2015 Recap & 2016 Goals

Hi everyone!  Happy New Year and welcome back to Arum Lilea for my first post of 2016.  I hope you have had a wonderful festive season!  As we all start filtering back from our holiday destinations and get ready to go back to school/university/work it’s time to set new goals for ourselves for the new year.  I wanted to share with you a 2015 recap and 2016 goals in this post.  My mom would always set some time aside for me to whip out my “Goal Books” at the beginning of each year and challenge me to think clearly about what it is we would like to achieve in the year to come.  It has become something that it so important to me and each quarter of the year I go ahead and pull out my Goal Book to evaluate my progress or decide whether certain goals need adjusting.  Does anyone else do this?

At the beginning of each year, before drafting my new goals, however, I would (and still do) reflect on the year that has passed and determine my successes and weaknesses and decide where there is room for improvement.  This year before I started with my goals I decided that I’d like to share a couple highlights of my year that was 2015.

In the year that was 2015:

• I was invited to talk on 702 Radio about my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide blog post that you can read all about here.
• I flew to Cape Town multiple times for beauty events with Elizabeth Arden, MAC and Revlon.  Those trips were serious highlights of my year!
• I also embarked on a girls’ trip to Cape Town with two of my besties and gosh did we have an incredible time!  Sometimes it’s so good to just unplug and spend a couple of days surrounded by the best people in your life in the most beautiful city in the world.
• I reached 2.5k followers on Instagram…wow!!!  Thank you so much guys!  For any of you that are new to Arum Lilea you can find my Instagram profile @arumlilea.

• I celebrated 1 year of recovery… something extremely emotional!  You can read more about my recovery in this blog post.  I am also happy to report and update you that I am 100% recovered.  Thank you so much for all the messages and all the love through this really difficult time.  You guys were unbelievable throughout it all.
• I fell in love with Justin Bieber.  Seriously.  I think they should actually just declare the year 2015 the year of Justin Bieber.  Every. Single. Song has just been on fire.
• My favourite movie of 2015, without a doubt, is the Age of Adeline.  If you haven’t watched it, do that now.  You will thank me later 😉
• One of the things I’m most happy about having done in 2015 is uploading more YouTube videos and working on that content.  YouTube is a completely different ball game to blogging but I’ve embraced the change (and challenges) it has brought with it.  I now find that I absolutely love filming makeup and hair tutorials, favourites videos, product reviews and travel vlogs on my YouTube channel.  Here is my favourite hair tutorial of 2015.
• I travelled to KwaZulu-Natal three times this year.  Ryan and I visited over Easter for a beach break.  I then flew to surprise my Gran at her 90th birthday in October.  We also decided to spend some time at the beach in Ballito with my family now over the new year period as well.  I haven’t documented this last trip because I decided to take a complete break and be present around Ryan and my family over this period (something I intend doing more of in 2016).  You can, however, find our Ballito Vlog from April over here.
• We also took our first international trip together to the United Arab Emirates where we visited Abu Dhabi and Dubai which was the most incredible trip!!!  See here, here, and here for more on our stunning Arabian Adventure!
• 2015 saw me write three of my four board exams and passing them all which I couldn’t have been more overjoyed about especially after not having been able to read last year.
• This year I took a total of sixteen flights locally and internationally.
• This dear blog, Arum Lilea celebrated its fourth birthday this year.  I can’t believe four years have gone by.  It’s quite amazing to see what I’ve documented over the past four years and to see how some things change and some stay the same.  It’s unbelievable being able to watch this little blog grow and how it has opened so many doors.  I still find it surreal when someone leaves me a comment saying that they’ve read and enjoyed my blog.  Thank you so much for all the support over the years.  I would never have reached this mile stone without you. Read more about my blog’s birthday here.

So that, in a nutshell, is a super quick run down of the most wonderful things that happened.  2016, I’m sure, is going to bring a whole lot of challenges and many joys too.  I want to quickly take the moment to say thank you to everyone who is reading this 2015 recap & 2016 goals post.  Thank you for letting me into your office/phone/life and I just want to let you know that it’s wonderful having you as a part of my life too.  I hope you have an incredible 2016 filled with the greatest of happiness.  Don’t forget to set your goals for the year 😉

x