My 2016 Year in Review - Danielle Gervino

My 2016 Year in Review
I can’t wrap my head around the fact we’re now counting hours to 2017. It’s been a year filled with lots of changes – I switched careers, celebrated my one-year anniversary and began building a new brand, to name a few.

Though 2016 had its fair share of downs, the ups far outweighed them; and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.

CAREER:

Many of you know that in 2015, I left my career as an elementary teacher that I had spent the last 9 years of my life working towards. Though I loved my students and the wonderful people I worked with, I wasn’t fulfilled, and I wasn’t happy.

Thinking back on making the decision to not only quit my job, but also leave my career in education feels like a blackout. I remember being terrified to tell my boss, overwhelmed while packing up my entire apartment, elated that I had moved back to New York, and then at a loss for what in the world I was going to do next.

I made the decision to start my blog in what I like to call my “retirement phase”, aka the 6 months I spent going back and fourth about the new career path I wanted to go down – this time, for good (I think?). As with many things in my life, I got hooked, and dedicated 200% of my time to building what is now Pineapple & Prosecco.

After some serious decision-making skills and a great connection, I started a new career in marketing and graphic design, which I supplement with my blog. It’s a career that I love and hope I never get tired of, and one that allows me to still feed my passion on the side.

BLOG:

I often get asked, “When did you start your blog?” and the truth is, I don’t really know. It was some time around January of 2016 when I the idea of starting a blog first sprouted – but then came the web and content design, photography, social media accounts, official launch…the list goes on.

We’re gonna go with January 2016 to make things easy though.

Pineapple & Prosecco has come quite far in a year, but my proudest moments were being featured on LaurenConrad.com, on Target and signing on to blog for The Bachelor’s Becca Tilley.

I’ve learned a lot about web design (with the help of my designer, who is to thank for P&P’s new site design), gotten better at photography, started to re-define my brand and learned perhaps the most important lesson of all in my first year – which is my worth as a digital content creator.

If I could give one piece of advice to myself in the first month that I started blogging and wanted to work with each and every brand that reached out, it would be to remain forthright – to be selective – to say no.

RELATIONSHIP:

My husband Joe & I celebrated our one year anniversary in April 2016. Talk about a crazy first year of marriage; we settled in, got married, quit our jobs, moved out, moved back in (in NY this time), started new jobs, and now we’re here.

There are times when marriage is hard, like when one of us has to take one for the team and do the grocery shopping for the week, or when I really want to watch Bravo but he wants to watch Football. Yes, I’m being sarcastic, but really – after all of the stress and changes we’ve been through in the past year, marriage has been the easiest part.

We’re now nearing that phase where we’re on the hunt for the perfect house, which I’m sure will bring lots of excitement and lots of stress in 2017, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.

FRIENDS + FAMILY:

This year we welcomed two new nieces into the family, coincidentally named Bella & Stella. Of course, we also got bombarded with plenty of “You’re next’s!”, which I will continue to roll my eyes at until I am in fact, ready to be next.

On the other hand, it was a tough year for friendships. We’re at that stage where everyone is scattered all over the place and friends are taking the next step in their careers and/or relationships. For that reason, coupled with the fact that we both started new careers and adding on the fact that none of our friends live locally, our social lives earned a solid D-.

Safe to say that we’re going to have to work on that in 2017.

WHAT’S IN STORE FOR P&P IN 2017?

(via I Spy DIY)

There’s lots of new hitting the blog in 2017! I have some super exciting collaborations in the works, along with a re-brand of sorts launching in the next few months! Pineapple & Prosecco will also be narrowing down its focus a bit, which I’m super excited about.

Additionally, you might have noticed that my Blogging Resource Library officially launched last week! I’ve been working around the clock on some great content focused on branding, social media growth and productivity – exclusively for bloggers.

If you haven’t already signed up for exclusive access to the resource library and Friday coffee chat, you can do so here!

Pineapple & Prosecco will also be bringing on some new guest bloggers, along with publishing a bi-weekly newsletter with exclusive content tailored to all of you wonderful readers!

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, CHEERS TO YOU!