Happy 2018! A Recap of 2017

Hi Everyone!

Happy Monday and Happy New Year friends!  Ok so I realize Im a good week behind here, but Im JUST barely coming around to the fact that it is indeed a New Year.  The kids arent back to school from holiday break until tomorrow, and Im just getting back to myself after the flunado hit Naomi and I on New Years Eve. Im happy to say Im back up and running and today I thought Id pop in and do a little recap highlight situation of what 2017 brought us.

2017 was a good year.  Interesting, but good. It was a year of trials and triumphs for me as it pertains to creative content, brand partnerships, trying new things, and overall personal growth.

I’ll start with our feature over on Design Sponge!!  It was one of my favorite moments of the year, and it happened to make Grace’s cut for Best of 2017 which made me just about lose my mind!!

It was also a year of really fun opportunities to work with brands on social media content.  Partnering with brands like Stainmaster, State Farm, Seventh Generation, Nugget Comfort, and Daniel Wellington were amazing and pushed me out of my comfort zone of being hesitant and fearful of brand partnerships.

Here in the cottage bungalow we didnt really make very many drastic changes this past year.  We kinda took a year off from major work, but we did finally take some time to dedicate toward getting our sons room in order.

It was beyond time to focus energy on his space and Im glad we did.  Weve worked a bit more on it since and will be sharing those updates soon as well.

Beyond his room we also started on a little kitchen refresh by repainting the cabinets green.

We also made a few really happy furniture investments

We explored Catalina Island for our anniversay…

And perhaps the biggest triumph from this year was being nominated and subsequently winning in the first ever Domino Desing Blog Awards.

This was an absolute dream come true and it came at just the right time.  I had been wondering whether I even wanted to continue blogging at all and literally a week later I got an email about being nominated.  Im taking that as a sign that I need to stick around for a bit yet.

2017 was honestly a year of mass relfection.  It was a year of trying new things and determining what works for me and what doesnt.  Of deciding where I should put my energy and where I shouldnt.  It was a year of discovering great friendships and it was a year of cultivating relationships.  Im incredibly excited about what that means as we go into another year.

I have some pretty exciting things already in the works for this year and I cant wait to share them all with you.  Wishing everyone a wonderful and joyous 2018.  Lets do this!!

Until next time friends….

Posted By: Shavonda Gardner · In: interiors, uncategorized