This week, well today in fact Nana Wintour an idea that was a while in the making will have been around for five years. Five. Years. I can't believe it's been that long and a lot has changed since then. Almost five hundred posts later and far too many pictures to count, I'd say in the thousands easily. Today I'm getting nostalgic and going back through the archives from 2012-2016. These are some of my favourite posts and if you revisit them, please bear with the sloppy writing and photography. I like to think my skills have become sharper over the years (!). 

Brilliant Blogs, Edition 3 (2012): Isaac Likes was and still is one of my favourite New Zealand bloggers. Nowadays he's famous for the writing and work he does over on Man Repeller. Anyone who gets to collab with Leandra is a winner in my books. Anyway, I remember being beyond delighted when he agreed to answer some of my questions for my blog. Remember I'd been blogging less than a year at this point so it was a huge deal. I think I was nervous about sending too many questions so I only sent these ones over but hitting publish was such a highlight. More so because one of my friends gave me the nicest compliments afterwards. Props to Isaac for helping this nobody blogger too, I was stoked. 

7 Beauty Sins (2013): Ahh 2013, such a different time for numerous reasons. Looking back on this post now is making me realise how much my interest and enthusiasm for beauty has changed over the years. 2012 was the year I started getting back into beauty but 2013 was the year of discovery. I used Nars Laguna Bronzer religiously, a fact which frightens me now. I must've looked so orange. It was also the year I discovered Bioderma which is still my favourite makeup remover and my brief fling with MAC Soft and Gentle. At the time it was far too glittery for me and given my love for highlighter nowadays, I wonder if I'd still feel that way.

Editorials and Pretty Trinkets (2013): Gosh I remember feeling so proud of this post. I was genuinely excited to publish it and remember teasing snippets of it on Instagram before it went live. Arranging objects with editorial imagery was probably an idea I borrowed from Russh, it was before the days where Instagram flat-lays really took off. At the bottom I wrote a note of what I'd do today which is now making me laugh as I probably have counted retail therapy as my exercise for the day.  

Anxiety (2014): This may seem a bizarre inclusion and this post really was a long time coming. It probably deserves a do-over at some point because this is a touch outdated now. Any nervousness I felt about sending it live and potential backlash would soon dissipate. I received countless messages from people I would never have expected to have connected with it as well as lovely feedback from the people who know me best. It's one of those posts I'd hoped would help someone and I think to some degree it may have just done that.

10 More Things That Make Me Happy (2015): I did two of these posts in 2015 and they were some of my most-read ones that year. To be honest I seem to have some of my best conversations with strangers in Lush still and Fleetwood Mac's Rumors album never fails to turn around a less than spectacular mood. This series makes me happy so I may have to revisit it next year. One thing from 2016 that stands out is a conversation that Sam Chapman and I had back and forth on Twitter about Amy Winehouse. I'm not sure why but it's one of my favourite exchanges that I've ever had on the Interwebs. 

Some Notes on Blogging (2016): A post I wrote when I was feeling miserable about the state of blogging today. In the months that have followed there have been further things that have left me in a similar state of disenchantment which is a shame but writing and blogging are still two activities I love so I can put aside any frustration. Most of the time. 

The Gilmore Girls Tag (2016): Sometimes the most popular posts seem to come to me really randomly. I don't remember what I was up to but the idea for this tag came to me when I was doing something else so I hurriedly wrote it down along with the questions. I wish that happened more often when I'm stuck for inspiration. It was a lot of fun to put together and seeing other people completing it too was so awesome.