I recently asked on my Instagram stories whether you all wanted to see a blog post recapping 2018 or a post about SoulCycle, and while it was a pretty close tie, more of you asked for the post recapping 2018 (don’t worry – I’ll be writing about my SoulCycle journey soon, too!)
It’s currently, January 3rd, 2019 (how weird does 2019 sound?!) and I’ve spent the past few days reflecting on all that the last year brought me. For NYE this year, my girl friends from back home drove up to Chicago with me and we rang in the new year at Fremont Chicago. The night itself was a blast – and it was so refreshing to end 2018 and start 2019 with some of my closest friends (I cried when they left – saying goodbye is never easy.)
While I love sharing aspects of my life online with my readers, I do sometimes feel weird for curating a blog/social media presence that appears to be so perfect at first glance. My life is messy just like anyone else’s – full of highs and lows, question marks, and rough patches. I’m excited to share this post with you all and recap what 2018 was really like for me – the good and the bad.
January
If you know me personally, you know that change is a very scary thing for me. I hate the “not-knowing”, and try and plan for the future. 2018 was FULL of change – and it freaked me out most of the time.
January started off a bit rough as I was going through a tough transition moving out of one apartment and into another with brand new roommates. A couple of my best friends decided to study abroad, so I started off 2018 feeling somewhat alone and wishing I were with them or back at home in Cleveland. However, I was grateful to have other friendships that I could pour into – my blogger friends and church friends. I became a lot closer with Gigi, Megan, and Caitlin this past year which I am so grateful for.
February
On February 1st, I moved into a new apartment in Wrigleyville and tried to settle into my space there. I’m going to be honest – living in Wrigleyville was not my favorite and I really missed Lakeview in the few short months I was living in Wrigley. To me, Wrigley was extremely loud and I never really felt at peace living there – I lived literally directly across from Wrigley Field so there was always people partying and yelling down my street.
February was also my birthday month – when I turned 21! I celebrated my birthday doing the stereotypical club -hopping with my best friends. Another exciting part of February was that I got to work with the NBA for the first time ever. If you’ve been following for
March
I don’t remember anything monumental happening in March, although I know that I went to Florida with my mom for my college spring break this month. My mom is my best friend so the trip was amazing and I was so grateful to spend a whole week with her in the warm weather. We had so much fun relaxing by the pool, checking out different beaches, and eating amazing food.
In March I also started working with a gorgeous local Chicago yoga studio to promote their classes and space. I attended yoga classes at the studio for a couple months in 2018 and while I love working out, realized that yoga was not my most favorite thing ever. 😂 I got back into fitness in 2018, (I was an athlete all throughout high school – cross country and lacrosse), and found that finding a workout routine that really stuck with me would take time.
April
In April, I secured one of my biggest collaborations to date – working with Hyundai to promote the Hyundai Sonata. It was so much fun to work with a big name brand like that for the first time, and I loved borrowing the car for a week to test it out for myself in the city.
A few of my friends were coming back from studying abroad around April, and I was very relieved to have them back close to me. The beginning of 2018 (January and February) were hard for me as there was a lot of change and I felt far away from those that I loved. However, the spring of 2018 showed me that everything works out for the better and that those that really matter in life will always come back to you. I’ve always loved spring for this reason – even nature shows you that there will be a break and a light at the end of the tunnel after all the gloom, cold, and dark days.
May
May is always an exciting time as my college classes are wrapping up in this month and the promise of summer is not too far away. In 2018, I completed my junior year of college and also started my senior year of college (we’ll get to that later.) May was filled with a lot of anticipation as I love summertime in Chicago and am normally more than ready for a break from school.
In May, I also got to work with Chicago Helicopter Tours and take a tour of the city from above with Caitlin. It was such a fun experience and it showed me that I wanted to expand my blog to cover more of the Chicago “lifestyle” – which included food, events,
June
Temperatures finally started warming up in Chicago come June, and I was so excited to start getting out of the house more. I find that summertime is super busy for me in terms of blog events. This June, I attended a White Party at Devereaux Chicago and it was one of my favorite events of the whole year.
I went back home to Cleveland in June (you guys may not notice, but I go home to Cleveland A. LOT. I’m a big homebody and it’s hard for me to be away from my family for a long time.)
I also started looking for a new apartment during June and decided to move back into a place with a couple of my friends who came back from studying abroad. Apartment hunting in Chicago can be really stressful, but luckily I found a good spot (back in Lakeview!) just before July started.
July
July was a great month for me, as my best friends came to Chicago to celebrate one of our 21st birthdays. We had so much fun reuniting after all finishing up our junior year of college.
After my friends left the city, I headed off to NYC for a week to create blog content and hang out with another one of my best friends from home, who had a summer-long internship in the city. I love New York and had the best time exploring the city on my own during the day when she was at work. (You can read my blog post from that week HERE.)
It was also during July that I got to collaborate with the Chicago Cubs and American Airlines for the 1914 Club. This was a huge deal for me as I got to bring my mom, her friend, and my friend from Chicago with me to sit behind home plate at a game and enjoy a day of all-inclusive food and drink.
We moved into our new apartment July 1st and it was exciting to be living with close friends again, and to be back in Lakeview instead of Wrigleyville.
August
In August I headed back home to Cleveland again (I know…it’s ridiculous) to celebrate another birthday of a friend of mine from high school.
From Cleveland, I headed off to Maine (my family has gone every summer since before I was born.) I spent a long week with my family there eating seafood, swimming in the lake, and just enjoying life. After a week in the woods, my mom and I traveled to Acadia National Park and road-tripped back home to Ohio after exploring the park for a few days.
A couple of my favorite events of August was the rooftop Victoria’s Secret party and also brunch with Laura Geller Beauty (where I got to meet Laura Geller herself!)
September
Fall is my favorite season, so I always find September/October to be some of my best months as I’m generally just in a great mood because of how beautiful the city becomes. In September, I visited a new city (Richmond, VA.) I haven’t explored much of the S
In September, I started classes towards my senior year of college (CRAZY!) At the end of the month, I traveled to Boston with my mom and some of our extended family. We showed my grandma and great uncle around Boston for their first time ever seeing it, and made some hilarious memories. I decided to skip out on NYFW in 2018 as I did a ton of traveling and was pretty exhausted from bouncing around all summer.
I also attended some great events this month like Eataly’s Septemberfest, the launch of Captain Morgan’s APPLE SMASH, and dinner at NoMad with IMAGE Skincare.
October
October was full of good memories with my college friends who were all finally back in the city from spending the summer apart and settled into senior year.
I attended a few awesome events this month, like the opening of Trunk Club Clubhouse in Chicago, the BAITA launch dinner at Eataly, and the Sparkle and Glam Soiree at BLVD.
Also, this may sound ridiculous, but October was also the month I saw A Star is Born (I got to see it before it released in theaters) and literally fell in love with the entire movie/cast/soundtrack/etc. If you haven’t seen A Star is Born, PLEASE DO. My favorite movie of the year (well…Black Panther may be tied for that spot.)
November
The school I attended went on break in November, which was much-needed. I spent the 6-week break bouncing between Cleveland and Chicago.
I also traveled to Los Angeles in November with my best friend for Camp Flog Gnaw, a music festival. It was my first time ever being in LA and it was super eye-opening and kind of weird to me (people wearing crop tops and shorts in the middle of November!) I got to see Kid Cudi, Kanye, Lauryn Hill, Jorja Smith and so many others perform.
November was also the month that I started working with SoulCycle, which is now a huge part of my life and mental/physical well-being. I’m planning on writing a full blog post about my SoulCycle journey soon, but November was monumental for me as I finally found a workout that I really LOVED.
December
December was a really busy month for me not only between traveling again between Chicago and Cleveland, but also the holidays and blog content. I worked with two separate hotel brands in December which was huge for my brand as I’m trying to create as much travel content as possible in 2019.
Caitlin and I said goodbye to one of our close friends, Gigi, in December as she took a job in Detroit, which was sad. Cait and I also did our annual holiday shoot at The Blackstone hotel this month and worked with Hannah Schweiss Photography.
I went home to Cleveland for Christmas and spent time with my family before heading back to Chicago with friends to ring in the new year together.
And that brings up back up to speed to January 2019! Writing this post was actually incredibly therapeutic for me to look back on the small details of what happened each and every month in 2018.
Something I didn’t realize before writing this post was just how much I traveled in 2018 around the country visiting both friends and family. I am so excited for traveling in 2019 and am actually hoping to do some international travel. ☺️
I’d like to wrap this post up by just saying THANK YOU to all of the people and brands/companies that made 2018 the year that it was for me. I grew a lot this year, not just as a blogger but as a human being trying to find her place in the world.
Cheers to saying goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019!
