Whattup, friends!? Happy New Year!

It’s been a minute since we last spoke! I went from posting every day to taking a nice week-long break to focus on rest, family, and the plan for 2018.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I know, I know. That’s not chai; it’s hot chocolate; but you gotta give it to me cause ’tis the season. Also, it’s been like below freezing all week sooo a mid-afternoon hot chocolate break is absolutely necessary.

We had a quite the Christmas Eve, and if you were following along on my Insta-stories, you know exactly what I’m talking about!

Our NYE, on the other hand, was a little less loud.

The house was quiet by 8, we had dinner at home and were in bed, watching a movie by 10. Surprisingly, this year, we did stay up till 12. 12:03 to be exact. Then it was lights out! There was no glitz, glamour, champagne, or confetti. It was just about enjoying the simple moment at home with the closest and starting the day off right in the morning.

It was definitely a long December but nothing short of amazing. I had some blogging growth in subscribers as I diligently worked on a daily post for the 12 Days of Christmas Activities. I posted a new, free printable every day for 12 days that was accessible any time to subscribers. It was so nice to see pictures and videos of your kids doing the worksheets. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for letting me be a part of your holidays and more importantly, be a part of your child’s learning.

I was also able to do some sponsored posts on Instagram. It’s always nice to post, but it’s even better when you get paid to post. The best is when you post about things that are passionate to you. If you’re a blogger and interested in learning how I got sponsored posts, please click here.

Aside from blog growth, we kept busy and renovated our kitchen all by ourselves. Actually, I should really say Sanj did everything: the plumbing, tiles, counter, etc. I just kind of handed him the tools and made executive decorating decisions. So basically, I was boss, right? Right?

It’s been fun and stressful. Having three kids and no kitchen for three weeks was really tough, especially when we just kind of decided to renovate the kitchen last minute. It wasn’t a planned decision; more, spur-of-the-moment! We’re just crazy like that.

Anyway, here’s the rest of it:

Reading: Keys to Living a Happy and Regret-Free Life by Santosh Joshi. I really want to start the new year off in a positive way, forgiving myself and surrounding myself with those that bring the best out in me. This book is helping me realize that we should just focus our energies on enjoying the now and making decisions that will positively impact our future. Clean the clutter, mentally and physically! It’s helped to to focus on chasing and living our dreams in 2018.

Listening: Aside from SOCD, CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! We listened to it until the day after Christmas. Then it was game over! Back to our regular jams, haha!

Watching: Insta-stories. If you’ve been following me, you know I’ve upped my insta-story game a little. And that’s primarily because I’ve been watching a lot more stories so I’ve been engrossed in learning and beating the Instagram algorithm.

Working on: Accordingly to Planoly, I’ve grown tremendously on Instagram and it’s because I’m honestly focusing a lot of energy growing there. I’m a small account and in the last year, I went from less than 300 followers to almost 2000. Again, I’m a small account relative to the blogging world in Instagram, but I have learned a few tips here and there. I’m working on an Instagram book with lots of tips and tricks to help small accounts like me grow. Be on the look out!

Anyways, what have you been up to? Let me know! Talk to you guys soon!