Be You. Be Beautiful. – A Reflection of 2018 & My Goals for 2019!

Alright y’all, we made it through 2018! I don’t know about you, but this year seemed to fly by! I mean, one minute we were celebrating the beginning of 2018 and the next minute it was Christmas! Despite its fast track, 2018 was really good to me! I celebrated my 1-year Blogiversary, made a serious career move, fell in love with being a dietitian again, and debuted my first signature clothing item!

That’s right y’all, the Be You. Be Beautiful shirts are officially HERE!!! I wanted to create a shirt that lets the world know that it’s okay to Be You! And Being You is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!! We’ll get more into these awesome shirts a little later…but first, can we get a little personal?? I feel that we know each other well enough so here goes….

First off, let me start off by saying that I am EXTREMELY grateful for those that have been following me on this journey! I am very appreciative of your support and encouragement, and I Thank You for that!! Beautiful Eats & Things started because I wanted a creative outlet and something to call my very own. As a mom and a wife, I often felt that I gave so much of myself to my family and my job. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love my family, but I didn’t take much time to do things that I truly enjoyed, such as cooking, crafting, and playing in makeup/clothes!

By the time that I tended to every need of my family, I was tired, and the bed became my best friend lol! I looked forward to sleep! Lol! In addition, to being tired all of the time, I started to lose interest in being a dietitian. I think there were several things that contributed to this…I didn’t have the time to devote to making a name for myself in my profession and I didn’t look like the average dietitian. I wanted to push myself into the spotlight as a credible dietitian, but I felt that I would be ridiculed because of my size. This also contributed to my hesitation for starting my blog.

Because of my insecurities, I continued to push off my dreams but I built up enough courage to post pictures of my recipes, crafts and beauty tips to social media. I received a lot of positive feedback and questions about a potential blog! I couldn’t believe it! This actually gave me the confidence to start pursuing the blog! The final boost of confidence came from my amazing husband! He gave me so much support and encouragement, so I just went for it! I set a date for my site to go live and stuck to it! It was the best decision that I ever made!

Starting Beautiful Eats & Things made me fall in love with being a Registered Dietitian again. It reminded me why I chose to become a dietitian in the first place, which was to help others like me and show the world that dietitians come in many shapes, sizes, colors, etc…It reminded me to be true to myself and stop comparing myself to others. This encouraged me to create these Be You. Be Beautiful shirts.

I wanted to let others know that being yourself is the most beautiful thing in the world! I would love your support in helping me to get this message across to everyone! Your support is definitely appreciated and will help to support upcoming projects that I will tell you about a little later…just keep reading ?.

Click HERE to purchase your very own Be You. Be Beautiful shirt!

Now Back to My Blogging Journey…

I enjoyed blogging so much that I pushed myself to explore every possible opportunity! Keep in mind that I had NO idea that people actually made money from blogging and considered it a full-time career! Of course, that was my goal in about 5-10 years from now, but at the moment, I was just enjoying everything and soaking up tons of information!

“Maybe God’s plan doesn’t involve me having a part-time job. I’ll probably just end up working as a full-time blogger!”

Andy

Because I was so passionate about Beautiful Eats & Things, I continued to receive more and more opportunities….and it started to interfere with my full-time job. I was having trouble balancing the two. My husband and I bounced around the idea of me leaving my full-time job and applying for something part-time so that I could have more time for the blog. I started applying for part-time jobs, and was well-qualified, but did not receive any job offers. After months of applying, I finally joked to my husband and said, “Maybe God’s plan doesn’t involve me having a part-time job. I’ll probably just end up working as a full-time blogger!” I stopped applying for jobs and just continued trying to balance both jobs the best I could.

After a few months of doing that, it really began to take a toll on me and my family. I was always tired, irritable, and started to get burned out. I knew that I needed to make a change and FAST! I have always wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. Even when I was in college obtaining my dietetics degree, I dreamed of working part-time and spending the majority of time with my family. I calculated my monthly expenses over and over and over! I totaled up my average monthly income from my blog and realized that I could ACTUALLY make this work! I could ACTUALLY leave my full-time job and become a full-time blogger!

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For those of you that have grown to know me, you have probably realized that I am a planner! I do NOT make any quick moves or risqué decisions! AT ALL!! Everything has to be properly planned and analyzed thoroughly! Even though, I knew that I could be a successful full-time blogger, it took about another month to become confident enough to leave my job!

So, the day finally came. After 7+ years of working as a Director of Food and Nutrition for a long-term care facility, I finally built up enough courage to put in my notice! It was bittersweet because I really loved my job! I loved the people and learned so many valuable lessons while I was there! That place helped me to grow into the person that I am today, so I will be forever grateful! ?

I wanted more time with my kids, I wanted more time with my husband, I wanted more time for myself.

Even though my facility had a special place in my heart, I knew that I needed to leave. I wanted more time with my kids, I wanted more time with my husband, I wanted more time for myself. Leaving my job was scary because it did not fall into my original 5-10 year life plan! It happened A LOT sooner than I expected which made me very nervous! I even made a list of about 10 goals when I started my blog, and I had already accomplished over half of those goals! Again, I did NOT plan to do this until at least 5 years from now!

By this time, I was freaking out because I felt like I wasn’t in control of every aspect of my life! I’ve always prayed and asked God for guidance, but to be completely honest, I’ve always tried to keep a little bit of control so that I can make sure that things turn out perfectly. Crazy, right?! During this journey, all of that has changed! For the first time in my life, I have allowed myself to follow God’s plan. I have replaced my worries with reassurance because I know that everything is going to turn out fine. It’s weird, but any time I feel a little unsure about something, I get a burst of energy to push myself harder!

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I’ve put so much work and positive energy into my blog, that I’ve finally started to recognize it as a forreal business! I’ve stopped downplaying it, and making it seem smaller than what it was. I feel confident in saying that I am a business owner! It still seems unreal! I’m still learning a few more tips and tricks, but I would love to develop some type of small course or handbook for beginner bloggers in the future!

If you have been following me on Instagram and Facebook, or have subscribed to my website you will see that I am working on another project, Little Eats & Things! Little Eats & Things is an upcoming blog that will feature recipes, crafts, lunch ideas, party ideas and tons of fun…JUST FOR KIDS!! My kids are my life and I wanted to create a space that shares my tips, tricks, as well as the challenges that I face dealing with 2 toddlers! Lol!

I am also going to add a Beauty section to Beautiful Eats & Things! I get so many questions about my hair, makeup, and skincare routine that I thought that it would be fun to create a space to share some of my easy beauty tips! I’ve worked as a professional makeup artist for many years, so I’m really excited about this!

I am so excited about the projects that I have planned for 2019! I finally feel that I have found my purpose in life and I am so blessed to have people like you supporting me! I hope that you check out my new Be You. Be Beautiful shirts and support my campaign. Your support will help me to continue to provide you with the best content, delicious recipes, and more! It will also help to let the world know that being you is absolutely beautiful! These shirts are available in 4 different colors and styles! Thank you and cheers to a great year!