2018 IN REVIEW

I- JANUARY: Every year, Joshua and I always start off the year with a date to Starbucks to dream about the upcoming year, and set our goals for the year. In January, I left my job at TEKsystems due to character misconduct from a coworker, and from there, we really started to look at our debt free journey and made some hard decisions to sell a lot of what we had. We sold our Honda CR-V, and instantly became a one-car family. I finally took classes at Maker13, a local maker shop in hopes to expand my service offerings.

II- FEBRUARY: In February, I calligraphed my FIRST wedding vows for a client, and I was honestly scared to death. It was 1200 words, and I lost sleep because I kept telling myself I couldn’t do it, and that I would fail. Well, I didn’t fail, and I fell in love with hand calligraphing wedding vows and large calligraphy keepsakes. February was the month that I hosted my largest workshop to date of 21 students at Seed and Harvest in Lexington, KY, and had a blast. I also created my first large calligraphy wood cut-out. It was a lot of trial and error, but they were such a unique service offering.

III- MARCH: In March, Joshua and I made the decision to sell our first home together. He bought this home when he was only 19, and we had a decent amount of equity in it that we put towards our debt. We took a fun trip to Lynchburg, VA for a sweet gal that I mentor for her engagement. We surprised her, and it was such a sweet trip showing Joshua around my college town. I started and launched my #celebratelifecollection in March of hand drawn and laser etched custom ultrasound keepsakes. The response I received to them was overwhelming in the best way.

IV- APRIL: In April, we finally closed on selling our first home and moved into a rental home we LOVE in the Saint Matthews area of Louisville, and this home was been such a blessing to us. one of our FAVORITE Louisville events is Thunder Over Louisville, the largest firework show in North America, and my parents came up from Maryville, TN to spend the weekend with us at Thunder. I also pulled the trigger and decided to invest in my business a little and I attended Christy Wright Business Boutique one-day event. I went with a few creative small business owner from Lexington, and it was such an inspiring and educational day that spurred on growth in my business in 2018. Joshua and I also FINALLY got to see Dave Ramsey speak and teach live at his Smart Money tour at Southeast Christian Church, and he was just as wonderful in person as he is on his podcast.

V- MAY: In May, I finally visited Joshuas hometown with him and got to attend the church he grew up in and that his dad pastored for years. Also, this was a MAJOR milestone month because Josh FINALLY graduated from college with his Bachelors in Business Administration with a Project Management specialization. He got really sick in undergrad years ago, and he FINALLY got to walk across the stage to receive his diploma. Both of our families went down to VA with us to watch him, and it was a sweet weekend.

VI- JUNE: In June, I hosted my first out of state calligraphy workshop at 618 Ewing in Nashville, TN, and honestly, it was so much harder than I expected to host an out of state workshop. This month, I got to design for a bride who was looking to create a love story banner, and I created three hand drawn illustrations for her that re-sparked my love for illustration drawings. I went back to Corporate America in this month at Robert Half Technology to continue to pay off debt aggressively for out debt free journey. It was a hard transition, but it helped us make some massive progress on our debt.

VII- JULY: In July, Joshua and I celebrated 2 years of marriage. We traveled to Virginia to be with a friend who just received some really hard news and love on her. It was a very unexpected trip, but such an encouraging weekend. This was the month that I pulled off the greatest surprise party of all time for Josh’s graduation party, and it was the first time in his life he has ever been truly surprised! Our whole families came up for the party, and it was such a fun day celebrating his accomplishment!

VIII-AUGUST: In August, I had the honor of hosting a baby shower for a dear friend in our home. I finally hand calligraphed my own wedding vows, and got to hang those in our home after wanting to do them for myself for a very long time. It was in August that Joshua and I hosted our 2nd Financial Peace University class, and we had a wonderful 9 weeks with our FPU students.

VIIII-SEPTEMBER: In September, I hosted my first in-home calligraphy workshop, and it went so smooth! I had always rented out event spaces in the past, and this was so fun to do in our own home. I got to have Joshua as one of my students, and if I can be honest, he was not great at calligraphy…I think I will stay as the C.C.O (Chief Calligraphy Officer). This was also the month where I decided to discontinue my large calligraphy wood cut-outs. It was a really good decision business wise, and as fun as they were to make, it was what my business needed.

X- OCTOBER: In October, I started my 3-month journey of being sick…all the time. I think I had walking pneumonia and bronchitis, but it was just really, really awful and I missed so much work this month. This was the month we also had a blast redoing our guest room, and I shared with you tips for hosting well. It turned out better than we imagined.

XI- NOVEMBER: In November, my dad fell off of a retaining wall, and shattered his entire hip socket. That was hard news to get, as he is a carpenter and this would mean him being out of work for a long time. Joshua and I hosted Thanksgiving this month, and I had my best ever month in business to close out the year. I also had a dream come true, and I had my first ever written piece published in a magazine. I have a desire to write in the future, and this was a small, but faithful step towards that life-long dream.

XII- DECEMBER: In December, I turned 29 years old. To celebrate, I got a very bad sinus infection, and ended up sick for 3 weeks over Christmas. it was a really hard end to 2019 with how bad my sinus infection was. Before I got sick, I hosted my second annual Christmas calligraphy workshop, and it was full of all things Christmas, just the way I like it! In December, I decided that my word for 2019 would be ‘healthy’. To kick off healthy, I decided to go back to my original hair color, and become a dark brunette again after being blonde for so long. For a combined Christmas and birthday gift, Joshua surprised me with the best gift ever of FIVE vintage wooden flat files, and my heart is still in love. We also sent out our first ever Christmas cards, and that was so fun for me, as I designed them all and hand calligraphed them. Lastly, I announced in mid-December that I would be rebranding my entire business and changing my business name, and as I look back, it was the start of something so wonderful, and I didn’t even know it yet.

As wonderful as 2018, was, Joshua and I are beyond expectant for all that 2019 will hold. 2019 is the year we can FINALLY say we will be debt free, and we cannot wait to celebrate this huge milestone in our life that had kept us chained for far too long.

The best is today AND to come!

Sweet blessings,