A look back at my 2014...

It's no secret that 2014 was a rough year for me, filled with loss and stress but I suppose it wasn't ALL bad. Here's a look back at the highs and lows:

January - February

In January, I turned 26. One of the 'gifts' my shutterbug friend gave me was a fun and 'whimsical, and dark' photo session in the woods. The resulting photos have been some of my favorites, ever, and have been used throughout my social media accounts this whole year. They really helped me solidify the vision I had with calling my blog "Whimsy and Noir":

March - May

March was certainly the worst month, as it was when my grandfather passed away. Naturally, I don't really remember much positive things from it.

April was when I decided to try out the 365/photo-a-day challenge from the International Geek Girl Pen Pals website... Here were some of my daily photos:




Unfortunately, I was only able to get through 100 of the 365 photos that the challenge called for. Basically, I realized I wasn't enjoying it as much as I thought that I would. I had mainly taken on the challenge as a means of trying to distract myself from the recent loss of my grandfather, and it just wasn't making me happy.

Moving along...

May marked the one-year anniversary of graduating from fashion school, and with it came the closing of a chapter, so to speak. (more on that in the next section):

June - July

In June, I wrote one of my longer blog posts that I was actually quite proud of, called "we are all goldblooded". Here's an excerpt!

 It's tough to carve out your own niche, especially when you've spent so much time on one thing, that people have come to associate you with it exclusively. Since graduating from college last year, I've found myself at a point where I'm having a tough time deciding where to go next.  I've spent seven years studying fashion design, only to realize at the end that I don't even know if it's what I want as a career anymore. And believe me, it hasn't been easy admitting something like that. I have moments when I feel like a failure. Like I've wasted so many years on something that I don't even want to pursue anymore. And it's not that I don't fully enjoy it any more, it's just that I've changed so much as a person, and I want to try new things. I'm still searching for my own voice and my own place in the world... And that is completely okay.  My heroes have shown me time and time again that it is OKAY.

In July, I only wrote one post, and it was a tutorial!

August - October

 In August, I not only got to attend my first-ever wedding, I also got to be a part of it! The bride, (i.e. my friend) graciously asked me to assume the title of 'maid of honor'. There was an Alice-in-Wonderland-themed bachelorette party in which I dressed up as the Mad Hatter!

***Aaaaaand... This is when 2014 started becoming really exciting: there was new music being released from some of my favorite artists!***

August was the month when Frank Iero, (former guitar player in one of my favorite bands, My Chemical Romance), released his first solo album, Stomachaches!

And quickly following that in September: Mat Devine (of Kill Hannah), and Gerard Way (also of My Chemical Romance) released their own solo debuts! Goldblooded and Hesitant Alien. Pure musical joy!!!

In September, I also started taking a watercolor-painting class at a local art center, as it's something I had wanted to do for a long time! It was also the month when I started discovering so many new awesome blogs thanks to the Nerdy Girlie.



My first active-participation post was my "confessions of an inconsistent blogger" post! And of course, October was full of blogging fun thanks to the start of "Five Fandom Friday". Relive the first post in that series here: Five Fandoms that Made Me Who I Am Today

November - December

In November, I shared a drawing I did for the first time on my blog. People seemed to really like it, so I shared a couple more!

Books I read throughout the year:

**not pictured are most of the graphic novels I read...


PHEW!!

Alright, so while 2014 may not have been the most exciting, it was definitely full of new things and accomplishments on my end.

I look forward to a fresh start with 2015. I hope to do even more reading, more blogging, and have lots more fun experiences, memories, and ART to share.

Until next time,

G.