2018 was one for the books… err, I should say the blog. Now that we are into the new year I wanted to share my year in review, 5 favorite moments from 2018. Don’t get me wrong, there were so many amazing times and experiences this past year but really wanted to focus on the goals I achieved.

 I know most of y’all follow me for fashion and blogging but most of these moments are milestones in my styling career. Some of you guys still might not know that I work in addition to blogging. I own a commercial and print advertising wardrobe styling company that I started over 10 years ago while working full time at an architecture firm in Austin.

DTK Austin Styling is my baby. I started it from absolutely nothing and am so proud of how big it has grown over the years. It has given me some amazing opportunities I could have never even imagined I would get to experience in my life. Especially when I had absolutely no idea what I was doing in the beginning. 8 years later and I am fully self employed and still working on some amazing jobs.

Starting with my absolute favorite moment of 2018…

My Year in Review:

Styling My first major feature film

January is normally a pretty slow month in the styling industry. I figured it wouldn’t be until around February that I would actually book some commercial jobs. Unexpectedly and unknowingly, I received one of the best emails of my career to check my availability and rates on an undisclosed film project.

I immediately screamed yes out loud! And then of course confirmed via email I was definitely interested in the project. I was to be sourcing wardrobe and heading up art department/props for a portion of a film shooting in Austin. Once the movie comes out I will do a new post going into more detail with how crazy prepping for this job was.

That project turned out to be working on the new Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway film, Serenity. If you frequent the movies you’ve most likely seen the previews for this. After over a year since they began filming it’s set to be released in theaters this January 25! Fingers crossed you see me in the credits!

In the end, it was one of the most challenging projects I have ever been on but well worth every moment. I met some amazing people, working with writers, directors and producers in this industry I never thought I would work with in my career. And then to get this email at the end of an extremely stressful experience made it all worth while. It was the perfect start to 2018!

I Bought a new house

You would think this one would be up at number 1. After spending 3 years in my starter home it was time to move on to bigger and better things. Most of y’all know that I spent years and years renovating that house top to bottom. Instead of relaxing and enjoying the fruits of my labor, it was time to find something that fit our lifestyle a little better.

We ended up finding a beautiful new build out in Lakeway, TX. If you aren’t familiar with the area Lakeway is about 15 miles outside of Austin in the hill country. We have so much more room here, a huge yard that Steven can play in and a house that completely matches my taste for no color. Everything about it is perfect and we couldn’t be happier. AND it has an epic back porch!

Besides the fact I have absolutely no projects to work on this house is perfection… Even though I’m quickly finding things to tear up and rebuild! If you follow me on Instagram you saw that I completely tore up the closet to create my dream closet, shown below. I’m sure you all are sick of seeing these pics with how many times I post them on Instagram!

The closet has been my only construction project in the new place. For now. This week we are adding black planks to the master bedroom wall to add a little color and texture. I’m super excited to share that with y’all soon!

I cut all of my hair off

This seems like a silly milestone to add to my best of 2018 but it was a huge step for me. I have had extremely long hair my entire life to the point I can count on one hand how many times I’ve had short hair. 4 times. That’s from childhood to 32 years of age.

One day I just woke up and wanted shorter hair with one stipulation. I wanted to cut enough off to be able to donate to help kids with cancer get wigs. Thankfully, my hair was so long we ended up cutting 13 inches off. Excitedly, I packaged my ponytail up and sent it off to Pantene’s donation program. They were my top choice because they actually work with colored hair, which is rare.

Being on the cover of a Magazine

This is one of those experiences that my styling job led me to. One of my favorite commercial photographers called me with the funniest job pitch ever. He was like, “SO, I’ve got this project… It’s really low budget.” All the while I’m thinking I will be styling a small project. “It’s for Texas Highways Magazine… They’re wanting a good looking millennial aged couple to be on the front of the magazine. There’s a long pause… And I respond, “So, you want us to be on the cover?!” 

We drove out to the country in Wimberley, TX to find the Collective Hill Country. If you love glamping you have to check this place out. It is the most high class glamping I have ever seen. We got out there a couple hours before sunset to practice our couple’s modeling skills.

When I noticed the magazine was on stands November 15 I literally dropped everything I was doing to go find the December issue. With much disappointment they were nowhere to be found! The November issues were still on stands! Like some kind of crazy magazine stalker, I hit up Barnes & Noble, Walgreens, HEB, and countless amounts of others every single day to try and find this magazine. I gave up after about a week… And then Barnes & Noble was my savior for the holidays.

Who knew Texas Highways Magazine was so big in Texas. We told the Barnes & Noble cashier we were on the cover and he about had a heart attack explaining how Texas Highways is his favorite magazine! If you’re in Texas go check out the magazine in person!

Grayson and I were actually in 2 magazines in 2018. Every quarter I have a new Splurge or Steal in Austin Woman Magazine. For the February 2018 issue I wanted to focus on Valentine’s of course! Grayson was such a trooper! If you missed that post click HERE.

Booking some amazing styling jobs

2018 was definitely the year for awesome styling jobs. One of my absolute favorite commercials this year was working with the dog joint supplement company, Cosequin. I’ve been working on their commercials for the last few years and they are some of the funnest jobs I’ve worked on in my styling career.

Why are they the best to work on, you ask? THE DOGS!! Every single commercial we’ve done always has a slew of animals on site.

For this particular commercial we had 5 yellow labs ranging in ages from a puppy all the way to senior. The point of this commercial was to show the dogs growing up with their family through all of the stages in their lives. The TV version is below but there is another 45 second spot that makes you want to cry! Click the link in the previous sentence and scroll to the middle of the page to see it.

This Cosequin project was one of my absolute favorites because they wanted Steven to be in one of the testimonial videos. Steven was actually paralyzed from his mid-back down to his legs and completely lost all function. Long story short, he was able to walk again after months and months of work but he now takes Cosequin. They wanted Steven as one of their spoke’s dogs!

Two of my other favorites had to be working with Comedy Central and Mountain Dew with comedian James Davis and then a fun Dell spot that required quite a bit of intense costuming. You can check out some of my other commercial work and clients here.

There were so many amazing moments to include in my 2018 year in review. It was so tough to narrow them down to 5 but felt these were the most defining for me as a person and for my company. We had some amazing travels to Santa Monica, Muskoka, Hilton Head and Charleston, to name a few.

I’m hoping to plan a little more travel in 2019 but I honestly hate traveling! Is that crazy?? I am such a homebody and absolutely love spending time with Steven as he is getting older. It would be better if Grayson could travel more but with work he only has a limited amount of time. Plus, every time I schedule a trip a huge styling job comes up and I have to cancel! I’ve learned my lesson to just not book anything until the very last minute.

As I close the book on 2018 with a beautiful Santa Monica sunset I can’t wait to see what 2019 has in store. I have so many goals and ideas that I can’t wait to implement in 2019. And I am even more excited to take y’all along for the ride!

Loving this year in review feature? Take a look here for more of my real talk favorites!