With 2013 nearing its final days, I thought it would be nice to skip down memory lane through Instagram. We keep talking about how we want to get more personal here on myCosmeticBag, and what better way than to look back on our year through our favorite photos? I’m going to start this off, and I hope Anisha will do a post too.
January
I spent New Years with some new friends in Houston. At this point, I’d only been here a few months and I was just starting to meet people and build a life in Texas. I’m really grateful that I was able to celebrate the New year with some great people.
I also got new glasses!
February
I got my hair ombred, and I posted a lot of FOTD’s. I still have not found a hair stylist in Houston that I trust.
March
March was a huge month for me! I went to California to attend The Makeup Show LA with Anisha and Stela, and fell in love with Ellis Faas there! I met Mila Grass, and she gave me some beautiful new lashes. After being in LA for a week, I went to San Francisco to hang with Anisha for a while.
This was a great trip for me, because I really needed to recharge after months of sitting on my hands and feeling frustrated with the changes happening in my career. Once I got back to Texas, I started looking for office space for our new company, Alchemy Innovations.
April
Alchemy Innovations is open for business! I love my office, even though it’s very small.
We welcomed one of Alchemy’s first clients, Nail Art Society, whose CEO I had met at The Makeup Show in March.
May
This is when I kind of just got on my grind for a while, started trying to line up new clients and get all my ducks in a row. That explains why I only shared one photo in May.
The photo is of my dog, Coco, hanging out with me on our brand new gazebo that my dad built in the backyard. I spent a lot of time out there that month, working while enjoying the beautiful weather. Well, actually it was scorching hot, but the gazebo provided lots of shade. Nail Art Society was a huge project for us, so I was definitely very busy for the next few months. The Plastic Diaries was another new client for us this month, and I loved working on her blog.
June
I won the Houston’s Best Blogger award for 2013! I definitely wouldn’t have been able to win this if it wasn’t for the votes of all our readers and friends.
The second photo is from when my grandmother was in the ICU for a few days. I sat with her for two days, and when I craved some chocolate, I went to the gift store and this maternity candy bar is all they had.
July
Again, still on my grind this month! Nail Art Society is taking up a lot of my time, and the website’s relaunch is my top priority. The only noteworthy pic I shared on Instagram in July is from when I found my first Houston Dunkin Donuts!
August
We launched Nail Art Society on August 2nd, and I am so proud of my work, though I am extremely exhausted. (Stealing this photo from NAS’ account because I forgot to share it on my own.)
To congratulate myself on a job well done, I treated myself to a Vegas trip with this bad bitch:
September
Cue two month sickness here. When I got back from Vegas, I was so sick… I stayed sick consistently for the next two months! I lost 13 lbs… I couldn’t do yoga, and I could barely see my friends. Work didn’t let up at all in September, so even though I was feeling miserable, I still had a lot on my plate. I even had to bring my nephew to work with me one day because there was no one to watch him.
October
Still sick this month, but that did not stop me from celebrating Halloween! I met a lot of really cool people this month. I started dating again and that has really helped me try to balance my work life and social life – thank goodness. Part of the reason why I stayed so sick is from pure exhaustion because I’ve always had this tendency to overwork myself.
November
I finally got over my illness in November, and was able to get back on track with work, yoga, and my social life. At the end of the month, I went back to Boston for a few days to get some R&R, and visit my friends! Oddly, I didn’t really document this month very well on Instagram… I only have this one screenshot of a conversation I had with my sister about my time at the gyno. Part of the problem is I discovered SnapChat this month and I’ve been using that a little more frequently than Instagram (especially when I’m drunk haha).
December
I celebrated my 27th birthday this month… first in Boston, and then again when I got back to Houston. For my birthday, I treated myself to a new pair of sunglasses from Kate Spade. I also took an inordinate amount of selfies this month, for which I have no shame.
This year was kind of a roller-coaster for me; it had lots of ups and downs. Overall, I think I achieved a lot with starting my own business, and I definitely made a lot of new friends in Houston. I am definitely happier this year than I was in 2012, but I still have a lot more to look forward to next year. My new year’s resolution? Stop letting people take advantage of me. That’s a big one for me because, while it may not seem so on the outside, I can actually be sort of a pushover. It stops now! I am finally going to start putting myself first.
