2019 Recap And My Word Of The Year for 2020

Shop My Outfit:Use code: Abyers315 for 15% off of my dress and cardigan

This dress is true to size, I sized up to accommodate my bump.

Happy 2020! I cannot believe we’re in a new decade now. The past decade was amazing; there were so many significant memories ranging from my amazing college years at Oklahoma State University, Jake and I meeting my freshman year of college, getting married, starting our married life together, our first home in OKC, Jake’s medical school journey, lots of travels, and now his anesthesia training in Birmingham, AL. I am very excited for 2020, as it’s the year we will welcome our first child (and hopefully more children eventually too), and Jake will finally finish his anesthesiology training in a few years. In the past, I have shared a list of my new year’s resolutions. This year I wanted to do something different and pick a word instead. I’ve never came up with a word of the year before and, to be honest, it was very hard for me to pinpoint one word that would cover all of my goals. I wanted to do a recap of 2019 first, then I’ll share what word I came up with to encompass my goals.

2019 Year in Review:

• I celebrated 2 years of blogging: you can find my story of why I started my blog here.
• We remodeled our kitchen/breakfast room after damages due to our neighbor’s tree falling on our home. I really love how everything turned out, but gosh it was a hassle. We’re also still dealing with insurance too. You can find my breakfast room remodel here and kitchen here.
• We took a trip to Europe to see London and Paris. This was a pre-babymoon for us, as I had told Jake the one thing I wanted to do before trying for a baby was going to Europe together.
•  Jake finished his first year and a half of his anesthesia training.
• We traveled as much as we could (London, Paris, 30A area in Destin, Gulf Shores area, Atlanta, Nashville, Boston, Kansas City, Dallas and Tulsa)
•  I got pregnant and learned to trust God’s timing. You can read more about that in this post.
• We found out we’re having a baby girl in May.

My Word Of The Year

I mentioned that it was hard for me to cover my resolutions in just one word. I know 2020 will bring a ton of changes as I start my motherhood journey. I came up with the word “embrace,” since I know there will be a lot of changes coming my way. I want to embrace the changes and really enjoy this exciting time. 2020 will bring a lot of changes physically as my belly will continue to balloon, changes with having a baby who will rely on Jake and I to care for her, changes with our marriage as we will become a family of 4 (including our cat, of course), changes to my work life, and I’m sure my blog topics will change some, and many more changes will come our way. I know being a mom is the hardest job in the world, but it’s also the best job in the world, too. Babies only stay little for so long, so I want to embrace and really enjoy this time.

Top 6 Most Popular Blog Posts for 2019:

1. Louis Vuitton Neverfull Review: Is It Worth The Price? I am not surprised this post got the most views. I got a lot of web search traffic from this post and it was one of my first posts in 2019. When I do reviews on popular luxury items they seem to do well. I plan to incorporate more reviews into 2020 including baby products.
2. Decoding the Dress Code: What to Wear to a “Formal” Event: This post was actually from 2018, but has continued to get a lot of web traffic search and traffic from Pinterest. I actually get a lot of emails about this post asking for advice on what to wear to events. I am always so honored to help!
3. Bite-Size Birmingham: My Birmingham Bucket List: I started my new monthly blog series, Bite-Size Birmingham, in 2019 where I share an aspect of our city. My first post of the series continues to be a top performer for me. I missed my December post due to the busy-ness of the holidays, but plan to start back this month.
4. Baby Byers: I shared this post during Thanksgiving week announcing my pregnancy and that Baby Byers will arrive in May.
5. A Weekend Guide to Sea Island and St. Simons Island, Georgia: This is a post from 2018 that has gotten a lot of web searches and Pinterest views. I would love to visit these areas again.
6. Baby Byers Gender Reveal: This is one of my favorite posts as well. I was so excited to share that we’re expecting a baby girl.

Thank you so much for reading! With the holidays I have put my blog on the back burner lately to really enjoy time with my family and with Jake. I am feeling recharged and have a lot of fun content ideas this year. I’m excited to embrace how my content will change this year too as I become a mother. If you have any topics you’d like to see me cover in 2020 please comment below or email me at abyersguide@gmail.com.