Happy New Year! I hope ya’ll had a wonderful and safe NYE’s celebration. Scott and I kept things pretty low-key, as we do most years, and spent the evening finally watching the new Gilmore Girls episodes (!!! is all I can say about them at this point) and munching on some take-out pizza. It’s was perfectly simple and perfectly us — we kissed at midnight and slept in the next morning as we greeted the New Year. Before we dive into 2017, though, I wanted to reflect a little on all that happened in 2016 — an incredible year for our family!

Our biggest goal and most notable milestone in 2016 was becoming homeowners! We started the New Year with the plan to make this happen and set things into motion come February. You can read more about our home buying process and why we chose a “tiny home” for our family here. Oh, and if you want to see some in-between photos — these are fun to look back on! And after all of our hard work, love and devotion to making our space feel like us — we were incredible honored to have our home featured on Design*Sponge! A dream come true for this longtime reader! 

2016 was also a year of major growth for our small business, Citizen Home Decor! Scott and I sold more Christmas ornaments than ever before, participated in eight pop-up shops and markets between August and December, created lots of new designs, launched a new collaboration with Jon Arvizu and felt more inspired than ever to take our business further and further in the coming year.  

We also spent a lot of time with our furry friends and family in 2016! You may have already guessed by my Instagram and Snapchat story snaps, but I am a huge animal lover and love nothing more than being with our family pets. Scout is usually pretty sweet and playful when I pull out the camera — he knows exactly what he’s doing, haha! 😉

Collectively, we traveled to California three times in 2016 — twice together and once by myself. Two out of the three times were to celebrate our best friends and their big day! In October, we headed to Palm Springs to not only celebrate Scott’s 28th birthday, but to all also see Courtney and Sanford get married! The wedding was beautiful and we had such a fun time in Palm Springs — we’ll definitely be going back sometime soon! Oh, and I promise that PS travel guide will be up on the blog within the next few weeks! 

Scott and I had the amazing opportunity to partner with Living Spaces during the fall season! We refreshed our space for autumn, and gave our dining area a much needed revamp. We loved working with LV, and are so happy with how our spaces turned out. I already have a spring refresh in mind, so we might be making a trip back to LV very soon!

In July, Scott and I took our annual trip to Salt Lake City to visit my folks and celebrate the fourth in a much cooler place. This year we visited the Young Living lavender fields in Mona, and boy oh boy — were they ever a sight see! 

In June, I traveled to Colorado for work (and play)! We road tripped to six cities in five days and I made some super sweet new friends along the way — Jane of A Taste of Koko, Ana of Colorful Foodie and Rachelle of The Travel Bite. I’ve broke out my trip and suggestions into three seasons — summer, fall and winter! 

At the very beginning of June, Scott and I traveled to Springfield, Missouri to see the sites and take in all that this amazing city had to offer with their local Convention and Visitors Bureau. After hearing so much about Springfield over the years and connecting with other bloggers and Instagrammers who live in the area, it was such a treat to travel there together and see it for ourselves! I shared more about our trip here, here and here! 

In May, we celebrated my 28th birthday and I took a solo trip to New York City for work! I sported this little denim number next to my favorite flower wall and felt completely myself — that’s just how good outfits are meant to make you feel, right?

I may be a little off, but we consumed close to 52 growlers worth of Peixoto iced coffee in 2016!

During March, Scott and I took a whirlwind trip for my work to Carlsbad/San Diego, California! We stuck our toes in the sand, saw the colorful flower fields of Carlsbad and spent time reconnecting on our long drives to and from our destinations. It might sound a bit sappy, but there is no one I would rather travel with than Scott — he’s my favorite co-pilot!  

While February was filled with prepping for our new home, we spent January gearing up for the New Year and celebrating our second anniversary in Nashville! We absolutely loved our time in Music City, and hope to go back in the near future (preferably during the warmer months!). Here’s a big peek into our time in Tennessee and all of our favorite places — one, two, three and four!

2016 was one for the books and we couldn’t feel more thankful for such a big year! We also couldn’t feel more grateful for you, and want to thank you all SO, SO much for following along on this crazy and beautiful journey we call life! Your sweet comments and visits to our blog mean more to us than you know! Thank you, thank you! Here’s to an incredible and adventurous 2017 — we can’t wait to see what the New Year has in store for us!

-Chelsea xo