2019 RECAP

Hello loves and happy 2020!

As always it feels so refreshing with a new year, and 2020 sounds very cool, I’m sure this will be a killer year! <3 Every year I do a recap here on the blog, this is my 5th recap already, which means I’ve been writing on this blog for 5 years. I love having this blog, it’s not only to share photos and moments with you guys, but also as a diary for myself and Klemens. We can always go back in time and and see what we were up to, specially on the recaps. In the past people used to have photo albums where you could travel back in time, but nowadays physical photo albums are not so common anymore and unless you’re very organised it’s hard to keep the photos in order on the computer. At least for me, I’m the most unorganised person ever when it comes to my computer, I keep everything on my desktop until it’s full, then I put it all into a folder called “everything” or “pics bla bla”… can anyone relate? haha. It’s good I have Klemens who keeps our work photos organised, he compliments me so well, my weak parts are his strong parts and vice versa. But back to the point, this is why keeping this blog is so great, because this blog is our photo album, its organised and we can keep it forever <3

Anyways, every year I think the same “oh wow this year passed so fast”, but as soon as I start making the recap I always think “oh no, this was so long time ago”. It’s always a relief. A year doesn’t pass as fast as you think, as long as you do things you will remember.

2019 was a very special year for me, it might actually have been one of my favourite years. Not everything was tip top, but in general it was incredible. Let’s take a look month by month :)

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JANUARY

We started the year on Mallorca like most years. We had an amazing New Years with our friends from Berlin, and when they went back Klemens and I stayed some extra days on the island and enjoyed the sun and had some relaxing days before going back to cold Berlin. We had just quit our agency and January was the first month that we worked and represented ourselves. It was very scary because we had never represented ourselves, we got the agency as soon as we started with the Instagram/blog. However we were very excited and psyched about it, it was time for a new chapter and we wanted to learn and grow representing ourselves when it came to our business.

The rest of the days we stayed in Berlin, had a calm time, worked on our projects and planned our yearly backpacking trip.

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FEBRUARY

Every year Klemens and I try to do a backpacking trip. Three years ago we went to Thailand, last year we went to Sri Lanka and this year it was time for the Philippines. February is always a chill year when it comes to work and the perfect time to get away for some weeks. It’s such a nice feeling to go away with our backpacks, go to the other side of the world and disconnect and take photos! Last year we wanted to go to Costa Rica but we changed our minds last minute and booked the Philippines instead. We went for 3 weeks and it was an experience for sure! We had a lot of fun and really loved some places. Specially Siargao, if you go to Philippines I recommend Siargao for sure. The only downside of the trip was that it required a lot of planning. It took us very long time to get from one place to another and it was quite expensive because you most often had to fly. If you compare it to backpacking in Thailand or Sri Lanka it was very complicated. We still had a lot of fun though, 6 hour ride in a packed car or 2 days trip from A to B are just fun memories that we will remember forever, and isn’t this what makes backpacking so fun? All the crazy things you find on the way!

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MARCH

We were still in Philippines in March, we stayed in an amazing camping place for some days, did boat trips and scooter trips around the islands. Read more about our Philippines trip here.

When we came back to Europe we went straight to Paris fashion week which is my favourite fashion week because almost all may favourite brands are from France, we were very tanned and jet lagged but had fun catching up on meetings, shows and meeting friends before heading back to Berlin again.

Those days in Berlin we found an apartment online, we saw the photos and I loved it but Klemens wasn’t so convinced. I tried to convince him to go and look at it, and the day before we had our viewing we went outside of the apartment and looked up. Klemens didn’t want to live on the top floor for some weird reason but he agreed to go and look at it the next day. The next day we went to see it and I fell even more in love and luckily Klemens did too! We had just found our dream apartment and our game had started, now we needed to win the bid! The rest of the month we worked on this and it was a really scary moment, we were so scared to lose it, but in the end we won and Casa cozy was ours <3 <3 <3

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APRIL

In April we went to LA and Coachella again, which we do every year! We went some days early to visit our friends in LA some days and then we rented a super cute garden house in Silver lake before we headed to Palm Springs with BMW and Khalid for Coachella. Look at this car we had during those days, Klemens was in heaven! Coachella time was fun, but as always we go a bit too crazy with our photos and ended up shooting all the time, but what can you do when you’re in such a beautiful place like Palm Springs and Palm desert? It’s a photo dream, so so beautiful!

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MAY

May was an incredible month! We were waiting a long time for all the paperwork to be done for the apartment so we could get the keys, it was a bit annoying to wait because we couldn’t wait, but we had some beautiful trips instead! First we went to our favourite place Formentera which we also did the previous year, we always rent a little house there and take photos on our favourite spots! After that we went to Naxos to a wind surfing place called Flisvos and had an incredible time! I really recommend this place if you want somewhere chill to go but also do water sports. I did SUP for the first time and loved it and Klemens had fun wind surfing. See our blogpost about Naxos here.

May was just the perfect summer month, loved it! Sun, sand and sea! <3 We also released a new piece in our Mikuta jewellery – the Chain, which was very exciting!

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JUNE

In June we finally got the keys for Casa cozy! We were so happy and excited and just couldn’t wait to get started! We wanted to renovate the apartment but didn’t really know where to start, now was the time to really get started and have a plan. Suddenly it was all so real. In June we spent most time planning and organising everything so we could start renovating in July. Apart from that we had an amazing summer in Berlin with our friends <3 A happy month!

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JULY

Finally July arrived and it was time to start renovating, but before that we went to Casa cook in Chania! We had some great days discovering their new hotel and visited the island, ate lots of amazing greek food and had a pottery workshop. Read more about our Chania trip here.

When we came back it was finally time for The Big Tear Down! Our friend Johann from Sweden came down to help us because he has experience in this and then we got started. It was actually quite crazy now when I think back on it but we had fun and in the end it all turned out great! We managed to take down all the wall and clean up in 2 days. See blogpost about the big teardown here.

We ended the month with the Parookaville festival with Redken and I had fun dinosaur hair – yey!

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AUGUST

Then August arrived and Klemens and I went to Salzburg and Salzkammergut to discover the areas, it was surprisingly amazing and one of the best trips so far. Incredibly beautiful! In one day we took an old train up to the mountain where we hiked with amazing view, then we went with little boats on a lake, went to eat fish for lunch and ended the day with SUP at sunset, a perfect august day that I won’t forget <3 When we came back to Berlin we had lots of work to do with the apartment, we had to close all the holes in the walls after the tear down and we learnt how to put plaster and gypsum plates, etc etc. A lot of house-building-learning this summer. We still lived in our old apartment but went over to the new one every morning and worked until it got dark and did this every day until we had to travel again. Over and over, mostly Klemens and I doing everything but loving every moment of it <3 Building our dream Casa cozy <3

At the end of the month we went to Casa Cook Ibiza, haha yes, the name Casa cozy is a little inspired by Casa cook ;P but it’s one of our favourite places and also our Casa is very cozy, it’s all about coziness when it comes to us! Anyways, Casa cook ibiza was as amazing as we had expected, we had a wonderful time there and we also finally released the F* necklace to our Mikuta jewellery family! It was a big success, better than we had expected and we sold out the first day – yey! <3

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SEPTEMBER

In September we went to Epernay in France to visit the Moet & Chandon headquarters where we discovered the wine cellars, harvested grapes and champagne pairing dinner, amazing getaway with lots of champagne! The day after we went straight to Porto for our secret project back then – our Mikuta clothes!

We already started working on this back in April but it was a secret and we didn’t want to tell anyone before it was almost ready. We developed the Mikuta brand into a bigger brand with clothing as well as the already existing jewellery. This was one of the main projects of the year, and together with building the apartment this kept us really busy. During the past months we had been brainstorming and designing and in September it was finally time to visit the factory in Portugal and go through the last details and very important, see how it all works and get to know the business partners in person. It was so exciting and I was so so nervous! Read about the factory visit here or watch the youtube video.

In September we also went to Lollapalooza in Berlin with Calvin Klein, worked on a project with The Kooples and continued with Casa cozy. We sandpapered the whole floor which was A LOF of work, oh my, so much dust! And we also painted it transparent-white. See more about the floor here & here.

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OCTOBER

It was October and it was finally time to paint! I had been waiting for this moment for a long time. We had discovered the kalk color from Kalklitir and I was so excited to finally try it. It was a fun project and the result was amazing! See blogpost about the wall painting here. We painted three main walls but loved it so much that we decided to paint the rest of the walls with the kalk paint too, I still haven’t finished it, but will do it this year, asap…oops!

Then I turned 30! Crazy bananas! I had been worrying about turning 30 for the last 15 years but it ended up being great! My mum and sister came to visit from Mallorca and we had an amazing weekend and the night before my birthday we celebrated with all our friends in a bar and had the best night I could wish for <3 I think it’s great to be 30, I feel like I did everything I wanted to do so far, and somehow I suddenly feel grown up and it feels really good! For everyone who stresses about turning 30, don’t stress, it’s amazing!

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NOVEMBER

Last day of October we had to move, but I add it into the November month! Our amazing friends were there to help us move over everything from the old apartment into the new one and we managed to do it in just some hours. After that we celebrated with pizza and champagne! I was quite sad to leave the old apartment before, but as soon as it was empty it wasn’t hard at all, I guess in the end it’s not the place, it’s your things inside the apartment that makes it your home. Not to be materialistic, but as soon as all my pillows and decoration was gone, it didn’t feel like mine anymore. So this was a relief, I haven’t missed the old apartment once since we moved, and I’m loving Casa cozy more and more every day, maybe because it’s just ours!

In the middle of the month we went to Mallorca to babysit the dogs while my mum went to Thailand, it was nice with some relaxing days there after all the building, moving and working on the Mikuta clothes! When we came back to Berlin we only had some days to finish everything before the clothing launch, we had to finish the website, finish all the photos and make sure everything worked properly.

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DECEMBER

In the beginning of December we went back to Austria for another incredible trip, absolute breathtaking! See blogpost here. We stayed in the most beautiful little cottage in the mountain and had a really good time. When we came back to Berlin on the 8th of December we had the Mikuta launch! It was so stressful and so exciting at the same time. Our clothes that we had been working on for the last year was finally available on the shop and it was time to celebrate! We celebrated with champagne and tacos <3 Read all about the Mikuta brand here.

The rest of December was busy, a lot of work with the Mikuta shop and we had to finish all the jobs of the year. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to work on Casa cozy during the last two months but there’s still time to do it now, and the Mikuta brand was our priority.

Then it was Christmas time, I went to Sweden to celebrate with my family and Klemens went to the north of Germany to celebrate with his! While Klemens was there he also went to visit Heiner, his old neighbour, who is actually building our window-loft-wall for the apartment, it looks beautiful, read all about the wall here.

Then we met on the 27th on Mallorca to celebrate New Years together with the family and the dogs in the sun! Now we are still here for some days until we go back to Berlin and continue 2020 with a lot of new energy!

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So as a conclusion for the year 2019 I have to say I’m very happy! I think it’s been a very exciting year with lots of new things happening in our lives. Last year I had some goals, this is what I wrote:

“For this year Klemens and I didn’t set so many goals actually, the most important is to keep happy, healthy and in love :) We’ve been searching for an apartment during the last months so hopefully that will work out (crossing all fingers and toes), and we are working on expanding our jewellery pieces. We’re very into long-term goals at the moment and focusing on different projects and don’t feel like travelling as much as we did the previous years, except for work or to places we feel a lot of love to.”

I think we managed to achieve the goals pretty well! We finally found the apartment, we didn’t only expand the jewellery, we even started making clothing. We didn’t travel so much this year because we wanted to focus on more long-term projects which we did, and the trips we did were only work or places we really wanted to go to, like Philippines and Formentera, our yearly trip and our favourite summer destination. The only thing I didn’t manage to do of what I wished for last year was to do more workout, haha! I’ll forever stay lazy, but that’s just who I am! Another thing I’m very proud about is our vlogs that we started with in 2019, it’s been a lot of fun making them and a better way to engage with you guys, to keep it more personal than just pretty pictures. See our youtube channel and subscribe if you haven’t yet ;) Thank you :D Little by little!

2019 was all about learning and change, something I really wanted, I was tired of just travelling and taking photos and wanted to dig deeper into the opportunities and expand the Mikuta brand. But as happy and amazing as I make this year sound it hasn’t only been sugar and flowers. It’s also been heavy, I’ve felt a lot of pressure, a lot of stress and low self confidence. I’ve been unsure of the future, been worried about work, it’s scary to be a freelancer when you never know what will happen. There’s always little brain ghosts and I guess everyone has them. At the end of the year before we launched the clothes I was so stressed and felt an incredible pressure and couldn’t sleep or concentrate. It sounds so stupid, but what I want to say is that nothing is perfect, and as happy and perfect things seem to be there’s always hard moments and imperfections. Whenever you feel doubts or worries, you just have to think it’s all in your head and you just have to continue! We just have to relax, learn and continue fighting for what we want :) One of my favourite creations from this year is the F* necklace which has helped me so much. It says Fuck off and is a reminder to not care about what other people think and just go for it! Whenever I struggle with being insecure or scared I always think about my necklace and think “fuck it”, we only live once and other peoples opinions are not going to affect my dreams! The necklace is a little helper and reminder but the power and strength is in you <3

★ So what are my goals for this year? ★

I definitely want to finish Casa cozy! In January and February we are going all in to work on it, we want to finish the kitchen and the bathroom, those are the main things to finish and then we just have to decorate. We will come out with more drops of the Mikuta clothing and jewellery, so we are currently working hard on that, and my goal is to keep up with the plan and make it as good as possible :) We want to do our yearly trip this year as well, somewhere in Asia would be nice, still haven’t decided where. But this year mainly to relax and read, and take photos of course. I really want to post more on the blog, I always say that, but this year I really want to! I want to expand the content on the blog, more daily stuff, more variety and more personal. As for travel I would LOVE to do a road trip on the west coast of the US with Klemens and I want to continue working with my favourite brands this year. I also want to do more workout (like I say every year), but I won’t give up :P I also would love to get a new hobby which has nothing to do with what I do now, maybe pottery! I want to read more books and cook more at home in our new kitchen, maybe post my recipes on the blog! I love to cook! I would also love to do a trip with our friends <3

Let’s see what happens! In general I think 2020 will be a great year! I’m so excited to see what happens!

Happy new year loves! Let’s rock it!

Lots of love xx Mikuta