Happy Monday and Happy 2019, loves.
I hope the new year has been treating you well so far!
A little late hitting publish on this post, but the new year started out 1) SICK. I started coming down with a terrible sore throat & head cold on the Friday before NYE. I felt horrible for a few days, started feeling better on NYE, so I decided to have some wine which left me feeling downright awful & in bed for most of the day on New Years Day – the worst headache of my life + throwing up nothing but water – UGH.
2) BUSY. My mom {and whole family} were on a cruise and out of town for 10 days, which left me watching our business and handling all showings that would normally be split between my mom and I. I didn’t really expect to be so busy during the holidays, but I was! and actually went under contract on NYE! 🎉 whoop whoop. So, with all that going on + 3 days in Raleigh to be with Adam’s family…I definitely fell behind on blogging.
So! This is actually the first time I have ever done a Year in Review. While I was already planning on doing a recap of 2018, I was even more inspired to do so after listening to this episode of The Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher. Do you guys tune into her podcast!? If your answer was No, well…you must! I absolutely LOVE Jenna! Towards the end of the episode, Jenna spoke about how neat it is to be able to go back and see how much things can change in just a matter of ONE YEAR! What you’ve achieved, what worked, what didn’t work, what you should do differently…
I always say I am going to be better about journaling and I never stick with it. So with that being said, I’m really excited to share share the high’s and low’s of 2018 with you guys + make this a journal entry for myself, if you will.
So without further adieu, this is my 2018 Year in Review.
HEALTH + FITNESS.
I GOT BACK IN SHAPE!! Let’s rewind for a moment and let me just say that circa 2013-2014 I was FIT AF! Yep, I was. Adam and I started dating early summer 2014 and somewhere towards the end of 2015 I noticed some extra pounds had managed to creep up on me. I was having all kinds of fun in our new relationship….we were eating out/having date nights several nights a week, I was eating dessert, eating bread, and drinking more wine than I had ever drank in my life. The timeline is a little blurry, but I started making small changes, getting back to my normal “pre-Adam” habits and had lost a few lbs between 2016-2017 but something definitely went off inside of me in 2018 that I wanted to get back to the FIT AF girl that I was just a short 5 years ago. Looking back, I think I was totally burnt out from working out SO hard and for SO long and my body needed a break. I enjoyed the honeymoon phase of our relationship which after sometime caught up with me and I wasn’t feeling so healthy, happy or confident with my body. Adam’s metabolism is thru the roof – seriously! The boy can eat whatever he wants and I simply can’t. I have to work.my.ass.off to be in the shape that I want to be in. I still have plenty of fun and enjoy my life, so please don’t think I got back in shape by depriving myself, because I most certainly don’t. I LOVE to eat! {haha} I drink wine, I eat chocolate and I love my French fries. {LOL} I eat super clean during the week and really enjoy my weekends and I definitely adhere to the 80/20 rule. Another part of my weight gain, was not only because I was eating more unhealthy things, but I also slacked on my workouts BIG TIME. I wanted to spend every moment with Adam. More food {especially the unhealthy food} + less workouts just doesn’t = FIT.
So, trying to not ramble on too much longer, I eat super clean about 80% of the time, I workout super hard and usually take 2 rest days a week. I have been LOVING Core Power Yoga for the last 6 months or so. They have such good hot yoga classes + their yoga sculpt class is KILLER. Along with my CPY workouts, I power walk 2-3 times a week.
What are some of your health and fitness goals for 2019?
CAREER.
2018 brought a tremendous amount of growth in my real estate career! I am so proud of myself and what I’ve achieved! After bouncing around to a few different firms over the last 3+ years, my mom and I decided it was about time we do our own thing. My mother has been a broker for nearly 25 years + I completed my last 30 hour post licensing class {90 additional hours of schooling total} to remove my provisional status and become a Broker. At the end of November, my mom and I started our own Firm – Schwaiger Realty Group! Eek. I can’t tell you how happy we are to have our own brokerage and we are so pumped for 2019! I absolutely love real estate – I love working closely with my clients, helping them find their dream home + its a fun and challenging business that teaches me something new everyday.
In regards to blogging, with all the other work I have + life in general, it is tough to find the time to write and create content on a consistent basis. I definitely wish that I did a better job of managing this space but a lot of days, I simply run out of time. And, at the end of the day, blogging isn’t paying my bills, so I need to keep my priorities straight. Weirdly, I also put a lot of pressure on myself to create “the perfect content” and in this weird fucked up way, I wind up just not doing it at all because I think its not good enough. Anyone else do this? Perfect Example: My Youtube Channel. I bet most of you didn’t even know I have a Youtube Channel. How would you? I never really share that I have one. I also have about 5 really awesome trips – Austria, Miami, NYC, Palm Springs – just sitting on memory cards or in my Final Cut Pro Library just waiting to be edited. I keep telling myself that when I learn to edit better, I’ll get around to sharing those Vlogs.
It might sound funny, because I’m certainly not just starting out, but I still feel like I’m struggling to find my voice in the social media space. Since I’m not a full time blogger/influencer, I still have so much to learn about the business of blogging, but, I am committed to learning, creating, and sharing more with you all in 2019.
TRAVEL.
2018 brought quite a bit of travel. While my dream of getting back to Europe with Adam over the summer didn’t happen, we still had so many fun trips! 2 weddings brought us to Asheville {one of our favorite places} and Miami + NYC and LA. A gazillion trips to New Orleans to visit Adam while filming. I am beyond thankful to have gotten over to Austria with my dad and sister to see my Opa in April. We had such a great trip and I will cherish our days there with him forever, as it turned out to be the last time I would get to see him. He passed peacefully in his sleep on November 29 at the age of 91. After all these years of dating, Adam and I finally made it to Charleston together for the first time in July! Our last trip of the year was to Palm Springs for my 35th birthday! As many times as we’ve been to LA together, we had never gotten out to Palm Springs and OMG did we love it! If you’ve never been – you need to go!
LIFE + LOVE.
I must say life is good. I really don’t have much to complain about. However, I turned 35 in October and I can’t help but feel like I am not where I am supposed to be in life. Particularly in the marriage and baby department. Its funny, I was having a conversation with a client the other day and somehow we got to talking about his kids, their ages and how his son and I are both 35. We joked about how old the two of us are getting. Believe it or not, I really could care less about being 35. What I do care about?? Being 35 and not being married with at least one baby at this point in my life. I just feel like life hasn’t lined up the way it’s supposed to when it comes to these 2 {big} things.
Rewinding to August 2017. Adam left for New Orleans on August 28 and returned home on April 15 2018. He had actually traveled most of the month of August before officially leaving to shoot the TV Series The First. This was the longest project he has taken since we have been together. Adam was home for Thanksgiving + a 2 week hiatus for the holidays and I went back and forth to New Orleans 8x. Even with all the visits, the time apart still hurt our relationship and we definitely had to work on getting back to “us” when he got home early/mid 2018.
With all that being said, Adam and I have talked at length about these 2 very big life topics – marriage & babies – and I have been extremely vocal about how I feel. He has expressed his fears about his career, the amount of travel that comes along with it and not being able to give me what I need and worrying that eventually I will not want to deal with it anymore. I have reassured him that would never be the case.
My Facebook and Instagram feeds are filled with nothing but engagements, weddings, pregnancy announcements and newborn babies. My heart is genuinely happy every time I see one of these beautiful announcements, however, I can’t help but feel a little sad inside and think…when will it be my turn?
Jenna Kutcher talks a lot about these feelings, especially when it comes to social media and the “seasons of life” we all go thru. At the end of the day, I try to focus on the fact that I am in a good, healthy and happy and loving relationship. Not all marriages lead to wedded bliss and I personally know of so many people who 1) stay in unhappy marriages. 2) wind up getting divorced. 3) have been cheated on. So with the exception of a down day here and there, rather than focus on what I don’t have in my relationship at the moment, I choose to focus on what I DO have — which is pretty awesome! I’m not sure where this year will take us, but I’m hopeful that God has everything that my heart yearns for in store for me.
I hope that with my sharing my personal relationship, it helps you if you are reading and happen to be in a place in your life or your relationship that leaves you wanting more. One of my goals for 2019 is to be a bit more open and share more about my personal life. While I always want this space + social media to be one of happiness and positivity, life is not perfect, and I hope that by me being more open with some of the not so great things, that it might just help someone who is following along.
Overall, 2018 was a pretty great year! I truly am so blessed for all the good I have in my life. Let’s move away from me and over to YOU…
What are some of your highs and lows of 2018? Goals for 2019?
My wish for you is that you simply work on becoming the best version of YOU everyday. Somedays will be better than others, and that’s ok. I have my down days, too. Everyone does. The beautiful thing is that every day, when you wake up, you have a choice to make that day anything you want it to be. Rather than making some huge “new year, new me” proclamation, aim for doing something small everyday that leads you in the direction of your goals, hopes and dreams!
Cheers to 2019! I wish you a year full of laughs, love, adventures, fulfilling relationships, good health, happiness and success in everything you do! xx
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