Welcome back to Blush & Camo! Today is a very special blog post because Chuck is taking over and writing today’s post! I was thinking of some creative ideas for how to do an year in review and I kept hitting a wall.

This year was one of the biggest in Chuck and I’s lives. Chuck was gone for 4.5 months training with his unit, I relaunched my blog, got out of the Army after five years of service, we moved to Nashville, bought a house, and I decided to go after my dream and blog full time! I mean, what. a. YEAR!

You have followed and supported me throughout the year (thank you, thank you, thank you!) and for today’s post I thought it was be super fun for Chuck to recap 2018 from his perspective. So today Chuck is sharing his thoughts on moving into a house sight unseen (he was still in the filed training!), me blogging full time, and what being an “Insta-Husband” means to him.

Here’s Chuck!

Hi guys! Chuck here, and I’m excited to write this post and look back at 2018.

2018 was quite a year of change for Julianna and I.  The year started with both of us in the Army, living in Clarksville, and no blog.  2018 is ending with Julianna out of the Army, the family in Nashville, and the blog kicking serious butt!

The year began with both of us gearing up for a month-long training exercise in March.   This was stressful for the family because Julianna knew that she was getting out of the Army in August, but she couldn’t focus on life after the Army until we got back in early April.

As soon as we got back from the training exercise in April, I found out that I was taking command of a rifle company at the end of April, and headed to New York for from May to September.  While I was gone, Julianna was busy being a dog mom, transitioning out of the Army, moving the family from Clarksville to Nashville, and on top of all of this, she re-launched the blog!  I felt bad that I couldn’t be around to help with everything the family was doing, but Julianna, with some help from her dad, managed to get it at all done!

At first I wasn’t convinced that it was a good move to re-launch the blog this summer in the midst of everything else that was going on.  Julianna, however, stayed the course and went at it day after day.

The blog picked up some steam this summer and then once Julianna was settled in Nashville, the blog really took off.  By the time I came back from New York, Julianna had a problem:  should she remain at her corporate job, or go after her dreams of being a full-time blogger?

The blog was doing really well and so Julianna and I discussed a timeline for leaving her job.  After we agreed on a realistic timeline, the blog just continued to do even better, and so we decided not to fight the momentum and Julianna left her job 2 months earlier than we had originally agreed on!

One of the biggest changes for the Christensen family this year was buying a new house and moving to Nashville.  I was not able to be present to see the houses or the neighborhoods where Julianna was looking, but we worked around that by using a lot of facetime.  Julianna and I also have pretty similar aesthetic taste when it comes to living spaces and décor.  Lots of my friends asked me if I was worried about not seeing a house that I was about to buy, but I never had any anxiety about it!

After Julianna left her job and started blogging full time, it was fun to see how happy she was.  I was a bit anxious about leaving a job with a steady paycheck and stepping into the unknown, but she has done so well and it’s been so exciting to see the blog take off!  Going from two jobs to one was definitely a relief for her and it has been so great to see her doing what she is passionate about.

Blogging from our old Clarksville house was difficult because of Clarksville’s isolation.  It has been fun to see Julianna integrate into the blogging community so much more easily because she is now in the middle of Nashville.  Shooting content, meeting up with bloggers, and going to blogging events on weekday nights is now as easy as going to the grocery store.

This year has been crazy and full of change, but it’s so satisfying to look back on the year and see everything our family has done.  I’m very happy with where we are and I can’t wait to see what 2019 brings!

Thank you for reading my post!