Goals (Update)

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Can y'all freaking believe it?! It's July.

Just saying that is crazy. 

ANYWAYS, if you're new here.. This is just something I do monthly. I keep track of my original goals I had placed for 2015, and update y'all on how I'm doing. Honestly this post is for me. You can read, skim, or not read.. I really don't care. 

ORIGINAL Goals for 2015

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smile more- I'm alright on this one. I don't see as many people over the Summer, and usually when I do they don't need as much encouragement as people at school do hahaha. But I have been trying to watch what I say and think about the results of what I say. My goal has been for myself to smile more, build other people up, but really I've learned that I need to just pay closer attention to others, then build them up.

Quality over Quantity- I'm really so proud of this. Last Summer my blog was a load of BS. All I did was share crummy pictures and put together collages and share them with y'all. Those posts sucked. I had like 5 going up a day because I was way more focused on quantity. This year, I'm so proud of how I've stopped myself from going crazy with posts and think about quality.

Handwriting- It's getting there.. I mean in the Sunday School class I help out in, this little girl, Savannah told me I had beautiful handwriting. That's gotta count for something, right?

Active on Social- CHECK CHECK CHECK! Now I just gotta stick with it through the school year..

Okay I seriously have the most amazing readers ever. Y'all make me smile. My birthday was the best ever thanks to you guys. From all the sweet messages and emails to those who came to my virtual ice cream party, y'all are just the best. I'm so blessed. 

Instagram more... YES! I love my Instagram, and I post at least once a day.. but most the time it's like 4-7 times #sorryimnotsorry

As y'all have seen in this post, and this one, you know I've been practicing my photography..

AGAIN I HAVE YET to update old posts... It'll happen eventually.

I have been sending out at least one letter a week for the past month. I also joined the Snail Mail Sisters which paired me with 3 lovely girls, Faith, Syd, and Sophia! 

Quick Reminder that the Bloggers Get Cookin' Linkup GOES LIVE TOMORROW! Can't wait to see what all you lovelies have cooked up for the linkup! Here's the info if you have no idea what I'm talking about. 

Goals (Update)

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So there's our motivation for this post... I've had this draft sitting here for like a week now. I honestly just forgot to hit publish when I finished it #oops. Because now it is June 13th and we're moving into the 3rd week of June, and it seems like I majorly procrastinated in writing this. BUT NOW I'm publishing so it's all good right?

Here were my original goals for 2015:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

I think I smiled enough last month.. I kind of had this mentality like "the year's almost over. I don't want these kids to remember me as anything other than well, me." so I just tried to help out everyone with studying for finals, last minute bring-your-grade-up's and being as nice as possible to my teachers who really did work their butts off this year. I don't know, I just tried to be understanding and kind to everyone regardless.

Quality over Quantity.. I've definitely seen some improvements. I rarely post as is, but I feel like when I do, my posts are not complete crap, so I guess that's good right? 

Oh goodness.. let's talk about handwriting. Still sucks. Nothing's changed. I'll have no excuses by next month if we haven't seen any improvements since it's Summer and all. 

Active on social media? Heck yes. I'm so proud of my Instagram now, and my Twitter isn't dead anymore, and even my Tumblr is waking up a little! WOO! And it's paying off too.. for any bloggers reading this? You need to stay active! I've seen my Instagram grow 450+ followers since I've started foccusing on staying active. Pinterest grew 2000 followers, Tumblr grew about 100 followers, and about 75 on Twitter. It's insanely important to stay active.

BREAKING NEWS: I HAVE 200 FOLLOWERS VIA BLOGLOVIN' AHHHHH That's HUGE and I'm so grateful to all of my followers for taking the time to listen to my insane little ramblings. It means so much to me, and it's just confirmation that my work is paying off. 

Instagram more? CHECK THAT OFF! I've trained myself to post at least 3 times a day. 

I haven't really been practicing photography as much, but goodness knows I need to.

Still haven't fixed up old posts, but it's Summer now, and I've got stuff planned.

Annnnd I didn't write any letters last month. I definitely need to though, and I will get back on track with that ASAP. Also, keep me in mind as you travel to these fun places this Summer. Send me a postcard! I love postcards so much, and I would love to see all the places you've visited. Shoot me a message, and I'll send you my address :)

OTHER Goals:

-Finish another book: I'm thinking Girl Boss or maybe one of the others on my Pinterest board or my Reading List.

-Continue with my handwriting: I think my first attempt worked out, so I really just want to give it another go, and maybe write some full sentences in fun fonts!

-Have some more bloggers I know interviewed for my new Tuesday Talks. 

-Get my science grade up to a B?

-Purchase some new fun, Spring pieces!

-Continue to stay active on Instagram

-Keep up with my Cooking with Cathleen posts and share one or so a week

I haven't finished another book yet, but If you follow me on snapchat (cathslagle) then you've seen in my story that I've been reading. I plan on finishing a good handful of books this Summer. PLEASE SEND RECOMMENDATIONS

I'm starting up Tuesday Talks again.. if you're interested give me a shout, and let me know!

I DID IT MY SCIENCE GRADE WAS A B WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I worked my butt off for that you have no idea. That was just for the 4th quarter, but I cannot wait to find out what I got on the exam and for the year.

I think Spring pieces is kind of irrelevant, but I've certainly got a cart full online @ old navy and Target that I need to revisit. 

I'm embarrassed at how long it's been since a cooking post has gone up. Look forward to a fun linkup coming soon with one of my blogging friends, and stay tuned for more from me.

Check out my Summer blogging goals post to see all that I want to work on with Classy Cathleen this Summer! If you made it to the end... thanks for reading! Wanna make me smile? Subscribe to my email list!

FOLLOW THE FUN: Subscribe to the CC newsletter!

Summer Blogging Goals

Last Summer, my blog was filled with a bunch of little posts where all I did was share recent Polyvore sets #oops. The reason behind that? I was way more focused last Summer on finishing all seasons of Dance Moms #doubleoops. It's difficult to watch Dance Moms on my laptop and blog at the same time.. because I of course had to know every single time Chloe's mom got in a fight, or Nia's mom reacted to Abby's latest routine idea. I was pretty busy last summer hahaha. BUT THIS SUMMER, I am so ready just to work my butt off on this little blog of mine and make it the absolute best that I possibly can. My blog is so important to me, and I have my goals of things I need/want/will accomplish before the end of Summer. Jamie (The Fashion Newcomer) asked me and quite a few other bloggers what our major goal or focus is for the Summer. If you check out her post today, you'll see my quote and all the other bloggers', but here's mine:

One of my biggest blogging goals for the Summer is to keep quality over quantity. It's easy for bloggers to just do easy little posts, add a few links, and hit publish. My blog and I fell into that last Summer, and let me just say.. once you start with those smaller, faster posts, it's hard to get off of them, and into actual high quality content. I'm just hoping and praying that this year I don't fall into that slump again, and that I put time, thought, and a whole bunch of effort into all of my posts. 

Since the majority of people that read blogs.. are bloggers, I'm so excited to share with you girls the rest of my goals. Maybe they'll give you some ideas for your own blogs! 

Better quality writing (let me further discuss kinda what I talked about above): I've been told all my life that I have a great voice when I write and a true talent for writing. I know I can tap into that part of myself, but it's so easy to just slip into writing the same old basic crap you see everywhere else on the internet. Jamie is part of my inspiration and motivation for this goal. I love her voice in her posts, and that's more of how I want to come across on my own blog. 

Sharing more of my personal style: I discussed this on Polyvore with some girls earlier in the week actually.. basically, bloggers tend to share style related items that your readers would react to the most regardless if you, yourself likes the item or not. With things like Shopstyle Collective and Rewardstyle and Hootsuite.. It's easy just to send out a bajillion tweets or incorporate a ton of links to items in your blog posts. My goal for the Summer is to focus on what things I personally love and obsess over, and not what I think my readers are going to love and obsess over. Because at the end of the day, you read/follow Classy Cathleen to read about ME. 

Develop my media kit: I had created a super basic media kit back in January, but I definitely need to update it and improve the design. Lost on what a media kit is? Here, let me help.  I have so many ideas for improving it, and I can't wait to start. 

Changing the location of the photos on Instagram: The majority of my photos tend to be taken and posted at my house. I feel like Instagram is a creative space, and somewhere I lost that back when all the aesthetic crap was buzzing in my brain. Aesthetic limits creativity, if you ask me. I want to challenge myself to be all-in with my Instagram and seriously focus on it. { Follow along here } 

Actually schedule some blog posts: I always tell myself before I go somewhere that I'll have a post scheduled for every day I'm not able to post.. does that ever work out? No. Probably because I'm concerned with packing and watching all the latest episodes from my favorite shows before we leave. I really just want to have one week where I actually am prepared with some good content. 

Blogging more about things I'm truly interested in: Example- photography. How often am I talking about photography on the blog? I RARELY share my true interests on my own personal website. How messed up is that? Don't worry, Cathleen is coming out for real and y'all will know practically everything about me, and everything I love and am interested in on my blog. I can't wait for more cooking posts, photography, personal style, hiking, ect.

Consistency: Y'all remember those "Tuesday Talks" I used to do all the time? I loved those! My stupid self isn't very good at consistency so any series idea I come up with, won't turn out the way I have it in my head. I need to challenge myself to be more consistent and keep up with my series'. Look out for more Cooking With Cathleen's coming soon.. or at some point at least!

Write the post NOW: I seriously need to quit pushing things off. Me, Myself, and I all know that "oh it'll happen eventually" "I'll blog that at some point" means it will never happen. For once, heck maybe even more than once, I would love to actually write I post when I say I'm going to.

Take advantage of free templates and printables: If someone is willing to create a template and share it on the internet.. why the heck am I not using it? I totally need to do some exploring and find some good templates that I personally can use.

The Classy Cathleen Newsletter: Yes, I have started a newsletter for my blog. I know newsletters are kind of coming slightly obsolete.. but I love them, and hope that y'all will follow along with me in your inbox! I really want to develop it so it can be the best it can be, and stay consistent in my mailing, and have an email going out once a week. 

Bored yet? Lucky You because the post is over! I hope that any of you fellow bloggers reading this post got inspired for some Summer goals for your own blogs! Be on the look out for an update on all these goals at the end of Summer. 

Goals (Update)

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It's May... Goodness gracious! Where did my freshman year go? I'ts almost Summer, and it's just crazy how fast this school year has gone past! So anyways, if you're new here, you probably don't know about my monthly goal update posts here on Classy Cathleen. If you've been hanging out and following along for awhile, well another month has past so it's time for an update! 

Here were my original goals for 2015:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smile More: I've been smiling a lot lately.. On the inside and out. I've been trying to be much more appreciative and being nice to everyone. If that sounded fake at all.. I swear I'm not fake, I've seriously been trying to thank everyone and be kind whenever I can.

Quality over Quantity: Well, I haven't been blogging as much as many other bloggers out there, but when I do publish a post I try to spend time on it and really put thought into it. With school stuff I've tried to spend more time on my work and focus on totally completing the project fully instead of half way doing it. With exams coming up soon I've already started studying a month and a half in advance so that I'm prepared for the tests. I guess that goes with quality over quantity? I don't know.. 

Work on my handwriting: As I've been creating study guides, I've tried to practice a little. 

Stay active on social media: I've been doing a decently good job at staying active. My Instagram and Twitter have been pretty good so far in my opinion... I've kept up Polyvore, oh and Pinterest-duh, also I've kept up my Snapchat story for anyone who wants to follow along! And let's not even talk about my facebook page... I can't update that silly thing to save my life. 

A Loyal Following: Well, I told some of my friends about my blog these past few weeks... Love all y'all by the way! Thanks so much for joining me along my blogging journey :) And any new lovelies that have started following me.. Y'all are the best! 

Instagram More: Oh yeah, I got this. 11 posts (on average) a week! Also, I've gotten to the point where I'm super proud of my feed. I love taking photos for my account, and sharing them with my followers.. 

Photography: Our latest assignment was architecture.. and I think it went well enough! I've learned so much about the dark room and black and white photography. It's really been a ton of fun!

*skipping over fixing up old posts because it'll be better just to start that over the summer. 

Write more letters: YES I've been doing great at this! I've sent quite a few letters to so many great girls over the past little bit, it's been great! Shout out to those lovelies: Y'all have been so great to get to know, and look out for another letter coming your way soon! 

OTHER Goals:

-Finish another book: I'm thinking Girl Boss or maybe one of the others on my Pinterest board or my Reading List.

-Continue with my handwriting: I think my first attempt worked out, so I really just want to give it another go, and maybe write some full sentences in fun fonts!

-Have some more bloggers I know interviewed for my new Tuesday Talks. 

-Get my science grade up to a B?

-Purchase some new fun, Spring pieces!

-Continue to stay active on Instagram

-Keep up with my Cooking with Cathleen posts and share one or so a week

Yep. Nope. I didn't finish the Girl Boss book (actually I never started), but I did read another book.. This Is What Happy Looks Like which was super cute! I read it for a breakfast book club that my friends Courtney and Madeline started up. A review possibly on that later? I don't know.. Stay tuned.

I need to get more bloggers up on here for Tuesday Talks- Y'all email me if you would be interested! 

Science grade is currently a 91!!! Y'all that's a B! 

I just had a new Cooking With Cathleen go live yesterday, so hopefully you'll be seeing more of those from me soon :)

So if you made it this far, good for you! You now know a lot about me and my life lately and my accomplishments. April was an amazing month, so here's to an even more amazing May! 

Goals (Update)

If you're new here, or don't remember my post last month, or the month before, or the month before that... I do these little Goal updates on my 2015 Goals. The only reason I share these on my blog is so that I can look back later on and see my goals (hopefully all accomplished) and get to be proud of myself! So since it is now April.. It's time to write the update on last month. 

2015 Goals:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smiling: Does enough count? I've been a little stressed, but I was all smiles when we were out camping, beaching and Spring breakin' last week! 

Quality over Quantity: I like to think that my posts are getting better. I'm no longer writing "just to get a post up". I'm putting lots of thought, planning, and time into each of my posts. It gives me such a great feeling to know that I've put that much work into something and seeing it go live. 

Handwriting: Yeah.. Nope. I've done nothing. Honestly I'm really disappointed. Maybe amidst all my studying this month and next, I'll get a chance to practice my letters while writing graphic organizer on study guide on vocabulary review.

Active on social media: I'm making a Tumblr and Twitter comeback! Facebook too! I posted on my page a total of about 4 times last month WOOO! hahaha, also Polyvore! I made a ton of sets, and it just feels so good to connect with people...

Finding new followers: YES SOMETHING I ACCOMPLISHED! I have made so many new and sweet friends and followers and have loved getting to connect with them. Primarily through Instagram and Twitter, but Polyvore and Pinterest and Tumblr are super fun too!

Instagram More: YES! I'm so proud of myself about this one! I diiiiid it!!! So many pictures from the beach, gardens, everywhere and I love my feed so much...

Photo Practice: We've had so many fun assignments this past month so I've loved trying out new things with my camera. We're playing around with photograms this week, which is super duper exciting. 

Fixing up old posts: I've decided to ignore this goal until Summer. It's totally unrealistic to think that I will have time to do that haha. 

Writing more letters: I've connected with so many lovely folks this past month, and hopefully will continue to connect with them throughout this month! I wrote 10+ cards, postcards, everything. It was so much fun decorating the envelopes.. I went kinda overboard on a few actually... #sorryimnotsorry but I love sending out letters in the mailbox. 

Goals for March:

-Finish another book: I'm thinking Girl Boss or maybe one of the others on my Pinterest board or my Reading List.

-Continue with my handwriting: I think my first attempt worked out, so I really just want to give it another go, and maybe write some full sentences in fun fonts!

-Have some more bloggers I know interviewed for my new Tuesday Talks. 

-Get my science grade up to a B?

-Purchase some new fun, Spring pieces!

-Continue to stay active on Instagram

-Keep up with my Cooking with Cathleen posts and share one or so a week

Update: 

I haven't read anything... Wow I'm awful. Um handwriting is yet another unaccomplished goal. Only one more Tuesday Talks went live on the blog. Wow, again. I'm awful with goals. Report cards came out yesterday. My science grade was a C. I purchased a few fun things for Spring, but not too many. Instagram, check! I've been doing pretty good at keeping up with it. Annnnnnd Cooking with Cathleen posts have not been too good either. I need to get cooking.. 

So what y'all should have learned from this post is that I am a total slacker and that I need to focus, and check these goals off. I honestly just need to FOCUS. If anyone has some good advice to help with checking off my goals, accomplishing them, and moving on and setting bigger goals for myself! Any quotes, advice.... anything would be much appreciated. 

I'm actually embarrassed at how little I've accomplished, but I just had to write this so I can look back later on and know what was up. 

Goals (Update)

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Good gosh.. It's March 7th. Well, scratch the 7th part.. Y'all IT IS MARCH. Where did February go? Where did January go? So I'm a week late on publishing this goals update.. but better late than never! As I said in February's update.. these posts are mainly for me. I really enjoy looking back on my life, seeing what I've accomplished, and having this blog really helps me to look back what I wanted to accomplish, what I didn't accomplish, and what I need to try harder to accomplish. 

February was amazing. For starters, I went to THE Happiest Place on Earth.. Which was so much fun! You can see all my travel journals if you do a bit of scrolling through on my blog! I took sooo many pictures that were shared in all 5 of the posts. After we left Disney World, we headed for HHI so this month has definitely been busy.

After coming back to reality and school.. I was OVERWHELMED with all the things I needed to do and check off my to do lists. The past three weeks have been filled with assignments for me, and February just zipped right on by. 

Let's take a look at my goals from January's "2015 goals":

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Smiling- welllll.. I haven't been doing as much smiling as I should have. By this I mean I haven't relaxed after homework and completing my assignments, or pushed myself to just be chill even though all the stress and to do lists. 

Quality over Quantity- In blogging: I tried to show a more personal side of my blog this past month through my travel journals. I loved the concept of showing y'all what I saw through pictures, and telling about my days. In school: I had 2 major essays and projects due this past month that I really tried to give my all at. I actually earned high 90's on them so yay! 

Handwriting- I DID IT! It's still not perfect (not by any means.. not anywhere close), but I have practiced!

via my Instagram

Staying active on social media- I've been a bit more active on Twitter, defenitely with Pinterest, and Instagram started strong but died off. 

New readers- Just a few.. but welcome to you:)

Instagram more- I posted about 21 times this past month.. That's pretty good improvement! My feed was like my absolute favorite thing the week while I was at Disney World.. but since then I've been slacking.... 

Photography- We've had a couple assignments that were really fun, and I'm obviously gonna share really fast with y'all!

this was a part of my attempt at a photo montage.. I just really liked this picture out of it haha

What d'ya think? 

Old posts- I still haven't fixed up any old posts.. I might just wait until Summer to work on them!

Letters- Well, I sent one! I'm awful at snail mail... I'm sending a few postcards this weekend though!

Other small accomplishments:

• I read a book! I finished reading "I Am Malala" by Malala Yousafzai, and it was amazing!
• I'm currently pulling a high C in Science which is HUGE!
• I totally cleaned up my Pinterest boards, and I couldn't be more obsessesed
• My inbox is pre- spring cleaned!

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Goals for March:

-Finish another book: I'm thinking Girl Boss or maybe one of the others on my Pinterest board or my Reading List.

-Continue with my handwriting: I think my first attempt worked out, so I really just want to give it another go, and maybe write some full sentences in fun fonts!

-Have some more bloggers I know interviewed for my new Tuesday Talks. 

-Get my science grade up to a B?

-Purchase some new fun, Spring pieces!

-Continue to stay active on Instagram

-Keep up with my Cooking with Cathleen posts and share one or so a week

YAY for new goals, new months, and new days to accomplish those new goals in!

Goals (Update)

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I'm writing this post mainly for me. I know that myself, along with many others, stick with and follow through with their goals for at least the first two weeks of January. Maybe even stick it out until the end of the month. When we hit February and as the year continues on... It's harder to stick with your goals. Well, I'm not gonna let that happen to me this year. Instead of a monthly favorites or anything like that.. I'm going to have a goals update. There might be some new goals, accomplished goals, and who knows what will happen this year! I'm only publishing these on my blog for future reference, and so that I can feel like I must accomplish these things because I told you all that I would. I'm really hoping to make 2015 a different year than all the rest. For the first time in forever I'm going to accomplish all of my goals. 

So in last month's post, these were my goals for the new year:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Let's update this for February:

What I've accomplished- 

I have noticed that I have been smiling a bit more.. What I mean by this is going out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, building relationships, and just having a more positive outlook on life. I felt like 2014 was just a blur and it went by super fast and I am determined to live 2015 to the fullest. I will obviously continue my "smiling" in the upcoming month.. and we'll see what has happened at the end of this month.

Quality over quantity has been an attempt. I know I can do better. Ever since I got my new camera, I've had all these wonderful ideas for posts.. All it takes is just me to take some time and do it right. I can't keep slacking off with my writing. If anything I need to challenge myself to write better. It's very easy as a blogger to slip under and just do mediocre writing or boring posts or the same gift guides (totally not bashing anyone that is putting together a gift guide right now.. I'm just saying I won't be) that everyone else is writing. I just need to focus on the quality aspect of my writing and not so much pushing myself to pump out another post just so I have something up on the blog. 

I have made a small attempt (very, very, very small) at my handwriting. When I'm in class taking notes, I focus on it and trying to get it neater... but that's just regular writing. I want to practice cursive and just other fun little fonts. I just think words are so pretty and powerful and if you can write them prettier.. they have more power. I know that probably makes zero sense to anyone... but it makes sense to me, and sense this post is for me... I guess it doesn't really matter. I would like to take more time for myself to set aside for doodling and writing this month.

Staying active on social media has been a huge goal of mine, and I think I managed pretty well over the course of the month. I actually slacked some on Pinterest (shocker I know) because of homework.. But I did try to stay constant on Twitter and Instagram. Facebook was just not made for me. I do have a page set up for Classy Cathleen... but I don't even know how to use it most of the time. And apparently I'm doing something right because I hit 160 I think on Twitter and 2.4k on Pinterest. 

As far as new followers of Classy Cathleen.. There have been a few following from Bloglovin' and email that are new.. Which is super exciting, and I'm so glad that you're here and following along. But other than that, I'm not really sure because I have some readers that find me through social media, and won't follow my blog, but they will click on my link whenever I share that I have a new post up. And thank you to all you wonderful people that are reading my content. It really means the world to me. 

With Instagram, I am actually really, really proud of myself. Before this year.. I would go weeks, sometimes even months without updating my Instagram. This past month, I posted 17 photos. That's a new record. And apparently, posting more is working because I'm at 1170 followers now... HOW HUGE IS THAT? But basically, I've been reading many posts on how to step up my game with my feed, and I've tried my hardest to improve my feed and make it nice to look at. I will obviously continue to do this, and I will continue to share snapshots into my life with my Instagram account. 

Photography class has been going okay. I took some photos to show the difference in a snapshot and a photograph, and I was really proud of how those came out. I have been taking my camera with me every weekend as my family and I visit all around the state and explore new places. I really enjoy playing with the focus and things like that. I hope that as this year goes on, I will grow as a photographer. 

If I'm honest, I haven't fixed up a single blog post like I had planned. It's on the agenda (my Kate Spade agenda of course) to edit some posts and clean them up a bit and republsih them.. but I haven't gotten around to it yet. But it is on every agenda I own (including my Amy Ruth Designs) and every to do list I have started. 

I received one adorable bit of snail mail from Miss Sophia over at California Belle Blog, and I have not yet sent some snail mail back to her. I have a few others that I would like to send some letters to.. but I haven't gotten around to it yet. I really need someone in my life 24/7 to yell at me for slacking off. Like someone just needs to look over my shoulder at all times and tell me to clean up my life and get my stuff done. 

Things I would like to accomplish this month:

I would like to finish two nonfiction novels. And maybe a coffee table book. I finished 1984 last month.. but I want to read something more fun and more for me. I personally love nonfiction novels because I love people and stories about people. I really just need to sit down, get off of Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram.. and read. 

Working out is something that I started more this semester. I really want to take care of my body. I have been hiking and doing outdoor activities a lot over the weekends, but my school has a small gym that I have access to... so what's holding me back? I just need to get off my butt and go run, or leg press, or lift weights or anything! 

Cooking. I started the new #cookingwithcathleen series last week and it's something my dad is super excited for. He's the one that usually prepares all the meals, so for me to step up and learn how to cook and new things to prepare for my family is a very big deal. I'm honestly really excited and my goal is to publish four or more recipes to the blog this month. 

Sending at least 5 snail mail cards would be a big accomplishment. Obviously one to Sophia, and maybe a few other blogging friends (y'all watch your mailboxes). This is another thing that I have no excuse for.. I just need to sit down and write some friendly letters to some friends! 

Well, I'll be back next month to share more of my goals and more updates on what's been happening as far as my life and my goals. Here's to a wonderful February! 

New Year's Goals

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I'm gonna be honest here.. These are basically just the next 3-4 month goals if that. I know I will grow and change in this year so these goals will probably be irrelevant or make zero sense by the end of the year. I think I might just stick with monthly goals.. BUT ANYWAYS.... IT'S 2015! Ah! So incredibly excited for this year and all there is waiting around the next corner. I thought (like basically all other bloggers) that sharing some sort of "goals" post would be a great "kicker-offer" to the new year. So without further ado... Here's my main focuses for the next few months:

~ Smile more 

~ Quality over Quantity (in everything. not just blogging)
~ Work on my handwriting (because mine sucks) 
~ Stay active on social media (yet another thing I suck at. unless we're talking about Pinterest...)
~ Build a loyal Classy Cathleen following (I would really love to find new readers this year!)
~ Instagram more (and another thing I'm awful at. It's a miracle if I post more than once a month.)
~ Continue to practice photography skills (I love photography, so I obviously want to get better)
~ Fix up old posts to make them the best they can be (some of my posts when I first started out were not good at all.... so I want to fix them up, and republish them out their on the web!)
~ Write more letters (snail mail is becoming a lost art, and I am determined to help to bring it back)

Expect more goals later in the months to come! What are some of your goals for this 2015 year?

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