3rd Blogiversary: This blog-year we…

We are back with the last instalment of the Blogiversary round-up, now we are adopting an idea we have seen on the blogosphere to review a year of blogging by the goals accomplished.

Thanks for following us in this nostalgic travel during this month! Also I would love to give you the warmest hug for all the lovely words and attention to our Barcelona city guide, specially the videos, which have been the most nerve-wracking release since the beginning of this blog. I’m a very harsh critic with myself, specially when watching me in motion. You can totally picture me at home reviewing the videos and saying things like: “I really chose those clothes?” “How comes I have the worst body language?” ha!

And now… let’s quickly look back and review our achieved (and some failed) goals this year!

Completed an instax challenge!

We started last year a new photography challenge with the aim of using more our instax wide camera that had been neglected by always forgetting to bring her to our adventures. We made the decision of settling to one picture per month (12 total) in order to actually be able to undertake it. Going from zero to a bigger figure seemed too challenging for us and also kept the budget in good terms. Although we only published 1 picture, we took several and then chose our favorite for the month. I even went “crazy” (snappy happy?) during August and finished a complete pack of film in one day.

The most amazing thing was really when we saw that other people was joining too! Of course we were encouraging to do so, but the lovely response was just what we needed to keep on taking pictures until the end.

Tried to start a new series featuring our most inspiring heroes but not succeeded

During our second blogiversary we tried to start a new series featuring our heroes in different disciplines where they were going to share three favorite moments of their work/life to share them with us. We loved (and still do!) the idea of being able to know a little more about them through their selected pieces, since they daily inspire us with what they do.

But then a couple of things came in between our goal. The main reason is that I’m very shy and feel like I’m imposing whenever I reach someone, so hitting the “send” button for the contact emails was probably too intimidating for me. Also, we had some declines because the type post was maybe too time consuming. I am usually struggling to post anything on my own blog, so I can see what other bloggers with more intense work will be facing! Although completely (super) understandable, increased my self-consciousness when reaching anyone else. I really hope to re-start this series because I thought every post was adorable and very inspiring! Maybe I will be braver next time, or I will think about a subject that’s more appealing to all of us!

Were featured in…

Unlike last blog-year we have not been guest blogging anywhere else (we are open for this next year if you want to invite us!) but instead we still had some amazing features in HGTV, Elsa Billgren blog and Match-up online magazine: three yays!

When the lovely Melissa from HGTV contacted us telling that they would like to feature our bookcase to show how to use souvenirs in decor, we felt flattered and thought that it couldn’t be more perfect: we love to take always a souvenir from our trips to display home. Also, HGTV! (add my exalted face!) I can spend hours with my tv with their tiny houses and property brothers shows running, anyone else has the same guilty pleasure? (well, not that guilty!)

Elsa Billgren is a Swedish blog that fascinates me, I don’t understand it properly but I like her sense of style in clothes and decorations, and also find that her beau (called “The wolf”) and Elsa are adorable when travelling abroad or in their cottage outings. She selected our picture to represent love in a series she features some photography she likes.

We had the great chance to talk about food (major obsession of ours) in the Turkish magazine Match-up. They have a strong interest in Barcelona and thought it could be appealing to their readers to know more about the awarded Mexican restaurant Hoja Santa. Thanks for having us Deniz & Türker!

And last (but certainly not least) I had my first ever illustration from a lovely talented reader, thank you! It is an immense feeling of gratitude to know that someone has you in their thoughts and want to draw you: well, I know Juno is the main star in the illustration, I’m not letting my imaginations run wild, ha!

Started our wedding photography project: The cat in love

On September we started a new side adventure to the blog, our own photography wedding site called The cat in love. In fact we had started working on it way before but we released a specific web page on the beginning of September. We have had some delicious couples as partners during this time, we feel lucky that people wants to trust us their memories.

We are keeping The cat in love going on at a slow but steady pace. Is your honeymoon or wedding happening in Barcelona? Are you visiting our city and want to have a cute memory of it? Don’t be shy and contact us! I am shy sending mails but I love getting them.

Threw our first ever Halloween home party

I love all the imaginario around Halloween: witches, spiders, wizards, ghosts, you name it! But I have never been encouraged to host a party at home, thus I have to be extra thankful to Ms. Elena to talk me into creating together the easy halloween decorations, crave a pumpkin and to have a spooky dinner. As a super plus we bought matching skeleton hair clips to become Halloween twins. The party was extra precious because we’ve had a year where we have felt quite socially lonely, thus having a girl friend with Elena was heartwarming when I was hurting with reminiscence.

Freaked (& geeked) out with Star Wars and Jurassic Park and got to see Leo win his Oscar

This was a glorious blog-year for geek kids as ourselves, wasn’t it? We were able to watch a new Star Wars movie, which is historic, specially when considering that this was actually a good one, apologies to all Episode I, II and III fans. We are also happy that Disney took over and we are able to have so many merchandising of the new and old movies.

Jurassic Park was my favorite film as a kiddo, or at least was on my top 5 (add also Gremlins & Ghostbusters to the podium) thus having a new reboot with so many cameos for fans was a truly enjoyable experience. Having Chris Pratt didn’t hurt it either! I’m sure I’m not the only girl in this planet saying that, ha!

Finally, I have to admit something: my teen years’ heartthrob was Leo (although my big crush was Edward Norton). I watched his movies on rerun and had his face on a large format poster in my room. My taste has changed quite a lot during the years, but my admiration for his acting skills has not vanished. Leo also had that amazing transition as an actor, to being considered a heartthrob (mainly for Titanic, hardcore fans as myself were also aware of “What’s eating Gilbert Grape?”) to being admired and respected by everyone: good for him, he deserved the little gold guy.

Won our first ever physical giveaway

I think we had won two giveaways before, but this was my first physical actual prize! The lovely Pratishka had the good idea of giving away some of her own analogue pictures in different sets. I got this set that features flowers with just the perfect color shade.

We received lots of lovely Xmas cards, sent more than 30 and started my penpal club and became the most horrible member

This last Christmas season we had the best of ideas (If I may say so), to ask everyone to raise a hand if they wanted to receive our Xmas love. We sent more than 30 postcards with lots of glitter inside! We even had to buy at last minute more cards because we ran out of them, so thank you! ♥ At the same time we received lots of love back, I’ve never had a table more full of postcards than this year, everyday when I got home it put the biggest smile on my face.

I also decided to send more snailmail because I enjoy a lot compiling stationery gifts and was eager to talk more with those of you that wished to have a closer contact. I was lucky to have requests and I became instantly attached to the lovely ladies, let me assure you that I have you in my thoughts as my dear pals. I have been collecting a few knick knacks to send but never seemed the perfect time (I’ve been overwhelmed last months). Please hand there with me, I’ll be writing back soon! Also, if you are a new reader and don’t know what is all about, jump to the post linked!

… and with this, a blog-year comes to an end and begins a new exciting one ahead! Hope you will be at our side for another year round, it wouldn’t have any sense for us otherwise!

This reminds me…

We still have one present to give you! Last call for our fruit clutch giveaway, today is the last (LAST!) day to participate (only a few hours left). Make sure to join team lemon or team watermelon to win a perfect summer bag for your adventures!