2021 has been a whirlwind. My traveling picked up again and I had a lot of fun with friends and kicked up my HMG Travels the World content.
🔙 Reflecting on 2021
Here are some of the goals I had written in my post, “Reflecting on 2020 + Looking ahead to 2021” and my reflection of those goals.
❌ Start training for the half marathon again – I started training for the half marathon early on in the year, but ended up falling off the wagon. Running has never been something I loved and I made the decision with the friends that I was going to run it with to not do it.
❌ Complete the half marathon in late summer – This goes along with the first one
✅ More paid collaborations – I ended up working with the same amount of brands that I worked with in 2020 and hope to increase it more in 2022.
✅ Work with hotels during my travels – I ended up working with 5 hotels in 2021 and already have one secured in 2022. It has been fun exploring cities in the U.S. and Canada and being able to share things to do + more about the amazing hotels I have worked with.
✅ Continue to read a lot! – Yes! I set a goal to read 100 books and have surpassed that.
✅ Complete some home improvements – We made a good dent in getting some home improvement projects done including updating our mirrors, countertops and vanities in 3 of our bathrooms.
🟡 Get back to blogging consistently – This was half completed. I ended up taking a few month break in the summer as we started to go back in office a few days per week. It was difficult to get back in a routine of blogging and going in the office.
🟡 Incorporate more lifestyle content on my social media and blog – This one was also half completed. I started sharing more about the books I read as well as nail photos and outfit photos, but I didn’t really translate that to my blog.
👩🏻 Personally: 2021 was a pretty good year overall. My friendships strengthened and I found myself narrowing my friend circle even more, which was good for my mental health. I am still learning how to weed out those toxic friends, but it’s a work in progress. I also joined Barre3 in Edmonds back in May and have been going a few days a week ever since! It has been a great way to get out of the house and enjoy a fun workout. I also lost my dog, Bella in November. That one was a tough blow, as she has been a part of our family since 2007 (she was almost 15!). I am still learning how to be okay without her and keep reminding myself that she had a great, long life with almost no health issues!
✂️ On a lighter note, I put my hair through the ringer this year! I started the year chopping over a foot of hair into a short bob and going blonde. By June I was TOO BLONDE and did some damage to my hair. I am now ending the year with some bold money pieces and dark hair + I am growing my hair out again!
💻 Blogging and Social
⌨️ Blog: Half way through the year, I migrated my blog platform from Wix to WordPress. It has been both a blessing and curse because I have way more control and formatting options on the WordPress platform, however, not all of the pictures from my Wix blog migrated. It has been a slow go getting those older posts updated, but I am slowly working through it.
📱 Social: My Instagram has remained pretty steady, although the ever changing algorithm makes the Instagram game tiring at times. I chose to focus more of my efforts on posting reels, which has allowed me to see growth in my page exposure from that aspect. Another area I spent a lot of time focusing on is my Pinterest. Pinterest is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your blog or Instagram. I have slowly got my Pinterest impressions up to 100k! Officially the highest it has been.
✈️ Traveling
I kicked off 2021 travels with a bang and didn’t let up the whole year! According to Google Maps, I have traveled 2 times around the world or about 50,000 miles worth. This is the first year I hit status on Alaska Airlines. I am a MVP Gold and hope to get some first class upgrades next year!
January
✈️ Seattle staycation:
I kicked off 2021 by collaborating with the Inn at the Market and a weekend in Seattle. We only live about 20 minutes from Seattle, but it was fun to play tourist for a few days.
February
✈️ Denver, Colorado: I then secured my second hotel collaboration with Hotel Indigo Denver – Downtown. We also spent half a day and drove out to the ice castles! That was such a fun weekend.
- Blog Post: Hotel Review: A Weekend in Denver at Hotel Indigo Denver Downtown
- Blog Post: I Visited the Ice Castles in Colorado, Here is How it Went
Scottsdale, Arizona: I got the opportunity to travel down to Scottsdale for a quick 4 day trip with my friends Angie and Anna. You can read all about the amazing
Bend, Oregon: The following day after I got back from Scottsdale, we headed down to Bend, Oregon for a weekend of beer with our friends Sara and Kellen.
- Blog Post: How to Spend a Week in Bend, Oregon
March
Big Island of Hawaii: There was no better reason to head back to the Big Island than for my college friend Alex’s wedding! They had to postpone it in 2020 and decided to go for it in 2021. It was amazing to be able to stand next to them for their big day! I wrote one of my most popular posts on my blog:
- Blog Post: The Ultimate Guide to the Big Island of Hawaii
- Blog Post: 10 Beaches to Check out on the Big Island.
April
McMinville, Oregon: I took a quick overnight trip down to McMinville for some wine tasting with my friends, Sara, Amanda and Amanda. We got to check out a few wineries and had an amazing paella dinner!
Scottsdale, Arizona: We headed back down to Arizona to hang out with our friends and work from home. We even got to catch a Diamondbacks game!
- Blog Post: 4 Hidden Bars in Phoenix and Gilbert. One is pretty close to the Diamondbacks stadium!
May
Charleston, South Carolina: It was my first time to the east coast in at least five years! We spent Memorial weekend / our friend Angie’s birthday in Charleston chasing down the cast of Southern Charm. We met Shep, Craig, Austen and found Miss Patricia’s house. We also spent 4 days eating and drinking well.
June
San Diego, California: I got to partner with Staypineapple when I went to San Diego to celebrate my friend, Amanda’s birthday. We had a great few days full of rooftop bars and great restaurants.
August
Las Vegas, Nevada: We lucked out and got to head to Las Vegas for work. Historically, our work sales summit happens in February / March, but due to the state of the world we had to postpone.
- Blog Post: 8 Poses to Try at Seven Magic Mountains
Leavenworth, Washington: I snuck away for an overnight trip to Leavenworth to celebrate my 3 year wedding anniversary with my husband. The highlight was our 5 course dinner at Mana Restaurant.
September
Ann Arbor / Detroit, Michigan: In early September, we went with my dad and brother to Michigan to watch the University of Washington play Michigan in football. The bonus to the trip was that we got to spend two days in Detroit checking out all the old historic buildings.
- Blog Post: How to Spend 48 hours in Detroit, Michigan
October
Dubai, UAE: Dubai was the start of an epic 3 week trip overseas! We spent 3 days here checking out the Burj Khalifa, Top Golf, Expo 2020, and an amazing desert safari by Platinum Heritage.
- Blog Post: How to Spend 72 Hours in Dubai
Egypt: We then spent 9 days in Egypt with Travel Talk Tours! We got to see the Great Pyramids, Sphinx, cruise the River Nile and experienced a hot air balloon ride!
Istanbul, Turkey: I ended up loving Istanbul! It is a walkable city with a lot of good food and shisha!
Cappadocia, Turkey: and to finish off our 3 week trip, we spent 4 days in Cappadocia chasing hot air balloons, drinking wine, and relaxing in our cave hotels.
- Blog Post: 11 Things to do in Cappadocia
December
Medford, Oregon: I love any excuse to get down to Medford. Our friends had a baby 4 months ago and we wanted to meet her before she got too big! We got to check out Ashland as well!
- Blog Post: Things to do in Medford and the Rogue Valley
Long Beach, Washington / Astoria, Oregon: My husband surprised me with a trip to the coast where I got to partner with the Shelburne Hotel! It was so fun drinking beer, eating good food, and just being by the ocean!
Vancouver, B.C.: The last trip of the year ended up being a girl’s trip with my friends Sara and Amanda to Vancouver, B.C. I got to partner with the Listel Hotel and had an amazing time going to the Vancouver Christmas market and checking out Granville Island.
❤️ Overall
POSITIVES
➕ Spending a lot of time / traveling a lot with my husband
➕ Continuing my reading hobby
➕ Getting our bathrooms updated
➕ Being able to save a lot of money
➕ Got to work on our home gym
➕ First hotel collaboration + securing an additional four
➕ Strengthened relationships with a few friends
NEGATIVES
➖ Losing my dog
➖ Trying to figure out how to navigate certain friendships
🔜 Looking ahead to 2022
As I say every year, my future looks bright. I am in control of how things go and if there is something I don’t like, how can I change it? There are a few things I am manifesting in my personal life that I would like to keep private, but next year I would like to:
🔲 More paid collaborations
🔲 Work with 6 hotels
🔲 Continue to read a lot!
🔲 Complete at least 2 of the 5 home projects I want to do
🔲 Continue to maintain my blog
🔲 Hit 200k monthly impressions on my Pinterest
🔲 Incorporate more lifestyle content on my social media and blog
TRAVELS
Normally by this time I have all of my travels for the following year planned out. However, because of how unsure next year looks, we just have a few trips planned:
✈️January we are heading to Scottsdale to celebrate a friend’s birthday
✈️April we are hopefully FINALLY seeing the Harry Potter play we bought tickets for in March 2019!
✈️May we are heading to Belize using the free Alaska Air flights my husband won!
✈️We are hoping to go somewhere internationl. TBD on when and where.
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