Goodbye 2013!

What a year this has been, in March I started this blog ‘Bec Boop’ something which I had wanted to do for ages and after excuses such as studying for exams/not having enough time etc I finally put the excuses aside and made time for the blog. I have not looked back since then, this has been the most exciting project I have ever been involved in and I am so determined to make 2014 an even better year for Bec Boop. Not only have I shown my personal style here through outfit posts but I have also got to work as a stylist for well-respected local photographers, completed a course in fashion design and also turned my hand to event planning and journalism. These are all areas which I could only have previously dreamed of being involved in. I truly enjoy my day job as an accountant. I believe it is important to enjoy your job and I will always be a business woman firstly however I hope that by applying my business skills to blogging and event planning I will be able to deliver a well-produced blog which you will enjoy reading for at least another year to come and many more exciting events! Bec Boop has really changed my life for the better, I have never felt more confident in my life and truly enjoy every day and minute I spend working on my blog.

Stats

I am still in shock when I look back at the stats for Bec Boop in 2013!

Here are some of the highlights of 2013, Bec Boop’s first blogging year:

This was the first fashion event I attended last March just after starting my blog and really opened my eyes to the fashion world and in particular how our amazing city of Galway really had a place in the fashion world. Read the post here. I made some important fashion contacts at this event which would really help in my first year of blogging, and I am already looking forward to next year’s event! I used the photo from this event taken by Darachphotography as my logo for the blog as it is a reminder of where I started off in the fashion/blogging world.

Along with my sister I had the opportunity to model the ‘Fashion Targets Breast Cancer’ t-shirts in Brown Thomas, Limerick in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. Read the post here. This was something firstly very rewarding and which I was so happy to be able to be involved with and secondly it was such a huge boost to my confidence to be strutting around BT’s promoting the t-shirts. I guess it helped that I had a stunning model beside me (Stephanie Casserly).

Not only was one of my fashion app reviews published in this new Irish magazine but I was also nominated for their blogging awards which was such an amazing achievement. I attended the launch party where I got to meet so many Irish bloggers who I had interacted with online previously, it was definitely one of the highlights of the year. Read the full post here.

Receiving an invite to the London Bloggers Party hosted by Scarlett London was such a highlight, I oculd not believe Bec Boop was on the guestlist for this event! I travelled to London not knowing anybody who would be attending. This time last year I would never have attended an event alone! I met so many amazing bloggers from the UK and thought about how it would be great to host a similar event in my hometown, which inspired the Galway Bloggers Party. Read the full post here. I also couldn’t believe my luck when I was asked to go outside of the venue for a street-style photoshoot with street-style photographer Unlimited by JK! 

This was one of the first brands I collaborated with on Bec Boop and they sent me three different items to style. This was such a fun challenge and with the help of Darachphotography I produced three of my favourite outfit posts of the year! Read them here, here and here. Miss Luxe also sponsored a giveaway on my blog during the year which was super exciting to host.

The highlight of the Galway fashion year! I took my annual leave during this week of the Galway Races and glammed up for the three days I attended. Mary White Millinery provided me with an amazing hat for Ladies Day which could not have been any more ‘Bec Boop’, I loved it and Eva Beauty Room gave me a beautiful Ladies Day makeover! You can read the three outfit posts here, here and here.

This was another opportunity presented to me as a result of my blog when I met the team behind the CRAIC in Galway who asked me to join them as fashion writer. WOW! This is a fortnightly magazine in Galway of which 5,000 issues are printed each fortnight. I have used this to improve my writing skills and have featured street-style, fashion events and trends in the magazine. I also acted as MC at the launch party fashion show which was such an amazing experience. Read the full post here. The CRAIC in Galway has big plans for 2014 and I am so excited to be involved with this magazine…watch this space!

FROW at Cork Fashion Week

Again I ventured alone to a fashion event, this time in Cork where I had been offered a VIP Front Row seat for the opening night of Cork Fashion Week. This was such an amazing experience and an opportunity to experience the fashion world in other areas of Ireland. Read the post here. I was also introduced to some new Irish designers and milliners and met some more lovely Cork bloggers!

The Galway Bloggers Party

In September I organised and hosted the first ever Galway Bloggers Party. This was my first time as an event organiser and I enjoyed every minute of it! Nearly 100 Irish bloggers attended the all-day weekend event which was held in the House Hotel, Galway. Benefit and Urban Decay from Debenhams attended with stalls on the day along with the amazing Cotton Face Vintage and Captain Tortue Galway. I organised a fashion show for the attendees to enjoy, goodie bags and a raffle. I can really appreciate now how much effort goes into event planning from finding sponsors, organising press releases and invites, goodie bags and of course the fashion show and the importance of having a good team behind-the-scenes! I hope to organise another Galway Bloggers Party in the New Year. Read the full post here.

Press/Features

Bec Boop was featured in numerous press publications during the year including glossy magazines and newspapers, something again, I could never have dreamed of! My personal style was featured in Stellar Magazine and Xposé Magazine! An interview feature was published in the CRAIC in Galway issue 12. The Galway Bloggers Party I organised and hosted received publication in the Galway City Tribune, the CRAIC in Galway, SIN NUIG Newspaper and US Magazine Linger! Style in the City which I also organised was published in the Galway advertiser, this along with various online features including RSVP Magazine. It is such an amazing feeling to be featured in local publications as a Galway Girl this really means a lot to me and to open a glossy magazine and see a picture of my style….words can’t explain it!

In the past year I have been nominated for the Ooh La La Blog Awards, I was also shortlisted in the ‘Best Newcomer’ category at the Blog Awards Ireland, a top five finalist for Social and Personal Magazine’s ‘Next Top Fashion Blogger’ Ireland and in the top thirty finalists in the RSVP Magazine/Oasis ‘Style Blogger of the Year’. I was absolutely overwhelmed to be nominated in any of these categories let alone shortlisted/finalist! 

In addition to this I have held interviews on the blog including with a New York based recording artist and a new fashion designer. I have also organised a local charity fashion event – Style in the City along with the Stock Exchange, Galway and Cotton Face Vintage, started my YouTube channel and completed lots of beauty product reviews.

There are far too many Thank You’s so I am sure I will forget someone! Firstly my amazing family who have been unbelievably supportive in every venture of my blog since I began it, my fiancé Darren who encouraged me to start the blog in the first instance and has given me endless encouragement since. Thank you to all the giveaway sponsors during the year and to all my advertisers. Thank you to the photographers who I have worked with including Darachphotography, Caroline Walsh photography, Sweet Memories Photography Ireland and DivMedia. Thank you to Eva Beauty Room who has been so amazing to work with on many of the different projects during the year. Finally thank you to YOU my readers and fellow bloggers without whom there would be no point in doing any of this!