A Look Back on 2018

what. a. yeeeeear!

So much traveling, so much laughing, so much work!
It’s truly been a year for the books. My work almost doubled, I gained a few more close friends, and I traveled to places I’ve never been. I really love using Instagram to take a look back on my year. It’s really interesting to see the feelings and moments that happened each month. It’s also really cool to see how my photography and aesthetics changed throughout the year.
Take a trip down memory lane with me!

JANUARY

I remember truly longing for spring during January; if that’s not obvious in this color palette. I adored pastels and fresh flowers. This is a pretty typical “January” thing for me. You’ll most likely see this happening in the next month again. January was a slow start with lots of time at home. I explored more with making cocktails and I had the itch to make homemade donuts - both were a success!

FEBRUARY

February was a month of art for me. I explored new mediums and experimented more with photography. I started doing framed mixed media artworks and focused heavily on food photography. On the interior level, we got a new couch in February! That was a big turn - we were both so sick of our big blue couch. This was the moment I fell more in love with our apartment. Is it weird that a couch caused the starting ground for my soon-to-be brand colors? Cause it did. Allllll of the earthy tones.

MARCH

Travel! I hadn’t traveled out of the Midwest in yeeeears and then March came along and my family + I drove down to South Carolina to visit my sister. It sparked a much needed feeling of being away from the known + comfort. The warmth of the south did some good for my spring-seaching soul. It jump-started a lot of creativity within me and I was finally able to photograph landscapes! It was a great month!

APRIL

I started cooking more and spent a lotttt of time doing meal preps for Dylan to take to work. We also had a busy month of packing up our stuff to move across the parking lot to our new apartment! April started the pull of summer for me. I also took on my first small business photography client - Simply Lovely Naturals. That shoot jumped my creativity through the roof.

JUNE

Annnnd the last big month of travel. Mom + I flew to Colorado Springs - my first time back since I was like 10? It was so so beautiful and I definitely needed that mountain air. Right when I got back, Dylan + I took a weekend trip to Minneapolis (I think I’m in love with that city). All of this did test my patience of being away from home so much. I’m a total homebody so traveling this much in 4 months made me a little uneasy. But it was still such an amazing month and I think it was good for me to understand how much I can push myself.

JULY

July was a tough month for me emotionally. To be totally transparent, I can lose sight of my goals as an artist and a photographer. I can get caught up in comparison which causes me to get confused as to who I am. I remember this month being almost as a fresh start for me artistically. During this time, I sort of retaught myself photography. I learned to embrace shadows and darkness in my editing style which I think helped me in the long run tremendously. It’s all about those silver linings.

AUGUST

I got engaged! Dylan proposed to me towards the end of August and woah, I’m smiling just typing this out. I’m overly excited. August taught me a lot about myself and my work. I was pushed out of my comfort zone quite a bit this month and I’m so so happy that I was. My photography work was changed in the best way possible and I could feel myself really starting to get it.

SEPTEMBER

September was a month of wedding planning and woodworking. Two very different things but welcome to my life. We found our wedding venue and I built a new kitchen table! It was a super busy month full of love, art, and work. And on top of all of that goodness, it was finally my favorite season - sweater season!

OCTOBER

We had our engagement photos done this month by Brad Hart Co. and it got me soooo much more excited for our wedding! I also found THE dress at BHDLN in Chicago with my momma and my bestfriends and we had such an incredible time in the city. Then I had my car stolen.. it was a 2 month long process of finding my car, having it marked as totaled, and then buying my new car. (Again, just a blessing in disguise really).

NOVEMBER

My birthday, our anniversary, thanksgiving - November is one of my favorite months. I introduced Graphic Design into my services and took on my first few clients for it. I started my Christmas decorating early for the first time - I don’t recommend tbh. I found out that I definitely do better just waiting for December to decorate (I get burnt out on things quickly…) But besides that, November did not disappoint!

DECEMBER

And here we are, nearing the end of December and it’s been a great month as well. As you can tell, I really did find my editing groove - something I’ve wanted to say for so long but never really felt there. It’s so cool being able to look back and keep record of how much my work + my life has changed. This alone gives me so much confidence for the new year ahead of us. December started off busy with work and then ended busy with family but I wouldn’t have it any other way.