2019 in Review
I wrote my first “year in review” post at the end of last year, and I loved putting that post together so much that I’m back with another year in review for 2019! I went through the past year and picked out the most read blog posts that were published this year (not including review posts, which are always my most popular posts, haha) and a few of my favorite looks (click the look to go to the original post). I also recapped my travel and looked back at my purchasing trends (but, as always, I’ll be sharing my best and worst purchases of the year in their own posts in the next week or so). As always, thank you so much for reading! Cheers to 2020! xo
READ NEXT: 2018 in Review
2019 in Review
Most Read Posts
My FAVORITE OUTFITS
TRAVEL RECAP
Travel this year consisted of a few small two-day/weekend trips and one week-long vacation. After traveling to Seattle in February to see (and meet!) Kacey Musgraves, we drove down to Salt Lake City in March to catch a full weekend of college gymnastics meets—first the MRGC Championship (which is BSU’s conference—and they won!) and then the Pac-12 Championship (two sessions!). Snaps and videos from the gymnastics-filled weekend are still up in my Instagram story highlights. On our way home, we took a quick detour through southern Idaho, stopping at a couple of popular sites in Twin Falls (Shoshone Falls and the Perrine Bridge). I wrote a little bit about that trip in this post!
In April, we made a spontaneous decision to travel to Oregon to attend the gymnastics regional competition at Oregon State once we learned that BSU was headed there. (Regionals marks the start of the NCAA tournament.) We flew to/from Portland, stayed in Corvallis, and spent some time along the Oregon Coast. That trip is also still saved in Instagram stories. (Random fun fact: Our Christmas tree came from a farm in between Corvallis and the coast. We probably drove right by it!)
We headed back to SLC in June for a quick trip to see the American Classic, a qualifier for the U.S. Championships for elite-level gymnasts. On our way down, we detoured through southern Idaho again, this time stopping at the Hagerman Horse and the Hagerman Fossil Beds. We also detoured through northern Utah and checked out the Spiral Jetty, a manmade earthwork sculpture along the lake.
I had a week-long work trip to Dallas, Texas, at the end of July (photo evidence here and here), and then Korri and I flew to Minneapolis in August to visit his parents and see the Vikings preseason game vs. the Seahawks. We also saw a few new sites around Minneapolis!
Our big trip for the year was my 30th birthday trip to the Cook Islands at the end of September! We spent a week in beautiful Rarotonga along Muri Beach. I wrote about where we stayed, what we did (including a visit to the botanical gardens), and our day trip to the absolutely stunning neighboring island of Aitutaki. We already can’t wait to go back!
I only featured one new local spot in 2019: Mores Creek Summit (in the mountains just north of Idaho City) when it was covered in feet of snow at the end of last winter! I hope to share more local spots next year. :)
Clothing BUDGET RECAP
Once again, I started off slowly at the beginning of the year with no new clothing purchases in January and only one in February (I tried to buy more but most items I bought didn’t end up working out in one way or another). The rest of the purchases included in my winter budget happened in December. I realized this tends to be the trend for me: I spend a lot in November and December and then not as much in January and February.
I added 16 new items in both the spring and the summer (not counting the beachwear I purchased) and 14 new items in the fall. This December, I added seven new purchases. All of my 2019 wardrobe additions can be found on this Pinterest board (but I’m currently a little behind in adding them all, and this board also includes some of the beachwear that I didn’t include in the counts above).
In total, I spent $3,186 on clothing purchases in 2019. Whew. My budget is $2,000 per year ($500 per quarter for four quarters), and I was able to stay under budget thanks to gift cards and reselling my preloved clothes on Poshmark. It still is a little mind-boggling to think I spent that much on clothes, though…
More random facts from this past year:
Total number of items added: 56 (including December; up from 47 in 2018)
Total number of items from my “main” closet sold on Poshmark: 30
Donated a few older items that were in my “main” closet (on Stylebook) that weren’t getting activity on Poshmark plus a few others that weren’t in my “main” closet
Added 5 new sweaters and 3 new sweatshirts
Added 4 new pairs of boots and 4 new pairs of sandals
Added 3 new coats
Added 3 new pairs of jeans and 3 new pairs of pants
Added 3 new hats
Added 3 new swimsuits (2 one-pieces)
Added 2 new bags including a belt bag
Added a new bodysuit (!)
Added 3 new pairs of earrings (one thanks to a collaboration)
Added 4 new pairs of shoes thanks to my longstanding collaboration with Earth—two pairs of boots, one pair of sandals, and one pair of sneakers
Spent the most money on Aquatalia boots ($191 on sale from $450—purchased this December) and the least on an H&M ribbed tee ($12; no longer available); the latter was worn here and here
Top retailers: Everlane, Madewell, Uniqlo
New-to-me retailers: ABLE, Nisolo, 9seed, Aquatalia, AUrate
