Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Happy Birthday to My Blog + A Reflection of 2014

Who’s ready for 2015?  Can you believe it is almost here?  This year has flown by and it was such a fun ride.  Also, last week marked the one year anniversary of my blog!  I was so busy with the holidays and baby stuff that I almost forgot about it!  



Happy Birthday to Erika's Style Diary!


Thinking back to last January, I never could have imagined how this year would have turned out for me.  I had so many expectations of how 2014 was going to be and it’s funny how things don’t work out exactly as you planned, but it turns out better than you could have expected.  Here were some of my expectations/goals for 2014 and what really happened.  Intermixed are some of my favorite posts from 2014.  Click on the picture to see the original post.



Expectation 1: Complete physical therapy for my knee and play football again and wear high heels.

Reality: I completed physical therapy in April, making a full recovery from my ACL tear.  I was able to play sports and wear heels again.  One of the reasons I started this blog was to occupy my time during the recovery since I was missing sports.  I was able to play football for one season too (we even won the championship in our league).  So this was one of the few expectations that came out just about as planned.  The only unexpected part was that I only got to play that one season of football.



Expectation 2: I would blog 2-3 times per week, mostly sharing outfit ideas and inspirations, but also a few personal things now and then.

Reality: For the most part I think I did do about an average of 2 posts per week, minus a few weeks here and there (especially lately) where I didn’t do any.  I think it would’ve been a little easier to keep up with if I wasn’t pregnant.  Pregnancy can be exhausting and who wants to think about their next blog post when curling up on the couch with ice cream sounds a thousand times better?  Hehe…



Expectation 3: Grow my blog audience and become kind of popular. 

Reality: I know that you can’t get success overnight, especially with all of the thousands upon thousands of blogs that are out there.  It’s tough to make yourself stand out.  I didn’t work on that nearly as much as I wanted to.  BUT, I made a lot of new blogger friends.  Blogging is such a fun community and I have found it really supportive and welcoming.  I wouldn’t trade my new blogging friendships for all the success in the world. :)



Expectation 4: I was obsessed with getting a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes. Red is my favorite color and I love the pop of red on the bottom of those shoes.  I had a plan in place.  I was going to be super frugal and put aside about $100 per month for 6 months and then purchase a pair and it was going to be awesome.


Reality: I was doing great for about 2 months but then I found out I was pregnant!  I could no longer justify getting a pair of expensive shoes when I knew that I would have lots of upcoming baby expenses.  Sometimes women’s’ feet increase a shoe size during pregnancy too (so far so good that has not been the case for me) and I didn’t want to risk an investment on a pair of shoes that I might not be able to wear in a year.  So I scrapped the plan for now, but I think I may try again in a few years.



Expectation 5: Continue to eat healthy and stay in shape.

Reality: I got pregnant! :)  Haha.  It wasn't planned, but Marty and I couldn't be happier.  Sure, I may not be working out as much as I want, but I will have time for that after baby girl comes.  I'm still eating healthy, but allowing myself more indulgences than before.  Baby girl is making me crave it (I can blame it on the baby for now, right?)



Gosh, it was hard to pick out my favorite posts from 2014, there were so many outfits that I loved.  It makes me miss my old wardrobe so much and I can't wait to get back to my normal size and wear those clothes again!  I miss my long hair too.  I'm working on growing it out again.  FYI, I keep an album on my Facebook page of all the outfits that I've featured on the blog, in case you ever want to see them all in one place.



Here are some of my goals for 2015.  It will be fun to come back to this post at the end of next year and see how they turned out.

1. Have a baby! Enjoy how my life is going to change and try not to stress about the unknown.

2. Continue to blog and understand that it may be inconsistent since I'll probably have less time, but still try to fit it in as much as I can.  My goal will be to post an average of about once a week.  Hopefully I can do more, but I'm setting my expectations low as I don't know what life will be like after baby. :)

3. After getting cleared by the doctor, make time to work out and take care of myself, so I can get back to my normal size and wear all my fun clothes again!

4. Be more thrifty.  I started checking out second hand shops last spring and made some amazing finds. (Thanks to my awesome blogger friends for encouraging this!)  I can't wait to see what treasures I find during 2015.



So here's to 2015 ~ I wish you all the best for the new year!

xo, Erika


Follow Me on Bloglovin'! ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest

3 comments:

  1. I loved reading this! I love your blog and it's truly been an amazing year! So glad to be one of your blogging friends :) Here's to 2015!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Haha, I hope one day you get your shoes!! Great little roundup, wishing you all the best in 2015!
    Miche from Buttons and Birdcages

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aw did my comment not go through? :(

    What I was saying in my comment was that I'm so glad we became blog friends. Making friends is my #1 favorite thing about blogging. And also I really enjoyed reading about expectations vs reality as life usually does not go as planned. Here's to another year of blogging and friendship! xo, Nout

    ReplyDelete