Highlights of 2015… an update.
This was originally intended to be a Christmas letter but… it didn’t happen. Anyhow. Here you have it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, friends!
I hope that the past year has been good to you. I would love to hear about what you did, how you grew, and what your life looks like now! 2015 was a big year for me. Full of big changes, it’s been really exciting and I hope you enjoy this little update on my life.
To give you a little perspective, 2014 was a very difficult year for me on every level. I struggled professionally, spiritually, relationally, and emotionally… It was rough. I was working so hard to develop my business, traveling frequently (too much!), feeling quite lonely (most of my close friends recently moved away and I worked alone from home), and moved from my beloved North Hollywood home of 3 years to a place across The Valley. During the fall I spent 8 of 9 weekends between September and October out of town for work, weddings, speaking engagements and more, all while planning the biggest event of my career, running my business, moving, and leading a small group. I got burnt out and that left me feeling really depressed during the months of November and December. I was so grateful for the friendship of Alethia Yu, a friend from USC Grace On Campus Bible Study (USCGOC), who really stuck with me during that time to encourage me, pray with me, and hold me up when I couldn’t do so myself. All of the hard things I experienced last year were very important in my growth and development. I learned a lot about my weaknesses and strengths, the things I value, and how I wanted to live my life.
My time in Florida in December 2014 was an incredibly refreshing one. I spent New Years Eve at my dear friend Mary Losiak’s house and I cried when the ball dropped because I was just SO glad that 2014 was over. We spent the whole night talking about our struggles over the year and our dreams for the future.
I had big dreams for 2015. I needed things to be different.
2015 was different! It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been incredible.
January 1st, my best friend Courtney McCrone flew into Tampa and we spent a week climbing trees, paddle boarding, swimming in the ocean, kayaking, playing with Manatees, going on road trips to visit our Jacksonville friends Tranwei and Abijah, and obsessively playing lots and lots Clue (yes, the board game). This was a great start to the year. I left Florida feeling excited (for the first time in a while) about my future and ready to live my dreams… I had no idea how great it would actually be!
I flew back to Los Angeles, pierced my nose and bleached my hair. My new year started with a bang. I was blonde and stoked to be back.
Jenny Fullarton returned from her time studying in Paris and we reconnected after meeting 2 years prior at USCGOC.
I wrote on her Facebook wall and we started to make our dreams come true. This was a huge answer to prayer for me because, since 2011–12 when all of my closest friends moved away from LA, I had been pretty lonely (except for a few amazing people who kept me sane …you know who you are and I LOVE YOU!). So Jenny and I ventured all over LA and had such a great time together eating delicious food, drinking excellent coffee, watching LOTS of hockey, and going to concerts.
My favorite brother invited me, somewhat last minute, to join him during his senior high school trip to Europe for a leadership training course with Global Next. I decided to do it! I met Mason in Rome and we spent 16 days traveling all over the place together. After 16 days (24 for Mace), 5 countries, 12+ cities, 5 languages, 3 currencies, dozens of new friends, many old friends, soooo much Fanta, slips/trips/falls in every country, lots of espresso, tons of bread, and endless talks… our journals and cameras were filled. We returned home different and closer than before.
Growing up I did everything with my sister Marissa and as much as we loved Mason, he had his own friends, a very different homeschool experience and sports, so we didn’t hang out one-on-one much. Mason was 14 when I moved to L.A. and being a teenage boy, he wasn’t great at keeping in touch while I was away.
He was a few weeks shy of 18 when we went to Europe and he has changed and grown up so much! He’s a real person now! This was a really incredible time because Mason and I haven’t hung out before and now we spent a solid 384+ hours together …nonstop. Talk about bonding! Mason taught me SO much. During every train ride we would spend our time journaling about our adventures and talking about history, art and culture. Mason knows so much about history and he taught me lots about all of the places we visited. I learned so much from him during the course of our trip. I’m so grateful for that time we got to spend and all the things we experienced together.
When I got back to Los Angeles I hit the ground running. I was highly motivated to work hard and grow my business because I knew that once Marissa graduated at the end of the year, my parents were no longer paying our rent and that I was on my own. I had a long ways to go before I would be able to do that on my own, so I got right to work.
I spent April — July working harder than I had ever worked to develop my skills in marketing, social media, and brand design. I said yes to every opportunity and started to read voraciously to further my knowledge of the industry and learn how to be the best entrepreneur I can be.
I spent my free time hanging out with Marissa, going camping, going to the beach, watching hockey, reading books, hanging with Jenny, Laura Jesson and Angel Taylor, going to San Diego, and meeting with a new and wonderful group of Santa Clarita girls who love Jesus and met weekly to pray and encourage each other (SLITS for life!).
In August, we celebrated Marissa’s 21st birthday on a rooftop in Downtown Los Angeles. We were determined to spend as much time together as possible in the coming months because we knew our time living together was probably coming to an end sooner than later. Shortly after her birthday we went to Florida for a week with the family. We spent a lot of time at the beach and nearly every night with our whole family in INTENSE games of King of Tokyo, which simultaneously strengthened and destroyed our family! ;)
Following my week in Florida, I needed to go to Cleveland to meet with two of my digital marketing clients so mommy and I decided to go on a road trip! We stopped in Saint Louis for what I think was one of the best days of 2015! I spent the day exploring STL with old friends Samuel Dolby and Michael Mullaney, having the most heart-filling life talks, followed by a Cardinals baseball game with cousin Luke and Uncle Gary! SO much fun.
We spent three refreshing days with family in mommy’s hometown, Tolono, Illinois, where I had a great time bonding with my cousin Gabby, and spent time with many aunts, uncles and cousins. Family time is the best!
After a stop in Chicago to see Jennifer Nageli, my high school life inspiration and art mentor, we got to Cleveland.
Courtney McCrone’s family was so gracious to let us stay with them and we had an awesome time roaming around “The Land.” I had great meetings with FOUNT Leather Goods and, of course, 23 Skidoo Clothes.
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One night in CLE, I was sitting in Courtney’s room ranting about why I should just move there. After 30 minutes of reasoning through all the considerations, I decided. “Ok… I’m moving to Cleveland!” And that was that. My mind was made up. The next 2 days were spent giggling and telling every single person we passed…
“HEY!!! I’M MOVING TO CLEVELAND!!!!!”
Mom and I stayed in Jacksonville with the Yu’s on our way back to Florida and enjoyed some great conversation with my friends/mentors from USCGOC, Abijah and Tranwei.
I deeply enjoyed the 60 hours mom and I spent on the road together. We talked, sang, listened to Serial, and had a great time.
The last stop on our trip was in Deland, Florida where Mason was in his 2nd week of college at Stetson University. It was so amazing to see him doing so well, loving college and thriving in the community he was building there. It was really special to see him in that environment.
I flew to Los Angeles and, once again, got right back to work, now with renewed motivation because of my excitement to move to Cleveland! I had two months to get my life and business ready to move across the country.
I had the fun opportunity to join my BFF Katherine Payment and college friends Kelsey, Kim and Jordan on a trip with the Payment parents (my Seattle family). We spent a few days shopping, lounging by the pool, eating, and hanging out in Las Vegas. It was great to reconnect with them especially now that Katherine is done with her cancer treatment!
During the Fall I started to realize that a lot of the dreams I had for my business were different than the ideas of my two business partners so after a lot of consideration and discussion, we happily decided to end Endymion and pursue our goals separately. This lead to a very exciting time of building my own brand on my own, Dreamhouse, a marketing company. If you’re interested in learning more about all the fun things I’m developing there… visit my new website www.dreamhouse.marketing!
In October hockey season started… FINALLY!!! Marissa, Jenny, and I went to 5 games in October! Go Kings Go! We celebrated my birthday with friends in North Hollywood. Marissa and I started to pack up our lives and say our goodbyes to friends in L.A. I did a split second spontaneous weekend trip to Las Vegas with the Pedraza family to celebrate Elizabeth’s birthday and had a great time with those wonderful and hilarious people.
We went to a Halloween Hockey game and then on November 1st we left Los Angeles for our voyage to the Land Of Dreams (CLE obviously).
Our first stop was Prescott, Arizona where we stayed with the Drumm family. I babysat their kiddos for many long periods of time in the past two years and it was so wonderful to be reunited. From there we stopped at the Grand Canyon which was, indeed very grand. We rolled into Jerry (Patrick) Shipsey’s place in Denver, late in the evening. We stayed up all night talking and ate some late morning waffles before driving an hour north to Danielle Namour’s home in Fort Collins, CO where we spent the whole day talking, walking around parks, exploring quaint Old Town and soaking in the hot tub. It was so wonderful to spend time with both of these close friends in Colorado. Marissa and I left at 5am from Colorado and headed over to Saint Louis (stopping, of course, for some long-craved Cracker Barrel that we couldn’t get in LA!). We spent the evening around STL with Cousin Luke and his girlfriend Carolyn and took off the next morning for our last leg of the journey to Cleveland! We rolled into town and the unreal excitement took over.
I spent almost all of November in Cleveland. It has been really interesting because there have been a few changes I was expecting: different climate, different scenery, different culture, different roommates, etc. but there were also a few key differences that surprised me a bit moving to the Midwest. I didn’t realize that I was moving into my adult life. All of the friends I had in LA were friends made in college/college ministry or were still in college. In Cleveland none of my friends are in school. They are all working, mostly married, many with kids. We have dinner parties and go to brunch and run into each other at the grocery store, and talk about work like real adults… but it is actually really fun!
I’ve been really thrilled to build a home with my best friend. Our old amazing house-apartment has so much character and it’s been so fun to make it a place of quirky love and hospitality.
I’m thrilled with all of the community and opportunity Cleveland has to offer. Although I am nervous about the winter, I’m eagerly looking forward to all of the life and business developments to come in 2016.
2015 has been a whirlwind. I thank God for the ways He has brought me through some difficult lessons and blessed my efforts in my career and life plans. I’ve had to rely on Him more than ever, relinquish my own ideas, trust in His faithfulness, learn that contentment must not rest in my circumstances, and continue to walk in what He has before me. There is honestly no greater joy than each day becoming who I was designed by God to be and fulfilling the purpose for which I was created. As I sit here on a beach in Hawaii reflecting on an amazing year coming to a close, I look forward to a new year of God’s kind blessings, lessons, trials, and growth. I hope that I will pursue Jesus Christ more diligently and passionately than ever. He is the reason for my hope and my ultimate fulfillment.
I know this update got really personal really fast but, let’s be honest, what else would you expect from me? I’d definitely enjoy catching up and hearing about your life. Call me, text me, email me, write me letters (I WILL write back), COME TO CLEVELAND! Let’s talk.
Lots of love and wishes for an incredible coming year,
Mallory Phillips
