2023 Year in Review

I want to look back at the year and give you a sneak peek of what I have planned this year in travel, blogging, and business for 2024! 

2023 was a busy year, but at the same time, it feels like I didn’t do nearly as much as I wanted to. I didn’t kick off my Shopify store, I didn’t sell out my Pinterest course, and I didn’t do the updates to my Pinterest course that I wanted to. I hardly posted on my blog, I didn’t hit my reading goal… Honestly, I could go on and on. 

And because of this, I started 2024 feeling drained. I’m excited about the new year, but I have also been finding it very daunting! This year I’m trying to set more realistic goals for myself and make sure that I have action steps in place to hit those goals. 

But before we get into that, let’s recap last year! 

Where I Traveled in 2023

• JANUARY: Rang in the New Year in San Diego, and explored Borrego Springs and Joshua Tree.
• FEBRUARY: Went to Bombay Beach, visited my parents for two weeks (in Colorado), and went back to San Diego.
• MARCH: Got our van fixed, visited my bestie in Vegas, got the van fixed (AGAIN), and explored Valley of Fire and Death Valley.
• APRIL: Drove up the coast of California, slept next to the Golden Gate Bridge, fell in love with the Redwoods, Made it to Oregon, explored Bend, hiked in Smith Rock, and chased waterfalls in Columbia River Gorge and Silver Falls State Parks. Crossed into Washington and visited Olympic National Park and Seattle.
• MAY: Started off in Mt Rainier National Park, visited North Cascades National Parks, ate pretzels in Leavenworth, and road-tripped through Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. Found hotsprings in Iadho, biked ‘Going to the Sun’ Road in Glacier National Park, hiked our way through Grand Tetons, and watched geysers erupt in Yellowstone.
• JUNE: Road-tripped across Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Slept in the Grasslands, visited Teddy Roosevelt National Park, found an epic campsite overlooking Badlands National Park, made a pitstop at Carhenge, and hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park.
• JULY: Flew to Toronto to meet my grief group in real life. Flew to Ireland for a 2-week road trip.
• AUGUST: Started in Ireland, drove on the left (and nailed it!), spent the rest of the month back in London.
• SEPTEMBER: Helsinki and Estonia with my parents. A few days spent in Brighton.
• OCTOBER: Flew back to the US to road trip to Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Caught up with old friends, camped at the Lake of the Ozarks, slept in countless Cracker Barrell packing lots, and danced the night away at a music festival in Florida.
• NOVEMBER: Started in the Keys swimming with Manatees. Road tripped through Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah. Listened to jazz music in New Orleans, explored Austin and West Texas, went to Big Bend, and took my partner to my favorite National Park in Utah – Arches. Ended the month flying to French Polynesia!
• DECEMBER: Spent 2 weeks in French Polynesia, city breaks to Paris and Amsterdam, Christmas in Geneva and back to London for the new year.

My Biggest Achievement of 2023: Roadtripping Across the US

Back in 2019, my partner and I bought a campervan and spent 6 months renovating it with the help of my dad. Then, of course, the world shut down and since he’s not from the US, he was unable to enter the country. 

We finally made it to our van at the end of 2022 and kicked on 2023 living in our dream home full-time. 

Our year started in sunny Southern California with a mixture of amazing days spent at the beach and sending the van into Mercedes to have work done. We spent days camping around Joshua Tree and nights housesitting in San Diego. 

Once the weather warmed up we hit Las Vegas, Death Valley, and the California Coast to drive the famous Highway 1. Fast forward past the van trouble and we explored Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, and Colorado. 

After spending two months in Europe, we came back to the US and road-tripped through the South. On this side of the trip, we visited Kansas, Missouri, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, and Utah on our way back to Colorado. It was the trip of a lifetime and we were so lucky to have our van to do it in. 

We slept in the parking lots of countless cracker barrels, at endless truck stops and several beautiful BLM campsites along the way. 

Overall, we explored 25 states and 21 national parks across the country. The trip of a lifetime.

2023 in International Travel

2023 was definitely the year of domestic travel, but I still managed to tick two new countries off my bucket list! I spent two weeks exploring Ireland and Northern Ireland with my cousin. I drove on the left, stayed in a country pub, and visited more castles than I can count. It’s such a beautiful, lush country!

I also got the chance to visit my parents on their trip to Helsinki. We spent four days together in Helsinki and took the ferry to Estonia for our last day together. It was my dad’s first time in Europe and my mom’s second, so it was exciting to share one of my favorite parts of the world with them. 

At the end of the year, my husband and I took our honeymoon to French Polynesia and dove on the most incredible atolls in the world. It was the trip of a lifetime and I still can’t believe we actually got the chance to go.

2023 in Business

My Pinterest business thrived at the beginning of 2023. I hit my first (and so far only) $10k month. I also had the highest income year of my life as a freelancer. 

However, I also lost my biggest referral and course collaboration over the summer and it has affected my business. The leads have dried up and this year I need to start marketing myself again – without being heavily reliant on someone else to help me (as I was previously). 

In 2023 I landed two incredible brand deals through my social media and finally bit the bullet to join TikTok (the platform that’s quickly becoming my favorite). 

Working while traveling full-time in the van wasn’t always easy and I’m starting 2024 with far fewer clients than 2023 but I want to turn that free time into working on the growth goals that I didn’t hit last year. 

My Plans for 2024

I want 2024 to be a year of experimentation. I started the year (yes just ten days ago…) feeling a bit discouraged because I didn’t hit all of my goals from 2023. In 2023 I also got ghosted by my biggest client referral and the new client leads have dried up. 

However, I just spent a weekend celebrating the new year with my bestie in the Cotswolds, and I already feel inspired and rejuvenated. 

I want to post on my blog more, be more authentic online, and show up consistently. 

On this note, I finally want to start a Pinterest Instagram Account to help provide free content online, build my lead funnel, and create a community where I get to share my expertise. This has been a goal of mine for a while, but it’s never come to life. 

I also have a lot of fun travel planned for 2024, and I set a goal to explore 5 new countries this year. I fly to Thailand this week to relax on the islands and start putting a lot of these goals into motion. 

A Few Goals for 2024

Just a few of my goals for 2024 are: 

• Read 36 books
• Relaunch the Pinterest Playbook Course and Launch Masterclasses to teach strategy 
• Travel to 5 new countries 
• Do my 50th dive 
• Take myself on a solo date once a month
• Go on at least 2 solo trips 
• Post consistently on social media and the blog (goal is 52 blogs posts)
• Focus on investing and saving
• Start earning consistently from my shop

These are just a few of my goals, the rest I’ll keep for myself (for now anyway). 

Best wishes for an amazing year! If you made it this far, THANK YOU. Your support means everything to me. If you want to show your support, feel free to buy me a coffee – it’s definitely what fuels me to keep creating and showing up online.