Reflecting on the past can be an important part of moving forward. I often choose to end each year looking back at what has transpired and what I’ve accomplished. When a portion of your life is documented online – through social media or a blog – it’s easy to travel back in time through the past 365 days. Sometimes this is a blessing and a curse. There’s a point at which spending too much time on the past can hinder our journey into the future. There’s such a fine line between constructive and detrimental reflection on the past.

For me, the past year – my first year of freelancing and blogging full-time – has been a lot of learning what not to do. I’ve made a number of poor decisions as I’ve taken total and complete control of carving and shaping my career. While I know it’s all part of the learning process, it’s easy to fall into the trap of looking back with a negative mindset – the could-have, would-have, should-have mindset. Of course there are many, many things I could have, would have, should have done differently. The key to reflecting on these moments in a productive way is to acknowledge and examine what can be learned from them as I head into a new year and fresh start.

Whether it be self-imposed or a force from the universe, there’s a lot of pressure on year two of freelancing and blogging from New York City. So, I’m spending the last day of 2014 focusing on my energy – mental, physical, emotional energy – and reflecting on 2014. As cheesy as it sounds, I have this intuition that this is my year. It’s scary to proclaim in writing on such a public forum, but perhaps this is my first step in telling the universe I’m ready!

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W I N T E R

1. Happy New Year 2014

2. Styling with Black & White

3. Top 5 Fashion Magazines

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S P R I N G

4. Mad Men Fashion

5. A Fusion of Music & Fashion

6. Bathing Suit Guide

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S U M M E R 

7. Blogger Bazaar Milwaukee

8. Midwest Style Blogger Happy Hour

9. Exploring the Adventure Issue: Eide Magazine

10. My Best Friend’s Wedding

11. Styling for Men: Amsterdam Station

12. Fan Favorite Look: Styling Singer/Songwriter Erica Bryan

13. Just Knotted ARTicles of Clothing Blog Bands

14. Level 99 Contest Winner

15. Little Black Dress

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F A L L

16. Gameyday with Girly Go Garter

17. Styling for Fall ft. Encore

18. ARTicles of Clothing Blog’s First Birthday

19. Go Blog Social Conference Chicago, Illinois

20. Day to Night YouTube Makeup Tutorial with Woo Skincare & Cosmetics

21. Styling for Portraits

22. Activewear Essentials for Fall YouTube Video

23. Elizabeth & James Eyewear

24. Birthday in NYC with blogger GaBrielle Pedriani of Look Sharp, Sconnie

25. Stylish Holiday Wine Tastings at Osteria Mattone