2019 has been One Chel of a Year (I had to hehe)! I decided to write a year recap blog post because this year was huge for me and I have so many amazing things to look back on and be really grateful for. So let’s jump into One Chel of an Adventure 2019…
January 2019: New Orleans
I started the year off in the best way I know how: with a trip! My best friend from Sydney, Grace, was visiting the US for a Texas Christmas! We decided to road trip to New Orleans. for a long weekend. We ate our weight in oysters and enjoyed allll the drinks! I loved starting the year this way!
January 2019: I turned 26!
In January, I also turned 26 surrounded by some of my favorite friends! I kinda forgot to plan my party until a couple days before… but sure enough, I had so many people show up for me and I appreciate every single one of you! Yall have been just a big part of One Chel of an Adventure.
February 2019: Trip to Winter Park Resort, Colorado
I found myself on another amazing trip in February! I worked with Winter Park Resort and got to go skiing at the #1 Ski Resort in North America! Shelly and I had an awesome time skiing, snowcat-ing and snowmobiling! Read more about our trip here.
March 2019: SXSW
SXSW was awesome this year, I got to attend so many cool events and partnered with some awesome brands!
March 2019: Got LASIK Surgery!
March was a big month, following SXSW I got LASIK surgery at Mann Eye Institute! This is one of the best things I have ever done, my eyesight is now at 20/10 (better than perfect)!!
I cannot recommend LASIK and the Doctors at Mann Eye enough. If you’re interested, they offer free consultations and are giving $1,200 OFF to anyone who says I referred them! I did a full blog post on my experience here.
April 2019: Stagecoach Inn/Salado Getaway
In April, I did a fun weekend getaway with my girlfriends to the newly renovated Stagecoach Inn in Salado, TX! It’s the perfect, quiet getaway outside Austin.
April 2019: Austin Food + Wine Festival
This was my second time attending Austin Food + Wine Festival as media with One Chel of an Adventure. This year was the best because I got to meet Andrew Zimmern!
May 2019: Dos XX Fashion Show
You read that right… Shelby and I was asked to be in a hilariously funny fashion show with Dos XX hosted by none other than Ben Schwartz from Parks and Rec!!
June 2019: Four Seasons Slumber Party
I do a lot of staycations in Austin, but this was hands down my favorite. The Four Seasons invited me and a couple other Austin bloggers to stay for a girls sleepover! Believe it or not, they are dog friendly, and Lola got to come with me too!
June 2019: Co-Hosted Bumble Pool Party
In June, Bumble reached out and asked my to help cohost a pool party at the Austin Motel!
July 2019: 4th of July at the Coast
My family has a house down on Matagorda Bay, it is one of my favorite places in the world. We try to go down there every year for the 4th of July, and I always appreciate getting to spend time with my family!
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July 2019: Family Lake Weekend
We have a family tradition with my dad of trying to get everyone together at the lake one weekend each summer, this year we spent it out at Lake Travis! It was a great weekend, and I loved getting to be with my fam.
July 2019: Four Seasons x Veuve Clicquot
This was one of my favorite shoots of the year… I got to play “model” for an awesome photoshoot with the Four Seasons Austin and Veuve Clicquot shot by Shelly!
July 2019: Flew to London!!
At the end of July, I flew to Europe for the first time for a 3.5 week trip!
I first flew to London where I got to spend 4 days with my other best friend from Australia, Michaela, who lives back in the UK! We explored London, spent a day in Canterbury, then headed to Brighton Beach where I also got to catch up with friends I met on my SE Asia trip!
July 2019: Paris, France
After London, I took the train to Paris and met up with Alex! After spending 3 days here, Paris easily became one of my favorite cities in the world (it’s just so romantic)! See my posts on Paris here.
August 2019: Madrid, Spain
After Paris, we traveled to Madrid, Spain and spent 3 days exploring the city. I really enjoyed seeing it and can’t wait to go back to Spain! Read my Madrid post here.
August 2019: Croatia
After Spain, we flew to Croatia and spent a week road tripping through the entire country! We visited Zadar, Plitvice Lakes National Park, Spilt, and Dubrovnik.
August 2019: Rome, Italy
After Croatia, we flew to Rome for a whirlwind 49 hour tour of the city! Rome in the middle of August may have not been the best choice… It was VERY hot and VERY crowded, but I still loved getting to see this city. Check out my guide to seeing The Vatican.
Funny fact: I had the worst pasta I’ve ever had in Rome🤪
August 2019: Portugal
We finished our big Europe trip in Portugal by spending a couple days in the south along the Algarve Coast in Lagos. We then finished our trip in Lisbon (which I absolutely loved).
I feel so grateful to have been able to take such an amazing trip for my first time visiting Europe! Cannot wait to go back, hopefully in 2020 😉
August 2019: Corpus Christi, Texas
Over Labor Day Weekend, Shelby and I headed down to Corpus Christi for Texas Monthly! She wrote some awesome articles for them, check it out here.
October 2019: ACL Festival
This year’s Austin City Limits Festival was a blast! My favorite performances were Kasey Musgraves, Lizzo, Billie Eilish, and Mumford and Sons! See my ACL highlight here.
October 2019: French Riviera Trip
In mid October, I headed back across the pond to visit Alex again, this time we met up in the French Riviera! We had a great time exploring Cabris, Saint Tropez, Monaco, Eze, and Nice despite the rainy weather!
November 2019: Rags to Wags Celeb Guest
In November, the Austin Humane Society asked me to walk as a “celeb guest” in their Rags to Wags Gala fashion show! This event was a dream come true! Not only did I get to be Cinderella, but I also got to work with and help support the Austin Humane Society, one of my favorite non-profit groups to work with.
November 2019: Austin Fashion Week Celeb Guest
I was also asked to walk in the Fashion for Good’s Austin Fashion Haute Dogs fashion show, this time with my own pup, Lola! It was such a blast and benefitted a great cause.
November 2019: Boston for Thanksgiving
For Thanksgiving, I flew up to Boston to spend the holiday with my dad’s family. It was great to get to be with them, especially since my grandfather ended up passing at the end of December 🙁 I am still mourning the loss of him, but he lived a great life and I am thankful he is no longer suffering.
December 2019: Austin Blogger Gals Holiday Party
In December, Shruthi, Shelby, and I threw an awesome Holiday party for all our favorite Austin blogger gals! It was so much fun to plan, and we can’t wait to do it again next year!
A huge thank you to The Cathedral for donating the space for us to use! It is a beautiful coworking space in East Austin that also offers workshops.
December 2019: Rang in the New Year
Got to spend the last night of 2019 with some of my favorite people and ring in the New Year at the W Hotel!
Looking back, I really am so appreciate of 2019 and it makes me even more excited for 2020! To everyone that has followed One Chel of an Adventure for the last couple years (it’ll be 4 years this year!!!), thank you for all your support. My goal for 2020 is to really ramp up my blogging and writing with more focused content, so get ready to see more of that this year!
I hope everyone had a very Happy New Year!
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xx Chels
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