Reflections on 2018 and Looking Ahead at 2019

Here are my intentions and goals for the New Year. Hope you enjoy this post!

Hello, friends. How is your week going so far? Today, I wanted to do reflections on 2018 and share my goals, resolutions, and intentions for 2019, just like I did last year when I published this delicious Simple Kale Salad with Avocado Dressing.

I’ll start by saying that 2018 was a pretty challenging year with ups and downs (Up – we sold our condo fast and we had an incredible vacation in the UK; Down – we didn’t find our home yet although we’ve been looking for about 4 months. It was and still is very frustrating), but also it was a year full of blessings and good things:

1.  I’ve created and shared lots of easy, quick, and delicious recipes that lots of you really enjoyed. I’m always so happy when I read feedback from readers who make my recipes. Thank you for all your support.
2. This year, we also had lots of recipe videos on the blog. Now, the most popular recipes have tutorial videos.
3. Some of the most popular recipes on the blog were: Low-carb Eggplant Lasagna, Garlic Butter Baked Pork Chops, Spicy Chicken Meal-Prep Bowls, Garlic Butter Salmon in Foil, Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Skillet, and Garlic Shrimp Asparagus Skillet.
4. Our Instagram account grew a lot more than the past three years. We are almost 30K lovers of good food. 😉
5. Since I moved to Canada almost 9 years ago, this was the year that I saw my family the most (they live in Brazil). We spent January together in Brazil, then in March we met in London for a family vacation, in July my mom went to visit us in Toronto, and now in December we came to Brazil to spend the holidays with them again.
6. We had a wonderful family vacation in London, Wales, and Liverpool in March. Also, we had a great time visiting my family in Brazil at the beginning of the year (Salvador, São Paulo, and Guarujá), visiting my in-laws in Montreal in July, and spending a long weekend in a waterpark hotel in Niagara in September. All great trips that made us connect even more with our families.
7. I read more books than last year, and I started to listen to amazing podcasts that really helped me in my personal and professional life.
8. I went to my first food blog conference in Salt Lake City and had an opportunity to meet awesome ladies who have inspired me so much throughout these blogging years. It was an incredible trip, and this year, I’m going again. I can’t wait. 😉
9. My mom spent almost a month with me in Toronto, and she helped to potty-train my son. It wasn’t easy, but he got it after 2 weeks. So grateful for her help. I don’t think I would have done it without her. Thank you so much, Mom.
10. My 2.8yo son Thomas developed his speech much, much more. He speaks Portuguese almost fluently (in a few more months he’ll be fluent) and his English has got better too. So proud of him.
11. We visited lots of new farms and parks during the summer time and we had a great time. I’ve never been outside so much as this year. I guess it’s because of my son. He loves playing outside and enjoys nature.
12. We also sold our condo to move to a house. It was a very fast selling process, and we got what we wanted. That was awesome! The downside is that we haven’t found our home yet. I have to be honest here because life is made from ups and downs, and say that this search for a home has been very frustrating. We’ve put in an offer for three houses, but we didn’t get any of them. But I’m much more confident this year. I’ll keep you posted.

I’m very grateful for this year because this was one of the years that I learned the most about myself and my profession, too.

What the most important lesson I’ve learned in 2018:

2018 was a year for me to completely understand that God/Universe/Life has a timeline much better than mine. Everything happens at the right time, and it’s no use trying to run things over and going faster than you should. So many people are unhappy today because they plan exactly how things are going to happen in their lives, but the truth is that not everything goes according to plan. And you know why? Life is much better when we don’t plan and accept all the beautiful surprises that come to us.   ⠀

My New Year’s Intentions and Goals:

Professional

1. Work harder to bring you the best of the best recipes you can possibly cook. I want to double the number of pageviews this year because I would love to reach even more people who want to eat better. I have this true desire of helping as many people (including me) as I can to eat fresh, simple meals.
2. Post more new recipes. I want to post three recipes a week, but only great recipes. I really don’t care for quantity, but for quality. If I can combine quantity and quality, it would be great for the blog and, consequently, for you too.
3. Post more low-carb and whole30 meal-prep recipes because it seems to me that you’ve been enjoying all my meal-prep recipes.
4. Study more about SEO and improve old posts, and write better posts for you.
5. Post all the new recipes with nutritional information and update the old ones.
6. Write more personal posts about my life (products that I’ve been using and recommend, activities with my family, and so on). It’ll be once a month.

Personally

1. Meditate daily. I was doing that a lot, but it wasn’t constant.
2. Exercise 4 times a week (It can be walking, yoga, and pilates).
3. Drink more water. I am so bad at that. But I promise to push myself hard on that.
4. Listen to more podcasts and audiobooks (I don’t have much time to read, but when I’m bringing my son to his pre-school, cleaning the house, or doing groceries, I can listen to some good audiobooks or podcasts).
5. Be more organized with my time. I feel like I haven’t been so productive the past few months, and the reason why this is happening is that I’m not using my time wisely.
6. Do things outside of my comfort zone. We all need that to grow as a person.
7. Be as kind as I can with everybody around me. I think the world is much better when we treat each other with love and affection.

And those are my intentions/goals/resolutions for 2019! What are some of yours? I would love to read in the comments below. 😉

Thank you so much for all your support and for being here, sharing, and making my recipes. This website couldn’t be what it is without you. So grateful for all of you. I wish each and every one of you a truly magnificent and happy 2019.