Today is my 26th birthday. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that another year has gone by, but here we are in spite of it! 25 was a pretty incredible year. It was full of adventure, travel, new beginnings, old friends and the start of Magnolia & Grace. I have no doubt that 26 will be equally amazing.

To celebrate my birthday, I decided to create a list of 26 goals for my 26th year. My word for 2017 is ambitious [more on that to come!] and I’m starting the year off with a brand new business, so this seemed like the next natural step. While some of these may seem a little silly or simple, my hope is that these smaller moments will amount to something much greater. So, without further ado, here they are!

26 Goals for 26

1. Make more memories.
   • this one is most important to me; at the end of my life, I want my memory bank to be overflowing with joyous moments. So, I wanted a gentle reminder every day to create moments that I will remember for a lifetime.
2. Date nights.
   • Jordan and I can be really bad about getting ‘too comfortable’ in our routines.  To go along with goal #1, we decided together to create date nights that are outside the norm!
3. Create a morning routine for success.
   • if you haven’t read the book The Miracle Morning, I highly recommend it! I’m ready to tackle 26 with the techniques from this book!
4. Read a new business book every month, and implement the strategies learned from them.
   • check out my 2017 Business Book List here, and let me know if you want to get in on the #magnoliaandgracebookclub!
5. Meet and develop personal relationships with a large majority of the Raleigh wedding community.
   • if you’re a Raleigh wedding vendor and you’re reading this – hi! let’s be friends!
6. Continue to improve my client experience.
   • so excited about what’s in store for my M&G clients already, but even more excited by the possibilities of what it could will be!
7. Budget Meetings
   • With Jordan having just graduated from Chiropractic school, we decided to start having weekly budget meetings to stay on the same page and work towards aggressively paying off his school debt. We started using YNAB, and love it so far!
8. Take Sadie on more walks.
   • I haven’t introduced you to Sadie, yet, but don’t worry that will happen soon! I really want to be better about walking her more often; she deserves it!
9. Find a Church here that we love and get involved.
   • having just moved to the city, we’re still in search of a Church that feels like home for us. 
10. Check in with friends & family more often.
    • my friends know it already, but I’m the worst with staying in touch on a consistent basis. So, as I turn 26, I’m focusing on being more intentional with my time and my relationships. 
11. Day or Weekend trips
    •  since one of our main goals is to aggressively pay down student debt, I don’t think there will be any extravagant vacations in our near future. However, I have an endless case of wanderlust that still needs to be fulfilled! So, I’m hoping to fill it with day or weekend trips to exciting places around North Carolina!
12. Make friends in our new city.
    •  since we just moved here, we really don’t know very many people. I’d love for this to be the year we find a core group of friends in our new city to do life with! 
13. Journaling
    • I want to get better about remembering the ‘small moments’, and journaling is a way for me to do just that!
14. Take more photos.
    • I am definitely not a photographer, so I tend to shy away from taking or keeping photos that don’t look great. I’m ready to break that habit to get more snapshots of our life together!
15. Plan & Design at least one wedding that gets published.
    • and if it happens to be one of my bucket list weddings, that’s a bonus!
16. Plan & Design at least one styled shoot that gets published.
    • getting really creative and collaborating with amazing vendors is.my.jam.
17. Explore Raleigh
    • I want to know this city like the back of my hand! 
18. Plan a girl’s weekend.
    • because we’ve talked about it for years, but haven’t made it happen, yet… this is the year!
19. Create and order our Wedding Album.
    • oops… let’s hope I get it done before our 2nd anniversary!
20. Create yearly photo albums to document our adventures.
    • stole this idea from our wedding photographers, Andy & Beth, and want to make it happen so badly! 
21. Attend at least one industry conference.
    • I believe education is one of the many keys to success, and I refuse to shortchange myself in that area!
22. Keep our plants alive.
    • y’all. I’m the worst! I always forget to water our plants, so this time I decided to give them each a name in the hopes that it will help me remember them!!!
23. Get out of the house (and my comfort zone).
    • like I mentioned before, I’m so guilty of getting comfortable in my routine. I want to switch it up and work from new coffee shops, collaborative spaces, etc. and really step outside of my comfort zone in the process. 
24. Find a few go-to recipes that I both enjoy making AND eating.
    • if we’re being honest, I do not enjoy cooking in the slightest… but 26 feels like a good year to try and change that!
25. Participate in volunteer opportunities.
    • and get involved in our local community.
26. Drink more water.
    • admittedly… this may be the hardest of them all, hah!

There you have it: 26 goals for my 26th year. I hope you’ll help keep me accountable along the way! What are some goals you hope to accomplish before your next birthday? How can I help keep you accountable?

with love & grace,

m