Another year is here! Are you excited? Are you scared? I’m a little bit of both! Since my blog has turned into a place of goal inspiration and encouragement, it makes sense that I would do a little recap of my 2015 goals and what I hope to accomplish in 2016. Something to keep me accountable, you know!
In 2015, I kept track of the books I read and movies that I watched. If you’re looking for something new to read/watch, I’d recommend most anything in these lists. I read 52 books (2 over my Goodreads goal) and 88 movies. (SO MANY MOVIES!)
I found two new series that I devoured this year. One by Charlie N. Holmberg called The Paper Magician Trilogy, which follows a young magician as she trains in her assigned magic trade of paper. This is an interesting world of magic in London, England where magic is confined to certain man-made elements (Fire, Glass, Rubber, Paper, etc.) and magicians are meant to only specialize in one type of magic through a bond. There’s quite a lot of my mystery, romance, and questioning of the laws of magic!
The second is the Streetlights Like Fireworks Series by David Pandolfe, which follows two teen psychics as they go on a cross-country road trip following their intuition and a few ghost-sightings to solve mysteries in an old Volkswagen bus. Now that I write that summary out, it sounds a little like Scooby-Doo but WAY better! This series holds a special place in my heart because the main character is from Richmond, VA (as well as the author), and there’s a lot of questioning how places make you feel and what and who feels like home. The majority of the series takes place outside of Virginia (especially since the characters actually relocate to the West Coast between the first and second installments), but there’s always this tug of “being from” a certain place. It resonates with me so much because of my own upbringing (and current confinement) in Virginia.
The one book I would say you shouldn’t read is “Phantom Bigfoot Strikes Again” by Simon Okill. Unless you’re a 13-year-old boy obsessed with bodily functions, you probably won’t enjoy it. If you have any more doubts, watch my YouTube video on how it’s the worst book I’ve ever read here:
As for movies, I’ll say that this was the year that I saw a lot of old movies that I’d somehow missed while growing up. Home Alone, Meet the Robinsons, Kindergarten Cop, and Jurassic Park to name a few. It was a good year for movies! I watched so many, but almost every one involved a great experience with friends, family, boyfriend, or just a night in of “ME TIME” so I think each one was well worth the time!
This was also a good year for friendships where I felt like I made extra effort to connect with new and old friends. It was a year of nostalgia as I did a lot of things for the first time in a few years like spending more than a few hours at my college homecoming, taking a beach trip, and going to Grand Illumination in Williamsburg, VA. These experiences filled me up with bubbly goodness and started new traditions that I want to continue in the future!
I also tried a few new things on my YouTube channel. I made 31 videos in 31 days for VEDA (or Vlog Every Day in August)! The IMAGINE-Nation really loved being able to ask me questions and get a nearly immediate answer and being able to see a more vulnerable, authentic version of myself as I struggled to make daily videos at times because I wasn’t always in the “mood” for video making.
So what’s in store for 2016, you might ask? If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past 2 years of making resolutions and seeing myself succeed and fail at accomplishing them, it’s that you never know until it’s over! But I still want to start out the year with some goals in mind.
- Keep track of my books and movies again!
- Keep track of the places I’ve been (I did this in 2014 but not in 2015 and I’d really like to try it again)
- Start Color Me Stress Free on my YouTube channel! If you’re an avid blog reader then you’ve already heard about it here and here.
- Complete the Yoga With Adrienne Yoga Camp 30 Day Challenge (you should jump on the bandwagon too!) I’d also like to keep regular physical activity on my radar rather than the start-and-stop that I usually do because of time constraints and weather.)
- Finally move out. This is a serious one. I’ve been saying I’m going to make a career change and move out from my parents for almost 2 years now, and it’s been a giant failure so far. But this year is GOING to be the year that it works out for me. I’ve been putting in the time and learning from my mistakes so surely at 25, I’ll be able to live on my own!
- Make more art! I’d really like to do a weekly or at least monthly feature of some kind of art piece on this blog. Part of me wants to use it as a chance to illustrate whatever my blog topic is for the week, but I also kind of like the idea of just doing some kind of art and talking about my process behind it’s creation. Maybe it’s a doodle. Maybe it’s a giant sculpture! Who knows! I want to let my creativity and imagination flow a little freer in 2016.
So what do you think? How did your goals stack up in 2015? How are you feeling about goals for 2016? If you still need help on figuring out reasonable goals for this year, I made a great guide for you on my YouTube channel where you can learn to create the RIGHT New Year’s Resolution.
I hope that you’re 2016 is bright and beautiful and fulfills your hopes and dreams for the year! I know we’ll all be working hard to accomplish our goals!
i IMAGINE (blank) 
Leave a Reply