I know I'm a little late on the "Word of the Year" posts, but I really wanted to take some time to ruminate on what really felt right to me for the year ahead. Looking back on what was a super tough year in my personal life, I realize that what really pulled me through in business (and life) and has me looking forward to all that is to come came down to one thing: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Collaboration. Collaboration took place in many forms and really changed my business for the better. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ First and foremost, is my collaboration with my clients of course. Working together to build a beautiful brand/website has to be a partnership. There has to be trust in the process and in me as a designer, to really create something that represents your brand, it takes collaboration.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Next, my collaboration with other designers, creatives, and partnerships. I've worked on a lot of exciting projects over the past year that were truly a team effort. From working with other template designers, like @tonicsiteshop and @elizabethmccravy to help their clients customize their beautiful templates to their own brand, to being listed as a @Showit Design partner and having my first template for sale. I've loved working together with Clients who have already invested in copywriting, photography, illustrators, course creators, template designs, etc and collaborating with their team of experts to pull it all together in a beautiful website design. A couple recent ones that come to mind are @insidersrealty who partnered with @oliviaherrickdesign for her branding and then worked with me to customize her @tonicsiteshop template to her new brand. @returntosacred is another project that was a big team effort, where I worked with Emily and her team of illustrators, videographers, and photographers to help her add some animated graphics and effects to her website that she mostly designed on her own from scratch! (It's very cool!)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ **continued in first comment 
This weeks design intensive is for a luxury travel agent who loves @graymalin and Slim Aarons as much as I do. I can't wait to start designing her new site based on this visual direction. Wednesday can't come soon enough! 
I mentioned last week that I had a surprise move across the country this past summer, and while I wasn’t superrr stoked to move to Montgomery, Alabama, I was pretty happy about how close that puts me to to my favorite beaches along the Gulf Coast. Pensacola Beach is where my husband and I were both living when we met and every time I go back, it still feels like home. 
Arches, Muted Tones, Romantic details, @brittjonesco_ ‘s new site has all the dreamiest bridal vibes. 
Fun little animation for @lepetitgarage , who has the cutest shop right on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights, New Jersey . Earlier this summer, I got to re-brand her shop and it has so many fun details infused throughout her branding. 
Big News: A few months ago, I launched my first ever @Showit template, Salt & Shore. It’s currently available in the Showit Design Marketplace and I’ve already seen some amazing client customizations of it that I can’t wait to share! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Salt & Shore has a luxe, artsy vibe complete with arched frames around your photos and clean, cool typographic design elements. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I originally designed this template with a Boutique hotel in mind, but it can be used across so many industries, from photography, wedding and event planners, e-commerce design, business coaches, interioir design agencies, and so much more. 
Fresh new branding and website for @brittjonesco_ just launched! <3 
I’ve been pretty absent from Instagram for the majority of the year, and can’t wait to share all of the fun projects I’ve been working on, but first.. a little update on where i’ve been and what’s next. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ To be honest, the behind the scenes of my life has been pretty messy since the Spring (and I know I’m not the only one). It’s been the toughest, most stressful year of my life by far and in the midst of several personal tragedies, I also got news that I would be moving across the country with just about 2 months notice. I reached a point of complete overwhelm where I just had to take a step back from my business to focus on my family and my personal life. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It wasn’t easy for me to take a step back and I was terrified that it would be detrimental to my business, especially with COVID and the state of the world. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ After a few months of doing ZERO marketing whatsoever, and leaving up an email responder saying that I wasn’t accepting new client work, it felt like I’d almost be starting over in my business, but that turned out to not be the case at all. As soon as I felt ready, the work just started flowing back to me, and I don’t say this to brag, but instead, to talk about why I think that is. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The first reason? I have amazing past clients who were willing to wait to work with me again until I was ready. I’d like to think that is a reflection of the customer experience I provided to them. The times when I tried to go the extra mile to ensure their expectations where surpassed and my willingness to always be available to help when they reached out. When I needed a little space away from my biz, they were all so understanding and accomodating. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ (Continued in First Comment) 
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted on Instagram and I have so much work to share! I took some time off from new work to deal with some personal things but wrapped up a few projects during that time including this beautiful new website for @honeygemcreative that we JUST launched! Brooke purchased a @tonicsiteshop template that was perfection that I helped her customize to her brand and together we brought her beautiful vision for her website to life! Go check it out from her profile and take a look around at all the beautiful pages. 
Confession: I just got invisalign and i’m only allowed to have the trays out for 2 hours of the day. Guess what I dedicate an entire hour of a half of that to?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 45 minutes to slowly sip on my coffee twice a day! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ That was the number one thing I knew I couldn’t give up. So that means I give myself about 10 minutes to eat each meal because #priorities