2022: Year in Review
2022 - the year I will always remember as being pregnant with my first baby!
Highlight of the year was obviously sweet little Franklin being born (fun story if you’ve had a chance to hear it!) but spending the year slowly being taken down by pregnancy symptoms is what I will remember the most.
I found out I was pregnant on Christmas day 2021 and officially started the new year in bed with morning sickness.
Cheers to me!
Pregnancy was HARD on me. I was in no way prepared for the mental toll growing an entire human inside my body would take on me, especially as the type of person who is highly productive and feels happiest getting sh** done. Pregnancy (and pregnancy brain) didn’t allow me to really feel like me for 9 whole months. It felt like an eternity. I truly spent the whole time trying to retain small parts of myself as a designer/business owner for my own sanity and happiness.
For business, this meant that 2022 was a pretty slow year simply because, I just couldn’t handle as much as I was used to. After 2021, my best year in business ever, it took several months to come to terms with that fact that 2022 might be my worst year in business ever. Real talk, it was.
Giving myself grace with that took some time but I did finally get to a different mindset that in the grand-scheme of things, business could take a back-seat for a bit while I focused on taking care of myself and our sweet baby.
If the only goal I accomplished in 2022 was taking good care of my current clients (and giving birth to a happy, healthy baby) then that was accomplishment enough!
The year did bring a few fun projects, including installing an over 300 square foot wall mural for a local Dallas client and finishing it while trying not to get wet paint on my 36 week pregnant belly! (Video proof here.)
Here are some other design highlights…
Helping an HVAC client reach their multi-million dollar revenue goals through designs for social media and email marketing (see more here.)
Designing artwork for a textile manufacturing client to pitch to HomeGoods for their upcoming spring pillow assortment (can’t show you these just yet!)
Elevating the logo and branding of a girlfriends custom gift company (look how cute this turned out.)
Sweet baby Franklin officially entered our lives in September and has changed almost everything about life as we knew it, including the way that I operate this graphic design agency. Call me crazy but it’s been a fun new challenge! (girl, you crazy.)
Now, it’s the end of 2022 and that sweet baby is sleeping soundly in his crib while I watch him on the baby monitor at my desk making big plans for 2023. My brain is mine again and I feel better than ever! I’m excited to enter a new year with big goals and serve my clients and this agency very intentionally.
Which is the word I’ve chosen for myself for 2023: Intentional.
Last year’s word was “patience” - which I chose a month before I knew I was pregnant and boy did that turn out to be the PERFECT word and reminder for me. Those who know me know that I leave much to be desired in the “having patience” department ha!
This year, my aim is to be intentional in every aspect of my life and business - the projects I say yes (or no) to, the way I spend my time, who I hang out with, the decisions I make… everything done with intention.
I’m looking forward to a simpler life where the mantra, “if it isn’t a hell yes then it’s a no” rings true and catching up on all the Jack and Cokes I didn’t get to enjoy last year! Cheers y’all!