Hello all!

Well, another year has passed by and I am so incredibly grateful for everything I’ve learned and all of my experiences (good and bad) from this past year. I can’t believe a whole year has flown by so quickly and so much has happened for me both personally and professionally. For reference, I’ll include my 2017 Year in Review post here.

Today I’ll be doing a roundup of my highs and lows in 2018, summaries of what I did and where I went, and some of my favorite outfits from this past year. Reflecting back on all that has happened has given me a better perspective of how much I’ve grown this past year and how I can better approach 2019.

Highs

• Securing my first official job working with amazing people doing what I love (Public and Government Relations work)
• Traveling to so many new places (Atlanta, Seattle, Oregon, and Paris – which has been at the top of my bucket list for years) and revisiting my absolute favorite island since childhood, Nantucket
• Reconnecting with friends from all walks of life.  I am so thankful I had tons of friends want to come visit me in DC or move here for jobs.  I had the opportunity to really catch up with some of my best friends from college, childhood, elementary, and middle school that I haven’t seen in a while.  And having the chance to show them around the city I now call home is so incredibly rewarding! Blogging has also opened so many doors for new friendships and connections in this city I now call home, which I’m so grateful for!
• Dedicating more time to my blog – I truly believe the quality of this blog has increased this year. I’ve taken time to carefully craft blog posts and direct photo shoots with a clear concept in mind. When I scroll through my posts this year, I am proud of the improved consistency (I tried to aim for at least 3 posts per month), better quality photos, more cultivated outfits that suit my style, and increased in-depth creative writing that allows me to connect with you all!

Lows

• Contracting – at the beginning of the year I was working two separate contracting jobs.  I loved both jobs I worked, but even though one of my jobs was remote, it was still taxing on my mental and physical health.  I didn’t really realize how stressful it can be to finish up a day job and then go home and start working on your second job.  I am so incredibly grateful for both opportunities, but know I am much healthier with a focus on one stable job.
• The reality of living on my own – I absolutely love living on my own, but I would be lying if I said paying rent (and negotiating rent increases), paying utility costs, coordinating replacement lights, dealing with water shutoffs and elevator outages, etc. wasn’t hard and essentially navigating it is a full time job.  I’m definitely getting more used to the flow of running a household, but it was a struggle a lot of the time (many plants unfortunately died and I still somehow manage to make my living space a mess within a week after deep cleaning and organizing it).
• Family issues – About halfway through the year, my family faced some major disruptions that are still ongoing and hard to accept.  I may choose to share more about it after everything has settled down, but it’s really hard when parts of your family are in flux and you feel like you don’t have stability.

 

Travel

This year I had so many incredible travel opportunities.  I went to so many places I’ve never been to before as well as returning to old favorites.  Visiting three new states (GA, WA, and OR) was a fantastic experience that made me love our beautiful country even more and going to Paris for the first time was truly magical! Here’s a list, in order, of where I traveled this year:

• Los Angeles, California (Blog posts 1, 2, 3)
• Atlanta, Georgia (Blog post)
• Seattle, Washington (Blog post)
• Portland and wine country, Oregon (Blog post)
• Nantucket, Massachusetts (Blog post 1, 2)
• Paris, France (Blog Post 1, 2)
• Stratton, Vermont (Blog post)

Outfits

I have to say, I’m really impressed with myself style-wise this year.  This blog has been an opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and challenge my fashion choices in ways I haven’t before.  I tried to dress according to the theme of my travels or location-specific sites like museum exhibits.  I also experimented more with seasonal dressing and finding unusual styles or accessories that are still very “me.” I challenged myself at the beginning of this year to break out of style ruts and have fun with my clothing and accessories, no matter what others may think.  This definitely freed my mind of any worries about judgement or backlash if I dressed a little over the top!  And I had a blast doing it!  Here are some of my personal favorite looks from this year:

Dressing to match my surroundings on my first trip of the year to LA!

Breaking out all-pink outfits for Cherry Blossom Season – this isn’t a color I wear a lot so it was a fun challenge to style!

Wearing more color than I ever have during Pride Month! I was definitely a little intimidated by these looks, but now I’m excited about styling for Pride 2019!

Some of my favorite Summertime outfits from this year. I always struggle with dressing in extreme heat, but these looks kept me cool and looking put together.

Two of my favorite styles during my birthday trip to Paris!

My “Heavenly Bodies” Halloween/Birthday costume! Still in love with everything about how this look came together so perfectly.

I had a blast dressing up to represent my Slytherin House to see the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibit.

I had a blast testing out how to do photo shoots this year. These last two are my favorite – they’re two holiday shoots I did with friends and absolutely loved the process!

I loved this cozy look for Vermont in front of the Red Fox Inn…wearing a fox motif! I’ll definitely have to feature a post devoted to my love of all things decorated with foxes later on.

I hope you all have enjoyed following me along this journey and watching me grow this past year. I truly appreciate everyone who follows my adventures and I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store for me to share with you!

I wish you all a very Happy New Year’s Eve!  See you in 2019!

XOXO

Parisa