2024 Reflections: Goals We Hit and What We Learned

Welcome to The In Between Podcast. I'm Astrid.

And I'm Alexis. Join us as we explore the messy yet beautiful in-between seasons of life.

We'll discuss business, relationships, wellness, and everything in between to help you become the highest version of yourself.

Let's dive in. Hello and welcome back to another episode of The In Between Pod. This is one half of the podcast, Alexis.

And the other half, Astrid. And we are so excited to be sharing with you all today our 2024 goals review. So this is something that we've both been chatting through. We've both been like reflecting on, and it's huge to do before the new year comes because that way we can sit on it, we can marinate on it. What did go well, what didn't go well, and what we want to take into the next year and be like, okay, this is a goal that actually means a lot to me. Or some goals that we can just part ways with and be like, actually, that didn't serve me. And I thought in the new year that I would want that. So we're going to be doing a year review today with you, and we are so excited.

Yes, I love this topic. You know that we love goals at this point. You know that we love talking about them, planning them. What I love about this is that we can sometimes put a lot of pressure On the month of January. And the reason that we wanted to do this now is because we'd love to start these conversations, start that reflection time. And then whenever January does come, even if you could set goals this month, and then January is just focused on making them happen, putting in plans, changing your habits so that you can hit those goals. Um, so yeah, this is kind of some pre-work for your 2025. But also it's funny, like reading back through my personal and professional goals, how some of them I hit and some of them I'm like, oh, I know that didn't stay top of mind enough, or I didn't make a plan around it. Um, so yeah, we're, I'm also going to be exposing myself as well in this episode.

Yes. I, I love that part of what we're doing in this episode because sometimes we look at other people and we love them, we admire them, and then we think they have it all together and we certainly don't. So this is your corner of the internet where you can just relate to us. Um, and we will be sharing all the goals that we didn't hit this year as well. So full, honest, um, conversation for you today.

Yes, agreed. Okay. So before we get into it, you wanna do a quick life update? How was your Thanksgiving?

It was so good. I made Teeny's viral mac and cheese. No way. It was so fun. It was funny because it popped up on my For You page. I saved it, I made it, and then the next day I opened TikTok and everyone made it. And I was like, oh, this is not an original experience.

It's like TikTok makes you realize that you've never had an original experience.

True.

Everyone's doing something you've already done or are doing.

But yeah, it was so fun to make something from scratch and be creative in a different way. I don't usually do that kind of stuff, especially during busy season. Um, so yeah, I spent lots of time with family, jumped around from one Thanksgiving to the other. Um, and then had a lot of relaxing time. And then I got to celebrate one of my best friend's birthday this past weekend too. Jansen, shout out to her. I know she listens.

We love you, babe.

Um, and we had like the best, best day. It was just like very chill, very fun. Um, going to lots of great restaurants and cocktail bars and stuff. Um, and then I watched Gladiator on Sunday. It was so good. I had never seen the first one.

I watch Gladiator on Sunday.

Oh, really? It was so, so good. I loved it. Yeah. What about you?

Um, that's funny that we both saw that movie on the same day. Yes, shout out to Jay. Happy birthday. The photos looked so cute. I was like, oh, all my friends are hanging out. Um, I, I love that you guys got to celebrate her. Uh, yeah, Thanksgiving was great.

We—

Matthew and I, the last couple of years, have been doing Thanksgiving Day just us, and then we'll host our families starting on that Friday. And so Thanksgiving was awesome. We woke up and ran a turkey trot. I did a 5K and Matt did a 10K, and then we made prime rib and watched movies. And like, it was just such a cozy, lovely day. Like that post-Thanksgiving meal walk as well with Piper, it was just really relaxing. And then my parents came in and we wined and dined them through the city. Houston just came out with their Michelin awards or results for the state of Texas. And so we got to take them to some fun Michelin restaurants, some stars, some recommended, and then their Bib Gourmand award category. So that was really fun. They loved it. The food was so good. There was not one meal that missed. And then we got to make them a really lovely Thanksgiving dinner, duck, And like, I kind of went all out. Matthew and I did. We made lobster mac and cheese and it was so much fun. And then we had our 5-year anniversary trip in Sonoma earlier in November. And so when we were at these different wineries, we were picking wines to bring back with us for our Thanksgiving meals. And so we got to have like tastings and everything that paired with the food, um, which was really fun. So loved it.

Very cool.

And then we saw Gladiator on Sunday and it was amazing. Like, Loved it. I was— yeah, I was so inspired.

Me too. I, I was shocked also to, to have such a great movie be that long and keep everyone's attention the entire time. Uh, 10 out of 10 for me. It's definitely worth going to the movies for if you're considering going or just like watching it later. It's worth going to the movies for.

I agree. The sound, it's very immersive in the movie theater. And then also There are some twists. Like, there were a lot of twists and turns to that movie I didn't quite see coming. And I thought that also, like, made it even that much more entertaining. Um, it was just unreal. I loved it so much.

I love that we geek out over, like, really good movies or shows. It's like our, our guilty pleasure.

I think it's one of our love languages among all the others.

Yes, we have like 20,000. That's perfect.

We do have a lot of love languages, one of them being movies.

Yeah, well, if you are new around here, every episode we share what we find ourselves in between. So Alexis, do you want to kick us off or do you want me to start?

Yes, I will start. So what I'm in between right now, I would say— and definitely mentioned this probably a lot on the podcast, so this is not necessarily new— but I do feel like we are in this space, Matthew and I, where we are reviewing a lot of our finances, we're reviewing a lot of our goals, and we have started to put pen to paper to how much money we need to save in order to do some of these big things that we really want. And yeah, it's been really eye-opening how much money we've been able to steward and save and get really honest around where we're overspending and where next year we need to really buckle down. But I think that we have just, we're really going for it. Like, I think we are having a lot of clarity and we're doing a lot of research and Matthew is amazing. He's like putting together all these different financial models, which is not something I enjoy, but something like we had a date night last night and we talked through our 5-year goals and our 5-year finance plans. And yeah, I just feel really excited about it, but I think the in-between with that. Is recognizing that some things are going to have to change and we're going to have to look through every, not every, but the majority of our financial decisions differently. And I think that what has this process has taught me is that saving money for me needs to have a goal attached to it. Like, okay, we're saving for a car, we're saving for another investment property, we're saving for a trip. I think saving just to save is great, but it doesn't— my, my like Neanderthal brain is like, we need gold, we need gold. Or like, I'm like, ah, you know what, I could save, but I want to spend it on, you know, this trip, or I want to spend it on something else. Um, and so this has really allowed me to get very clear on, okay, we are buckling down, but we have these very clear financial goals that we're trying to hit. And how can I gamify this? And how can we like make this a fun process? So we're in between figuring out how to do that. The last time that we've really been here and have— this has been so like— serious isn't the right word, but the last time we've been so clear and we've had a very like, I would say, more rigid plan was whenever we wanted to leave Illinois and buy a house. And so that's been a couple years that we've been like, we've got this financial goal, we have a savings plan. So yeah, it's been good. I am working through my My patterns of like emotional spending too. But I was telling him about your sinking funds and like how we could manage our money differently in the way that we budget as well. So I'm excited.

I'm excited.

We have just decided and made the decision on like here what here here are the goals, and now the next step this month is to actually make a plan and a budget to hit those goals.

I love that so much. I feel like I love how you and Matthew will get on the same page on finances, and you're such a great team about that. And you're like, all right, I see you, we're both agreeing on this one goal. Even if like one of you wants to prioritize something else, you wait until you both agree with that.

Yeah.

And then you go after and start making decisions. And I feel like that's so powerful for anyone in a long-term committed relationship or in a marriage to be like, okay, it's not just you and this other person, but like, how beautiful is it that you have a partner that can do this goal with you? And when you don't feel motivated, they'll hold you accountable.

Yes.

And also you're both working and being able to contribute to that goal so you can get there faster. So I love seeing this aspect of your relationship where It feels exciting and you get to accomplish big things with your partner. It's so beautiful.

Thank you. Thank you so much. We've worked on this part as well because I think every couple maybe manages their finances differently or finances bring up different emotions for every couple. And I feel like this is an area that we've really tried to grow in and be more mature in together. And the, it's like the younger we are that where we can really get on the same page and approach it in a healthy, um, collaborative way, the more that like, okay, it just sets us up for success long-term. Whereas like if we just keep kind of fighting each other around what we think we should do with our finances, we don't really make any progress together. So I'm really excited. What about you? What are you in between?

Um, well, similarly with finances, I ended up hitting my finances goal for this year. So I guess it ties into our episode as well. I hit that last week. So that was very exciting for me because I finally separated like my savings from my checking personally. I always did that in business, but ever since going full-time, it was just a little bit harder in my brain to separate that. And so I opened up that Ally savings account that you're able to put buckets into it. And it's gamified it for me. So now I have been able to get to that savings number, be able to break it down and then move things around in the business where I'm like even more motivated to take on an extra project or an extra thing because I know how it's going to pay off.

Mm-hmm.

And so really what I'm in between is I haven't been in this spot financially, um, in a while, like since I had like my, my full-time job where I was like, okay, I have my full savings stocked, and then I have my checking's all good here. And so ironically, I feel a lot of fear still around that, and I like get scared. I'm like, okay, either it's fear of like I'm gonna lose it or something's gonna happen, I'll have to spend it, and/or fear of like I don't know how to grow with this money. And so that's something that I'm working through with my coach of my emotional relationship to money and how deep it runs for me. And it genuinely affects a lot of areas of my life. And I've healed a lot in it, but it's popping back up again. And so I am learning and I'm in between reframing what money is and in a way learning to accept that I deserve more and that I don't need to stop myself here.

Mm-hmm.

Just because this is a solid spot, It doesn't mean that this is what I deserve. And it's honestly really hard to go against your thoughts and be like, no, remember when we've traveled and we've seen these things? You deserve that too, and you have access to it, and you can get there. And I think in a way, self-sabotage a little bit pops up, and I want to spend that money. And so, yeah, so it's been really good to have those buckets because I have it designated where it's like, my main emergency fund, my shopping spend, my car spend, my travel, my savings, like quite a few different ones. So when I want to shop, instead of just looking at my bank account or just doing it, I'm like, oh, I've got like a couple hundred or like $500 in there. I can actually do some Black Friday shopping with it within a boundary. And that feels really, really healthy and really good.

Yeah.

And I don't have to feel guilty about it either. So anyway, I feel like I'm in a season of reframing a lot of my money mindset and wanting to really push myself. Like, what would it look like if I was a millionaire 10 years from now, 5 years from now? Like, what do I need to do to make that happen?

Yeah.

And as I say that, like, literally it makes my hands sweat. I want to throw up. Like, it's just an emotional reaction. It's not even about the money itself. So I'm working through that. I think it's just really hard when you haven't grown up in, um, an environment where like your parents made a lot of money. Like my parents did not. And so I'm, I'm kind of one of the first ones in that area. Um, so yeah, we, we love the money mindset talk.

Yes, we should do another episode maybe in the new year just around this, especially like if we're setting more goals and we're getting maybe even more clear on different financial, um, paths and plans that we want to make. I think it'd be fun to do another episode because I know that that's always like the gals love that.

Yes.

Um, I also feel like finances is something that as much content as there is out there, it's still not something that a lot of people talk about. Like there are TikTokers that are just like, help me budget my salary. And that they, that's like very helpful and transparent. But I think that there's so much growth to be had when we hear, especially women, talk about money. So I love that we both did that and that's both of our in-betweens. And also congrats on hitting your financial goal this year. That's amazing. I'm so proud of you. And yeah, I just can't wait to see like what next year has in store for you because I know you've worked so hard and you've really sacrificed a lot and you've gotten really like diligent with your finances and how you spend. And I'm so impressed and respect the hell out of you. So congrats on hitting this goal. It's massive.

Oh, I love you. Thank you. I think like 2021 us would be so proud and shocked. I literally, every time I think of that is us in Miami with getting Nasty Gal packages delivered to us.

We were unhinged. Absolute unhinged behavior. We had not a care in the world. You know what?

It was a good memory. I do not regret it.

It was a good memory. Don't regret it, but glad that we've grown. Um, okay. Do we want to get into our 2024 goals review? Do you want to start with personal or professional?

Let's start with professional.

Okay, perfect.

And go into personal if you're good with that.

Um, I actually have mine broken out from professional, personal, and financial, but we can kind of weave in finances. Is finances a separate one for you or is it inside professional?

It's inside. I separated finances. Yeah. So that's—

Oh, perfect. Okay. Well, do you want to kick us off then with personal or sorry, professional? I can't talk.

Professional.

Yeah.

Okay. My first one and probably the one that I am the most proud of is this was the first year that I took an extended leave from my business. That was something I really wanted for a really long time. I think whenever I envisioned myself as an entrepreneur, I was like, I can't wait to have that time freedom. And it took a lot of years to get to a point where I could step away from my business, but the business was still going on. And so yeah, I think like it just, as an adult, being able to take 2 months off of your job or off of your business feels hard and like you can't do it. And I think at the beginning of the year, It made me want to throw up too of like, am I going to run out of money? Like I make a lot, you know, like there's a lot of sessions and things that happen during the summer. And I just trusted the process. I did the best I could with my finances and I was like, let's just do it. And I'm so glad I did. I think it also taught me not just personally, which I'll share later what those were, but I think it also taught me the different ways that my business can grow without me having to physically be there. Yeah. And how stepping away allows you to work more on your business and in your business. And as a business owner, it's such a thin line that you're constantly going in and out of, especially if you're still delivering the services yourself. Um, so yeah, that was, that was a big one for me.

I love that. I mean, your, your Euro summer was iconic, but also it was more than just being able to be in Europe. It was also a representation of a goal and a mindset shift for you of like, okay, this is what I really want and here's what I have to do to make it happen. So that's amazing. Do you want to keep going on professional?

Sure. Yeah. You want to just roll through them?

Yeah. Roll through them and then I'll go through mine.

Okay, perfect. The other one is my rebrand. I had not redone my website since literally 2017. Or 2018. So that was very embarrassing. My website is done as of right now. I just haven't like announced it. I'm finishing up a few touch— touches on it. But if you go to it, it's live and it's there. So I invested in a rebrand, invested in a new website for it to like really match the style of clientele that I'm wanting to bring in. The next one is I hit my business savings. So that was really exciting as well. Especially considering that I took 2 months off of work. Being able to get there was big for me. And then I grew my team's bookings by quite a lot. Like it was, it's not where I wanted it to be at the beginning of the year, but it was very close to it. And so having all of them take on their own weddings, we had our first like in a destination, uh, wedding as well in Orlando that Noel took and having those all go really well, get good feedback. Obviously there's always learning curves, but it was like our best, our first like big year as a team. And so I'm feeling really confident about us going into the new year and what that could look like. Um, and then I gave myself a raise. So I don't know if I shared this with you, but, uh, within the finances, I realized that it was time. Like I had been paying myself the same since I went full time 2 years ago. And yeah, so now my monthly income has grown and that has allowed me personally to hit different income levels. And mentally, whenever the money's just leaving my business account, I'm like, naturally I need to make more money. And that's easier for me to do than on the personal side for some reason.

Mm-hmm.

So that has been a big win. And then having a lot more branding work. I have worked a lot more with Um, like, yeah, branding clients, corporate clients, and kind of shifting what corporate quote unquote can look like for shoots. And I've loved it. Like, I feel like I can really step into what they're wanting and capture their vision. And then when I, when someone's so picky and they, someone hires me and they're like, well, they're really picky. Like, I don't know. Are you sure you want to work with them? I'm like, give me the challenge.

Hmm.

And I, and then I deliver and they're loving it. It's. So satisfying. So more of the branding work. Um, and then should I shift over to what didn't happen?

Ooh, let me go through— let me go through mine, what, what did happen, and then I'll talk about what didn't happen for me.

Okay, great.

Love that. Um, okay, one of my professional goals was decorating my office. Like, if you've been listening to the podcast for a long time, you know that I sat in like a white office that was boring and sad. For way too long and it's totally fine, but this is like my oasis. This is where I create, this is where I host, this is where I coach. This is where I do my best work. And so yeah, my goal was to decorate my office to inspire and bring more creativity to my work. And Matthew and I redecorated this in May and we had so much fun. We knocked it out in a weekend and it was actually not as hard as we thought it would be. It was super easy and we had a lot of fun doing it. So that was like a fun one that happened. And then on the Circle side, so for those of you that don't know, I work at a company called Circle and we are a like the best place to launch a community, launch and grow a community. And one of my first bullet points was rock this new promotion at the beginning of the year. I got a new promotion, just like up-leveled in my, my position. And I really feel like I did that this year, grew out a lot of different functions for the company, continue to rock all of our live events. And then, yeah, I have continued to finesse and strengthen my reporting and project management skills at work. And I feel like that's something I have really done this year. Like, I think you have to be vocal about your work, but you have to be vocal in a way that's obviously strategic and not noisy. And so I feel like I really found a way to do that at my job that feels authentic to me, but also like is celebratory of what I'm doing and the results I'm getting. And then launching an impactful interview-based podcast for Circle, which we did this summer. It's called The Making Of, and I get to interview some of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and creators. And that has been such a highlight of the year for me, getting to go deep, really, really deep on what makes these people who they are and how they make decisions, how they think. So that's been really fruitful for me. And then yeah, be more— I guess that one didn't happen, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna, um, add that to the what didn't happen. And then another bullet point was working towards another promotion, um, which we are doing right now. We're working towards that. Um, so I'm proud of continuing to stay vocal, continuing to advocate for myself, and I'll share more on that as things progress.

You are my inspiration.

Thank you.

Truly, truly. Like, the way that you focus in on your career and like get after it. I love seeing that side of you come to life. And you're just, yeah, you just tap into this high version of you that it has been so beautiful to see develop and grow. And I feel like you're sprinting now. You were walking when you first got started, and then you were walking really fast, and now you're like every 6 months, bam. And I love how you do that intentionally too. It's been So amazing to see you grow and all the things you're accomplishing. Thank you.

I appreciate that a lot. Like, it's been a really amazing year at work. I love my job. I love the product. I love the team. Coming up on 3 years in January. Um, and then yeah, like launching all these new functions for the company next year, like hosting all these IRL events, hosting masterminds, like loads of really fun things. So let's shift over to things that didn't happen. LOL.

Well, here is my favorite. Um, well, honestly, I do love this part because I feel like not a lot of people share what did not happen in the year. And I think that a lot of times we just need to, we need to shoot really, really high and then you might land like at the 60% mark of that, but that's still pretty high whenever you're envisioning all of it. Um, so things that did not happen for me. Was developing more of the education side of my business. So being able to develop more tools for photographers and business owners, like downloadable PDFs, doing more one-on-one coaching. I did quite a bit of it at the beginning of the year, but not the rest of the year. And just focusing more of my content on educating. And I really think I'm 7 years into the business now, or as of next week, and I feel like I need to start shifting my expertise into not just producing, but to educating and helping people who are getting started as well in the photography world. So that did not happen. I had like very specific, like a whole, a whole plan, basically a whole business plan for this side of my business. And I genuinely, I got scared. Like, I, yeah, if I'm being very honest, I think it feels like everyone's doing it. It feels saturated. And I know all of those are lies because even just being a photographer can be that. And I don't feel saturated, but it's, um, it's scary to put yourself out there in any way. And, and I've tried before and honestly failed. And so trying again in something that didn't work in the past feels— feels a little prickly as well. But I think enough time has also passed that when I think about the bigger picture of my life, like I want to say someday I decide to not become a photographer or not be a photographer anymore, I would love to look back and be like, oh, but look at all the people that I helped kickstart their business and grow that. Like it's really not just not about me.

Mm-hmm.

So that did not happen. Definitely carrying that one into the new year. The next one is a Vogue feature. Your girl was reaching for the stars.

Love this.

Yeah, did not happen. I definitely have a lot of work that I have not submitted for publications that will be my goal between December and January. A lot of my shoots this year, some of my shoots abroad, I do think that they could get picked up. I don't know if by Vogue, but definitely by other ones. So still going to work on that one. Also got a little salty because I've heard Vogue features, a lot of people just pay for them. So I was like, oh, that kind of takes away like—

Oh, interesting.

The excitement, you know? But yeah, that didn't happen. And yeah, that was pretty— those are my 2 big ones from the business that did not happen. And then, um, the number that I was hoping to hit with my team's bookings did not come through, but I would rather do things slowly and high quality than just like throw them all into the mix.

So yeah. Intentional growth. Um, interesting about the Vogue features being paid for. Did you know that most New York Times bestsellers lists have also been paid for? That's all rigged.

It's all rigged.

But you know what?

Will I potentially pay for it? Maybe.

It's insane, actually. We can talk more about that at some point. Okay. What did not happen for me on my coaching business side of things? I did not— one of the goals I had was find a way to serve more people at a time, like at scale. Because right now I do one-on-one coaching and I have loved that. There's also an aspect of the one-on-one that's not super scalable. So I'd love to work with women in groups. I do love group dynamics as well, and I think that accountability in groups is really powerful. I wanted to do something with a group, and I did not do that this year. Would love to maybe do that next year. Um, I— yeah, I feel like I need to sit down and like really go deep on what I want my business to really be. Um, I think that I have a tendency To focus on what's working and where I'm winning. And that's at work at Circle, like in my, in my profession. So also, this was a very, very intense year, um, for my role and for the company. And so I did make some intentional choices at the beginning of the year. I had like, hmm, at the beginning of the year, I had like maybe 10 clients on the side, like one-on-one clients on the side. And then throughout the year, I offboarded people that whose contract, you know, I work with people on like 6 to 8 to 12 month contracts. And they, they had their contracts had ended and I didn't, they didn't renew. And I also didn't try to find another client to fill that spot. Um, so this summer I really went into like work mode. Like I was literally eat, sleep, and breathing my job at Circle. Um, but I just launched a like Black Friday offer and that ended up selling out. And so. There is this like, okay, there's an appetite for this. I just got to like kind of figure out the best way to serve people and how they want to be served. So yeah, there's some finessing and some work to do there. I have launch a lead magnet to grow my email list. LOL. No, did not do that. I also like did not grow my email list aside from maybe people joining the waitlist for the Black Friday offer. So a lot to do there and would love to email my list more. So that's definitely a strategy for next year. Um, and then I had to hit 15K on Instagram and I did not do that. I feel like Instagram growth requires a lot of consistency and it also requires creating content that is super shareable and that can end up on the For You page that people are sharing to their stories. And a lot of my content leans more lifestyle. Um, and so it's pretty rare that someone's going to share a photo of just me on their stories. Uh, which is totally fine, but I feel like in order to hit some of these goals on Instagram, I need to be a lot more strategic with reels and like shareable content. Um, which I feel like I've been doing more of in the last month actually, but have not really done throughout the year. So lots to do there. I'd like to focus on next year. So yeah, the most of the things that didn't happen were in my side hustle.

Hmm. Yeah. I love that though. It's all intentional and it's those things where you're like, okay, you gotta, you gotta choose.

Totally.

You're not Superwoman. You cannot do everything at all times. And I also love that we are reviewing this right now, but it also seems like both of us kind of revisited a few of these even prior to this conversation and took action on them. And just a little side note, like some of the things that I mentioned that I accomplished in my business, I got done in the last 2 months. Be encouraged.

Be encouraged. The month, the year is not over. Yeah. Um, okay. Do you want to go? Did you already talk about the finances piece?

Uh, yeah, I built it into mine.

Okay.

Really quick. I listed everything, but yeah, you go for it.

Really quick. I will talk about finances and like what happened and what didn't happen. So I had a, we had a financial goal to save $15,000 to $20,000 to put towards a new car. We did that. Feels great. We actually did $25,000, which is amazing. Um, on a personal side, keep investing $300 a month in Robinhood in my investment account, which is awesome. That's doing very good. I have $7,000 in my Robinhood account.

Nice.

And the rate of return is around like 5-6%, which is not terrible. It's better than just sitting in a savings account. Um, so that's been fun. Keep putting back $500 to $1,000 in my savings account every month, which I have hit so far this year, um, which is great. And then on the family side, like our family account, save $1,000 to $2,000 a month, which we have also hit. Feels really good to hit those savings goals, but we want to save even more next year. And then we have 2 things that did not happen. Buy another investment property, which we did look at. We did some financial models for a property that we were interested in Illinois, but decided that we did not want to go through with it. And then create a personal budget. I have not done that. So—

Surprisingly.

I know. I have not. I mean, I feel like I'm putting money in places and I'm being smart with my savings and my investments. But when it comes to a monthly budget for my personal money that I have set aside, we're spending this here, we're spending this here, I have not done that. So I need to put more guardrails around that.

Okay, awesome. Well, I honestly, I love hearing that because in my brain you're either budgeting or you're not, and the budgeting comes with savings. So it's very interesting to hear like you're saving but not necessarily doing the budgeting part, right?

I'm not budgeting on how much I'm spending in different categories, which I would like to do. And then it's like, oh, we have X amount left over, we can save even more this month, versus I'm like, I'm moving everything to savings first, which I think is a great step. With budgeting. Um, and then what's left in my account, I'm like, ooh, fun, which is not, not always great.

And you know this about me.

Um, okay, so let's move over to personal.

I love it. I love it. So, um, I kind of bulked my personal finances under the personal category. So I will kickstart with that. So I, as I mentioned in my in-between, I did hit my personal savings goal and that feels really good. Um, I also ended up Um, I guess in the did not happen category, I did not invest. I've been holding on tight to my savings. Um, so that has been, that's something that I definitely want to carry on into the new year is like automate a certain amount, um, of what I want to invest there. Um, and then on my personal life, something that did happen that was a big breakthrough for me is letting go of the need to be so productive all the time and to I guess I learned to just be. And I feel like my nervous system, literally since summertime, has been so regulated, even through stress seasons, even through stressful situations. I no longer— I, I like healed my need to perform, and that feels really powerful and empowering. Um, so I'm very grateful for that. I think I, I needed to detox from just life for a hot second. So that went great. Um, something that was huge on my list for 2024 was go back to therapy or coaching, and I did that. I signed up in September, and, um, I'm towards the end of my contract with her, and it's been absolutely life-changing. And I've said this a million times on the podcast already, but It's been just a really deep dive into some of the roots of why I make certain decisions that I do. And I went to her first because I had just this big life question, and we ended up going just deeper. And it's been bigger than that, and it's helped me make more empowered decisions. And it's made me realize how much fear rules my decision-making, and that when I heal a lot of these areas, I can see a lot more clearly. Clearly. And so, yeah, so that, that felt really empowering. I needed to do that. And along with that, my relationship— like, something in my 2024 goals is that I wanted to grow more in my relationship with my boyfriend and just be very intentional with that and get more clarity on where we're at. And we went through a lot of growth seasons this year, and along with therapy, I feel like I've had a lot more clarity of how I view things and healing in the relationship aspect whenever I've been wounded in that area so much. So it's been great. I feel like we've both grown in the clarity of where we want to go, and that's been really fun to do together. And then health. Okay, this was great because I feel like for the first half of the year, my relationship with my body was not the greatest. And I was pretty judgmental. And that was something in my 2025 goal or 2024 goals that I wanted to focus on was like, how can I continue my movement and health journey, but not be so focused on like how I look? Like, I want that to just be literally at the back of my brain. And it's hard to undo a lot of that, especially with how we've grown up. And so Yeah. Again, I think the summertime really just was a big before and after for me. And coming back from that, I think I still had goals for my health and how I wanted to eat and everything, but my body has changed quite a bit in the past few months, but more from a health perspective. And I've just been less judgmental towards it. And I don't know, it feels nice to feel at home in your body, and I felt very off with that in the beginning of the year. And then on the lighter note, and kind of along with that, I am a walker now. I walk a lot every week.

Yay.

And yeah, it's been so good for my mental health. It's been so good for my body. Um, and then the last one is I redecorated like my living room area and hung up some of my art that I got in Europe and just like refreshed it all. And it feels really, really good. And my last win is also I've been more organized, which for me, I can't— I usually am if it's not busy season. If it's busy season, literally everything goes out the window. Like it's a disaster at my house and I have one focus this season. Not every day, but I would say 80% of the time I kept up with it and that I would say first year that that's happened. Um, okay, before I move on to— well, I guess I only have 2 more things that did not happen, and then I'll just wrap up my personal side of things. I talked about the investing part. Another one that did not happen for me was moving. So that is something that if you've been on the podcast or listened to the podcast for a while, you know that I It's been in the horizon and yeah, it just hasn't clicked. And that's okay. We're not going to force something that just hasn't clicked, but it's still top of mind for me. And I want to find what's that place to call home, but I just don't know what that looks like yet. So we're going to carry that on to next year. And my last one would be Um, attending a church that I resonate with and going back into like my spirituality. And yeah, there's just a lot of prickly areas around that, but I feel like we've been working on those through therapy and coaching as well. So I'm going to carry that into the new year.

I love that. So many beautiful things on the personal side, things that you did focus on, things that you didn't, but it's like I love hearing how you talk about it too in a way that's very loving and compassionate of like, here are the things that worked and here are the things that I'm going to carry them into next year. And I think that's an aspect of this process when we are reflecting is to not do it with shame or self-judgment or self-criticism. And I love how kind you are to yourself.

Thank you.

Yeah, if you can tell, my voice has changed because during Astrid talking, I had an absolute cough attack. I think I have pneumonia. I'm not even kidding. I just— I need to go to the doctor.

I was like, is she okay?

I just saw her. I am unwell. Okay. Things that did happen. On the personal, I said take time to learn how to do makeup and test different products. I am one of those gals that will do the same makeup routine for the rest of my life. Like, I had my— I feel like I was doing my makeup the same in high school as I was in college. And then I switched up a few things as an early adult, and then I would just kind of stay the same. And I feel like I've been testing out different products, and I really love like where my makeup is right now. Um, and that was really fun. It was an investment, and now I'm done. I will not be doing that next year. Um, keep hosting 2 to 3 closet sales a year. Did that, hosted 2 this year on Instagram. Keep prioritizing movement and meal planning. Still doing that. Meal planning has ebbed and flowed based on— this was a very heavy travel year for me, very, very heavy. And so sometimes meal planning and prepping on the weekends wasn't always possible, but we still made a deliberate choice to not eat out and do takeout. We would still go to the grocery store, but we might not meal prep as much on Sundays. And so I kind of want to get back to that a little bit next year. Then on the movement side, lots of walks, changing up my movement to Pilates, doing some like still doing some strength training, but I love ClassPass, trying out different Pilates studios. That's been fun. Testing out more dry months or weeks at a time of no alcohol. This has been going really well. All of January I did not drink, but then throughout every month, there would be a week to 2 weeks to 3 weeks where I wouldn't drink. I do notice that I drink more when I travel, but when I'm home, I don't really drink very much. And so I think my next goal is to figure out how to, when I'm traveling, not feel that tendency of like, I want a Hugo Spritz, which is fine, but I think that I realize how connected my mental health is to alcohol. And so post-drinking, I can feel quite depressed. And I can feel quite anxious. And so I want to find a way to better manage that. Okay. See family once a quarter. We did this. I saw my family, my family or Matthew's family once a quarter this whole year, which is really important for us to stay connected and stay close. Invest in self-care once a month. So hair, facials, massages, nails are not included in this because that's just a part of my monthly budget. And I did this.

Yeah.

Like focusing on hair care. Getting facials, focusing on skincare. Um, and then there were some certain seasons where I was working out a lot and doing a lot of like muscle training. And so massages for that active recovery was really great. And then learn more about finances, health, and just general knowledge, like being more open to different podcasts. And I feel like I have done this this year. I feel like what being in like the entrepreneur creator space, I felt like I was just focused on learning about that. And I feel like this year I've read books on different topics, listened to podcasts on different topics, and I've just tried to not be so isolated and singular on the entrepreneur business world, which has been really lovely. Things that did not happen for me, which are actually fine. Upgrade my shoes. I did not do that this year. I really wanted to upgrade a lot of my shoes. I feel like that's another thing that just ends up kind of being the last thing that you think about. And then you're putting an outfit together and you're like, I hate all of this. That did not happen for me, but it's okay.

You're like, but my purses though.

My purse collection is going very strong. And then the other one is upgrading my athletic wardrobe. That was another thing that didn't happen. I think I only, not only, but I purchased 2 Alo sets this year. For my workout stuff and that's it. I've reused all of my athletic clothes. So I think this next year, maybe going through and trading things out. And I think it's time. It's been 4 or 5 years of wearing the same kind of elastic and I feel like I need to swap some things, but pretty light on that side, which has been nice.

I love that. I am so proud of us and it's so great to hear The things that you've grown in and the things that I've seen in you, but then what do you see in yourself? And it's crazy how we're best friends, but I still learn something new about you every day. And hearing the things that you've accomplished this year and hit is so refreshing. I'm motivated too. I'm like, oh, I'm going to add that to my next year. That sounds great.

Yeah. I feel the same way. I feel the same way. It's helpful to have just one, you as a best friend, but to have female friendships like this. And I want to like kind of end us on this note that, can you spend some time this month connecting with a girlfriend or a close friend and talk about things that you accomplished this year, things you can celebrate in each other, and maybe some things that you wanted to do that didn't work, why they didn't work, what happened. And it sets up this conversation for next year so that you can cheer each other on and encourage each other and support each other because I never want to accomplish a goal and then not be able to share it with people that really care and people that are in your corner. When big things happen, I'm texting you. And, when big things happen too, you're texting me. And, I think that's a part of hitting goals is the support system around you when you do it because they're the ones that are They're on the nights where you don't want to show up. They're the ones texting you and being like, I'm so proud of you. It's okay that this happened, but keep pushing. And being able to share the fruit of the success or hitting the goal is just as powerful as the journey and the people that cheer you on when you're not sure if you can even make it. So I love that.

I love that. Yeah. I think it takes a community, honestly, to achieve some of these goals because we are our worst critics, and we think a lot of times we can't achieve these things. And I shared this on my birthday dinner, but I feel like my friends see me through a different lens that has made me feel capable of achieving some of these things. And so maybe point out someone in your circle that you're like, I know they're going to champion me through this, and like, I would love to have these deeper conversations with them. And how can in the new year you find that person that you both can cheer each other on in these goals and hold each other accountable in a very loving way and have that rather than just letting it live in your Notes app and in your brain. And then that's where it sits. So we hope that you enjoyed this conversation. We absolutely love you guys and love being transparent with you. And if you enjoyed this episode, please make sure to rate it. That always helps us out so much. And you can connect with us on Instagram @inbetween.pod.

And you can connect with—

or you say where you can connect. Oh yeah, you can also connect with me @astrojohannaphoto.

The amount of times that we close out an episode with this is hilarious. Um, and you can connect with me @alexis.teichmiller on Instagram. And if you need any advice, um, you're setting goals, you want our input, you want some big sister best friend advice, Um, you can leave us a voicemail or you can write in and we'll, um, do an Ask A&A episode here for the end of the year. So if you need some end of the year advice, prepping for the holidays, gift ideas, whatever, send it our way and we will record an Ask A&A episode here in the next couple of weeks.

With that, we love you.

We hope you have a fabulous day and we'll catch you next time. Bye.