Welcome back to Forge A Frenzy, where coffee is always in hand and thoughts are running 100 miles a minute.

I have been debating whether or not to write a full on, deep, nostalgic post to sum up 2016, or to keep it short and sweet. I have decided to do a mixture of both. Being a blogger means allowing people to get to know the person that you are, beyond the screen. That is an aspect I have come to love about the bloggers that I follow myself and about those who reach out to me. That being said, vulnerability isn’t always easy.

New Year’s is my favorite holiday because everyone takes a little bit of time out of their busy lives to get together and celebrate the hope that is the new year. I get even more cheesy on New Year’s Eve apparently

In 2016 I: 
Finished up my Presidency with the Student Merchandising Association
Struggled with my weight
Graduated from the University of Georgia
Became single
Completed my dream internship with Nordstrom
Allowed myself to push past fear and open the door to my very own creative outlet with Forge A Frenzy
Gained confidence + faith in myself that I did not know I could ever have
Still struggled with my weight, despite said confidence
Moved to California from my childhood home, 2,200 miles across the country
Became un-single
Experienced excitement at the idea of creating new friendships and possibilities in a brand new city
Experienced sadness and terror at the idea of creating new friendships and possibilities in a brand new city

New beginnings can be slightly terrifying.
If a situation in your life is going well, a new beginning can seem ominous. Why change what doesn’t need changing?
Beginnings can also be scary when you have finally reached the end of a chapter of life that you KNOW needs to end, yet you have been fighting hard to the finish line, hoping something you can do will change the outcome.
Or even when you are desperately begging a season of life to be over, that fresh start can still leave you a little dizzy.

This year I finished multiple seasons of life that I, one, wasn’t mentally ready to finish and two, didn’t know would be coming to an end so abruptly. But I think that there was beauty in that. Beauty in having to find myself, on my own, and unexpectedly fall in love with myself and the person that I knew I was supposed to be. As super freaking cliche as it is, you can never go wrong by being yourself and following your gut feeling. It is very rarely wrong.

As we head into this super exciting new year, I encourage you all to take a second and look back on 2016 and remember the things that made you feel alive and look back on the lessons you learned as a way to prepare yourself for the new lessons you will be learning in 2017 as you make mistakes and grow.

I always write New Year’s Resolutions because I like to look back on past years and see what I hoped for myself in the future and how I was very right about some things and very off about others. I won’t be putting all of my resolutions in this post because everyone already knows that eating well and exercising more are pretty standard New Year’s resolutions. But I will put my number 1 word/phrase that I am carrying into the new year: Be Bold. I want to do things that scare me and step out of my comfort zone.

Blogging, for me, is sometimes scary and when I started, was definitely out of my comfort zone. I wrote a little tidbit the other day as I was a little lost in the blogging sphere and questioning my whole life and wondering why I was so caught up in “being bold”. As if this post couldn’t get any ~cheesier~, I’m putting that tidbit here:

I think that as a blogger, you go through waves of, “Oh my goodness, I can’t do this. Literally what am I thinking? No one gives a s*%! about this.” And then you have a that moment where you have been working hard, hustling all day to create a magical post and you remember why you are doing what you are doing and that you can in fact, do it.
Your life is a story and your dreams have value.
People love a story.
And your story is important. 

The new year and Forge A Frenzy is super exciting concept for me. I have so many thoughts and ideas that I cannot wait to share with you guys. I have many trips planned that you all get to follow along with, new trends, outfits, and looks that will be displayed on this website, and new collaborations and events.
Maybe even a shop opening up…. (;

I hope you all have a spectacular NYE and wear lots of sparkles. It’s the one time of year that I go full on girly. However, my whole entire house is sick this year so it will be a quite NYE in SoCal. But sometimes those are the best.

‘Till next year, xx Madison