Looking back at 2018

Because 2017 was a slow year due to my pregnancy, 2018 felt like an action-packed year in all areas of my life: as a mom, as a wife, as a career woman, as a blogger and the list goes on. I started 2018 on maternity leave, adjusting to my new life as a mom. Once I started to feel like myself again and getting out there little things like getting my nails done, brunch with friends, and local blogging events really inspired and motivated me. In think I wanted to prove to myself I could still kick butt even now as a mom.

When I came back to blogging this year, I realized the blogging landscape was totally different and the bar had been raised so high that the way I used to blog or instagram weren’t going to cut it anymore. It was because of what I observed that I had to be strategic and efficient because I don’t have that much available time in the day anymore to “mess around” like I use to. And with that in mind, after the baby went to sleep I worked on my blog “comeback” so to speak, and since I found it therapeutic I was so motivated! I want to highlight some of the great things that happened this year in my blogging life and want to add in that behind all of these highlights was a lot of late nights and hard work behind it.

SUPPORTIVE BLOGGER FRIENDS AND COLLABORATORS

I’ve always found a tribe in the blogosphere, but as I came back into what was now called the “influencer” world (maybe later I’ll go into why I dislike such buzzwords as influencer and content) I realized it was like the wild west! I started to seek guidance from fellow bloggers and found a core group of girls who were so supportive, generous with their advice and were a great sounding board for ideas. Cheers to all of those blogger ladies who have been so supportive to me in 2018, who I collaborated with- you know who you are!

COOL OPPORTUNITIES

I started the year with a clean slate when it came to working with brands because I had been on maternity leave and focusing on our son so I didn’t take on any campaigns for a while. As you may or may not know if you’re new, I have a full time career so brand work is not my bread and butter, however I will work with brands because I genuinely love them. This year I was blessed enough to host an event at Kendra Scott and Macy’s, have a staycation at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla, I was introduced to Lafayette 148 NY that is a wonderful and elegant brand and resumed my relationships with JCPenney, Chicwish, cabi, Toyota, Lexus, Olay, Pixi, MAC, to name a few. I truly value their trust in me as a blogger and their continuous support.

NYFW

I won’t pour my heart out about what going to NYFW meant to me (because I did so here), but it was a HUGE deal for me. It was one big motha f’n check on the bucket list and I learned SO much about fashion, about NYFW, about other influencers, about myself- and in general the power of supportive family and friends! It takes a village and I was so appreciative of my village for stepping in so this momma could pursue one of her dreams! I attended three days of shows and in case you missed it you can catch the recaps here: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

NOTABLE MISC. 

I wasn’t sure how to categorize these mini achievements so I am categorizing these as “notable miscellaneous”. 1. I was a finalist in Fohr’s Freshman class, was in the last top 86 from over 1600 applicants. Even though I didn’t get into the top 10 who were flown out to NYC, I was really proud of my application where I talked about the need for diversity in age, race, body size, etc in this industry. I was even more proud and grateful for the testimonials that were submitted by my friends and readers! (Big thanks to all of you who did that, it meant a lot to me!) 2. November 2018’s monthly page views were the highest I have every had in my whole time blogging. I don’t really know why, but I’ll take that spike as note-worthy!

And with that, I conclude my 2018 blogging year highlights, obvi there were a lot of highlights in my personal and career life, but it’s been very hard to quantify those, all I know is that the biggest achievement of all has been my life as a mother and watching our son grow.

I will be coming back soon with my 2019 Blogging goals in the next blog post. For now, I wish you an amazing New Year!

Best {Fashionable} Regards,

Paulina

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