2019 – Yearly Recap + Goals For 2020

Ahhh, guys, I can’t believe that it’s almost 2020! This year has felt like long, but at the same time, it’s flown by so quickly! XD I’m so excited to share some highlights of my 2019, as well as some goals for this blog and for me personally for 2020!

Wow, 2019 you have been quite the year. I think this might’ve been one of the most exciting years yet! I’ve learned an insane amount, grown so much, and have had so much fun in the process. Don’t get me wrong though, there have definitely been hard times and rough moments along the way, but that’s part of life isn’t it?

Alright, here are some highlights from 2019, in no particular order:

Improved My Photography. YESSSS. My photography has definitely improved over the past year, which is something I’m super happy and excited about!

Started Making Aesthetics. Oh my goodness, these have been so fun throughout the course of this year. I started making one day in early January when I was out of post ideas, and the were a huge hit! Do you guys have any ideas for aesthetics you’d like to see in 2020?

Took Many Sunset Photos. I still have my love of sunsets! They’re just so pretty, I can’t help it. So yes, this year I took many, many sunset photos!

Started Doing Reviews For Etsy Shops. This is something I’m so glad I started doing! It took a little courage and trial and error at first, but it has been so worth it in the end. I’m hoping to continue doing this through 2020.

Went To Summer Camp. This past summer I went to summer camp for the first time, which was super fun! Unfortunately it rained most of the time, but the counselors made it a fun time anyway!

Went To NCYC. Ahhh, this trip was seriously SO. MUCH. FUN! I really grew closer to some of the friends I already knew, and made some new ones as well. I’m so glad that I was able to end up going and I can’t wait to go back to the next one in 2021!

Started My Scrunchie Shop. This was a big step toward growing my lifestyle brand this year! I’m hoping to continue growing and making scrunchies for SP Scrunchies! 😀

Made New Friends. This was truly a great answer to prayer. Last spring I was really feeling like I didn’t really have many great friends. All summer I really prayed for a few friends who would either grow closer to me or that I would meet. I’m so, so thankful to have grown in my relationship with many of these people over the past few months!

Started A New School Program. I had been homeschooled in a one-room schoolhouse format, until January 2019. I started doing an online homeschool program that is a lot tougher than what I was doing previously. It’s been quite the adventure, and also been super challenging at times, but I suppose that is part of it, isn’t it?

Visited Our Cousins In KC. Right after school let out, back in May, we went to KC to visit our cousins, which was so fun! I’m so glad we had the opportunity to go visit them, it was such a fun time! If you guys happen to be reading this, thanks for hosting us, and showing us around for a week!

Did Lots Of Photoshoots With My Sister. We did quite a few photoshoots last year as well, but this year I feel like they were more organized and also more often!

Photographed A 90th Birthday Party. Ooh, this was a fun one! I was able to photograph a 90th birthday party back in the March. There was a videographer there as well and we just got the DVD’s, it was so fun to see a montage of the photos I took!

And that’s kind of my 2019 in 12 highlights! 😃

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Most Popular Blog Posts of 2019:

Scrunchie Giveaway & 3 Years of Blogging

Q & A {Business, Life, Fashion}

Recreating Pura Vida Bracelets // Easy Friendship Bracelet Tutorial

1,000 Followers Celebration (+ Blogging Advice)

Teen Life Typical Day Expectation Vs. Reality

Recently…

A typical day in the life of me… ft. sway girls

The Ultimate Teen Girl Gift Guide 2019

July 4th 2019 {Fireworks + Sparklers}

Answering Your Questions + Sisters Photoshoot

Ahh, it was fun to revisit those old posts! Some of them I kind of expected to be more popular (like the giveaway posts) but some were kind of a surprise! 😀

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Goals For 2020

First of all, I can’t believe that it’s already 2020. 😲 But I’m so, so excited for what this year has in store for The Striped Plaid! Let’s look at the goals:

Business Goals:

• Continue blogging and grow blog to 3,000 followers. I’ve already reached over 1,500 followers, so I think this is a stretch, but I do think it is achievable.
• Continue Etsy shop and grow to 50 sales. I do plan on focusing most of my efforts on creating a planner and growing my blog, but I do want to work on my shop at least a little bit. I definitely think with some work and effort, this is achievable. 
• Create both a physical and a digital planner for teen girls. Guys, I’m so excited about this one! If everything goes as currently planned, I’ll be releasing the digital planner when school starts in August and the physical one around Christmas for the 2021 New Year!
• Possibly: Start a pop-socket Etsy shop. This is a business that I think will take some startup money, so it might not happen this year, but whenever it does happen, I’m really excited about it. I’m hoping to bring pop-sockets with motivational quotes and scripture verses to the market, for teenage girls!

Personal Goals:

• BUJO consistently. I’ve bullet journaled on and off this year, but it’s something I’m really hoping to be consistent with in 2020.
• Start running again. Most of you know that I broke my leg last summer, and unfortunately, I haven’t been able to run consistently since then.
• Make good grades in school. I’ve really worked hard this past semester and am pretty pleased with my grades, but I really want to work hard this year and hopefully take some CCP courses as well.
• Have a new mini goal each month. I wrote all about this in a post on the blog, so go check it out to learn what goals I set, and to learn how to set them for yourself!

Ahhh, so exciting right!?

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My Rant On 2019

Okay, so this may or may not be necessary. But I’m going to do it anyway. For me, 2019 was one the best years, but also one of the hardest years yet. I’ve learned that you just don’t know what tomorrow holds and you really just have to trust God and let Him lead. You think you know someone, but then you don’t, they’ve suddenly changed. You lose people that you never imagined to lose. But life goes on and you find new people, of course they don’t replace what you had, but they teach you to love in a new way. All in all 2019 was very bittersweet.

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Alright, I’ll let you get back to enjoying your winter break, but before you go, I’d love to hear from you! What are some of your goals for 2020? Is anything big happening for you in 2020? (learning to drive, graduating high school, etc)

💙 Hannah

P.S. All of my posts recently (including this one) have been scheduled a week or so in advance because I’m so busy. So if it takes me a little longer to respond to comments