My 2 Year Blogiversary!

I’ve officially been blogging for 2 years! My how time flies. I did a recap last year after 1 year of blogging  and thought I’d continue the tradition. It’s a great way for me to take stock of what I accomplished over the year and to set some new goals.

First off I thought it’d be interesting to see which of my posts were the most popular, and I’m not surprised to say that both of the ones I wrote via interviewing my husband did the best. People prefer hearing from him more than me on my own blog! hahaha 🙂 That’s ok though: this blog always has been and always will be for me even if no one else looks at it, but I really do appreciate all of you who stop by to read every week.

That being said here are the links to his posts in case you missed them or want to revisit:

Ollie O’Loughlin’s Guide to Airport Beers

A Nightmare in Paradise: Ollie Remembers Fiji

The post written exclusively by me that’s done the best was the outfit guide I wrote for the Great Barrier Reef. Turns out that sort of practical information gets a decent amount of traffic, and I hope it helped a few people out there plan for that bucket list paradise!

As far as what I accomplished this year, once again I initially thought it wasn’t much. But between having a full time job with a 2 hour daily commute and traveling as much as we do, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made this year. For starters, I bought a travel blogging course that’s given me a lot of technical advice for running a blog. Through that course, I learned how to purchase my domain name (no more .wordpress.com in my website link), set up the correct security and backup features I need, and get everything switched over to a self-hosted platform. It was a bit of a pain to do since I have no IT background, but I’m so happy I figured it all out… I may have paid to have people figure it out for me when I got stuck 😉 but that still counts!

Secondly, it was really important to me to post more consistently here and on Instagram this year, and I’m proud of myself for doing so. I’ve managed to get a new blog or YouTube video up almost every Monday, and I post on Instagram every Mon, Wed, and Fri. Through the blogging course, I also realized that I wanted to work harder to improve my writing and tell better stories, so I’ve been trying really hard to do so and to come up with catchier titles for my posts.

Trying to post more consistently, trying to tell better stories, and trying to improve my photography skills to portray moments and feelings that may inspire others has been the most welcome challenge. As lame as it sounds, having this space to express myself has had such a positive impact on my overall wellness. I’m proud that I’ve continued to push myself creatively and can’t wait to see what I’m inspired by in the year to come.

This next year, I would like to focus more on the look of my blog. I need to get a better design that makes more sense to me, feels more like me, and is easier to browse. I also REALLY want to have a logo designed. (Any graphic designers out there?) Another thing I want to improve on is my Pinterest presence. I feel like that platform is a great place to browse for travel inspo and could be a prime way to get viewers to my site. I have a couple references for how to do so, I just need to take the time to read and give it a try.

That’s all I wanted to document about 2 years of blogging 🙂 I am curious to know if there’s anything in particular you’d be interested in seeing more of here? Don’t hesitate to let me know. One of my favorite posts was an idea my cousin sparked, so I’m open to hearing your thoughts.

Thanks again to Emily Alyssa Photography for the candid capture of me being mesmerized by the ocean as per usual. hehe 🙂

Happy daydreaming friends!