Jan 1, 2022

2021 Year In Review

Updated: Jan 5, 2022

Now that the rollercoaster ride of 2021 has finally come to an end, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all of the things LBPD was up to this past year. While there’s always a focus on the hustle and bustle within entrepreneurship, 2021 was an extra challenging year (thanks COVID :S ), so I chose to focus on ways to minimize the craziness and find calmness, consistency, and motivation throughout the year.

JANUARY

After rebranding my own business back in 2020, I decided to start the year off with a bang by officially adding a brand-new service to my offerings – Custom Logo Design. My first logo client of 2021 was Mandy Wright Travel – I worked with her on creating a custom logo for her travel business that focuses on dream weddings and unforgettable group trips.

Two new products were added to the Canadian Collection including a colour version of our customer favourite “The Great White North (Canada)” art print and a brand new “The Rock (Newfoundland & Labrador)” art print.

My partner, Brendan, and I also started our list of minor – but long-awaited - home touch ups by [finally] replacing the window blinds in our kitchen and bathroom as well as adding a rug to our living room (soft floor for the win!).

MARCH/APRIL

Now that extreme Winterpeg weather was less of an issue, Brendan and I decided to get outside more – our first adventure was at the puddle-y Pinawa Dam. We (mostly Brendan) also built garden boxes for the backyard, so we’d be ready for planting all the yummy vegetables later in the Spring.

And thanks to my sister, Jessica, and all of her baking tips, I made my first cheesecake – Oreo Mini Egg flavour - and it turned out amazing (cue the drooling)!

MAY

I streamlined a few of the LBPD client processes and set-up Dubsado as my new Client Management System. It has been amazing using one system for all of my client proposals, contracts, invoices, meeting scheduling, form templates, design revisions, and more! If you’re looking to try out Dubsado for your own business, you can use my affiliate link (or type in my code: laurenbakerprintdesign) to get 20% off your first month/year – it’s really a game changer.

I had the opportunity to design large-scale billboard advertisements for Bison Pointe, a luxury apartment residence, that were on display throughout Winnipeg.

The Manitoba Government reduced access to some hiking trails throughout the province in mid-May due to severe forest fires and luckily Brendan and I were able to time my birthday hike at Birds Hill Park right before all of this occurred. We strolled down the Pine Ridge Self-Guiding Trail and came across an old homestead – as a history lover this was so neat to explore.

May was definitely my favourite month of year mostly due to the fact that Brendan and I decided to secretly elope on May 25 at Falcon Trails Resort. Sadly, none of our family members live in Manitoba so COVID made it impossible for us to be with our favourite people or even try to plan a wedding amidst all of the restrictions. We decided to stay in one of Falcon Trail Resort’s lakefront cabins and had the most romantic ceremony for two while standing in the rain overlooking the lake. We were joined by Sheryl of Marry Me Hunnie and our two photographers/witnesses Mandy of Mandy Wright Photography and Casey of Casey Nolin Photography. Video calling our families after our ceremony and seeing their surprised and excited faces was one of our favourite moments.

Brendan and I were already so ready for the whole COVID pandemic to be over that we chose to get our 1stCOVID vaccination shot the day after we got married – so romantic, right?!

We celebrated one whole year with our snuggly floofy cat, Ollie, on the 1st anniversary of his “Gotcha Day” this month.

JUNE

I was invited to speak as a panelist for an info session co-hosted by the Afro Caribbean Business Network and DoGood Fundraising on “Lessons Learned from New Entrepreneurs” for for-profit businesses and shared my experience running LBPD as a solo-preneur.

Brendan and I became an aunt and uncle for the first time to the cutest little niece.

JULY/AUGUST

The summer brought a new addition to the Canadian Collection – “The Heartland Province (Ontario)”. As a born and raised Ontarian, this print was very nostalgic for me as I remembered all my trips to Canada’s Wonderland, picking Ontario fruit, the small town fall fairs, and even riding on GO Transit while creating it.

Winnipeg’s Shakespeare in the Ruins hosted a contest for the “Best Bear Story”, and conveniently during Brendan’s and my elopement in May two black bears crashed our day while we were out taking photos. Brendan submitted our story and we ended up winning!

Brendan and I continued with a few more house projects including painting our basement (bye ugly green walls!) and adding an island to the kitchen (heck yes for more counter space). We also checked another thing off our summer bucket list by going kayaking at La Barriere Park.

SEPTEMBER

We added a couple more summer adventures this month before the Fall really came, and after talking about going to a baseball game all summer, we finally went to see the Winnipeg Goldeyes play on the very last day possible. We also headed to Spirit Sands at Spruce Woods Provincial Park here in Manitoba to get another hike in (think lots of hills covered in sand)!

Ollie turned 2 this month, so we decided to be “those” cat parents and buy him a cat tent to play in outside. Ollie is always wanting to go outside when he’s near a screen window or door, but I think he’ll need some more time to adjust to being fully outside…rather than just thinking (and meowing) to be outside.

At the end of September (and after 18 long months), we were finally able to travel to Ontario to see our families. We celebrated our elopement with everyone, met our niece in person, visited my grandfather after we had to miss his 100th birthday celebration, did a couple family photo sessions, and enjoyed catching up with everyone. My amazing moms and sisters even threw me a wonderful surprise bridal shower at a winery.

OCTOBER

Brendan and I both booked a week off work this month and knew we wanted to travel somewhere for our honeymoon. Every country/province had travel restrictions to consider and those restrictions were changing frequently, so we decided to book our trip super last minute. Fortunately, we were still able to take an international trip and decided to go to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico for a week of sun and sand at Hacienda Encantada Resort & Residences. We had such a blast together and basically lived off margheritas and shrimp tacos all week, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. We spent a lot of time relaxing and swimming/floating in the pools overlooking the ocean, but we still fit in lots of fun things including seeing “The Arch”, day-tripping to Todos Santos (and seeing Hotel California), going on a sunset dinner cruise, enjoying a couples massage, and doing not one but two tequila tastings (we even tried a caramel tequila – talk about amazing).

END OF THE YEAR

After all of the excitement between May-October, I decided to take a break from social media for a couple of months to focus on completing all of my outstanding 2021 custom client projects ahead of the holiday season.

If you’ve read all the way down to here, thank-you! Thank-you to everyone – clients, family, friends – who have supported my design business, Lauren Baker Print & Design. Whether that’s through making a purchase, liking a post, reading our blog, leaving a review, or referring me to someone you know – your support is so so appreciated! I hope you and your family have enjoyed the winter holiday this year. Happy 2022!