Not long after my last blog post I decided to jump into our little chocolate business, Storyboard Delights, full-time and it has been a crazy whirlwind ever since. Only now do I feel like I get a moment to breathe and process what we did. And within that moment of looking back over our first "holiday season" of selling chocolates, I wound up looking further back over this year. No wonder I've been feeling a bit out of sorts, this has been an epic year full of the most crazy big changes! Graduating the design school I had decided on a whim to apply to, having our second child, making a career change, selling our home and moving away from a life I had created for over a decade in Los Angeles, practically selling all of our belongings and starting from scratch as a family, moving from LA, into my parents house, and then into our own place, starting a business, learning how to make chocolate, becoming head creative director for Storyboard Delights and frantically coming up with a product to sell for the Christmas season, setting and accomplishing sales goals, shedding jobs I had picked up along the way that didn't feel "right" to me and getting the courage to say "no" and walk away with little guilt. Ultimately, finding things I was actually passionate about and advertising those passions leading to getting paid to do what I love!
Emotionally, it has been a crazy wild ride and so full of hopes, dreams, worry, fear, fighting for what I believed was right, defending our new life choices, trying to stay positive despite the multitude of concerned questions and negativity that would creep in when sharing our dream. I'm so freaking exhausted!! And here were are, New Year's Eve!
I'd like to share a little about my hopes and dreams for 2019. I feel so chalk full of ideas that I worry I'm just spinning in place because I don't know where to start. Perhaps if I write out a few of my desires I can latch on to something and focus on a more manageable and tangible list.
For 2019, I envision myself continuing on as creative director for Storyboard Delights and coming up with more marketing, branding, and advertising ideas. The actual chocolate making is quite fun and inspiring as well, but watching all my hard work pay off in seeing people connecting to the idea we are sharing, makes me giddy. I'd love for this to be our family business that provides a living income for us as well.
It's what I hope to do for other small businesses too! I love sidling along and being the cheerleader and consultant for a person who needs an outside eye and someone to say "I believe in you!". I want to watch other people make their dreams come true and feel just a bit more alive each day. To wake up excited to make a living doing what they love.
And while doing what you love is important, so is loving where you live! I've had the pleasure of consulting a handful of friends/clients with making the most of the layout and styling of their home. I thrive in creative spatial planning for small spaces (that's the only spaces I've personally inhabited for the last decade!!) and using the things you already have to the best of their abilities. It's so easy to just go out and buy more things - but I like the challenge of re-purposing what already exists in your home. Sometimes it doesn't even need a lot of work, just moved to a different side of the room and a clearing out the clutter!
I actually get to start 2019 in this exact way! For Storyboard Delights we have brand new custom designed packaging (that Eric and I designed ourselves) to hold the creative and whimsical story-based chocolates we created. We're currently working on pre-production of the commercial we're shooting to launch our new "product". By mid-January I'll be flying off to Toronto for a week to work with my friend (who I haven't seen in a few years) and re-designing her apartment. We'll be working on some DIY projects, spatial planning and rearranging furniture, all while staying on a tight budget (oddly one of my favorite challenges). I can't wait to share that project with you and hopefully have a ton of before and after photos!
I hope next year I find time to do a bit more blogging and sharing neat tricks for design and decor that I come across. But I also know the reality of time management while raising two little kids, running a business, and slowly starting another biz on the side.
With all this crazy manic energy to run forward and show progress, I need to remember to take time out and be still. I've learned the importance of stopping to listen. I struggle with quieting my mind, but that's a personal goal for me next year. Grow my meditation practice. I won't say "meditate every day" that's a bit of a high bar to reach for me, but to increase my practice over the coming year seems feasible. I need to carve out time for myself so that I may be of better service to those I love.
What about you? Do you have any plans for 2019? I feel I'm talking into the void and this is just a journal entry that's public. Well, whatever it is, I finally feel a bit better about starting 2019!
So, thank you to whoever is reading this.
Just a handful of photos depicting the epic year of 2018: