Hello and Happy New Year!
I took a little time off from blogging to enjoy the holiday season with family, spend time with friends, and get some new projects rolling for the new year. I'm back with a new schedule for the blog and some really exciting content on the horizon for you guys. I hope you will love whats coming, but lets talk about the year that's passed us before we get into whats next.
2016 was undeniably the year of Disneyland visits for me, not shockingly. It was also the first year I got involved with The Walt Disney Company in a professional way which was a bucket list opportunity. This was the year of new friends in both Oregon and California, the year we got a dog (!!!!), the year I brought a new facet to this blog through embroidery and craft ideas, and our last year in
Corvallis. I want to emphasize how grateful I am to you guys who read this blog for bringing all these opportunities my way. I love what I do here and can't wait to see what next year brings for Ariel and Alder.
Here are a few favorite moments from every month of the year!
January: New Friends!
If you are currently in college perhaps you can attest to the feeling that as you age its harder to make new friends with common interests. Perhaps what makes it so easy in high school is you are packed together in sports teams, classes, clubs, and events whereas in college activities are more elective and spread out. I made friends in the dorms, but when I moved into an apartment it felt like I was on campus less and it was a bit more difficult.
Regardless, I am always happy to meet a new face and I started the year off making a new (now very close) friend! After a few Instagram messages back and forth,
Lauren and I decided to meet IRL for a coffee date. We were instant friends in about 5 minutes and blasted off to the craft store right after our latte cups were empty. Funny story, a few weeks after that we got in a car and drove to Disneyland together. Through Lauren, I also met
Tracy and a 2 for 1 friendship was made.
February: Introducing Embroidery
I tell people that embroidery changed my life, because it's true! I was in a creative rut after being a "fashion blogger" for 3 years and I went to an embroidery party in February that changed the game for me. It may sound dramatic, but learning this new medium revived my interest in producing new content for this blog and lead to the biggest growth jump in 3 years. I was about an inch away from giving up on blogging and got saved by a stitch. Literally.
March: Spring Break Road Trip
My favorite moment from March this year was taking a 30 hour road trip from Oregon to San Fransisco, then Disneyland with friends for Spring Break. Usually I prefer to fly when given the choice but I would do this trip over again in a heartbeat.
April: My 21st Birthday and an Annual Pass To Disneyland
I turned 21 and became a Disneyland annual passholder in the same day! It was such a fun birthday week and I went down to Disneyland with my brothers family to celebrate. My best friend from high school also came to the park for my actual birthday, and my other friend
Hannah came in for the following day which was so fun. Cameron came down later that week and became a passholder as well, which started a sort of domino effect on our regular Disneyland visits.
May: Adopting Baloo
Perhaps the best month of the year, it's the one where
we adopted our dog Baloo! We had been looking for a dog all month long and she came into our lives at the most random time. It definitely added a new facet of responsibility, effort, and complication to our lives but we just love her!
June: A Temporary Move
Probably the roughest month out of the year logistically. Cameron got offered a great internship opportunity in Portland, which was awesome but it meant we needed to temporarily move to PDX for 3 months with our 4 month old puppy in tow. A nightmare wave of packing, storage, and re-packing. I also needed to find temporary office space to do my job without a lease involved.
July: Disney Style
A month split by fifty percent good things and fifty percent bad things. On one hand, we were living out of one bedroom in Portland and dealing with a whole new routine, Portland traffic, and missing some of our friends. On the other, Baloo had finally become a somewhat "trained" dog and I was working on
my first DIY article with Disney Style.
August: Summer In Disneyland
Yet another Disneyland trip, but this one was especially fun because Cameron and I decided to take a weekend to visit the park just us two. The crowds were pretty low, the Diamond Celebration was just wrapping up, and it was seriously the best weekend. Perhaps the best trip of the year! We also visited
Anaheim Majestic Garden for the first time, and its now one of our off-property favorites.
September: Walt Disney World!
October: Halloween!
October is my favorite month of the year no matter what but this year the Halloween season was extra fun. We spent some time on our DIY cars land costumes, watched spooky movies per usual, and threw a party at my friend
Ethans house. Overall, just a super fun time this year.
November: Last Disney Trip Of the Year + Thanksgiving
Going to Disneyland (again!) for the holiday season and hosting our first Thanksgiving are at the top of the list for the month of November. The Disneyland trip was literally for 24 hours with my aunt and uncle but every minute was put to good use in absorbing all the holiday cheer around the park.
December: Christmas Time
And here we are again in January, which brings me to a resolution I have for the blog. There will be a new post here every Monday morning at 6:00 am PST. I have other projects as a part of my new content calendar that I will share with you soon, but for now just know that Monday is the day to check Ariel and Alder for a new post. I am trying to get back on track for posting regularly and I think this new Monday deadline will help with that.
Mondays, 6am, See you there!
xo,
Natalie
