I haven't done a post like this before, but with 2016 being the grab bag of emotions it was I thought it would be great to have a list of all that happened. This year was a big year of exploration for me - whether it was new skills, projects, or countries. It was also a big year of loss - both of loved ones, people I admire, and politics in my home state and nationally. One of my friends said it best when she told me this year has held some of the highest highs and the lowest lows for us. Either way, I'm happy to share some of my highlights with you all - 2016 good or bad, was a busy year!
January
- I embarked on my journey to be semi-zero waste.
February
- We created a locally viral panthers shirt, and got in trouble with the team lawyer...whoopsie
- We celebrated 1 year in our home
- I got the Morgan Chicks 2.0!
March
- I think my sleeve "officially" started this month with the addition of a bat to my shoulder!
April (this month was a doozy)
- I started CLT Design with my co-organizer Bermon Painter. It's a free monthly event that brings in a speaker to talk about something web design related. It was so much more fun/hard/successful than I expected. Can't wait to see what we do next year!
- I attended my 4th Creative South - my favorite design conference ever in Columbus, GA
- I taught my first Skillpop class! If you don't know, Skillpop is a popup classroom where folks can sign up to learn a new skill for 1-2 hours. I taught Adobe Illustrator basics and had such a blast I went on to teach 10 more classes this year!
- I used to run the Tar Heel 10 Miler every year, but missed it last year (because, wedding!), and was really unprepared this year. All of my old running group buddies reunited this year though to run the 4 miler in honor of one of the women who ran while fighting breast cancer. So fun to run with those ladies again!
- Eric and I celebrated one year married!
- Finally, we embarked to Iceland for our anniversary trip! This will forever be one of the best experiences of my life - you can read/view pictures from Central Iceland, the South Coast, Glymur, the West Coast, and Reykjavik.
May
- I celebrated 5 years with NMC!
- I upped my crazy chicken lady status and took a coop tour around Raleigh
- We kicked off summer by tubing down the Catawba
June
- We welcomed our niece Kate into the world!
July
- I got a new camera! A Sony Alpha A7. Still need to learn how to use it better, but I took a trip with my family to a lilypad farm in the mountains to check it out.
- We celebrated one year of Dine & Draw CLT!
- After successfully teaching a few Adobe Illustrator basics classes, I added a new Skillpop class: Branding Your Business. The class helps give businesses just starting out or those needing a rebrand a jumping point for creating a new brand. Starting next month it will become a masterclass!
- My family and I finished building the dopest chicken coop.
August
- I participated in my first art show, "Let The Good Times Roll" at Gallery Twenty-Two.
- My girlfriends and I took a 3 week road trip down the west coast. You can read about Seattle here and here, and our afternoon in Astoria. We also visited Canon Beach, Portland, San Francisco, Monterrey, SLO, and LA.
September
- Eric and I took our first trip to Nashville for our friend's wedding. I so wish we could have spent more than a few days there!
- We lost one of our best friends, Jenny. This has been one of the lowest and hardest things for me to go through and I'm hoping I can get the courage to write more about it later. We said goodbye to her in a beautiful ceremony where we told stories and released balloons in one of her favorite places.
- I participated in AIGA's Beer & Branding showcase for the second year in a row. You can view my designs here.
- I spoke about designing with Sketch to a group of students at CPCC.
October
- On kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision (we bought the tickets at the end of August), Eric and I headed to Denmark and Sweden! We visited Copenhagen, Visby, and Stockholm. Only 2 more countries until we finish our tour of Scandinavia!
- Eric started a new job! He's now a product manager at Speed Digital.
- Charlotte Agenda wrote an article about what it's like for me to raise backyard chickens.
- We added Eleven, a pink-toed tarantula to the family
- I ran a 5k, but not just anywhere - on the runways at the Charlotte Airport! Can't wait to make this race a yearly tradition
- This was the year of many Halloween costumes (my favorite holiday). Dressed as a troll, Mia from Pulp Fiction, and Morticia Addams.
November
- I took a trip to Asheville for a girlfriend's birthday - this will forever be one of my favorite places to visit!
- I gave a talk on Political web design to the CLT Design group
- I cried about Trump's win
- I hiked Stone Mountain to celebrate a girlfriend being in remission after a long year fighting breast cancer!
- I did yoga among goats
December
- I helped organize Fusion Day - a conference for designers, developers, and project managers. I even ended up moderating a panel on the fly - something I could have never done a year ago.
- After a year and a half of monthly events, I hosted the final event for Dine & Draw CLT with me as organizer. The group will live on though - so join this email list!
- A wedding, a slight identity crisis, and a bad social handle all led to a rebranding of myself!
Bring it 2017 - I can't wait to see what you have in store!