Valle de los Ingenios

24 Hopes & Goals for 2024

Welcome 2024!!! Can’t believe it’s already here and I’m posting this right away instead of waiting four months!

What a wild year this has been! As is always my tradition, I’m jotting down some hopes and goals for 2024. I always find setting specific, tangible goals helps me focus vs. just throwing things to the wind like “Be healthy” or “Work on happiness.”

Before I go into my 2024 goals, let’s take a look back at 2023.

Where I Went in 2023

  • JANUARY: Rang in the New Year in Edinburgh, stayed in London for a bit, made my first visit to Amsterdam, popped over to Iceland
  • FEBRUARY: Went to Cuba for about 2 weeks, Brooklyn for another 2+ weeks
  • MARCH: Started off in Brooklyn, flew to Korea for a month, a week in Jeju where I finally hiked Hallasan
  • APRIL: Started off in Korea, got my fall foliage tattoo, miserable half marathon in Brooklyn
  • MAY: My brother got engaged, Taylor Swift in Philly, started off my road trip to Oklahoma with stops in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas
  • JUNE: Plenty of time in Oklahoma before roadtripping through Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky and western PA, stayed at my friend’s in Philly
  • JULY: Petsit for another friend in Philly, girls’ trip to Tulum
  • AUGUST: Girls’ trip up to the Finger Lakes, few weeks in Haarlem, Netherlands, quick trip up to Bergen
  • SEPTEMBER: Week+ in London, back up to the Finger Lakes for the Wineglass Half
  • OCTOBER: Road trip through the Finger Lakes to Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Hudson Valley region of New York, few days in Asheville, and a few days in Atlanta to see my oldest friend get married, drove back up with a stop in Shenandoah
  • NOVEMBER: Fun lil 5K with my future SIL, Philly half marathon + 8K challenge
  • DECEMBER: Alyshia came to visit Philly, my sister’s bachelorette, and random Philly hangs

Phew – it was busy! Here’s how I managed my 2023 goals:

2023 Hopes & Goals

  1. Visit Mexico âś“ – Done! Went to Tulum for a quick week in July with my friend, Alyshia. I will not lie, I have mixed feelings on Tulum but I will say staying in Tulum Town/Tulum Pueblo was the BEST decision. I still want to go back because there are SO many more places on my Mexico list.
  2. Visit 5 new U.S. states âś“ – Done! New states include Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, and Connecticut.
  3. Visit 5 new countries âś“ – Done! This year was Scotland, Iceland, Netherlands, Cuba, and Mexico.
  4. Move to the Netherlands – Sooooo news on that front. I’m having some birth certificate issues and after going over my schedule, the housing market, and the recent elections, I decided to at least postpone my move to 2025. I’m also looking into other European options as I know NL isn’t the only country I could get a visa for!
  5. Get to 100K page views monthly. âś“ Done! And I’ve stayed over pretty steadily with only a few small drops.
  6. Meet my income goal. GUYS! After I parted ways with Badass Lady Gang in May, I figured losing that income stream meant I’d get nowhere near my goal. But I actually was just $4,000 short. So next year, I’m going to aim again as I have a lot of different goals coming up.
  7. Save at least $15,000. I was doing really well but wound up with more expenses than I thought towards the second half of the year. Still – I got pretty close at $11,000! And I have done a LOT of study on investing and finance and yadada so I’m hoping to be even smarter next year.
  8. Start planning for an exciting idea I have. I’m going to be so real with you guys, I have no clue what I was talking about. However, I do have like three different business ideas I’ve been playing around with so that could be a carry over.
  9. Run 4 races this year. âś“ I did more actually! Brooklyn Half, Wineglass Half, Dewey Decimal 5K, Philly Half, Rothman 8K. I’m really proud of how steadily I’ve been running this year.
  10. Break my Diet Coke addiction. âś“ Kind of. When I wrote this I was allowed only one a week, which I definitely have loosened. I only drink them on the weekend but am limited to one a day. However, for events like my sister’s bach… Diet Coke was replacing my blood flow.
  11. Get really good at planks. NOPE. Working on this next year, though I do tend to do them (or modified versions) with my mom when we work out together.
  12. Hike 10 new trails. I don’t think I hit 10 and if I did they were short enough I don’t remember. The notable hikes were hiking Hallasan, hiking two different trails in Wichita, and a short one in Shenandoah… So not shabby!
  13. Lear 15 new recipes. âś“ Actually I think I did hit this but I wasn’t consciously counting. Lots of air fryer recipes especially with chicken and salmon. I was also in charge of the turkey at Thanksgiving and prime rib at Christmas this year!
  14. Move out of the pre-diabetic range. I actually won’t have my appointment until later this year, so TBD. I will say I move a lot more this year than I did less year and I’m a lot more conscious of my sugar consumption than I have been in the past.
  15. Learn to not pizza when skiing. I’ve only skied once this year and I don’t think I mastered the French fries. But this is a good goal for next year!
  16. Commit to going screen-free at least once day a week. I tried, I really tried. But this may be an ongoing goal.
  17. Watch one Spanish TV show. I actually did not! I’ve been so busy this year, the only time I watch TV really is when I’m sitting down and doing something else. That means I inevitably need to watch something easy and in English.
  18. Get to beginner level in Dutch. Also no but I did buy a book to study.
  19. Watch 2 K-dramas this year. Sadly no! See No. 17 for why.
  20. Do one page of my Vietnamese book. I actually didn’t do this! I moved twice this year and my workbooks were in storage forever.
  21. Learn to color grade videos. âś“ Actually I did learn a bit but to do what I really want to do with color grading, I need to invest in Adobe Premiere which means I need a laptop that can handle it and also a better camera for film… So for now, that’s on the back burner.
  22. Write a novel. ACTUALLY!! I haven’t finished writing the first draft but I’m pretty darn close. It’s fully fleshed out and I’ve managed 31,000 words. I was working on it for the first half the year before scrapping 99% of it in favor of a redoing the present day situation and condensing the storyline. It was like a switch flipped and since then I’ve had such a clear vision for this book, I’m SO excited.
  23. Read 52 Books. Done! Finished on my train into the city for the new year.

24 Hopes & Goals for 2024

Travel

1. Visit 10 new destinations abroad.

I roughly know my entire 2024 calendar already, and I know if all works out I’ll be headed to 3-4 new countries! I thought I’d change it up a bit and say destinations instead because I’ll be re-visiting a lot of countries, and it’d be fun to focus on exploring a new area.

To give you an idea, here’s where I tentatively plan on going: Austria, Denmark, England, Spain, Norway, Netherlands, (maybe) Romania, Ireland, Canada, Korea, Vietnam, and Laos.

Lots of potential. Not to mention my Korea bucket list and Vietnam bucket list are extensive on their own.

2. Visit 5 new places in Pennsylvania.

Since I’m planning to live at home for another year (well, 3ish months of 2024), I thought I’d challenge myself to visit 5 more new places I have on my PA bucket list. With a car and time, you’d think I’d have gone through this list a lot more quickly.

3. Visit 5 new landmarks in Philly.

Another thing I want to do – focus on visiting some more Philly landmarks. I’ve been to a lot but there are still definitely more I could see.

4. Spend time in 5 more new U.S. states.

While I’m still planning to be stateside, I thought it’d be fun to focus on checking off more U.S. states. Off the top of my head, I still really want to visit Hawaii, Michigan, New Hampshire, Utah, Vermont, and West Virginia. When or how TBD.

There She Goes Again - AAPI Blogger

Business & Finances

5. Publish 52 new blog posts

I had a lofty goal of publishing 100 posts one year and that turned out to be way too much to handle. So I’m bringing it down to a more doable 52, aka one a week. I know that should be easy but when you factor in travel, social media, my other jobs, updating old posts, etc, etc – the days get away from me quickly!

6. Meet my income goal.

Like I said above, I was only $4k off my income goal in 2023!! I didn’t realize I’d get so close. This year I’m focused on getting to that goal once and for all.

7. Master the art of budgeting.

I will admit – I am not good at budgeting at ALL. I keep my head well above water and can even put away savings and pay off my CC every month, but I’d like to be even more intentional this year.

8. Save at least $20,000 USD

I missed my $15k goal in 2023 but I think with focus I can get to $20K this year.

9. Limit any brand new clothing or shoe purchases to 10 for the whole year.

I had a lofty goal of not buying anything clothing or shoe-wise for a year but, frankly, I broke it at Black Friday pretty bad. And in the mean time, I have finally figured out both Poshmark and Vestiraire. So… while I’m going to find ways to limit myself on those apps, I’m going to also try some balance with purchasing anything brand new.

For the whole year, I can only buy 10 new things whether it’s jewelry, clothing, shoes, hair things, etc. So far I have bought one cotton dress but I did remember this goal and put back 2-3 items! So, you know, progress.

Health & Fitness

10. Run a marathon!

It’s happening!! I signed up to run the Madrid Marathon in April with my friend, Tara. She *might* not be able to come now but we’re crossing our fingers for the best. If you’re doing the math, that means, yes, I’m already training!

11. Run at least a 5K in every new destination I visit.

I want to keep up this goal even though I didn’t totally do it this year. I’ve gotten to a really good place with running where a 5K feels easy peasy even after a longer break, so I think I can manage doing a 5K even with some jet lag.

Plus – running around really is a great way to get acclimated quickly. Who knows? Maybe I’ll drag my friends into running with me.

12. Average 3-4 days of exercise even when traveling

I have to say I am at my most organized and healthy when I can maintain 3-4 days a week of exercise whether it’s running or lifting or doing kettlebells with my mom and sister. The problem is – it often falls to the wayside when I travel. It’s okay if I’m somewhere where I walk a lot because at least I’ve been moving all day, but these road trips in 2023 taught me I can get just as fatigued sitting in a car for hours as I can walking around a new city for 20,000+ steps.

So focusing on breaking a sweat 3-4 times a week no matter where I am is my main goal!

13. Get really good at planks

Someone on Tiktok is challenging themselves to plank to every Taylor Swift song from shortest to longest, and I kind of want to try that…

14. Hike Jirisan’s peak!

If all goes to plan, I’ll be in Korea for the fall foliage this year, and I texted my friend, Stacey, that I want to hike to Jirisan’s peak. She’s done the hike before and said it was harder than Hallasan (which she did in the snow!), so I’m considering this my big fitness challenge for the latter half the of year.

15. Learn to meal plan regularly.

The biggest thing I finally want to master is meal planning. Nutrition is super important with running, but I’ve found that when I’m tired I really do NOT feel like thinking about what to eat. I just want something to be in the fridge that I can grab and heat-up. This means I often don’t get enough protein and veggies in every day.

So, meal planning! I have this Goodful cookbook that I’m excited to make use of and I actually still have an old Fit Girls Guide ebook that has a ton of easy recipes to prep. If you have any easy recipes you love, let me know!

AndalucĂ­a Road Trip

Language

16. Read one Spanish book.

I have one or two I want to read all the way through, so I’m making this my goal again.

17. Re-visit a Spanish grammar book.

I want to improve my Spanish – especially my vocabulary. Not only does language atrophy when you don’t use it, your mental stamina also atrophies! I noticed in Cuba that I’d start to get tired by the end of the day and my ability to understand would fade really fast.

18. Watch one TV show in Spanish.

I failed this goal last year, so putting it here again! If you have any good recommendations, let me know.

Just for Fun

19. Capture more photos and videos.

Honestly, I love going back into my videos and photos to reminisce. When I first started blogging, I was so focused on getting those beautiful, professional shots that I neglected getting fun shots and selfies with the people I was with. Boo!!

This year I want to make an effort to just capture more. More selfies. More photos with friends. More video clips and random little Tiktok vlogs. I feel like that sounds kind of self indulgent, but when I’m 70 years old and chillin’ at home with my 10 cats, I want to watch these clips back and enjoy them!

20. Read 52 books total.

My goal every year!

21. Read at last 26 physical books.

This year I want to challenge myself to reading more physical books, especially since I bought so many the last two years popping in and out of bookstores! Frankly, I will probably continue to buy more this year too, so this feels like a doable goal to have more books in my “read” pile.

22. Finish the first draft of my novel.

I made it 31,000 words and have a very clear outline of what I want to do. Aiming to finish that draft as well as all revisions so I can…

23. Find a literary agent.

Next step to getting a publishing contract ;)!

24. Spent at least 15 minutes on a dating app every time I’m in a new location.

I have decided to force myself to try to date more this year. And since I believe in baby steps, I will be trying to go an app for at least 15 minutes every new locations. LOL

What are your hopes and goals for this year? Let me know!

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