Mistakes for summer flower the bee, and round it hovers oft.

February is my favourite month. 

In the North, this time means the heaviest snowfalls and a possibility to immerse oneself in winter sports - skiing, snowboarding, sledding and skating. Or wrap oneself up in blankets and nuzzle up close to wood-fire reading a good book.

Here, in the Netherlands this poem is a more accurate description of February:

The time when skies are free from cloud,
Though still the robin whistles loud
In the bare garden croft,
The catkin, on the hazel tree,
Mistakes for summer flower the bee,
And round it hovers oft.

February also means my birthday (on the 10th) and the day of lovers and friends (on the 14th), which also makes it a month of celebrations.

Is it always so, that when a another year advances to one's age, it comes with reflection of past and present with a horde of new plans for the future.
It certainly does for me.  

So what of this year?

Well, I took my time to ponder about it.
I realized that I have lost myself into multiple projects during last year that were enormously fun, but never shared them. 

When coming home from the Yule celebrations in the North, where I had spent a week with my family in a cottage among woods in Finland, I opened up a book on a plane that my brother had given me:

 Show Your Work!
 Book by Austin Kleon

I found it a great guide on the ups and downs of putting myself and my work out in the world and dug intentively into the nooks and crannies of my brain and heart of why I have kept my creations away from the interwebs.
This book inspired me to turn a page in my social hermiting and add a camera as an observer to the projects that I make from now on.  

 Therefore, some aspirations of mine that I wanted to share with you for this year are the following:

• writing more stories and publishing them in my blog(this is it!)
• filming the projects that I usually label as 'a hobby' and posting them on YouTube
• showing the outfits I wear to events as a video on Instagram
• creating looks and design projects that are not just for a product in my brand, but a creative way to tell my story and address issues in our modern fashion industry

I hope you tune in and become part of this journey with me! 

Alrighty allmighties, thanks for your time!

Yours,
Mari
🐬

Ohh, and who has not seen it yet - I was very flattered to be approached by  Fashionnovation platform's president Kazi Purba for an article last week. To whomever is interested, you can read the article here->.