About 2017 and planning for 2018

Two days of 2018 have already passed and I’ve taken a pretty long break from the blog. I spent the Christmas weekend at home with Kalle for the first time, and my mother came to visit us for a couple of days. It was a very restful and cozy Christmas for sure, and we also spent some time with Kalle’s siblings and of course a couple of friends as well. We’ve been binge-watching documentaries and YouTube videos, we’ve played board games, had Kalle’s nephews to visit us for a couple of days, and of course been sleeping a lot. It has been wonderful to take a break from both my ordinary job and from the blog (even though I love what I do). I’m feeling way more inspired now so I think it was a great idea to take this break. I have however been thinking a lot about this new year and what I want to accomplish, and I’ve written a list of things I want to do. In this post, I want to share some of the things I’m gonna start working on this year, but I also want to share some highlights from 2017.

As I mentioned on Instagram on New Year’s Eve, 2017 was a pretty tough year for us. The first four months, we more or less lived at the hospital. It was super hard, but things turned out great and from May on it has been all about healing. By the end of 2017, another family member got very sick and it was, once again, a very tough period to go through. It’ll be the year of disease, and I think I’ll always associate 2017 with that, even though a lot of great things also happened throughout the year. I guess that’s inevitable. But I’m an optimist and I like to focus on the good things so that’s what I want to do here as well. I do however think it’s important to mention the bad things too, because people tend to show only the good things on social media and the Internet, and in order to be authentic and honest, we must also talk about the tough things in life, right?

Due to the hospital visits during the first four months of 2017, I didn’t photograph much at all. Actually, I don’t remember much what happened during those months. I just focused on doing my job and updating the blog whenever I had the time and energy. Actually, I didn’t photograph much until June, so I don’t have many photos to show you from that time. But a few great things happened during the first 6 months that are worth mentioning:

• One of my photos became the cover photo of a magazine
• We went on a weekend trip to a small Swedish city (good food, coffee, and spa visits)
• We spent a weekend in the cabin
• One of my best friends got married (we couldn’t come to the wedding because of illness, but still a lovely thing)
• Kalle’s brother turned 40 and we had such a great surprise birthday party for him

During July and August, we traveled a lot. We went to the cabin, to the North to visit Kalle’s dad and sister and then we went on a road trip in Swedish Lapland and the Lofoten islands. We were almost never at home and it was great to leave Stockholm for a while. Our road trip to Lofoten was great. We slept in the car, randomly drove around with no real plan other than seeing as much as possible and doing whatever we felt like doing. We met a lot of amazing people and I must say that this was one of my favorite trips ever. Norway is such a beautiful country and I’m so happy that we got to explore the Lofoten islands – it has been a dream for so long.

I worked a lot during the autumn months. I had a lot of fun collaborations and I also had a lot to do with my ordinary job so the autumn season passed by in what felt like two hours. Here are a few great things that happened:

• I was nominated for best food photography in the Swedish Food Blog Awards (still can’t believe it)
• I got to meet Linda, Diana, Agnes, Emma, Annelie and many more kick-ass women at the Food Blog Awards ceremony. So much fun!
• I met Devin (from This Is Crumb) and Courtney and showed them some of my favorite spots in Stockholm. It was such a nice day and I just love to meet Instagram friends irl.
• I also got to meet the sweetest Audrie and Raleigh for a long ”fika” when they visited Stockholm in November. Loved every second of it!
• I traveled to a couple of new cities in Sweden for work
• I really found my style when it comes to photo editing and food styling
• I became an ambassador for Garant – one of my all-time favorite Swedish food companies
• …and much more!

December was pretty amazing. We bought and decorated a Christmas tree, I baked A LOT, I photographed and styled more than ever before and I got to spend Christmas and New Year’s Eve with my favorite person in the entire world.

Even if 2017 was a very tough year, it was also a year of personal development. We made plans for the future, things that will hopefully happen during 2018 (like buying a house), and I learned a lot about what it’s like to own a business and a lot about myself and what’s important in life.

We’ve adopted some new healthy habits, like starting the day with a matcha latte and a chlorella shot. I’ve started practicing yoga more frequently, I’ve read more than 20 books (which was my goal), and I’ve been spending so much time in the kitchen, cooking healthy plant-based food, which feels great. I also switched to a completely organic skincare/haircare routine; makeup, shampoo, conditioner, body lotions – everything. And it was so worth it, it has made such a huge difference.

And I’ve gotten the chance to work with so many amazing companies; Maria Åkerberg, Bruns Products, Garant, Viva Vin & Mat, Smakbox and all the magazines I’ve created recipes for <3

Goals for 2018

I have a lot of goals for this new year. Both for myself and for my business, and of course Kalle and I have a whole bunch of things we want to do together. Here are some of them:

• First of all, I want to stay healthy. And even more, I want my loved ones to stay healthy. There are many things you can’t control, but what you can do is to eat healthy and live a healthy lifestyle. So, just like every year, eating healthy is a goal I have. But after last year, this feels more important than ever. A plant-based diet and incorporating even more superfoods – that’s the plan.
• Travel to new places.
• I’m gonna launch a new service on my website. I won’t tell you much more than that yet, but it’s something for you guys <3 I want to use my knowledge and help people, so stay tuned!
• I’m gonna start building my mailing list. Finally!
• We want to buy a house
• I want to become a better photographer
• This is so simple, yet so important – drink at least 2 L of water every single day.
• I want to keep improving my self-esteem and stay away from negative energy.
• I want to spend more time outdoors
• And I want to improve my yoga skills

Do you have any specific goals for 2018? What do you want to improve? Tell me in a comment if you want 🙂