We’re now halfway done through the year which means: mid-year update! Can you believe that we are now halfway through the year!?! It seems spending a quarter of it in quarantine makes one lose track of time.

This one focuses more on what has been going on behind the scenes with Plaid + Sugar than my personal life, although I do share the exciting things!

I like doing updates as it keeps me accountable for my actions but also pushes me to fulfill all of the goals and plans I have set.

Like always, mid-year update posts usually go over the good, the bad, the ok (or meh) when it comes to what has happened since January concerning my goals and plans. It may not be the most exciting post, but as I mentioned above it reminds me of what I’ve done, how I can do better, and overall acts like a (blog) diary of sorts.

the good

Earlier this month Plaid + Sugar reached 30,000 all-time blog views! 

30k!! 

If you remember this was my end of the year goal for the blog, but somehow I ended up reaching this milestone six months early. That’s 9500 blog views since January! I know that it is a small number (some bloggers get half of that monthly), but I still am so proud, happy, and can not contain my joy!

Thank you to all of you that read, share, and comment on the blog. Without you, this blog would not be where it is. Thank you.

On another positive note, I’ve been getting a consistent 50-71k/views a month on Pinterest, which means that I’ve reached another goal! 

the bad

For Instagram, I wanted to post twice a week and get around 1500 followers by the end of the year. It seems that the later is nowhere close to where I wanted to be (I’m around 1060), but I’m not worried about (that much) mostly because I’ve noticed in the past year that higher follower count does not equal more likes (higher engagement).

I’ve had a really hard time learning about any blogging events/conferences in Eastern Canada, so that goal has been a bust.

Especially now with COVID-19 going on it’s very unlikely that there will be any more events, which is a shame since I’d love to meet other Eastern Ontario/Southern Quebec bloggers, but maybe next year!

the ok

Although I did change my blog theme/template (and I’m loving it), I’ve yet to change the comment system to Disqus although I do plan on doing that soon. It would make commenting easier for everyone who has an account, but it might be a hassle for those who don’t, still working on that.

Last month, I fully moved to MailChimp and hoping to improve my mailing list. One of the issues I have is that when it comes to emailing it’s hard for me.
So if anyone has tips for improving my mailing list and knowing what to send, please let me know.

Right before the pandemic truly hit Canada, I traveled down to Brockville, Ontario, and had a great time thrift buying (going to various thrift stores!). But as to my goal of visiting the U.S.A, Ottawa or Quebec city may not happen for a long while.

In the last couple of months, I’ve done more sewing than usual such as making face masks, the perfect summer shorts, and more, and since I’m not currently working or studying I want to do more of it.

My plans for the rest of the year is to fulfill the rest of my blog (and life) goals I set out to do back in January.

In the next six months, I would like to improve the engagement in my posts and social media and increase my blog views by 5-10% (how? no idea)

I would love to connect with other bloggers and maybe have 1-2 guest posts and guest post in another person’s blog. The blogging community is so welcoming, friendly, and uplifting that I would love to get to know them more!

I want to thank every and each one of you for reading my blog. Never did it cross my mind that I would reach my year-end goal six months early. THANK YOU ❤

How was the first half of the year for you? If you had goals/plans, have you reached them? What are your plans for the rest of the year?

til next week
Loren Camila