Let's Get Sentimental: A Look Back + New Blog Goals

So yesterday was my blog's official first anniversary date. I decided to keep yesterday's post pretty short because I know people wanted to enter my giveaway and not read about past posts from my blog! Haha shoot, I probably would be the same way too if I were on another blog.

Anyway, so today I wanted to get a little sentimental and talk a little bit about my blog from the past year. No, I won't go into some emotional rant, but I just want to share some of my favorite blog posts from the past year then look at what I've accomplished through my blog and what I want to accomplish in the next year.

My Favorite Blog Posts by Category: 

Fashion:

DIY: Denim Shorts from Dad Jeans: I had a lot of fun with this DIY and it is also one of my most popular posts of all time! If you want to turn your old jeans into denim shorts, check out this post!

Two Ways to Wear: Tribal Print Crop Top: I wrote this post back when I was part of Macy's Campus Tour a couple months back, and I just had so much fun with it! I loved putting the outfits together and writing the post. 

Beauty:

Review: Anastasia Brow Wiz Isn't that Great of a Wiz: The only reason I really liked this post was because this was a review of a product I was very excited about and loved until I was punked and was disappointed after it ran out after such a short amount of time. It is also costly to replace on a broke college student budget. 

Pocahontas Look: This is the first and only beauty tutorial I have done so far! I was Pocahontas for Halloween last year and really had fun recreating this look. I'm hoping to someday get around to doing more beauty tutorials. 

Food:

I'm Hungry For: Boba: This is a post that I'd been wanting to write for a while because I get boba so often and I've posted about it on my Instagram a few times. I felt that my love for boba deserved to be written down. Plus, I also wanted to inform a little bit about what it is and what I think of it. 

My Food Journey for Dayz: I had so much fun with this post because I was documenting everything that I ate when I went to Peru last year. I intended to write about the second half of my food journey in Peru, but I just never got around to it. I still have all the pictures so I might just do a spotlight on Peruvian food specifically and write about my experiences from it then. Until then, enjoy my yummy food pictures :]

Life:

Spring Break Recap: CA, OR, WA: As tiring as this spring break was, I had so much fun! I visited the Pacific NorthWest for the first time and fell in love. I would love to live there someday, even if it was for a summer or a year. 

A Birthday to Remember: My roommate did the most for me when it was my 19th birthday last year. I'd always wanted to have a debut (coming of age party for 18 year-old Filipino girls) but never got one so she threw a modified one for me! It was really sweet of her to do so. 

Dating:

To the People Getting Engaged and the People who Hate It: I wrote this post out of necessity, I feel. Lots of people at my school were getting engaged and it frustrated me so much because I've been in a relationship longer than many of these couples even knew each other. At the same time, all the posts bashing on young married couples frustrated me because it categorized everyone in one place saying their marriages were basically all doomed for failure. This post tackled both sides from my opinion. 

Love is More than Having Fun: This is a post that I wrote that I felt was a little underrated. My boyfriend had given me a sentimental gift: a jar filled with the reasons he loved me. It was just so special to me, and it reminded me of how far we'd come as a couple.  

Faith:

Top 13 "God Things" of 2013: This post was a compilation of the ways I had seen God visibly move in my life, and I think that it sums up the spiritual rollercoaster that I've been on in the past year. I'm so thankful for his grace for my sinful and flawed self every single day. 

Te Extraño, Peru: I went to Peru last summer on a mission trip and it changed my life. I visited one of the most beautiful places in the world and I got to experience God in a different way on that trip. I spent a lot of time in reflection and I learned a few things about myself (and people) along the way. 

I'm so excited to see what kinds of posts I'll be writing about this year! I really do try to have a (mostly) equal amount of each type of post on the blog but I'm still working on it. It'll be part of my goals for the next year!

So here's what I've accomplished this past year through my blog (in no particular order): 

- Hit at least 100 followers

- Started a Youtube channel

- Started receiving sponsored opportunities

- Bought my .com domain

- Sold my first ad

- Received a small portion of my income from blogging

- Met bloggers in real life

- Become more open about myself

- Become more confident in my writing and myself

- Written over 100 posts

- Become more passionate for writing

And that is really all I can think of for now haha. With all of these accomplished goals in mind, here are a few goals that I have for this blog specifically in the next year: 

[] Polish my writing skills

[] Consistently post at least 3 times a week if not more

[] Consistently post at least once a week on my Youtube channel

[] Reach at least 5,000 pageviews a month

[] Reach 1,000 followers on Instagram

[] Reach 750 followers on Twitter and Facebook

[] Reach 500 followers on Pinterest, Youtube, Google +, Bloglovin'

[] Reach at least 100 email subscribers

[] Consistently sell ads/services (at least one person per month)

[] Meet some more bloggers in real life

[] Travel for the sake of my blog (and life experiences of course)

[] Take better photos

[] Improve my on-camera presence

I'll leave it at that for now. I'm sure that list will grow and change as time goes on, but I'm so excited for what's to come for this blog! Even for what is happening this summer, some great things are happening! I hope you stick around to see it all happen. 

Oh, and don't forget to enter my blog's first anniversary giveaway if you haven't already [;