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I did actually write a goals and wishes post for 2020 too but it's been such a weird year I feel like it was hard to achieve them. Although, this has been my best, most consistent year for blogging yet. All the lockdowns actually helped my blog so there's one positive from 2020, but I really am looking forward to 2021. Hopefully things will be more normal but we'll see.

Blogging goals

1. Reaching 5000 views on a single blog post - not as of yet.

This is a stretch but so far the most views I have on a blog post is 3400. At the beginning of 2020 the most views I'd ever had was 1400 and that was a complete fluke. I used to get 200 views if I was lucky so if my blog keeps growing the way it has been, I really hope I can reach this goal.

2. 5000 Instagram followers - close, I got to 4200 at the end of 2021

I am going to really try to grow my Instagram this year. At the start of the year I had 1700 ish (I can't remember the exact number) and I'm starting 2021 with over 3000 followers. Again, it's a steep goal but I am hoping to achieve it. I will write some posts documenting my journey on how I am intending to gain more of a following. One thing that's important to gaining followers is consistent branding. Check out these social media canva templates to help with branding across all of your social media channels.

3. 20,000 monthly blog views - sadly not

Again, another steep goal but the most views I've gotten in a month so far was 15,000 views back in November - so hopefully not too far off. See how I got over 10,000 monthly views this year.

4. 100,000 yearly blog views or over for 2021 - DONE

This year I reached 78,000 views on my blog for the year and I only really started properly blogging again in April, so I'm hoping with log views starting from January this time will make this a realistic goal for me. I'm definitely going to have to plan my blog and content more effectively too. Check out THE ULTIMATE yearly blogging planner to help you plan yours.

5. Make money through blogging - DONE

I love blogging without making money from it but from seeing what other bloggers can make with their blog I may as well try. It would be so amazing to be able to make even a little bit of money through a hobby that I love but I still feel like I have a long way to go for this goal. In 2020 I have done several gifted ads so I just need to go that one step further. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

6. Work on SEO and increase my DA score - DA has improved

This is kind of goes hand in hand with goal number 5 because I feel like most paid ads require a high(ish) domain authority score. I will be the first to admit that my SEO needs a lot of work so hopefully this is something I can improve in 2021. Again, any tips would be amazing. For those of you who don't know, a domain authority (DA) score is a score out of 100 that is to do with your SEO (search engine optimisation) and the higher your score, the more likely you are to rank higher on search engines like Google. A lot of brands will only work with you if your DA score is over 20 but some don't mind.

One resource I have started using already to help with SEO is the Google Analytics Cheatsheet mini E-book. 

Personal goals

1. Graduate university with a 2:1 - DONE

2. Cook more proper meals - I tried many pasta dishes, I’m counting this

3. Cut things out that aren't good for my mental health - doing pretty well with this

Post-Covid Goals

1. Go abroad - I WISH!!!

2. Celebrate my birthday out of the house - sadly not again but I did way more to celebrate this year

3. Go to my summer ball - cancelled :(

4. Have a graduation - DONE

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My 2020 Roundup

January is normally a kind of nothingy month for me. It's just after Christmas and things go back to normal. One highlight of my January was that I went to see Jack Whitehall live. Remember when you could do that? He was really funny and it was a good start to the year. My dad also turned 50, he's not going to like me for mentioning that. We had a lovely meal for him at Piazza, the Italian in Amesbury.

I also went out clubbing in January in Bournemouth for my friend Jas's birthday. Again, who remembers clubbing?

February

In February, I did 2 days of Work Experience at a PR company in Cardiff and I had a little hotel stay in Cardiff for one. I really enjoyed my time there and hadn't been to Cardiff before. I'd love to go there again. 

I also went with Joe for some lovely afternoon tea in London for Valentine's Day and we went to the Sea Life Centre in Waterloo.

My favourite part of February was going to see Mamma Mia the musical at the Mayflower in Southampton with my mum and grandma. It was so good!

March

March was the month that everything changed and everyone in the UK started to realise that Covid-19 wasn't going anywhere. I went to visit Joe at the beginning of March and we had the best time. We went to Bubba Gump in Leicester Square and we went to London Zoo too. That was the last time I saw Joe until July.

Just before the lockdown in the UK, I flew to Amsterdam with my friends and it was such a weird experience. We had a great time, however, the day after we got there everything started to shut down and it got a little bit scary. Once we came home from Amsterdam, everything in the UK shut down.

April

My 21st birthday was in April, in the week where we saw the first big spike of Coronavirus deaths. I had booked to go to Rome and had plans to go to Bristol too but these plans had to be cancelled. Regardless, I still had a really good 21st and was able to appreciate the small things. Read all about how I spent my 21st birthday in lockdown.

The rest of April just consisted of working from home and a lot of sangria over the bank holidays. I also started properly weekly blogging in April. Before that, I was never really committed but I haven't stopped weekly blogging since.

May 

May must have been when mum, dad and I got really bored because I've gone through all my photos and we had a lot of themed nights in and we even gave Hollie a bath because she couldn't go to the groomers.

I was supposed to be at Bournemouth 7s festival in May so we had a festival garden party of our own at home. We also had beer pong nights, a VE Day party and made lots of Mars Bar rice crispy cakes: Recipe here.

June

In June, Joe and I had our 2nd anniversary, we just had to celebrate it over facetime. Mum and dad had their 30th wedding anniversary in June too, and their friends sent them a cheese hamper which was the best part!

June was when you were allowed to go in people's gardens so my family friends threw me a 21st party in their garden because I couldn't have one before, socially distant of course.

July 

In July, I attended my first ever blogging event and went for a PR visit to Sculpture by the Lakes. I had the best time and would love to go to more blogging events. I also went strawberry picking with mum in the beginning of July, I love doing that in summer.

July was when the first national lockdown ended so I was finally allowed to see Joe again and some of my family after 4 months! Mum and dad bought a hot tub too so that was a highlight of the summer. I also went out for my first meal in months and it was amazing. 

August

August seemed a lot more normal than any of the other months. I finished my year marketing internship in August and managed to go to Lincoln to visit one of my friends and had the best time. 

Celebrating being allowed to go out again, we went to a cheese and wine bar and went out for cocktails. I went to see Joe in London for the last time before we moved to Bournemouth. We went to Battersea park because we could walk there from his flat and didn't want to come into contact with too many people, and it was so nice! Ended up getting so many steps in too. 

Towards the end of August, I got to watch one of my best friends do a skydive for charity and it was safe to say that I was a lot more scared watching than she was doing it. 

September

I moved back to Bournemouth on the 1st of September and it was really weird being in student housing again after a whole year of being at home and working. Due to not being able to see any of my friends for my birthday, I went out with a few friends for cocktails at Be at One in Bournemouth. They gave me a voucher to spend for my birthday so we used it on cocktails there.

Joe moved back a little later than me so I went to visit him in Hastings before he moved back and we had the most amazing seafood platter.

I was lucky to get a couple of nights out and bottomless brunches in with my friends before Covid-19 started picking up the pace again. One night out was an ABBA night and I LOVE ABBA!

October

This was probably the worst month for me because it started off with me actually catching Covid-19. I was quite ill with it and it really got me down but now I feel lucky to not have had it any worse than I did. I also lost my sense of taste and smell for 5 weeks which was quite tragic but I appreciate being able to taste now more than ever! 

I had to isolate by myself in my room so my housemates wouldn't catch it and luckily they didn't. I won't lie, it was a really lonely time but I got through it which is the main thing.

After I isolated and got rid of the virus, I was able to start seeing people again. I went to Bingo Lingo in Southampton for one of my friends' birthdays and started working with my housemate's clothing company, Seven Nights Clothing. You are now reading the blog post of the Creative Copywriter for Seven Nights.

For Halloween, my housemate Maddie and I dressed up as Pitbull - once again supplying you with top quality content. We also went out for a bottomless brunch with our friends and that was the last time we saw them before the second national lockdown.

November

Before the second lockdown, Maddie and I went to Suffolk for a little break and we had such an amazing time. After that, November was quite nothingy because we were stuck in again. I did manage to get out and do some nice walks around Dorset. It's been nice to be able to get out by the sea.

In November, I also reached my highest amount of monthly views on my blog - 15,000 views! Check out this Google Analytics Cheatsheet mini E-book to help you keep on top of your analytics.

December

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So excited to be taking part in The Christmas Tag this year. Thank you so much to Sophie from Love and Literature for tagging me, be sure to check out her post too!

The Christmas Tag Rules 

The Original Questions

When do your decorations go up?

Usually the first weekend of December or the last weekend in November.

Who is the Scrooge of your family or friendship group?

Definitely my friend Robyn, she hates Christmas.

If money were no object, how and where would you spend Christmas?

Still with my family. Maybe somewhere Christmassy and cold with lots of Christmas markets! Austria looks amazing at this time of year. I prefer going to hot countries but if money were no object I'd visit them in summer.

What festive film do you HAVE to watch every festive season?

The Grinch! Read about all of my other favourite Christmas films.

Who do you find hardest to buy presents for?

I struggle a lot with any men that I have to buy for, what do you buy them? 

Would you rather buy lots of little presents for a hamper, or by one big/main present?

Probably lots of little presents because more presents just looks more impressive in my opinion. Also usually means you can spend less but give someone the same satisfaction as getting a big present.

What did you leave out for Santa when you were a child?

We left out a carrot for Rudolph, and a mince pie for Santa with a glass of diet coke. My mum's favourite drink was diet coke so I thought it was every adult's favourite drink - including Santa. I should have known!

Where did you spend last Christmas?

We spent last Christmas at home, as we usually do. Just before Christmas, we went to the Dortmund Christmas markets in Germany last year and the year before.

Which Christmas song makes you cringe?

Honestly, The Fairytale of New York. I know it's a lot of people's favourite, I just really hate it I don't know why.

If you could be a character in a holiday movie, who would you be and why?

Definitely Kevin in Home Alone 2. Imagine being in New York for Christmas, that would be so cool.

Sophie's Questions

Does your family have a Christmas tradition of their own? If so what is it?

Not really, we just do the usual stuff like eat Christmas dinner, open presents, etc.

What is your favourite part of Christmas Day?

Easy. Christmas dinner!

My Questions

What is your favourite part of the Christmas dinner?

How do you spend Boxing Day?

I Nominate

Girl with a View

Life with Rachael

The Sunday Blogger

The Kelly Diane Report

Enviroline Blog

Kat Spills the Tea

How do you spend Christmas?

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Related Read: Christmas Activities to do at Home

Wool of the King

One of my favourite things to do to get in the holiday mood is to watch Christmas films! If you celebrate Christmas, I have some suggestions lined up for you that you need to watch! I hadn't seen a lot of Christmas films before because I have kind of had my favourites since I was a kid, then I would just watch those every year without seeing any new ones. This year, because we've been in lockdown, I have made it my mission to watch more Christmas films that I haven't seen. If you're like me and watch the same ones every year, then why not try watching some of my suggestions?

1. The Grinch

I think the Grinch is probably my favourite Christmas film. I really loved the new Dr Seuss animated Grinch that came out a few years ago. It's just really visually pleasing with the colours and all the Christmas decorations. The animated version is available to watch on Netflix.

2. Home Alone 1 & 2

I love Home Alone 1 & 2 so much! I know there are other but they really don't appeal to me as much without the original cast. Even if you don't like Christmas these are still enjoyable because it just shows the struggles of little Kevin when he gets left behind by his family at Christmas in a comedic way. Both films are on Disney+.

3. Santa Claus 1, 2 & 3

All 3 of The Santa Claus films are classics. I really like watching any of these in the lead up to Christmas just because they are all about Santa Claus and getting the toys to children - it's just cute all round. These are also on Disney+.

4. Miracle on 34th Street

Can you believe I only watched this film recently? This is my mum's favourite and she always tells me to watch it but I haven't until a few weeks ago. I really enjoyed it and it's definitely in my top favourites now.

5. Love Actually

I am just going to make the assumption that 99% of you have already seen Love Actually if you're from the UK? However, you never know. If you haven't, you must! It basically has every British famous person ever in it and it's just a film all British people seem to watch at Christmas time.

6. Christmas with the Kranks

Again, this film was new to me this year. It's not the most amazing Christmas film I've seen but I did enjoy watching it. 

7. A Christmas Carol

There are so many versions of this film and all of the ones I've seen seem to be pretty good. The Muppet's Christmas Carol and Mickey's Christmas Carol on Disney+ are cute to watch too!

8. Elf

I've seen so many people on social media watching Elf this year, I have only watched it a few times but it's such a classic for so many people. I'm not usually a fan of Will Ferrell films but I don't mind this one because it's Christmas.

9. The Holiday

The Holiday is another one I had only watched recently. It's definitely a Sunday afternoon Christmas chick flick.

10. Nativity

I think I had only seen bits of Nativity when it had been on TV but this year I watched it all the way through and I really enjoyed it. I need to watch 2 and 3 now to see if they're any good.

What are your favourite Christmas films? Are there any not on here that I need to watch?

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Looking for more Christmas content? Check out my Christmas activity ideas post, featuring some of your favourite bloggers.

Wool of the King