One thing I’m hoping to be better about in the new year is sharing more personal anecdotes here on the blog. I figure what better way to start than sharing 5 things on our to do list for 2020.

Are you one to make New Year’s resolutions? Generally speaking, Rick and I aren’t the type to make resolutions, but we are both goal setters. For the last few years I’ve taken time at the beginning of each new year to write down business goals for myself, and I’ll refer back to them throughout the year.

Personally, resolutions feel a little too binding. I hate setting myself up for failure. So by instead making new year goals, or to-do lists, I feel like my goals have the ability to be flexible based on what occurs throughout my year.

This wasn’t an action I instantaneously learned, however. It’s taken me a few years to realize that I can’t control every aspect of my life (even if I want to, hello type-A!), and sometimes just need to lean in to the road set forth for us.

With all that being said, I love writing things down. And I figured sharing 5 things on our to do list for 2020 might help these goals and desires matriculate from just being thoughts into true actionable items. Both Rick and I have found that there’s something positive about writing down a to do list. We each like to function off hand-written to do lists on a daily basis. Plus, that feeling of gratification after crossing something off a to do list can’t be beat!

All this to say, Rick and I discussed some items we personally wanted to add to our family to do list this new year. I feel like we have a nice mix of everything on our to do list and am excited to follow through with our to dos!

5 Things on Our To Do List for 2020

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1. Be more intentional with our free time together 

Rick and I both own our own small businesses, meaning we are our own bosses. So more often than not, we don’t follow a true 9-5 work schedule. It’s been an adjustment for both of us, but we’ve been working to try and create a better work-life balance. I’ll fully admit I’m the biggest guilty party – having my phone glued to my side 24/7 doesn’t help either. That’s why we are both trying to be more intentional with our free time together. Especially while it’s still just the two of us right now, these are moments we won’t get back! So whether it’s shutting off my phone for the night, not posting that Instagram photo or simply taking in a meal or a weekend away without documenting it for y’all, each are baby steps to being more intentional with one another!

2. Open a separate savings account for a travel fund

In case you hadn’t noticed, traveling is a big deal in my life! Rick and I have both realized how much happiness traveling brings to our lives. But, we also need to be realistic and good stewards of our money. It might seem like bloggers and influencers have endless funds to travel the world. But I’ll be straight with you,  I do not have copious travel funds to explore the world. I’m extremely fortunate to have opportunities to travel with my family, but as I get older this might not always be the case. I’m 100% guilty of opening up Instagram and seeing all these luxurious or tropical locales people I follow are visiting, and sometimes find myself coveting their travels. But this year, I’m cutting off the coveting and doing something about my wanderlust! Rick and I want to take 1-2 more trips before we start trying to grow our family, and hopefully we can save money to achieve this to do list item.

3. Take a trip to Europe 

Following up on the above, Rick and I would love for 2020 to be the year we make it to Europe together. We’ve spent a few nights here and there going down social media holes of locales we’d like to adventure to and explore. At the top of our list is Mallorca, Spain! However, Rick and I can’t just drop everything and head to Europe. We both run our own businesses and they can’t exactly run on their own for an entire week if we were to travel overseas. Hopefully 2020 will be the year we can save up enough money and better balance our work-life balance to do a European adventure right!

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4. Volunteer with worthwhile organizations and causes 

For the last few years, we’ve each expressed how we’d like to give back more to worthwhile causes, but time and other things have gotten in the way. This is not a valid excuse! 2020 will be the year Rick and I begin volunteering our time with worthwhile organizations and causes again. Our church, Second Baptist, is fantastic at offering volunteer opportunities, and we both realize that we need to be better at taking advantage of these opportunities. Animals are an extremely important part of my life and I hope to get more involved with some dog rescue organizations here in Houston, too.

5. Tackle a few lingering home and organization projects 

Owning a home with my husband has been one of my favorite parts of marriage! I’ve loved putting down roots, creating new memories within its walls and envisioning what more our home can be for us in the future. With that being said, I’m not the biggest fan of tackling organizational projects! But really, who is? You might remember this blog post from last year sharing how I organized my office closet with a local professional organizer. But, let’s just say organization on my own is not a personal strong suit. I like being organized, I just don’t enjoy organizing. But 2020 will be our year to get our home organized, along with tackling a few home projects like updating the cabinets in our laundry room and creating a few storage options that don’t currently exist. Stay tuned, I’ll share more here on the blog soon!

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Outfit details, below. Special thanks to Mizzen+Main for outfitting Rick in some great pieces. Rick loves Mizzen+Main for their number of options and great fitting pieces, including trim fits. I love Mizzen+Main because I can wash their clothes in our washer machine, meaning one less visit to the dry cleaners. The brand is a win-win and a favorite in our household.

ACH Outfit 1: Vest c/o // Sweater c/o // //  (on sale!) //

RHH Outfit 1: c/o // //

ACH Outfit 2: Dress (sold out, ) // Belt (gently used option ) // //

RHH Outfit 2: // // // Tecovas boots

ACH Outfit 3: // // //

RHH Outfit 3: // // //