2018 Year in Review

Happy almost 2019! Isn’t that wild?! I swear I just got used to writing 2018 instead of 2017 and here we go again.. Before I share my 2019 goals and intentions I thought I would share a little year in review and go back to my 2018 intentions to see how I did. It was certainly a big year for me and for the blog! I worked with some awesome partners like Teal Tractor CSA, Bigelow Tea and The Fresh Market, published the Lexington Ice Cream Guide, shared my low carb day grocery list, went to Haiti, and shared some of my favorite recipes, like Sausage Cheddar Pinwheels, Tomato Basil Gnocchi and the Chewiest Chocolate Chip Cookies.

One of my best friend from college’s wedding in January

Skiing in Deer Valley in February

Miami in March

At the beginning of this year, I sat down and set some “intentions” for the year, as opposed to resolutions. You can check out the original post here. Let’s see how I did…

2018 Intention: Grow Lex Eats: I have a lot of ideas for what I want to do with this blog, and they are certainly not all fleshed out yet. I’d love to uncover more of that this year, but am giving myself room to let that happen naturally. 

Hmm, Lex Eats has definitely grown, but I can’t say that I know the direct route where it’s headed. I’ll be honest with y’all – I get hung up between focusing on just local stuff versus more of the evergreen content like recipes and lifestyle posts. I hope y’all like both, because I do! I think I will continue to post both, but would love to hear what you want to see more of.

2018 Intention: Cultivate relationships: friends, family, boyfriend, church, work, roommate… I wanna be there for my people!

I think I did a somewhat good job at this, but I’m constantly thwarted by my busy schedule (more on that later…) I did try and focus on little things I could do for someone, like a note or sending a Starbucks gift card when I know someone could use a pick me up.

2018 Intention: Grow my faith.

I think this will be an ever-moving target for me. I definitely go through ups and downs in my faith with times where I feel so connected and others when I feel like I’m in a  “spiritual drought”. I want to focus on pushing through the droughts next year!

2018 Intention: Do less better: I let myself get way too overcommitted this year and learned that you can’t do it all and do it all well. I’m trying to focus on narrowing in on what I love and doing those things better this year.

Ahhh the busy. I can’t say that I feel like I was a total success at this in 2018, but I definitely tried. After a couple months I found myself totally overcommitted again, but all my commitments were things that I’m passionate about. And then I got engaged and life got totally crazy again! I wouldn’t trade that crazy for anything though. I am still trying to not commit to anything unless I’m 100% in for it or know that it is a step that will help me accomplish a long term goal.

2018 Intention: Be proud of my work: I know I do good job at work, but I’m the type that always sees room for improvement. I’d like to plan better and put out work that I’m really proud of this year.

As a typical perfectionist I’m never going to feel like I’ve done a great job. I am proud of the work I put out this year and definitely hit some work and personal goals. Striving for more next year always!

2018 Intention: Feel better: This is my health one.. I’m not really worried about losing weight or looking a certain way, but just have let myself go the past few months and just don’t feel good. Gotta turn that around! 

I feel like I did a pretty good job of focusing on my health this year. For having a blog all about food/dining out, I did a decent job of meal prepping and making healthier choices. I had gotten in a really bad habit of eating lunch and dinner out too often/relying on carryout. I have started packing my lunches much more often and found some fail-safe dinner options I can throw together on the fly. I credit T.R.I.M. Bootcamp for helping me achieve balance in my nutrition. Being completely honest, I’ve fallen off the wagon a tad from the holidays, but am excited to jump back on it in the new year. Join me in a T.R.I.M. round starting December 31 – use the code Eats10 for $10 off, sign up here!

2018 Intention: Love others well.

I hope my people know I love them! I have tried to focus on giving people grace this year instead of focusing on a tiny little thing that may bother me, but really doesn’t matter. I’ve mostly worked on this with Dave, trying not to nag or get upset about something silly. I’d like to do better with this at work next year and not show my frustration with situations out of our control.

There will always be more to strive for and I know 2019 is going to be a huge year for me! I’ll be sharing my 2019 intentions soon; stay tuned.

Biscuits & blessings,

Leels