I turned 36 this Saturday! I had a great time celebrating with friends at the Family House Polo Match, which is one of my favorite Pittsburgh events each year, and then later celebrated with a Milkbar cake at home. Honestly, the best birthday I could’ve asked for!

I shared on my Substack that I always think of September – both my birthday and the new school year – as the time to reset and set goals for the year, even more so than in January. So I thought it’d be fun to share some things I want to do this year – some big, some small, some in between!

• Prioritize sleep. I know how important this is, and yet I’ve been very bad at it lately. My body is making it very clear that I need to make some changes, immediately. So I’m going to try very hard to make this a focus this year.
• Try a new-to-me coffee shop. Pittsburgh has so many cute little coffee shops, and I want to be better about branching out of my comfort zone. So I want to try at least one new-to-me coffee shop. A fun goal for me!
• Work on my book draft. I think I made finishing a draft of my book a goal for this year in January, but that’s not going to happen. I’ve been dealing with a lot this year, so it’s ok! But I’d like to at least make some progress.
• Send more letters. I love sending people mail! I even bought a new little wax seal accessory earlier this year to make it easier to melt the wax. But again, life got busy. Letters are pretty low-effort, though, and an easy habit to pick back up – and an easy way to make people happy.
• Find an organization system that works. It may seem like I have things together, but honestly, I often procrastinate and then rush to finish things at the last minute. I do not love this about myself! So I’d like to find a way to be a bit more organized to feel more calm and less stressed.
• Grow my blog and Instagram. I have been stuck at the same general follower count on Instagram for a while, and same thing with my blog reach, too. I know follower numbers aren’t the only thing that matters, but they don’t hurt, either! I would love to be able to grow my reach and connect with more people across those two platforms.
• Streamline my closet. I have not done a closet overhaul in quite a while, and it is well past due. I love the feeling of a freshly organized closet, where I’ve gotten rid of things I don’t wear anymore, and everything I see is something I love.
• Find the perfect t-shirt. My friend laughed when I told her I was on the quest to find the perfect tee, but it’s true! Nothing feels better than (for me) a boxy and flowy and soft but substantial t-shirt. Casual and effortless but it just works!
• Show people that I appreciate them. I am incredibly lucky to have so many incredible and supportive friends in my life, and I always want to make sure they know how much I value and appreciate them. This is something I try to do already, but it never hurts to do it more.
• Spend one day a month doing no work. One of the toughest parts about blogging on top of working my 9-5 job is that weekends are often spent just doing more work. But I want to build in more rest days! So I want to spend one weekend day a month just relaxing.
• Learn to needlepoint. This is somewhat embarrassing, but I bought a needlepoint kit months ago and haven’t touched it yet. I want to! I’m just overwhelmed. But it’s something I think I’d really enjoy once I actually start, so I want to just… start.
• Initiate more casual hangs. I am a planner, so when I invite people over, I tend to make it a THING. But I want to start just inviting friends over for a casual hang out, nothing huge, just to chat and catch up and relax.
• Grow my Substack. I know I’ve only been on Substack for about a month, but I’ve really been enjoying the platform – I feel like I can share more personal things than I can here, and those are always my favorite kinds of posts to write! I’d love to grow my space there this year.
• Put myself out there more. I really struggle with putting myself out there – whether it’s pitching myself for something blog-related, or suggesting a hangout with an online friend, I never want to be the one to reach out, because I don’t want to be turned down. I know that’s silly! So I want to be better about initiating things.
• Keep up my reading streak. I’ve been really good about reading consistently this past year! I want to keep that up. I love to read, so this isn’t really hard for me, but I want to make sure to keep my habit strong!
• Get out of my meals rut. On the opposite end, I have been in a real rut lately with food, eating the same things over and over. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but I want to branch out and eat more, different things! I just need to be better about planning and not waiting until I’m hungry to figure out what to eat.
• Take more candid pictures. I take so many pictures for my blog and Instagram that I forget to just snap fun, in the moment pictures. I want to change this! Going to be better about capturing memories in photo form in addition to more planned pictures.