In a couple of weeks, not only will 2019 will now be becoming to a close but also the 2010s decade.
This year went by so fast that it felt as if one moment I was getting ready for spring and the next thing I know it’s November!

This year has been so good to me, not just in blogging but also in my life from finishing my first year of university to reaching some blogging goals and traveling across my province.
So many things have happened this year that I wanted to share with you.

 

My 2019 Accomplishments and review

Blogging 

There is so much that happened this year for Plaid + Sugar. 

Earlier this month Plaid + Sugar hit 20,000 all-time blog views!! It happened right after the Two-Year blog anniversary, which was unbelievable, I never thought I would hit that number this year. The goal this year had been 12k, but I surpassed by a huge margin. 

Unlike last year I only wrote just over 30 posts which are so less than I wanted, but the posts that I wrote I loved. By that, I mean that the writing style was so much better and the pictures and content were better than ever. So I’m not too broken up about that, quality over quantity. One of the reasons I didn’t write as much as I would have liked was that, besides the prior point, I felt very overwhelmed with blogging at times, so it was better for me to step back sometimes.

This year I wrote more product reviews than last year. 10 in total!! Some makeup and skincare among others. Like always, I love sharing my thoughts with you guys about products I love or wouldn’t recommend, and can’t wait to do more in the new year!

Plaid + Sugar got a new look as I rebranded, changed colours, logo and fonts. Love the yellow, purple and pink colour combination and am glad I rebranded. Although I do hope to change themes in the new year for something more my style that looks fancier.

As for social media, this year I hit 700 followers on Twitter and over 950 on Instagram. Both sites have been great for ‘meeting’ other bloggers, share my blog and overall socialize. Through social media, I have been able to get free products to review so that has been an important aspect to my blogging experience.

Overall this year was wonderful for my blog.  I met some wonderful people, wrote about what I love and had a great time.

Life 

This past April, I finished my first year of university, which is my biggest life achievement so far. For some reason, the second year was harder than the first but I have adjusted fairly well and it helps that I love learning and love my subject matter.

In July, I turned 20! I officially started my third decade and am now old. Just kidding, turning twenty was weirdly much more dramatic than eighteen, because I was no longer a child, well a teen really. It felt that I had officially become an adult, no longer a teenager but now a grown adult in university and responsibilities. But other than that I do not feel that different, I guess I’m still me.

This year I had the opportunity to go to Ottawa for Canada Day (see my post) and to go to Quebec City which is one of the oldest cities in North America ‘founded’ in the 17th century. I loved, loved Quebec City, the buildings are still intact and everything looks like a history book or Europe. I also went to the Barbie Expo and Old Montreal multiple times and loved it!

In 2019, I started wearing makeup more often, which can be seen here on the blog as I did a review on a lipstick collection of Too-Faced*, tried some NYX products* and became somewhat of makeup person as I was sent many a product to try and review.

But, unfortunately, this year I spent less time sewing than the year before which is a bit upsetting because I love sewing more than makeup.

One of the strangest experiences this year was that I won $500 in a contest. Yes, five-hundred-dollars!!! That was a total surprise and I would have to say that it was one of the memorable moments of the year. If you are wondering I used the money to get some clothing, shoes and other much-needed items.

Regrets?

Yes, I have some. Like mentioned above I did not write that often which was unfortunate. But hope to remedy that next year. Like always, I spent too much time on social media, wasting precious time that I could’ve used for something else (like sewing).

One of my plans had been to go to a blogging event/conference this year, but due to money constraints and lack of events in my area I did not have the opportunity to meet other bloggers this year.

This year I didn’t grow my mailing list as much as I wanted to. It is really hard to get people to join a mailing list to help them keep up with the going ons of the blog.

Final Thoughts

This year was definitely better than in 2018, both in my life and blogging. Every time I look back at was has happened in the year, I realize that many a good thing has happened. Who would’ve thought that I was going to win so much money, or that I would go to Quebec City? Definitely not me.

I hope that next year will be just as (positively) surprising and fun or much more!

Finally, thank you to all my readers who have been with me this 2019. Without you, I wouldn’t be here, thank you ❤

 

What were your achievements or memorable moments of 2019? Any regrets?