// A SQUARE LOOK BACK //
This past year hasn't been the easiest one.
In mid 2012 I got sick. As part of the recovery process I was put on a heavy dose of medication which I had to take for a year. It was pretty intense. It made me feel drowsy and down. I lost motivation and drive. Things I would normally be excited by didn't interest me and as a result of the whole experience I lost a lot of self-confidence. This past June I was taken off of the medicine and I, optimistically, hoped that I would bounce straight back to my former self. That didn't happen. Although I was technically 'better' I didn't feel entirely that way. It has taken the last six months for me to get back to normal. Now, a year and a half after the incident I finally feel better.
There is still one major side effect from the medicine that I'm battling: weight gain. Over the course of a few months I put on thirty pounds. Most of my clothes no longer fit. If you've been reading this blog for a while you've probably noticed that the content has changed slightly - outfit posts have been rare. Lately I've been making an effort to reintroduce them, though it's tough as I don't have many items in my wardrobe to play with. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not technically overweight but this is the heaviest I've ever been and that has taken some getting used to. With the start of the new year one of my resolutions is to take back control of my body. I'm determined to lose the weight in a healthy way.
Usually I do a post at the end of the year looking back at all the best moments and it tends to feature lots of outfit pictures. This year I can't do that as there have only been a handful of them.
When I was thinking back on the year at first I felt a bit despondent. It has undoubtedly been tough. But then I decided to do a little Flipagram on Instagram - to collect all my favourite photos from the past year and put them into a little slideshow. When I went through them I was totally blown away by how great a year I've had. Zurich has been beautiful. I got to travel a lot and visit London, Berlin, Portugal, France and Sweden. I visited New York, shot four weddings with my sister in St Louis, and went back to California for the first time after eight years of being away. I'm lucky to be surrounded by great people and I'm even luckier because I have my health.
That is the thing that stuck out to me most - how very blessed I am to be starting a new year healthy. Wherever you are and whatever you are currently facing, I hope you feel optimistic about the year to come. Great things are headed your way.
All photos from Instagram.
// WELCOME TO VERSION 3.0 //
So, here it is: the new and improved Style Crusader. I hope you like it. It's designed to be a bit more dynamic than the last site with content clearly divided into eight key categories. You'll find new topics like inspiration and details plus old favourites like street style and travel. If you're looking for something from an old post you can find it in the legacy category or search for it.
I hope you like the changes! Any thoughts? Just let me know.