Healthfully Ever After 2013 Recap

Happy almost 2014! I've been enjoying reading some 2013 recaps from some of my favorite bloggers and thought Healthfully Ever After deserved some 2013 reflection too. I had a great time going through every post from the past year. And even though I didn't really think so before…my business has really, really expanded and done well. I cannot wait to see what 2014 holds for me. 

Here's what happened in 2013:

• The blog and website switched from CarleneThomas.com to HealthfullyEverAfter.co and got a redesign that solidified by niche to wedding wellness nutrition!
• I did my first wedding expo and continued to connect with people in the wedding world. I want to do way more connecting in 2014!
• Trademarked Wedding Wellness and LLC'd the business.
• I started volunteering on my local Head Start policy council where I did my community nutrition rotation as a dietetic intern. This January I'll actually start my term as Chairperson of the council. Lesson: Always be good to your interns. They'll come back and help!
• I developed a recipe and did my first food demo at the Virginia Association of Dietetics and Nutrition state meeting on behalf of South East Dairy Association.
• I was featured on United with Love, Virginia Bride Magazine, and Washingtonian Bride and Groom for Wedding Wellness Nutriiton…and have been contributing as a blogger to Huffington Post Weddings for a few months now!
• Expanded working in corporate wellness and worked on some really amazing, fun and wonderful projects as a consultant. 
• Went to my first of several DC blog events. This was a big game changer for me! Up until that point I felt like the DC area was very non-blogger. I even spoke at one later that year and talked about Twitter for bloggers. Here were my tips. 
• Was named one of the top fitness and nutrition Instagram accounts to follow by Washingtonian magazine. I think one of their reasons for picking me was because I don't just obsess over food and fitness on my feed. I'm also a cat lady.
• Joined a CSA for the first time. And I'm in love.
• Attended Epicuriance Virginia: The East Coast equivalent of Aspen Food and Wine. 
• Was quoted as a dietitian in the Washington Post. 
• Got hooked on Kinfolk events. 
• My most popular recipe of 2013 (it was passed around Pinterest thousands of times!) was roasted pumpkin seeds. Another popular post that was on fire on Blog Lovin?  How to cook spaghetti squash.
• Wrote a long, personal post about why I do what I do and what makes me tick. 
• Was on Glitter Guide TWICE (Guys this is huge. I love GG so much and this has been one of my goals for the past year.) Here's the feature on a cran-orange relish. 
• Started doing outfit posts. Here's my first one thanks to the girls at Southern Blog Society. 
• Rebekah from I Write Gourmet and I got a recipe feature on Refinery 29! Our dark chocolate pomegranate bark is so good. 
• Got the husband to guest blog on what to give the practical design guy in your life. 

I also wanted to thank each of you who stop by and read. I'm excited to share more healthy but delicious, simple but 'omg-that's-crazy-good' recipes and more of the outfits, products, books and resources that I hope make your life healthier and happier before and beyond "I do"! 

///photograph taken by the amazing Yvonne Rock///