2016 To Do List

It's the first day of a brand new year! I always feel a delicious sort of anticipation whenever I think about all the fresh possibilities a new year has to offer. I love how this particular time inspires me to think about how I can be better, and I always come up with a list of resolutions to try and accomplish during the year ahead that are in line with those goals. Here is my 2016 To Do List - and here's to hoping I'll cross every item off of it!

Travel at least three times next year. • I like going on trips with people I love, and I really want to make an active choice to go on more trips next year. There are some tentative plans in the works already, and if one or two or all of them pan out, well, I'll easily be able to cross this goal off of my list.

Save, save, save. • I've only really started getting smarter about managing my money this year, and it's paying off slowly but surely. I'm hoping to be able to jump-start my nest egg again, and saving a decent amount of money to tide me over in case of a rainy day.

Cook a meal at least once a week. Bake something at least once every two weeks. • It's weird to realize that I do actually enjoy being in the kitchen! I want to cultivate preparing food for my family as a habit, so I'm challenging myself to tackle recipes for meals and baked goods.

Exercise at least three times a week. • The older I get, the more I can sense my body needing exercise to remain limber and fit. I need to really make it a point to set aside time for exercise, whether it's a Blogilates, yoga or stretching session.

Buy only X amount of books in a month. • I'll go into detail a little bit more when this year's Picky Pledge goes up, but I want to try setting a finite number of books I can buy per month. Having a specific amount will help me acquire less books and really decide which ones I need.

Read more adult classics. • I did read a fair amount of classics in 2015, but they were mostly rereads of my favorite childhood classics. I stealthily avoided reading the lengthier, denser adult books, but no more of that will be happening in 2016! I'm determined to read the ones I already own, and have wanted to read.

Read less review books. • My goal was to read only 60 review books last year, and I went over that number by 27 novels. (#Oops. Well, technically 22 of those 27 were from BEA, friends or unsolicited.) Anyway, I'm going to keep the same numerical goal of 60 and hope that I'll actually be able to stick to that!

Complete all the reading challenges I'm participating in. • I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself, so I'm really only attempting to do three challenges apart from my Goodreads Challenge (which will be 200 books):

• Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge 2016 | Goal: 40 books
• Re-read Challenge 2016 | Goal: 24 books
• Popsugar Reading Challenge 2016 | Goal: 40 books

Film at least four vlogs a month. • You've seen it here first: I'm making a return to vlogging! I loved getting to do my video recaps and hauls in 2014, but failed miserably about being consistent about that in 2015. With my new set-up (shelves and lights), I'm excited to make a comeback!

Collaborate with other bloggers/vloggers. • There is nothing I love more than being able to work together with other bloggers on events or features! I really enjoy getting challenged and inspired creatively, and look forward to all the collaborations in my future.

Collaborate with authors to do a post series or blog feature. • Last year, I invited authors to join me for Voices in Fantasy, and it was so much fun! This year, I'm hoping to bring that post series back, as well as doing something on the blog that involves author participation. 

Share a personal post at least two times a month. • I did share a lot of personal updates last year, but I don't feel like I was very consistent about it. I'm hoping to make a deliberate choice to share my life with you guys a little more often than I did last year!

What are the things on your 2016 to do list?