Blogging

My 2016 In Style, Blog Year Recap x A Few Goals For 2017

Not another recap post right? The last one for the year, I promise! I planned to put this up last year but time and chance happeneth to this girl. I know I’ve blogged about how to combine your 9 – 5 and blogging and make it work but right now, I work a 7am – 12am, 7 days a week and shit is just so real!

Notwithstanding though, doing a recap of my year in style is yet another tradition ( just like my year in words ) of the blog that I have to uphold. There’s just a little twist to it this time around, because I’ll be including my 2016 blog recap in this post as well as doing a round up of my looks on the blog from last year.

I did an end of the year blog review in 2015 and found it super helpful in taking stock of my blog year and setting new goals, so I figured hey! Why not try it out this year too? But instead of having two sepearate posts for both recaps , I decided to merge them instead. I’m hoping this makes it a lot easier for you to follow and also takes down having to throw in yet another review post in your face lol.
As always, there will be direct links to each look below the picture. All you have to do is click the number that corresponds to the picture and voila!

So here’s my year in style, some of the progress I made with the blog this year, and a few goals for 2017.

Read the full posts : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8
Style wise : For some reason, I didn’t think that I slayed as much as I did the previous years but putting together this post and seeing all my looks at a glance, I guess I can say that I didn’t do so shabbily after all.
What do you guys think? 
This year (read as 2016. lol), there was less outfit posts than last year and even less of my signature prints/retro and eccentric style. I played more around casual with a twist looks, bared a bit more skin , denim because what is life really without denim? androgyny and threw in a bit of glam girly look in the mix too. 
I also switched my look up a bit by experimenting with my hair – Going the crochet fro way definitely added some extra spice to my style.
Working as a full time medic means less experimenting for me this year as I’m basically stuck at work 24/7 with a strict dress code . I haven’t worn denim this year at all – it is that bad! But I’ll try to share more of my work style and how I’m making the dress code work for me regardless.
I shared some of my 2015 style goals last year and this year, one of my goals will be to have a more balanced wardrobe. I talked a bit more about what that means for me in this post. 
I really can’t say for sure which look was my favourite but I sure loved glamming up in Maxine Arthurs, twirling and looking Wedding guest ready in Design for love, channeling some free spirited solangey vibes, my floral inspired look  and the urban chic look for LFDW.
Which is your favourite look?
Please share in the comments!
Related : A Style Hack On How To Make The Most Out Of Your Wardrobe This Year! 
Read the full style posts : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5

Blog Wise : It was one interesting year filled with ups and downs but definitely also with progress and greater heights as well. 
I finally got a new blog theme this year. That was one major area I mentioned in last year’s recap that needed change and it gave me so much fulfillment to finally get to tick that off. I switched it to something minimalist but responsive and pretty to look at. I’m already itching for another change and I still have a couple of fixes to make to the blog though like create a start here page, optimize my home page to display a lot more content and be a bit more user friendly. I am also looking to finally move from blogger to either WordPress or squarespace. 
Speaking of pages, have you said Hi and introduced yourself in my “introduce yourself” page? What are you waiting for? Let’s get to know each other better this year!
Related : Five ways to refresh your blog for the new year!
My blog grew quite a bit this year – not really just in stats but I like to think also in positioning. I got to feature in two major nigerian magazines as a blogger which was really just so awesome! : You can read all about both my Mania magazine and Guardian Magazine features.
I got to work with Daniel Wellington which I’ve been eyeing for a while now and Infinix Nigeria which was a big one for me. I also got my very first physical blog award and got to have my first all paid expense blog trip which you can read all about here! 
One other thing I kept re-writing in my planner was having a Twitter chat and just before the year ran out, I got to finally have one with a few other awesome African bloggers and hosted by the awesome SheLeadsAfrica.
Read the full style posts : 1. 2. 3. 4.

Now let’s talk content. There was less of style posts like last year and more lifestyle type posts. I didn’t introduce as much new categories like I did last year and wasn’t quite as consistent with some of the old ones like Reader’s spotlight, candid talk and celebrating creativity. I honestly can’t promise to do better this year but I will try with the reader’s spotlight at least because I really enjoyed reading/featuring the people that read my blog. I introduced the blog love series where I share a few blogs that I currently love. Although, I realized the importance of blogger friendships, I didn’t get to do a lot of blogger style collaboration this year – just this summer style inspired look with Anjola.

At some point this year, I thought about quitting this blog. If you’re signed up to my mailing list HERE, you would already all about this. I got frustrated a bit with putting in so much work all the time and coupled with the fact that I was almost always mentally/physically tired, it was taking a toll on me. I also let the comparision bug get to me and I started feeling envy because some of yall decided to decamp (why you gotta do me like this? Lol!) but I’m happy that I didn’t quit. I’ve been blogging for way too long now and on most days, I can’t imagine not blogging.

If you quit in the process, you’re quitting on the result. Click to tweet!

Read the full style posts : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
On the social media end, I still didn’t up my pinterest game this year after all my noise lol! Regardless of how many posts I’ve read about pinterest, it has still been so hard for me to get into it. I might just outsource my pinterest and hire someone to handle that bit for me this year. My instagram grew alot this year, same with my twitter because I started spending more time there
Follow me on social media guys! >> BLOGLOVIN || SUBSCRIBE || FACEBOOK||TWITTER || INSTAGRAM
Read the full style posts : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6

Some of my blog/brand goals this year would be

  • To move from blogger to wordpress or squarespace – set up my shop and switch up my blog theme to something functional : I’m getting increasingly tired of blogger and its many restrictions and I just need to move.
  • Finally host my own workshop and launch that tote line already!
  • Write an ebook or two, introduce e-courses, challenges and add content upgrades to my posts.
  • Take my blog review and consultation services more seriously.
  • Reach out to and initiate more brand patnerships
  • Take the Cassie Daves Blog Planner to an even higher scale – have you got your 2017 blog planner yet? Details here!
  • Create a consistent schedule for my newsletters
  • Get an intern/more hands to help out with the blog. With my rigorous job, I really cannot do it all alone anymore so if you’ll like to be a part of the Cassie Daves Team. More Info here!
  • Try Vlogging, maybe!

This year, I really want to document more of my thoughts, the little moments and share more of my everyday style – not just the looks I think are bloggable and by God’s grace, there will bemore blogging related travel trips, international features and more awesome brand partnerships.

Read the full style posts : 1. 2. 3


Figured I can as well use this opportunity to share some of my favourite blog posts from this year and some of yours too as evident from my stats/comments.

Outfits.

Blog Tips.

Style Tips|Inspiration.

Beauty.

Travel | Lagos Living.

Life  | Inspiration.

Before i sign out, I just want to say a very big thank you to you all for showing me love this past year. Thank you for sharing and commenting. That is honestly part of what keeps me going – I wouldn’t be here if not for you all so pleaseeee keep reading and especially please keep leaving those comments, leave the ghost reading in 2016 oh!
Also, kindly feel free to share this post. In between ward rounds, clinic, correcting my patients hyperglycaemia and walking to work, I finally managed to finish it. Took me a lot of time and effort and I will really appreciate if you can use any of the share buttons below to share this post. Or just simply click to tweet!

Love and Light.

Author: Cassie Daves

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