I was low key in a funk. A snit is what I like to call it. Sometimes when things don’t go right we consume ourselves in that and completely forget all of the wonderful things that have happened. I decided to do some reflection of what has gone on since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It turns out, I have really busted my butt and made the most out of the situation. I wanted to share these items with you and encourage you all to take a moment to look back and drink to your accomplishments.

Things I’ve accomplished during a pandemic:

Painted the cutest Classic Pooh nursery mural

This was so much fun to design and paint. I love how the tree goes up onto the ceiling and the beehive might be my favorite section.

Created three new maps - California, Houston Neighborhoods, and The Great Lakes (not professionally photographed yet)

California is a more simple map using watercolor instead of acrylic paint for the patterns. The Houston Neighborhoods has writing on a piece for the first time. The Great Lakes is my first map where water lines are the main feature.

Created a dope snake painting that will become the beginning of a new series

This was a lot of playing around with different types of modeling paste. I went online shopping happy and bought 4 new kinds including crackling modeling paste which may be the best hidden gem. These panels have about 4 layers of acrylic until I was happy with the background, including some watercolor and salt. Yup, salt.

The Ohio Series prints are in a boutique in Ohio

The artist I collaborated with has a connection to the store owner of Fancy Me Boutique in Cleveland. We were able to get our prints signed, sealed, and delivered and are now for sale in person! 

Created new merch options - Gift cards, hats, ornaments, magnets, and keychains

(I'll be doing a big reveal soon)

Completed a 7 panel commission of a Houston map

This is a very easy way to fill a large wall space without having to buy humongous and expensive artwork or a bajillion knick knacks to hang.

Got approved for Instagram Shopping

Boy oh boy was this a headache. After manually entering all of my products into Facebook Catalog I was told my account doesn't qualify for shopping. I was like say whaaaaaa?!? Went on an Easter egg hunt to find a phone number of someone to talk to and eventually found a chat. They had to escalate it to someone else. Long story short, I was finally approved. 

Got a puppy Dalmatian that’s now the size of a miniature horse

My little Pongo. Born Feb 6 and his coming home day was March 23. My cousin and I met the breeder halfway in Alabama, they came from Virginia, and drove right back to Texas on the same day. He started out at almost 10 lbs, now he's already a whopping 32 lbs, and will keep growing until 2022 so wish me luck. 

Took a trip to Austin to see some beautiful nature sights 

We saw natural dripping springs, lots of nature trails, and even a live snake. What you don't know is the only camping spot open was actually for backpackers so the car was parked an entire mile down the trail and my poor wagon holding all of our stuff held out for us until 100 yards away from the car on our final trip back. RIP red wagon, RIP.

2 of my siblings came to visit at different times

First my sister came for Memorial Day and then my brother came shortly after 4th of July. In both visits we just sat at the house, ate a lot, played games, and spent time with my sons, aka Pongo and Blue Moon.

Celebrated my girl's bday in Vegas

Not the greatest time for traveling but we got tested, wore masks (except in this pool because the lifeguard literally told us we cannot cuz 'they don't want to masks falling into the water'... But the food was incredible and the company was even better. Happy 30th to my girl Jessica!

Started a second small business of doing contracted SEO services

A Frog for Breakfast. Click the picture and you can learn more about it. I do focus on small businesses and start-ups cuz those driven entrepreneurs have my heart and I want to see them make it in this cruel, cruel world. 

Officially registered DBAs for both my businesses

I was proud to hang my DBAs (doing business as). These both fall under my sole proprietorship, Kimmie Designs and now A Frog for Breakfast. I added my business cards to the frames to make it even more beautiful for my office. Now, getting a DBA during a pandemic - I'll tell you right now - NO office is open. And shout out to the Notary Public who met me at an apartment pool to notarize my documents so I could mail them in. And a bigger shout out to the Harris County Office who kindly mailed back my legal docs I accidentally mailed in the original envelope.  

Optimized the crap out of my website that now has over 70 pages 

I am personally flabbergasted at this accomplishment. Knocking out new pages does not happen in the blink of an eye. Most of my new pages are from murals and areas served. These I did specifically to target very honed in audiences and I was able to add so many new keywords to help increase visibility and traffic to my site. Blah blah blah, y'all don't care, but if you're an SEO wiz you feel my pain.  

Accepted a new job offer at One Foot Over

So pumped and absolutely blessed to even been given this opportunity during a pandemic. If you follow my Instagram you know how this time hasn't been the easiest. A lot of financial anxiety and some pretty low places. But I found this role through a marketing newsletter, messaged the owner on LinkedIn and it turns out we had already met 3 years ago at a networking event (never underestimate the power of networking), and we started the interview process from there! 

So what have y’all accomplished? Share some highlights in the comments and get us all inspired! Sometimes you don’t realize everything you did until you write it out, look back, and say “dang, I did that.”