I’m always in a funk at the beginning of the new year and my blog takes the biggest hit because I neglect it. This year I want to start a new tradition and it’s to create a Digital Time Capsule! I’m going to post a few moments from my life in the past few years, as well as some advice to my future self…
2013
My baby girl was born in January 2013. She’s a spitfire diva now at the age of 7, but boy was it tough when she was a baby! Imagine going through life always excited to think about how sweet, precious and healthy your future child would be… Only to give birth and find out the nerves in her ears never properly developed. She was born with Bilateral Sensorineural Hearing loss in both ears. This kind of loss makes it extremely difficult for her to hear sounds at a certain frequency. For example, she can not hear an alarm clock while sleeping UNLESS her hearing aids are on, BUT she isn’t supposed to sleep with the hearing aids on… As a first-time mom, I cried and got angry and wondered who’s fault it was, but I made sure to do what I had to do to help her live a normal life. Fast-forward to now and she’s her own advocate. She’s proud to wear hearing aids and loves telling everyone about them.
In March 2013 I wrote my first post. After reading blogs and watching youtube videos I decided to see what all the hubbub was about. I started off writing about stuff I already owned and it was a nice getaway from my day to day life. I’d write every chance I had and I was Consistent.
2014
In December of this year, I got my first sponsored post. It was a game-changer. I knew you could earn money by writing, but I didn’t know that I could do it MYSELF since I didn’t really believe in myself. I kept going and it was AWESOME!
2014-2016
These were my BEST blogging years! I was making great income which was actually enough for me to stay home and have the time of my life with my daughter. The sponsored work was great and consistent which meant my bills weren’t late and because I made sure to have at least one sponsored post a week, my payments would arrive weekly like a regular job. However, Things change, reach decline, companies change who they are looking for… Income declines. This happens so much in the blogging community… I see people quit their job to focus on blogging full time only to have to return to work because the companies’ outlooks change. Reminder to self: Blogging Income DOES NOT STAY THE SAME! It MAY increase, but it could also Decrease drastically.
2017
This year brought me a whole lot of Disney. Mostly Disney screenings, events, or campaigns and I was obsessed! What a FUN year!
2018
In January, I decided to reach out to a few places in Orlando to see who we could work with for a week-long late birthday celebration. In February, I had our Itineraries and our entire vacation planned out. I wouldn’t call this a press trip, but we did have a bunch of media/press passes to help make the week spectacular! We Hit up Crayola Experience Orlando, WonderWorks Museum, a Hibachi Steak house (with a funny story I’ll fill you guys into later), Sea World Aquatica, Walt Disney World, The Orlando Eye, Sea Life Aquarium, and a wedding! It was an INSANE 8 days… This trip is what let me know how much my daughter LOVES travel… Before we even landed back in NYC, she was inquiring where our net trip would be. We visited the Dominican Republic that July and then went back to normal.
2019
This year was mostly CRAP! A lot of good, but a shitload of bad (excuse the potty mouth, lol). It started off super stressful, I had so much going on personally that caused a lot of posts to be late and got a few brands upset with me. It was a lot of stuff that was just out of my control… But then in March, I reached out to someone thanks to a friend and I finally had my first real Press Trip in the works! In October we were finally flying out to Costa Rica with a quick Layover in Panama. THIS is what I’ve worked so hard for… THIS is what I want out of life… I want to travel and I want my daughter to experience EVERYTHING I never experienced as a child. Yes, I traveled to the Dominican Republic DOZENS of times, but anywhere Outside of that is just as new and enchanting to me as it is for her… I wonder How many press or personal Trips Gabby and I will have in the next 3 years.
2020
FINALLY! A new decade is here. A brand new year to explore life. A year to make changes and manifest what you deserve in life… I truly hope everyone’s 2020 is remarkable and you all get what you deserve. I want to come back to this post and read about the past and thank heaven for my future…
What are you going to Manifest for this new year?
