2015

I can’t believe 2014 is over. I literally feel like I’ve blinked and the year has just flown past. 2014 has been one huge roller coaster. I have learnt a lot about myself through the many highs and many lows. Overall is was a great year, I feel so blessed to have been able to complete so many of my goals.
I’ve wrote a little about the blog related things I achieved last year and the goals I’ve set for this year. Personal achievements wise I have decided to keep this indeed personal, with that being said I am still writing down my goals for this year anyway.
I also enjoyed reading a variety of blogs last year, funnily enough they weren’t beauty blogs but more of the lifestyle kind. I enjoy lifestyle blogs a lot more and only ever read beauty reviews when buying a new beauty product. Anyway I have listed a few of my faves - these are the ones I check throughout the week to see if there is a new post!

THE BLOGS I’VE READ AND LOVED

The Wonder forest I had been reading Dana’s blog way before I started blogging, so thats almost over 2 years ago. Also fun fact, before I actually started blogging I purchased Dana’s ‘everything you need to know about blogging’ book - Blog Wonderful. It helped me so much as it contains lots of tips and tricks! I love Dana’s lifestyle posts but she also has blog tech kind of posts too.
Milkbubbletea I have been reading Becky’s blog for the longest time. I absolutely adore her blog photos - they are so pretty and totally inspire me to improve my blog photography -something which I desperately need to do! Her little pup Oscar is a cutie and her baking posts look incredibly delicious. Oh and Becky’s room decor is absolutely dreamy.
Carrie Brighton I’ve been a follower of Carrie’s blog for a while but only recently really got into it. I love her blog photography and lifestyle posts. They are a real mixture almost diary like. I also love Carrie’s dairy free recipes - they are so useful. Did I mention her photography is on point?
Little Winter Katy has two little cats, Ralph and Runkle. The cat lady within me absolutely adores the beautiful pictures Katy takes and I love hearing about their adventures! Katy also writes about home decor and fashion too. Her blog photography is lovely too, especially the pictures of Ralph and Runkle!

THE THINGS I’VE ACHIEVED IN 2014

001: Blogging I reached the big 1000 milestone this year - around summer time if I remember correctly. As of yesterday I was just over 1460 followers. I cannot thank you all enough for supporting my blog. It really does mean a lot. I was also fortunate enough to work with so many lovely brands, even a company like Pets at Home; yes how amazing, somewhere I’ve shopped for years!
002: AleelilyDesigns I launched my blog design shop just before the summer last year after a few design requests from bloggers. I didn’t think much of it at the time but it has grown into something I couldn’t be more proud of. I am so happy you like the designs and place orders. It still all feels so surreal. All those evening and weekends working on designs have definitely paid off. 

THE THINGS I HOPE FOR IN 2015

001: Blogging I really do hope to post more than once a week this year, I posted twice weekly in December which gave me a good feel for it. Content wise working on more lifestyle kind of posts is something that really interests me as well as home decor. With the help of my new baking books I would love to try out more baking recipes on my blog. I will still of course be posting regular beauty reviews. I also hope my blog grows as well as it did last year - if not better.
002: Photography Something I’ve been wanting to improve on for the longest time is my blog photography - I purchased a DSLR a few weeks ago and it’s been on Auto mode since, this totally defeats the purpose in purchasing one. I really hope to set aside time this year and learn how to actually use it and with that I hope my blog photography gets better.
003: AleelilyDesigns I couldn’t have hoped for anything better with the way my blog design shop has gone, I am honestly so grateful and I hope 2015 is as good. This year I will be setting aside time to make more premade blog designs which will be great for those of you who don’t want to commit to a full custom design just yet. 
004: Instagram Apparently Instagram is the new Twitter. I really hope to use my Instagram account more this year - the thing is I just never know what to picture and the perfectionist within me was always worried about the lighting etc. I have been trying out various apps though and feel like I’m confident enough to start using it to its full potential. I would love to see you there! @aleelily Let me know if you follow as I am looking for more accounts to follow too.
005: Stop procrastinating, start organising With amount of diaries and notebooks I have you would think I would be organised but this is something I really need to improve on. Working full time, blogging, blog designing and other general life commitments do sometimes turn into am juggling act. Something I hope to work on this year is my organisational skills - if you have any tips I would love to hear them.

I mentioned this on Twitter yesterday but one quote that seemed pretty apt with my 2014 was, “What’s for you won’t go by you.” And by this I mean everything happens for a reason, and everything does really work out in the end. I hope you all have a great 2015! 
Make some memories and stay happy x
♡