Happy New Year tea friends! Now that the holidays are over it’s time to get 2020 off to an amazing start. Similar to last year, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past 365 days while planning for this new year. I also must thank you all for supporting my tea adventures through my blog and social media. It really means a lot to have a group of fellow tea lovers on this part of the interwebs. I love connecting with each one of you and look forward to more tea adventures together whether it’s in person or virtual. Here are a few of my 2019 highlights and 2020 tea goals.
– My 2019 Highlights –
These are just a few of my favourite tea related moments of 2019 and goals I accomplished.
Toronto Tea Festival
The festival was bigger and better in 2019 (as usual) and this time around I went out of my comfort zone and competed in their Steep Off tea competition. Nerve-wracking and fun all in one! I’m counting down until next month’s festival already.
Tea Workshops
I really wanted to host more tea workshops in 2019 and I’m happy to say that I did. I also had the opportunity to connect with local businesses and create partnerships for future tea events.
Rebranded!
Finally, after what felt like years…I changed my logo and somehow ended up with two…(sort of). I also started to design branded products and hope to do more in 2020.
Met new tea lovers At the Tea Table
At the Tea Table is still my absolute favourite thing, ever. Last year I made it a goal to “reach for the stars when finding guests” and OMG ANDREA BANG FROM KIM’S CONVENIENCE (one of my favourite shows) AGREED TO CHAT ABOUT HER TEA JOURNEY last year. I still remember the moment I was about to sit down for dinner, put my phone away but took a quick look at email notifications and couldn’t believe there was a response from her!
Looking back I had an awesome year of chatting with teacup curators and designers, blenders, authors, tea and food bloggers, and much more. Thank you so much to all the guests that joined me at the tea table in 2019.
Started a new Tea Curator role
The middle of 2019 was when I connected with Tegan of Amoda Tea to start working as their Tea Curator for their subscription boxes. I’m grateful for this position because while it allows me to do something I love it also lets me connect and meet small tea business owners. Aside from drinking so many teas, that’s my favourite thing about the job! I also started to take over their Instagram Stories once a month to unbox their subscription boxes and chat about the teas I picked (this is something completely out of my comfort zone…go me!!)
Accepted to Mediavine
This is a major blog win! Similar to Google Ads, Mediavine places ads on your website/blog however not just anyone can join. You need to reach certain stats on your website before getting approved and after a couple years of trying, I finally reached my stats goal and got accepted with the network. Ads placed on my blog through them provide a small income that go towards my blogging fees.
Released a Tea Calendar
Something I wanted to do for the last few years was make my own tea themed calendar. I had made them as free printables for a while now but really wanted a full wall version. 2019 was the year I accomplished this and created the 2020 Tea Lovers Calendar filled with tea photos, national tea dates and prompts. Thank you to everyone that bought a calendar and/or shared it with others. I hope you pulled it out on New Years day and enjoy looking at it all year long 🙂
– My 2020 Word –
In 2018 I started a new thing where instead of resolution I decided on one word that would highlight my year and the goals I hope to achieve.
My word for 2020 is: B A L A N C E
2019 was the year where I felt like I started to do a million and one things. Freelancing has given me the opportunity to work from home and work with a variety of clients. Finding a balance between work/life/blog and all of my clients is really important to make sure 2020 is a successful one.
– My 2020 Tea Goals –
Drink more tea
I carried this over from the previous year and truthfully, I will most likely carry this over each year. However, 2019 I started to really take my #drinkwhatyouown challenge seriously. I created my own tea advent calendar that helped me get through my stash immensely. I also had a lot of fun with it, so I’m continuing something similar for the other months of the year. Follow my Instagram stories for more information on that!
Read more books
I’ve been on Goodreads for a few years however I never really used it. 2019 I decided to start doing so. I created a small challenge to read 20 books and surpassed that goal by 2! Last year I actually started to use my local library again and I couldn’t believe how many years I was NOT taking advantage of that service. This year my Goodreads reading challenge is 25 books. Yesterday I put a few books on hold and I’m anxious to get this challenge going. Drinking more tea and reading more books go hand in hand 🙂
P.S. here is where you can find me on Goodreads if you’d like to follow/be friends there!
Tea marketing
I had an idea a few months ago that I really want to implement before 2020 is over. This idea would merge my two professions: tea and marketing to help small businesses. I hope to solidify an outline/plan within the next month so I can start working on it and sharing some details the first half of this year.
Tea travels
2020 isn’t necessarily the year I wanted to visit tea farms. I would love to spend this year traveling throughout Canada more and experiencing a variety of tea rooms in different provinces. It would also be really cool to head to one in Lake Louise that you have to hike to…fingers crossed! Of course, all my tea travels from 2020 would be shared here on the blog.
– My Instagram #2019BestNine –
The above are my most “liked” photos on Instagram. I didn’t post as much as the previous year (quality over quantity) but that doesn’t mean I don’t still love photographing tea. In 2019 I had hoped to do something more with my snapshots and I’m happy to report that I did with my 2020 Tea Lovers Calendar. Thank you to everyone for all the follows, likes, shares and comments over the year.
Wishing you all a happy, healthy and tea-filled year ahead! Share in the comments below one of your highlights from 2019 and your 2020 tea goals.
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