2016. Wow. In all honesty, my first thought was to say BYE FELICIA to 2016. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. But as I began to look back at the year, it only made me realize how lucky I am. Something I already knew, but certainly have had trouble feeling lately. I highly recommend looking back through photos and reflecting on your year. It may have been A LOT, but chances are, you might just realize there was A LOT of good — and often great — in there too. In moments big and small.

Cheers to the year ahead, and kudos on having made it through another. And a huge THANK YOU for your endless support. I’m sending it right back your way.

Below my Top 16 of 2016, plus my Best 9 of 2016 on Instagram.

1. One of the top highlights of my year was having my sweet KayleeBug and sister come to live with us for a few months — a dream come true! They flew in to LA on New Year’s Eve, we drove straight to Palm Springs, and all celebrated at Trina Turks’ fab NYE bash amidst a sea of balloons. It was a magical way to kick off the year. Within a few weeks of being in LA, Kaylee ended up getting a talent manager and an agent, and while I was super blown away and proud, my favorite moments were our daily walks (and skateboard rides!) to the Beverly Hills Library where she fell in love with reading and, of course, our Girl’s Night In.

2. Professionally and personally, it was a huge honor to grace the cover of my beloved city’s magazine as the “unofficial ambassador” of Palm Springs. I love Palm Springs so much and have joked in the past that I should be on the tourism board because I can’t shut up about it, so this was a really fun surprise.

3. Designing a room in the Modernism Week Show House was a major highlight. When Christopher Kennedy asked me to design the master suite dressing room, I was in New York for Fashion Week and I believe my response was DUH! I was really flattered and excited for the challenge. We ended up celebrating in New York that night with Christopher, Carson Kressley (who also designed a room in the show house), and a group of amazingly fun and talented people. Of course, actually designing “the glam cave” was even more fun — and the show house raised over $85,000 for preservation efforts. Here’s a peek at the glam cave in California Homes magazine. It will be published in Traditional Home next month too!

4. It was a big year on the art and photography front too. Fred Baby and I launched The Real Houses of Palm Springs series of fine art prints at PurePhoto.

5. Kelly + Fred Photography also graced the walls of the Desert Eichler homes during Modernism Week, which then made the rounds in Atomic Ranch, The LA Times, and many more publications. So wild! I also curated a gallery wall at Modernism Week with Getty Images. And a Fred Baby photo made the cover of AN Interior. NBD! That guy blows me away.

6. Fred Baby and I love working together and one of our favorite projects every summer is shooting the Persifor lookbook. This is a shot from last year’s lookbook at The Viceroy Santa Monica. We’ll be sharing the lookbook we shot this year at The Colony Palms in Palm Springs soon!

7. Speaking of fun highlights from the summer, the biggest was that we bought a new house…and it’s not what you would expect!

8. And in a crazy turn of events, our house is going to be transformed by Christopher Kennedy and nearly 20 of the nation’s top designers into the Modernism Week Show House for 2017, presented by Traditional Home. I hope you’ll get tickets to come see it in person!

9. I was honored to share my Palm Springs guides with both Architectural Digest and Real Simple this year. The opportunity to share my favorite spots with millions of people blows my mind.

10. We were super grateful we were able to celebrate our first Thanksgiving in the new house with Fred Baby’s family right before we had to move out so that our house could get its Modernism Week Show House makeover. An itty bitty peek with these cuties.

11. Speaking of holidays, while we didn’t get to spend our first Christmas in the new house, we did get to decorate for it — much to Fred Baby’s chagrin. He wasn’t exactly thrilled when a UPS truck arrived and the ENTIRE truck was filled with packages for this shoot with Traditional Home and Frontgate, mere weeks before we’d have to move it all out (#bloggerhusbandproblems), but it ended up being one of my favorite projects of the year!

12. One major blogger perk is getting to meet people you’d otherwise never get to meet. And this year, the standout highlight was meeting Nate Berkus. I’ve always admired Nate, and I loved his husband Jeremiah Brent’s style on The Rachel Zoe Project too, so getting to eat lunch right next to them — and realize they’re even more incredible in person — was a huge highlight.

13. On that note, these amazingly kind words from Nate Berkus blew me away!

 14. We moved FIVE times this year and it nearly killed me (today’s the first day I’ve been out of pajamas in 3 weeks, but who’s counting?), so some restorative weekend getaways like this trip to the high desert were in order. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?

15. I’m still standing, yeah yeah yeah. This glamorous staycation at The Beverly Wilshire let me feel like a Pretty Woman for a few days.

16. And this girls trip to the Omni La Costa with my mini-me and Lilly Pulitzer is a memory I’ll cherish forever. This trip to La Quinta (top photo) was pretty great too.

Thanks for letting me share my 2016 highlights! And above are my Best 9 of 2016 from Instagram (you can get your Best 9 here). It certainly was a colorful year!

Here’s to 2017 being even more colorful!

Happy New Year!

p.s. I love hue.

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