Another year behind us and now into 2019. I must say, 2018 was a much better year than 2017. That was one year (2017) I wish to erase from my memory altogether. 2018 brought about a lot more positive. Still struggles, but a better year. So I'm hoping that it can only get better in 2019 from here on out.

So, in honor of starting out a new year, I wanted to reflect back on 2018 and how life was and how it is going forward. 2018 started off difficult. With mostly health problems in our family. From hospitalizations to surgeries all in January, it was scary and not looking as positive as I had hoped. But almost a year later, it seems that things are recovering, healing, and stabilizing. 

I had also had to leave my job at the Government Center as a Tax Collection Specialist, only because I was there temporarily for the busy season and when the time came for all the temps to leave, it was sad because I really loved working there.

I was also struggling to find a job after that. I kept hearing that I was either overqualified or that they didn't like to hire creative people because creative people do not like to sit and work. (I am still trying to figure that one out).

My youngest daughter had a birthday in January and turned four years old. She is as sassy as ever!

I also quit social media and got myself off of everything that was a distraction from what mattered most. Which was being in the now with my family and only focusing on things that were not part of the internet world. It has helped improve my life tremendously by removing myself from social media and I am a much happier person without Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. The only thing I kept was my Pinterest account and have been using that to keep myself busy with fun ideas, crafts, and life/cleaning hacks!

In March, we decided to take our first real family vacation over Spring Break. This was an adventure, to say the least, but we needed to get away, to spend some real time together and to have fun in a place we really loved. It was a wonderful week.

In April, we decided to start our own business called Make-Up My Face. It's a professional face painting business. We attended a few vendor and community events to jump kick our business and get our name out there.



In May, I did what I had been wanting to do for a while, which was enrolling back in school. So after several months of figuring out how to approach this, which schools to apply for, and how we were going to move to get to campus...I decided to try the online approach (which I was not too keen on at first since I really love the traditional on-campus experience).

So, I made the choice of enrolling in Full Sail University (which was the school my brother graduated from). I started my first class in May and have been very excited to be going into my eighth month of their twenty-nine-month program. I am obtaining my second Bachelor's degree from Full Sail which a concentration in Graphic Design (my first Bachelor's degree is in Illustration).

So far I am completely loving school and the entire program. I am learning a few new things, but really able to perfect a lot of things I needed a lot of brushing up on. I feel confident so far in all of my assignments I have done and hope to continue to be a strong artist in the months to come.

Here are just a few of the assignments I have done so far as a student at Full Sail:

I finally found a job and was hired on with an Architectural firm in June.

My oldest daughter started sixth grade in August and joined the Color Guard team. She really loves it and has been doing so well with it. I'm very proud of her. She will be heading to her first competition next month as well. In October, she turned 12 years old.

In November, my son turned six years old and started Kindergarten, which we homeschool him for the time being. We are not sure if we are going to continue homeschooling him like we did our oldest through his elementary years or not.

I also ended up leaving my job at the Architectural firm (which I fully plan to have a blog post all about that). I was asked to come back to the Government Center the beginning of December and help out as a Temp in the Tax Collection Office again, which I was very thrilled. So I have been there, but now as an Office Specialist. I really love working with everyone there. The environment is overly friendly and helpful. I feel like everyone is family there.

However, since that job is also temporary, I was offered a position to come work at the Courthouse in the Criminal Division once my time ends at the Government Center, which I am very grateful for. So I will be moving over there in a couple of weeks.

I believe that I pretty much 2018 wrapped up in a nutshell for us. I hope 2019 brings a lot of positive vibes and things to our family, and I hope all of our dreams come true!