2015 Year in Review

Hello 2016! I'm excited to start this new year, but I also wanted to take the time to reflect on everything that's happened in 2015.

As Gretchen Rubin writes in The Happiness Project: "The days are long, but the years are short." Sometimes the days seem short too! It's hard to remember individual days, but they all add up to new experiences. For me, the biggest moments of 2015 were: moving in to a new apartment and having my own studio space, finishing my 30th songbird painting for Beautiful Songbirds, completing an entire year of freelancing and at the same time accepting a full time job at Sellers Publishing, and most of all, when my boyfriend proposed on June 13th!

In 2015 I got to travel to great places, see beautiful things and spend time with many of my favorite people. I learned more about Maine and explored more parts of it, I traveled to Wyoming and camped in Yellowstone, I visited New York City and went to the Top of the Rock (one more NYC bucket list item crossed off!), and I took in the sites and sounds of Washington, D.C.

For work, I designed books for The Telling Room, a fantastic non-profit writing program here in Maine, continued doing design work for Macmillan Children's books, worked with some local Portland businesses, created free monthly desktop calendar downloads, art directed for Lee & Low Books, painted many, many songbirds and designed the layouts for Beautiful Songbirds (coming out in March 2016!), and last, but not least, accepted a job as a graphic artist in the card department for RSVP at Sellers Publishing, where I am developing and designing greeting cards. 

The world is a wondrous, beautiful place, despite the harsh realities of it. I can't wait to experience what 2016 brings—I know it's going to be filled with even more adventure, love and joy than 2015 had. I will end with a quote I read recently that sums up what I strive for each and every day:

Seek out what magnifies your spirit.   –Brain Pickings