As I've said before, 2013 was a wild ride! I thought it would be nice to recap what happened last year both for me to remember and contemplate and to catch you up on all that happened! Here is everything that happened between January & June...
JANUARY
I finally decorated my studio at the beginning of 2013 after moving my workspace from my apartment to my first real studio space in the summer of 2012.
I found a rad bull skull and brought it home, and I reflected on my relationship with animals as friends and animals as food.
I went to Altitude Summit for the first time and had a blast! This began my blog conference marriage to Chelsey as we ended up traveling a lot together in 2013 and sharing many hotel beds. I also got to meet Whitney, Dayna, and Morgan for the first time and fell in love with all of them. This year at Altitude Summit SLC, Chelsey, Whitney and I (the three jumping humans in the photo above) will be hosting a Carnival themed party on the mini parties night! We're so excited :)
FEBRUARY
- My mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer and I went internal and freaked out about what would happen to her and my family, and what could happen to me if I got breast cancer.
- My sister came to visit.
- My grandfather started his journey towards death.
- I got some additional incredibly heartbreaking news that will still remain private. It was one of my worst nightmares come true.
I took a DNA test to learn about my genetic history, my own health issues, and I hoped to gain more clues as to whether I might get breast cancer when I am older.
MARCH
- I got the fire in me to try to find a way to do great things for women who have been abused, neglected, and mistreated and solidified that similar passion in my friendship with Margaret.
- I made a choice to say YES a lot in 2013 and vowed to go places. Boy did I not have any idea how big those two things would be in my life in 2013!
- My grandfather passed away and I flew down to California for his funeral and to be with family. I was scared that our extended family wouldn't be in contact as much once both my grandparents has passed away, and I went into mourning a lot of things pretty deeply. But my family all ended up becoming far closer instead with my grandfathers passing. I'm so grateful for that.
- My cousin Reed & I started dreaming up ideas of how we could work together in business.
- I went to the PNW Blogger Meet-Up.
With the help of a lot of friends, I re-painted my studio fresh white and painted one big wall all chalkboard.
I started to really invest in my workspace and decorated it & decorated it with golden tones, black, wood, and rustic feeling objects.
APRIL
- I went to Texas for the firs time! I attended the Reward Style Blogger Conference in Dallas and wore a lot of loud outfits.
- I somehow convinced my best friend Jenette to come work for/with me on the big secret project... mooreaseal.com
- Reed, Jenette & I set a date for the site's launch. We had 3 months to plan, prep, and launch the website, lofty goals that we somehow met.
My cousin and I decided that we wanted to become business partners and start a new online retail site of some kind! We kept it hush hush and only mentioned it as the Big Secret Project...
I created a chemo care package for my momma and it has remained one of the most popular posts on my blog ever since. That makes me really happy :)
I talked about my journey of becoming a jewelry designer. Honestly, for the second half of 2013, I had no inspiration to make jewelry. But I'm hoping that with a more calm year this year, fingers crossed, I'll regain that inspiration.
MAY
- I was asked to speak at a blogger conference for the first time for the Texas Style Council.
- Max and I visited our family in California.
I posted some tips on how to make basic photography a little more interesting.
I explained how obsessive tendencies and anxiety really grabbed hold of my life during the first few months after my mom's cancer diagnosis.
I announced that my cousin and I had hired our first employee, Jenette! And she started working with me everyday in the studio.
I made one of my best friends' engagement ring! Allie is one of my most favorite humans on earth.
Max and I went to visit the camp he used to work at in Yosemite & we stayed and helped out on work weekend in prep for when camp would open for summer. We had some tragic news in the Fall when we found out the raging wild fire in Yosemite rolled through camp and burned down everything there. But we were so grateful that we at least got to be there one last time in the Summer with people we love.
JUNE
- Jenette and I flew down to Southern California to meet with my cousin & biz partner to plan for our store!
- I had my birthday on June 21st and didn't do anything for it because I was too busy with work... woops. But Max still made me feel wonderful, this dude is so kind to me.
We had our first editorial photoshoot for mooreaseal.com with the incredible Margaret. I'm so lucky to have her as a friend and someone whose artistry I admire.
We hired our first gang of incredible interns! Gosh, it's amazing how these women impacted my year in so many wonderful ways being important members of our staff and becoming dear friends along the way. Tram is now a permanent member of the Moorea Seal team! And Jenette and I pretty much worship the ground she walks on, she's that amazing.
Well that's the recap of January - June 2013 and you can bet that a ton of stuff happened in the second half of they year too! I'll be posting the second half of the 2013 recap in the next few days :) Comment with links to your 2013 recaps!