Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Final Recap of 2015 Goals

The 2015 year is drawing to a close and Eliot and I are starting to look ahead to the new year.  However, before we jump ahead to another year, I'd like to look back at this one.  Last year, it was my first full year blogging and I made a list of 2014 goals for Disney and blogging.  At the end of the year, I did my 2014 goal recap looking at what I accomplished.  I had so much fun that I've decided to make it an annual tradition!

Photo Source: Disney Parks Merchandise

At the beginning of this year, I made my 2015 Blog and Disney Goals list.  For those of you who don't remember what they were, here's a short version of the list:

Melissa's 15 Blog and Disney Goals for 2015
1.)  Go to Walt Disney World
2.)  Participate in the WDW 10K
3.)  Achieve Monthly Blog Goals- one tutorial and fun find a month, 150 blog posts for year
4.)  Make Disney Decor for the Holidays
5.)  Design an Imagineering Project
6.)  Have a Few Friends as Guest Bloggers
7.)  Have a Disney Themed Party
8.)  Paint Disney Art
9.)  Continue Happily Ever Hatter's Growth
10.)  Make Disney Accessories
11.)  Take an Online Storyboard Class
12.)  Read Disney Books
13.)  Have Disney Movie Nights and Disney Board Game Nights
14.)  See Disney's Frozen On Ice
15.)  Work on Top Secret Blog Ideas

I was pretty happy with my list; unfortunately, life happens.  Eliot and I have had some life altering ups and downs this year.  At the beginning of this year, we lost my Papa and I cut down on my blogging for a few months.  Once I started to get back into it, Eliot and I started looking at houses.  We really didn't think things would move as fast as they did.  We put an offer in towards the end of July and by September we had officially bought a house!  After that, I had to come to terms with the fact that I would not accomplish the vast majority of my 2015 Blog and Disney Goals.

I went back and adjusted my 2015 Goals to the following:


1.)  Go to Walt Disney World- Done
2.)  Participate in the WDW 10K- Done
3.)  Achieve Monthly Blog Goals- 120 Posts for Year (30 less than original goal)
4.)  Make Disney Decor for the Holidays- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas
5.)  Design an Imagineering Project (save for 2016 goals)
6.)  Have a Few Friends as Guest Bloggers- Eliot Disneyland Race Recaps
7.)  Have a Disney Themed Party- Done
8.)  Paint Disney Art (save for 2016 goals)
9.)  Continue Happily Ever Hatter's Growth- Create a few new designs before end of year
10.)  Make Disney Accessories (save for 2016 goals)
11.)  Take an Online Storyboard Class (save for 2016 goals)
12.)  Read Disney Books (save for 2016 goals)
13.)  Have Disney Movie Nights and Disney Board Game Nights- watch a few more movies
14.)  See Disney's Frozen on Ice- Done
15.)  Work on Top Secret Blog Ideas (save for 2016 goals)

The new list seemed a lot more manageable.  However, I did not factor in all of the time we'd spend painting and prepping our new house.  Between that and traveling, I didn't have time for much more.  Here's how my 2015 Blog and Disney Goals list finally turned out:

1.)  Go to Walt Disney World- Goal Met
I was blessed to go to Walt Disney World twice this year.  I went in January with my family and then again with just Eliot after KeyCon.

2.)  Participate in the WDW 10K- Goal Met
I did participate in the WDW 10K.  I didn't finish the race, but I put in one heck on an effort considering I didn't train and my foot was half broken.

3.)  Achieve Monthly Blog Goals- Goal (sort of) Met
I did get to 120 blog posts for the year- as of this post actually!  If I hadn't taken as much of a break earlier in the year, 150 would have been manageable.  I didn't get a tutorial done each month.  In fact, I only had two DIY posts this year: my Easter Mickey Pom Pom Garland and my It's A Small World Scrapbooking Die Cuts.  However, my Mickey Pom Pom Garland was featured on Buzzfeed so that's a huge plus!!!

However, I did reach my goal of at least 12 fun finds.  I don't think they were spread out one per month, but I ended the overall 2015 year with 16 of them:


4.)  Make Disney Decor for the Holidays- Goal Not Met
I love making holiday decor.  I have an enormous list of ideas.  Unfortunately, this had to take a back seat to everything else happening this year.  Next year, I'll be sure to create some new decor for our new house.

5.)  Design an Imagineering Project- Goal Not Met
I love designing things, but again, there simply wasn't enough time.  Eliot and I would really like to work on a few designs, so I'm sure you'll see them at some point!

6.)  Have a Few Friends as Guest Bloggers- Goal Not Met
This was one I thought I'd have done.  Eliot had planned to write about running the Goofy Challenge, attending the D23 Expo and running the Dumbo Challenge.  We were so busy that he didn't get a chance to though.  Maybe he will finally get a post together for next year.

7.)  Have a Disney Themed Party- Goal Met
I was successful in throwing Eliot his Olaf themed surprise birthday party!

8.)  Paint Disney Art- Goal Not Met
I'm excited to have more room to paint.  And I have a whole new house with plenty of places for artwork.  I'm sure that I'll get to this some time next year.

9.)  Continue Happily Ever Hatter's Growth- Goal Met
I didn't have the sales that I did last year, but I also didn't create as many new designs.  I had a few fun custom orders earlier this year.  Eliot and I also started the soft launch of our IllusionEars.  There's a lot more to come once we get settled into our house.

10.)  Make Disney Accessories- Goal Not Met
I had a ton of ideas for accessories.  Next year I'm planning to step up my game between our new 3D printer and another toy that should be arriving early next year! 

11.)  Take an Online Storyboard Class- Goal Not Met
This is still on my to do list since 2014.  I will do it.  I'm determined.

12.)  Read Disney Books- Goal Not Met
I did skim a few of my Disney Books, but I didn't dive into them like I wanted to.  Thankfully, I have amazing parents and I got a huge pile of new Disney books for Christmas.  I can't wait to add them to my collection and to start reading all of them!

13.)  Have Disney Movie Nights and Disney Board Game Nights- Goal (sort of) Met
Eliot and I have been watching more of our Disney movies lately.  We watched Inside Out with Jeremy and Dad over Christmas.  We also got a few Disney board games for Christmas so we can step it up next year!  Stay tuned!

14.)  See Disney's Frozen On Ice- Goal Met
I did get to go see Frozen on Ice!  We also saw Princesses and Heroes the same weekend!

15.)  Work on Top Secret Blog Ideas- Goal Not Met
I didn't get to work on these as much as I wanted, however, I have been doing some behind the scenes work.  I've also expanded on my secret blog to do list.  I'm sure you'll start to see some of these ideas in the 2016 year!

Overall, 2015 has been a decent year.  It's ending on a good note anyways!  I feel like I'm in great position to take 2016 by storm.  I've got a ton of new ideas for my 2016 goal list.  I'm going to add them to my 2015 list.  Even though I didn't accomplish most of what I set out to do, we've got a new house and a lot of good changes are in store for Eliot and me next year.  I've got a really good feeling about this next one!  °o°

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