THE BEST YEAR OF MY LIFE 2015 (PHOTO RECAP)

          Wow, what a year 2015 was. My only New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to try to make it better than 2014. I didn’t think it would be possible to top 2014, but it was. From starting an internship with Oscar de la Renta to shooting my first cover for a magazine, you could say I’ve had an amazing year. I have decided to recap my favorite moments with photos. Because of my readers, Cashmere & Roses hit record stats this year. So thank YOU. Happy New Year xo, N

January

My family surprised me for my 16th birthday present by taking us to Disney World. Then a couple of weeks later, I went to Miami for a week!

February

          The highlight of February was going to Washington, DC.  For my sister’s volleyball tournament. The whole family drove down there for the weekend. In between tournaments, we went to Chinatown to a famous dumpling restaurant and then visited the Smithsonian!

April

          For the month of April, I lived in South Beach, Miami. This was my first time living on my own. I stayed in a model apartment with three other girls. This month is one of my favorites of 2015 because I met one of my best friends, Katie♥! April was a milestone for me. I became independent and learned that I’m not as afraid of doing things on my own.

May

As my tan faded away from Miami, I returned back home to spend some quality family time (also school time). During my time in North Carolina, I was lucky enough to meet the archivist at Oscar de la Renta (Marianna Sheridan). When I met with her she offered me an internship with her! Oscar de la Renta was and remains a dream client of mine to possibly work for one day. I was ecstatic to start this internship with Marianna. In the middle of May, my dad and I went to our ranch in Meeker, Colorado. Every year my family selects families from the Special Forces to come out to our ranch to join us at a "reconnect week". We fly fish, hike, swim, four-wheel etc. This is one of my favorite family things to do each year. I am able to sit down and talk with incredible families and hear their stories of how they have fought for our country.

June

           In June, my family and I went to Figure 8 Island. We were lucky enough to stay with our friends at their house. During our week, we kayaked, caught blue crabs, fished and swam. At the end of the month my best friend Melissa and I went to the Taylor Swift concert. Let's just say that Taylor did not disappoint.

July

          In July I started my summer in New York City. My mom and I stayed in the cutest apartment in the Upper West Side. We spent most of our days running around the city to castings and then spending late nights doing schoolwork. My mom's the best.

          One of the first things I did when I got to the city was visit Katie (my roommate from Miami). She was living in the city during the summer as well!  This was also the month I was able to catch up with two girls I met at a local fashion show in 2012! They have both signed with New York agencies like me. It's crazy that we started from a local fashion show to us all living in New York City that summer! During the end of July, my sister came to the city for a week. It was so nice to show her why I love this city so much. We did all of the tourist things you could think of like visiting the Empire State Building and going on a tour boat.

August

          August is the month I did a lot of things for the first time. For instance I started running. I know me, running? Yeah, it happened, and I do it now. There are so many parks in New York City so I thought I would take advantage of these beautiful grassy places. Every morning I spent running in the parks. Also I went to my first movie screening in the park! It became a tradition to do this every weekend this month.

          One of the highlights was going to my first Yankee's game. I thought if I own a Yankee's hat, I should probably see what this team is all about. August ended with us going to Coney Island for a photo shoot!

September

          At the beginning of September I went home to North Carolina. It was so nice to see my puppy and catch up with my friends and family! Little did I know that right after I came home my agency wanted me to come back to New York City for fashion week.

          This was my first time living in New York City by myself, plus doing fashion week. So crazy! I can't believe I navigated on the subway and made it to every casting. Every day I would usually have around 5-10 castings. I lived in a model apartment in Brooklyn and met my roommate Morgan there! She was the sweetest and was like a friend/mom to me. After fashion week was over, I traveled back to North Carolina.

October

          Being back in the Carolinas was really nice. I caught up with schoolwork, and made up some sleep that I had lost during fashion week. I started working again with Marianna (the archivist at Oscar de la Renta). Marianna and I took a 24-hour trip to New York City to visit the offices to pull some items for the archive.

          For the day we were there the sample sale was going on. I bought my first Oscar de la Renta gown that day. On my flight home I carried it on the plane with me, because I didn't want anything to happen to it! I treated it like it was my baby (which it kind of is). The night I got back from New York, I repacked to go to Monticello, Utah. My trip to Utah was the start of my landscaping photography and filming. I created my first YouTube video! In Utah, we hiked with our friends. After our week of breathtaking views, my dad and I back to North Carolina.

​November

          November was a pretty exciting month. I got to shoot my first cover for a magazine. I got to play dress up for a day in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was one of the best shoots I've ever done. Venue Magazine loaned The Transept; a stunning church for the day. When I arrived on location I thought I was dreaming. And if the church wasn't enough, the wedding gowns were breathtaking. Once I showed my dad the behind the scenes photos of me in a wedding dress, he said he wasn’t ready for that. Haha I can understand, a sixteen year old in a wedding gown is a little weird. But if there's dresses involved, you should know I'm always down for that.

December

          In the month of December I photographed and filmed The Nutcracker at my old dance studio. I was able to catch up with my friends their that I hadn't seen in forever! Also I got to spend Christmas with my family. Oh, and I turned seventeen on the twenty-sixth!