Dry January is almost over — and that means I’m back with 2019’s first Monthly Soundtrack! While I’ll be very glad to indulge in a glass of wine on February 1st, abstaining from alcohol, getting back into my fitness regime, being more mindful with my time and taking a step back during the first 2 weeks of the month to get re-inspired, set intentions and plan for the for year has made for the most inspired and productive January I think I’ve ever had. I’m feeling so optimistic and excited to dive into 2019 — and this 3+ hour January 2019 Soundtrack fueled an absolutely fantastic month!
So, what tracks kept my motivation running at an all time high? The War On Drug’s Thinking of a Place will always remind me of our magical Canmore NYE getaway (I shared some highlights from our trip in this post) and I had tunes from The 1975, Phantastic Ferniture, Jordan Critz, Evolution of Stars, The American Dollar, Men I Trust, Aphex Twin, Lofive, Barrie, No Rome, Loyle Carner, Moon Moon Moon, KAWALA, flor, SOAK, ayokay, Bearson and Geographer on repeat. I hope you enjoy this lighthearted, eclectic playlist!
Inspiration
2018 REVIEW + 2019 GOALS
Well hello, friends! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted — I took some time during the first half of this dry January (it’s actually been great!) to reflect on the past year, get re-inspired and really put some thought into what I’d like to achieve in 2019. It’s been a very valuable exercise, so thank you for your patience! Today I’m dishing on everything I’ve discovered in this real, raw, lengthy (we’re talking the longest post I’ve ever written!) read recapping 2018 and sharing my intentions, aspirations and goals for the new year — plus exactly how I plan to achieve them!
When I look back on my goals post from last year, I feel grateful to be in a much better head space and place in my life — although it was a long road to get here. Longtime readers will know I’m always very transparent about the staggering amount of work that goes into blogging, content creation and creative entrepreneurship — and from the day I stared this blog in March of 2015 through to the end of 2017, I hustled hard. As a result, I entered 2018 feeling completely burnout, uninspired and unsure of how to proceed. I knew a change was necessary for me to move forward and progress in a way that would allow for more balance and well being in my life (and therefore more inspired work), but I wasn’t exactly sure how to get there. I felt like I needed to slow down and take life as it came, rather than creating an exhaustive list of all the things I felt I needed to accomplish — and I spent 2018 doing just that. I changed course and made chasing my passions for HOME and FASHION based content my first priority, which resulted in a pretty monumental year here at JustineCelina. That said, the largest shifts I made were off of these pages, in my mental and physical health, relationships and life in general. Fast forward to January of 2019 and I’m feeling energized, more inspired and productive than ever — and ready to make 2019 my best year yet! If you’re curious about what what’s to come, my favourite tools and resources to stay organized, inspired and fit, or in need of a healthy dose of motivation, cozy up with me and let’s chat about living and working with confidence and intention this year!
APARTMENT FRIENDLY MODERN HOLIDAY DECOR
Friends, I’m elated to finally share our Apartment Friendly Modern Holiday Decor with you today! If you’ve been following along with JustineCelina this past year, you’ll know we began refreshing our inner city Calgary apartment to create our dream home. We started from scratch with a fresh coat of paint, new furniture and new decor — and this year, I was so excited to decorate for the holidays for the first time in 6 years (we decorated fully for our first Christmas here… and never again!). Since we’re always out of town for the holidays (we split our time between our families homes in rural Alberta), I usually just save myself the extra time and effort and keep our holiday decor super minimal. Because we live in an apartment and have limited storage, the thought of hauling down a huge artificial tree from recesses of our entrance way closet and sorting through boxes of decor was simply never a priority during this busy month! But this year, I decided to sell all the old decor that no longer worked of us and start fresh (literally!) with our first real Christmas tree, tons of greenery and festive DIYs, plus all new holiday decor — and tonight I’m sharing every detail about how I pulled it all together!
If you’re a fan of mid century modern or more natural, earthy, bohemian elements, I’m sure you’ll agree that traditional holiday decor leaves a lot to be desired. I knew I wanted the look and feel of our holiday decor to be cohesive with our space and bring in lots of living greenery, warm neutrals, natural wood and stone textures, mixed metallic accents and free spirited, whimsical textures. I also wanted to incorporate a nod to vintage, mid-century inspired design while keeping a mixture of traditional and contemporary elements and cozy up the space with layers of faux fur, wool and chunky knits. After many HomeSense, Canadian Tire and plant / flower shop runs, I’m so pleased with the way our holiday home has come together and can’t wait to spend some downtime here as the year draws to a close! Pour yourself a juicy glass of red wine and come join me on our leather sofa as I walk you through our Apartment Friendly Modern Holiday Decor!
Well hello, friends! If you don’t follow along with my Instagram Stories, you’re probably wondering where the heck I’ve been. It’s crazy to think it’s been over a month since I’ve posted — something I never envisioned would happen here at JustineCelina. And I promise it was never my intention to just abandon you guys and go MIA without an explanation. So, tonight I’m going to catch you up on everything that went down over the past month to contribute to my forced blogging break.
First things first, I’m okay. And thank you so much to all you kind souls who checked in on me or sent sweet messages while I was away. Although this past month has been incredibly challenging in every avenue of life, it’s also granted me a fresh perspective that I wouldn’t have otherwise gained without taking this unexpected step back — and for that I’m very grateful. This a long post — so if you’re curious about what been going on in my life lately and what you can expect from me moving forward, get cozy, pour yourself a glass of wine and settle in for a real, raw, lengthy read!
MY 3RD BLOGIVERSARY + 10 THINGS I LEARNED IN MY THIRD YEAR OF BLOGGING
Friends, welcome back for my annual (and very belated!) Blogiversary celebration! My 3rd Blogiversary went roaring by on March 2nd — but to be honest, I was completely engrossed in our Living Room Reveal and some other fun, last minute projects at the time. Earlier this year I chatted about changing things up around here and creating space to let life happen — and that’s exactly what I’ve done! There’s been a lot happening here at JustineCelina lately as we get ready to reveal the next rooms in our SPACE REFRESH series (coming your way later this month!) and I simply had to prioritize my time differently to make this all possible. March was one of my most creatively fulfilling months of my life — it left me completely exhausted but also incredibly inspired! In the two months since My 3rd Blogiversary I’ve reached some milestones I’ve dreamed of achieving since launching JustineCelina and they’ve reminded me exactly why I started this whole thing in the first place. So, although it’s a bit late and I’ve been chipping away at this post when I can, I couldn’t be more thrilled to share this Pantone Spring 2018 inspired 3rd Blogiversary soirée with you!
In the midst of it all, I came up with the concept for this celebratory post pretty last minute — about 10 days before the shoot (which, admittedly, was about 2 months ago!). It was so spontaneous, but serendipitous and things just fell into place (I shot it myself one sunny Friday afternoon with my tripod and self timer). This year, we’re going all out — because after 323 blog posts, almost a million views (OMG!), 180 000 images, 2 900 comments and a whole lot of blood, sweat and tears (quite literally), I truly never thought I’d get here! My third year was one of intense growth, both on these pages and off of them — I hope you enjoy reading about 10 Things I Learned in my Third Year of Blogging in this raw, honest, unabashed post (you may need a sparkling glass of rosé to get though it!). Whether you’re new to JustineCelina (and there are a lot of you beautiful people — welcome!) or have been with me since the very beginning, I’m so grateful to have you here celebrating with me today!
OUR APARTMENT THERAPY LIVING ROOM FEATURE
I interrupt regularly scheduled programming to share the most exciting news, friends — our Living Room was featured on Apartment Therapy yesterday! To say I’m absolutely ecstatic to have our home featured on Apartment Therapy is a huge understatement. It was a dream of mine to be featured at Apartment Therapy years ago when our SPACE REFRESH was just an idea (and bit of a fantasy!). I had always envisioned the blog taking more of a home decor and interior design focus, but it’s been a long road to get there — and now, here we are! I’ve spent countless hours pouring over the gorgeous homes and endless inspiration Apartment Therapy provides since my art college days — and it’s completely surreal to now be featured among them and be recognized by such an iconic publication. I don’t typically publish blog posts dedicated to features (although I do I let you know about them on my socials and you can always catch them on my PRESS page), however, this one deserves an exception. I submitted our Living Room for consideration last month — knowing it was a long shot since we’re a) Canadian (they feature American homes prominently), b) it was just one room (they typically feature entire homes) and c) it was my first submission. To be honest, I’m still in shock!
My sincerest thank you to the team at Apartment Therapy for the beautiful feature and to my longtime partners, HomeSense Canada and Rebecca Dawn Design for embarking on this journey with me as I chase my passions and transition into more HOME based content this year — our space refresh wouldn’t be possible without their trust and support! It was a huge gamble making the transition this year as I had to really scale back on the content I produced in other categories to make our space refresh possible. It’s been an extreme labour of love (including many late nights, early mornings and countless sacrifices) and a challenging process to conjure up brand support, as home based content and interior design projects aren’t something I’d produced previously here at JustineCelina. But friends, this is just the beginning and I promise the best is yet to come! I hope you’re as excited as we are to continue our SPACE REFRESH journey — up next is our Dining Room, Bar & Kitchen (publishing next month in partnership with HomeSense — be sure to tune in to my Insta Stories for a BTS look at how it’s coming together!). In the meantime, you can hop over to ApartmentTherapy.com for the full feature and some exclusive snaps of our Living Room! Also, hello to all you lovely people coming over from the feature — I’m thrilled to have you!
A PANTONE ULTRA VIOLET INSPIRED ARRANGEMENT
Flower lovers, I’m elated to share the first arrangement of 2018 with you today — inspired by the Pantone Colour of the Year for 2018, Ultra Violet! This January, Rebecca Dawn Design and I are feeling re-energized by seasonal colour trends and winter’s most beautiful blooms and foliage. Tonight we’re showcasing a stunning array of Anemones, Spray Roses, Bella Donna Dephinium, Astrantia, Astilbe, Sedum, Ruby Silk Grass, Nandina, Umbrella Fern and Knife Blade Acacia in a cool, unconventional palette inspired by the Pantone Spring Fashion Colour Trend Report. Expect to become very familiar with these hues (along with Pantone’s other spring selections) over the next few months as I work with this palette across categories here at JustineCelina!
If you’ve always wanted to learn more about winter flowers, you’ve come to the right place! Fix yourself a delicious latte or grab a glass of vino and settle in for another installment in our FLOWER EDUCATION series, where Rebecca Dawn Design and I team up to answer your most common questions about flowers and share expert tips and tricks. Learn about what’s in season during the winter, what to look for when purchasing flowers, the basics of FLOWER ARRANGING, plus how to maintain your flowers so you can enjoy them for as long as possible. We hope this post helps to inspire you the next time you entertain, host winter event, or perhaps even your winter wedding!