Looking Back At 2018

Another year has come and gone! It seems that as I grow older, each year goes by faster. With this is mind, I have really learned to appreciate the “little moments” in my day to day life. I have so much to be thankful and grateful for. It can sometimes be hard to focus on being happy in the "present moment”, as we often spend too much of our energy on where we want to be, or what we need to achieve. As I look back at my year in 2018, I am proud of my growth and wanted to take some time to recognize even the small things that I have achieved over this past year.

Going into the New Year (2018), I completed some of my very favourite projects to date. I was reconnected with some of my family through my work and it was amazing to watch their homes come together. I love to bring joy into my clients homes by creating spaces for them to make beautiful memories with their friends and family in.

I spent time with my loved ones. This past year I have so many beautiful memories that I shared with my friends and family. I helped my gramma make floral arrangements for the hospital and learned all about her background, her childhood, and the wonderful memories from her wedding day with my grampa. I spent time with my sweet nonno and nonna, taking them shopping, cooking together and spent beautiful summer afternoons with them in their garden. I cherished all of the family dinners, bachelor nights, dance parties and cozy nights in that I have with my beautiful sisters and wonderful parents. My boyfriend graduated from Physiotherapy school, and after 6 years we are FINALLY living in the same town. With my friends, I have made countless memories over the past year. As I grow older, I value their trust, kindness and loyalty like never before. My sweet little cousin Frankie is growing up so fast but I was able to babysit and watch him grow this year. He even knows how to say my name now! Little sweetie.

I was able to see some incredible live performances this year, which included the amazing “An American In Paris”, I skated on an ice rink while watching the “Bahama’s” perform, watched one of my favourite bands “Lord Huron” by the water with my parents and cousins, listened to “Dashboard” from a stone bench in the village, saw “Panic at the Disco” with my best friends, and saw two incredibly talented new artists, “Frances Cone” and “Tall Heights” in an intimate venue in Toronto.

I travelled to Arizona with my friend Katarina, spent time in beautiful Kingston with my boyfriend Chris, and went to White Stone Lake cottage three times in the summer with all of my friends! These are all trips that I will remember forever.

With IKEA, I had the pleasure of designing two of their commercial sets, one being a wardrobe and bedroom layout, the other, a bathroom. This gave me an entirely new appreciation for the television industry, and furthered my love for set design. It took months and months of preparation and hard work, but I met amazing people along the way and loved every second. I also had the pleasure of designing and styling the cover of their 2018 Christmas Catalogue, as well as their 2019 Easter Catalogue (coming soon). In the summer, I worked with IKEA, CTV, and The Social to create and design four sets for their IKEA Catalogue Commercial. I am so grateful for these opportunities, and for the fact that I get to do what I love each and every day!

This year I was lucky enough to be nominated for two wonderful awards. One was an entrepreneur award in Niagara Falls, and the other was the Fanshawe Recent Graduate Award. I reconnected with my fellow Fanshawe teachers, and was invited to their awards dinner where I said a speech recalling my wonderful experiences from the program. In November, I was a nominee at the ScotiaBank Gala in Toronto, and met some incredibly talented Alumni there, including Stephen Sabados and Tracy Melchoir. It was a night I will never forget.

In June, I attended an event called the “Atelier” where entrepreneurial women from around North America gathered together to discuss their stories and how they got to where they are in their career and in life. I was so inspired by the women at this event. I was definitely most excited to meet “Team Jilly”. The beautiful blonde creative team who works for one of my favourite designers and idols, Jillian Harris. They were all extremely friendly and I loved hearing the advice they had to offer. From that day I realized that if you put your mind to something and never give up, your dreams do come true. So Inspiring!

I had a blast this year. Here are some more photos of my favourite moments in 2018:

The last huge moment for me in 2018 was on December 8th. This is the day that I launched my website. There was so much time, work, and energy put into this launch. I was terrified to start a blog and was nervous to put myself out there. I know that I love what I do, but I also second guess myself and my work often… don’t we all? I am so proud that I faced my fears and put it out there. Even if it’s not perfect, it’s a piece of me and all of the projects that I poured my heart and soul into, and for that I am proud! One more small goal that I made for myself was to hit 3000 followers on Instagram before 2019. Well, its 12:30pm on December 30th and I just noticed that I reached my little goal! I believe that it’s important to set little goals for yourself to be proud of, even if other people don’t find them to be a big deal… it’s okay to celebrate the little things!

I have a lot more that I would love to achieve in 2019 and I know that I have so much to look forward to. I will set some goals, but be sure to appreciate the little things and live in the moment with the people I love…. Like Andy Bernard says, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve left them”. Enjoy TODAY and take in those little moments.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Until next time,

Marcy xo