I know we say this at the start of every New Year, but seriously, where did the time go?

I had a really rough start to 2017.

Professionally speaking, I didn’t pick up my first design project for the year until March. While work started slowly, I immersed myself in re-designing Haute Khuuture’s new blog site you see HERE and revamped my design website Julie Khuu Interior Design | JKID check it out HERE. With JKID at a dormant standstill, I remember *almost* committing career suicide when I announced to le hubs that I didn’t believe interior design was my true calling.

Yup, cue the violins y’all.

Looking Back

I am a self-described, bonafide workaholic. I hate not being productive. I hate the feeling of being so stuck inside your head that you constantly talk yourself in and out of ideas only to end up back at square one, having not created a thing.

I am a mover, a shaker, an instinctive risk-taker.

I spend my days dreaming and my nights doing. Looking back on 2017, I did so much but never felt like life caught up with time. Days passed, months went by, and this blog was put on the backburner. I had SO MUCH to share but never made the time to put words into action.

I KNEW I had to make a change.

The Turning Point

It might sound silly but once I went blonde, my entire demeanor changed. Having gone from pitch black hair to bright bleached locks, I felt lightened as a result.

The dark cloud of heavy stagnation was lifted to reveal a positive move forward, if not in my career, at least in my appearance. I credit my comeback first on my willingness to make a change and second to the newfound confidence I gained as a result.

Manifest Destiny

And THAT my friend, is when everything happened.

I walked into T.J.Maxx, sat down for an impromptu interview to answer the question “What makes me unique?” and won the #MaxxYou contest that ensued. I was whisked away to New York twice, met Barbara Corcoran and Laila Ali (now my personal mentor) and learned so much from this experience that my life has literally catapulted to exponential heights.

My career naturally followed suit. Read all about my journey HERE.

Lessons Learned

Sitting down to write this post has been a very cathartic and sentimental experience for me. I almost forgot why I loved blogging in the first place and it was solely to capture my life, share lessons learned, and show you that