Our Plans and Goals for 2020

I know, I know, New Year resolutions are cliche. There is just something about starting a new calendar year with a fresh planner that gets me excited for new plans and new goals. At the end of every year, I like to sit down and really take time to plan out how I want my next year to unfold and what my goals are for the months to come. Though my plans and goals tend to change and evolve, just seeing something written down (or typed) makes me want to work that much harder to make it happen. 

Last year we talked about our goals with Navy, exercising with her more, spending more time with her training, not feeling the need to do all the things, and taking time to unplug, etc. This year’s post will be a little different. I want to talk about our goals and plans for the new year, but also announce some changes to our blog and Instagram as well.

TRAVEL PLANS

As much as I love to travel, 2020 will be the year of staycations for our family! I fully planned on making another travel bucket list post this year, but now that we have two dogs, I really don’t see us bringing the two with us when we travel. If we travel with the dogs this year, it will likely be to places where we can easily back the car up and drive. 

I would love to visit our friends again in Charlotte, take a trip up north to visit New England, spend some time in Philadelphia when the weather gets warmer, and visit family and friends in Annapolis.

OUR PERSONAL GOALS

This new year, 2020, will be the year of being selfish. I want to start investing my time and energy in bettering myself. Zach and I will be prioritizing developing our careers and improving our personal health and wellness in the new year. I am always trying to find that perfect balance of work and life, I think I can get a little closer to a healthy balance in the new year.

I’ll admit it, I’m human, I care what other people think. I want to stop ‘doing things for the gram’ and do more things for me. In 2020 I want to challenge myself to say no more, and quit trying to please others. 

In the new year we will also focus more on enjoying our new house and making it feel more like home. We do want to continue our home series on our blog and Instagram…stay tuned for more updates!

INSTAGRAM AND SOCIAL MEDIA…

Oh Instagram…If you read our previous post of our 2019 recap you’d know exactly how I feel about Instagram lately. I haven’t completely shut the door on our Instagram! I really do want to create more. 

With that being said, Instagram, blogging, and social media always comes second for us, but sometimes we’ve seen it taking priority over other things in our lives. As I mentioned before, Zach and I need to start prioritizing ourselves and what really pays the bills, our 9-5 jobs. I transitioned to a new position last May and I get to work with creatives daily. After eight hours of work, I find myself creatively tapped. 

In 2020 I want to push myself to be more creative and step out of my comfort zone with creating content for our account. I want to get even more comfortable with posting things that may not have made the cut in 2019.

CHANGES TO OUR BLOG

In the new year I want to blog more and Instagram less. I (kinda) fell out of love with Instagram after our account was deactivated in May. I also became more comfortable with blogging and sharing my thoughts and started to enjoy writing more which has surprised me. We’ve had quite a few requests for more personal life related posts not involving the dogs. This blog will always be a dog-friendly lifestyle blog, but I am considering the idea of posting mine and Zach’s travel itineraries and photo diaries from trips, mainly so that we can document our travels and easily share itineraries with our friends and family. I am curious to know what your thoughts are on this! 

In 2020 I hope to post on our blog more frequently. This past year we aimed to post once a week, or four times a month. Some months I achieved that, others I did not. This blog is my creative outlet and passion project. I put a lot of time and effort into writing each post. I try my best to balance writing in my free time, with my full time job. In 2020 I want to strive to find more of a balance and prioritize writing more in my free time.

Also in 2020 be on the lookout for more recipes. I love to bake, and I want to get more creative in the kitchen and share the treats I make for Duke and Navy. We will also be ending our puppy 101 blog series. I have a few more puppy posts to share in early 2020–if there is a specific issue or post you’d like to read, let us know!

DUKE AND NAVY GOALS

Last year’s resolution post was all about Navy. Well, things changed a lot when Duke entered our family. I am a little ashamed looking back to my training goals for her last year–we didn’t achieve anything we wanted! This year I want to be a little more realistic with our goals. 

We mentioned on our Instagram a few weeks ago that we were starting to work with a behaviorist for Duke and Navy. An incident happened in the fall and we’ve taken a big step back with Duke and Navy’s training while we work things out. A huge goal for us in the new year is to continue these sessions with the behaviorist. Navy and Duke are really good dogs and they are so incredibly smart. They are obedient, but they have their moments and as their owner, I need to learn their stressors and work with a behaviorist to better handle the dogs.

Duke turns two in February and we want to start to transition him to a raw diet. In case you are a new reader, we transitioned Navy to a completely raw diet with Vital Essentials raw and it was the best decision we’ve ever made. 

Just like last year, we want to start exercising more with the dogs. We’ve been blessed with a fabulous little yard for the dogs, but we’ve definitely taken advantage of it. We need to get outside and get the pups walking more!

I also want to start jogging with Duke and/or Navy. I have not “gone for a run” outside in six years. As a former division 1 athlete, this is a little embarrassing to admit. After two failed surgeries in 2013, I have not run more than about 10 feet outside (seriously). I do jog/run on treadmills–they are far more cushioned than pavement and concrete. I am hoping Duke and Navy can be my little training buddies and help me accomplish this goal. Maybe we will run a dog-friendly 5k in 2020!

Thank you all for following along on our journey. You have no idea what it means to Duke, Navy, Zach and I. We wish you all a year full of happiness, adventure, and fun memories. We are so excited to share our new projects in the works for 2020. What are your goals for the new year?