The first month of 2021 is in the books (not completely though, as I’m writing this there is 12+ inches of snow outside and it’s not going to stop for another 9 hours! Lot’s of snow day fun is to be had after I finish this post! YAY)! I always remember this month taking FOREVER to go by the last few years, but this year was different for some reason. It was New Years Eve, the confetti was thrown, champagne was toasted, and I blinked and now January is over! One of my favorite things to do at the end of every month is to look back and reflect on how I actually spent my days and there is definitely a theme for January- spending it with the people I love and a whole lot of SNOW! And I’m not mad at either of those things! I took around a 3 week break off of social media (which was glorious!) to really put my head down, stay in my lane and really focus and think about where I’m spending my time in both my personal life and within my business and really paint a clear picture of how I want the rest of the year to go! I’m SO excited for all of the projects that are in store for Megan Goggins Photography that will be sprinkled through out the year, and all of the face time (face to face AND virtually) I’m going to have with the people I love most!
January had some pretty great memories and I also discovered some pretty awesome things (like a coffee gadget that has changed my life!!) that I’ll be sharing in this post! I always love seeing new things that people discover and learn what people are loving that bring joy to their days! So here is what I was loving in January 2021! Enjoy!
FAMILY SNOW DAY
Through out the pandemic where we aren’t supposed to be gathering and being around others, both my family and Brian’s family have made it a commitment to see each other but in the safest way possible. With Brian’s side of the family, through out last year we had many family gatherings that would take place outdoors so we can safely keep our distance and also be in the fresh air! During the spring, summer and even the fall months- that was pretty easy to do when we didn’t have the weather to think about while we stood outside for 8+ hours together! We just assumed that during the winter we would stick to virtual face time visits.
I don’t remember who’s idea it was but we decided that we wanted to see each other in person in the start of the new year and even if it was in the 20’s, we should still gather but we just needed to add a few more layers to our outfits! (okay, A LOT of extra layers!) We all bundled up in our snow pants, boots, hand warmers stuffed in our pockets and hung out around a fire pit with hot apple cider and warm soup! I don’t think I’ve actually spent time around a fire pit in the middle of winter with snow everywhere! It was so cool and so fun! It definitely gave us new memories to cherish! This was also our first snow day with our niece which was so adorable! She’s getting bigger and bigger every time we see her so we can’t let this pandemic miss our in person time with her!
Let this be your reminder, if you want to see your people, there are ways to doing it safely! In the winter, just throw on some extra layers and keep your hands warm with something toasty!
BREAKFAST AT AVGO
Okay, if you know anything about me it’s that I L O V E breakfast food. I could brunch all day err’ day! Gimme all the fluffy pancakes and lattes! My sweet client-turned-friend Jill and I met for breakfast one morning and we decided to go to AVGO in St. John, Indiana! I’ve always passed this place and from the road it looked like such a cute place! The minute we walked in, my heart fluttered a bit! It is such a pretty, Insta worthy place and let me tellll youuuuuu. The food is even BETTER than how the place looks! Wait until you see what Jill ordered! Definitely putting this on my favorite breakfast place list, and it’s hanging out right around the top of that list!! Good convos over good coffee is the way to my heart! :)
EMILY IN PARIS SERIES ON NETFLIX
“Emily in Paris follows Emily, a driven twenty-something American woman from Chicago, who moves to Paris for an unexpected job opportunity. She is tasked with bringing an American point of view to a venerable French marketing firm. Cultures clash as she adjusts to the challenges of life in a foreign city, while juggling her career, new friendships and love life.”
I’ve seen this show talked about all over the place and because everyone said it was definitely a girly type show, I never started watching it thinking that Brian wouldn’t be a fan. (haha) I’m not a huge TV watcher so whenever I do have it on it’s while watching something we both are interested in! Until one day I was in the mood to relax and just binge something! I started this show and was HOOKED! It gave me a little taste of traveling to Paris while traveling isn’t really recommended right now thanks to the pandemic. I related to Emily in so many ways from her being from Chicago, her love for taking photos of her memories for her Instagram page and adoring the lovely things like croissants, the prettiest set of roses out of the stand, and constantly striving for new experiences! She even had a camera phone case that I secretly want to hunt down! I felt like we could totally be BFF’s! Haha! LOVED this show and can’t wait for season 2!!
NEW COFFEE GADGETS
Another thing that I’ve seen all over the place and didn’t pull the trigger on it until now - A MILK FROTHIER !!! Guys, this has changed the game for my morning coffee! This little handheld frothier was only $9 bucks at Target , and the reason I finally bought it was because it just so happened to be right next to this electric kettle that we were buying one Friday night two weeks ago! Now my coffee is bubbly and foamy and fluffy and makes me feel like I’m drinking a latte from Starbucks! YUM-MY !
We made the switch last year from using a regular plastic machine type coffee maker and are now using a glass pour over coffee maker! (which was ALSO from Target and you can find HERE ) We have been trying to reduce the amount of plastic things we are using in our home which is why we made the switch (and because the taste is SO different and SO much better, I will never go back!!). The pour over from Target comes with a plastic filter holder which I ditched and I THIS stainless steel filter.
Besides the milk frothier, the other newest gadget that I’ve been loving is this electric kettle that I mentioned above! We’ve been using a kettle that you put on your stove that whistles when it’s boiling but it was time for a new one. Brian suggested that we get an electric one and came home with THIS one! We use it every single day for coffee in the morning and tea at night and we LOVE this one! It has a base that plugs into the wall that is used to heat the kettle and my favorite part, it has 5 different temperature settings that all have a different color light- and it lights up the whole inside of the kettle! So it looks like some sort of colorful bubbly fish tank which is so fun! Haha! And probably the best part, it turns off by itself when it reaches it’s set temperature and as long as it stays on the base, it will keep that temperature for 30 minutes! GAME. CHANGER. Especially if you use a pour over Chemex type coffee maker that doesn’t stay hot like a normal coffee maker would because it isn’t sitting on a heating plate.
REFLECTING AND PLANNING
This month, like I mentioned in the intro of this post, has been filled with planning and dreaming and scheming and reflecting on the past year! Give me a mug of warm yummy coffee and a few calendars, and you’ve got yourself a picture of my favorite day! I loooove planning and mapping things out because I’m a huge visual person. I’m also someone who loves documenting and reflecting because it’s another visual way that I can look at how the past week/month/year has looked. I have a Quarterly calendar and a Year At A Glance calendar both hanging up in my office (that I purchased HERE from Kat Schmoyer’s shop) that I’m using to mark all of my sessions and weddings coming up, when I’m traveling for work and personal and mapping out my content for the blog and social media!
I started using a Powersheets goal planner last year and was so in love with the process of it and how it helped me create goals and a way to follow those goals to turn them into realities. I started in August last year with an undated version and loved it so much, so I bought the dated version for 2021!
I have been a HUGE supporter of The Happy Planner for years. I was even on their design team for 2 years in 2015 and 2016! (fun fact!) But this year I saw a planner at Target (lol alllll the love for Target in this post haha) and I fell in love with layout of it! It is the Daily version of a Day Designer planner! I loved that is has ONE day per page and is has soooo much room for notes, To-Do’s, time blocking, all the things. Me being such a visual person, seeing one day at a time helps me focus on what needs to be done on that given day, and not seeing the whole week at one glance. The Happy Planner doesn’t have a daily version (ah-hemm, nudge nudge) so I’m excited to try out this one for 2021 and I've been loving it so far!
What have you been loving in January? Let me know in the comments below! :)
