must have in your repertoire: the Renegade Cluster! Enter below and on Instagram. Giveaway ends one week from today. US only. Good luck!

Oh, and I have to ask: what are YOUR goal setting strategies? Do you set New Year’s resolutions? Is there anything you’ve found that really helps in actually achieving the goals you set? Fill us in!

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