*yawn and STRETCHHHH* So yeah it's now February and although in some ways it feels like we've been SUPER busy it also feels like we've been in hibernation and our brains are only just beginning to grind back in to the right gear. Nature is supposed to rest in January, right?? Anyhoo, we used to way-back-when on our old blog do year round ups - mostly for ourselves to be honest - and they used to take me FOREVER. Mainly because Blogger was an arse. So this time we've picked Ten Things That We Did in 2019...let's go!

 1. HOUSE RENOVATION

It's still a bit of a dream that we did this - although the reality of living in a house with no kitchen OR bathroom and Polish men everywhere was a bit of a nightmare - it was SO worth it. Even though I'm still finding brick dust a year later (gross I know). We won't go in to too much detail as this is multiple blogposts all in itself that I've been promising for ages. SOON.

2. AUSTRALIA

What do you do after crazy expensive house renovations?! Go to Australia for two weeks of course!! And that's literally what we did and we have ZERO regrets. We visited my bestie and hung out in Melbourne and Tasmania eating all the food (hello vegan poached eggs!) and ticking off as many native animals as possible.

 
3. SEVEN DAYS IN THE HOOD

We launched hoodies! Something we've wanted to do for ages and we got a tad carried away with 7 designs and 7 colours. Hardly surprising lavender was the firm favourite! We're planning some more soon so watch this space...

4. ARTIST'S OPEN HOUSES

May is always a super busy time with Brighton AOH - this time we were lucky enough to be in two houses at opposite ends of town - AT Open House in Kemp Town and 21a Brunswick Square in Hove - and we'll be returning to both this May too YES!! And then June brings along Worthing Artist's Open Houses which means Ashdown Road time!

5. NEW DESIGNS

As with every year, 2019 meant lots of new designs for hello DODO but the standout ones for us were Human Kind - a design that came out of all the political unrest and stresses going on and was our little way of saying that we're all the same and we all need to be more kind to each other. We also brought out In Dog We Trust (it was my idea to put a Labrador on this one but Jam only has eyes for Hero!) and one of my personal faves that we've ever done Read 'Em and Weep.

6. MOLLIE MAKES AWARDS

In July we had a fun little jaunt to Bristol for the Mollie Makes Awards because we were finalists in their Established Business category!!! Doing our best to brush any traces of imposter syndrome aside, we actually enjoyed our presentation to the panel of incredible (terrifying) judges and had a wonderful day of talks and a colour walk with Toni and Zabby from In Colourful Company. We didn't win but it honestly didn't matter as we'd had such a wonderful time aaaaand we got to not only visit long time crafty buddies I Am Acrylic's shop on the Christmas Steps but also their incredible house! Thanks again for the consolation rosette guys!!

7. PHOTO SHOOT WITH KAYTI PESCHKE

There's a funny story about our shoot with the wonderful Kayti (photographer extraordinaire, creator of Caboodle Magazine and wonder potter at Here Be Monsteras). SO I sent Kayti a message asking her if she'd be up for photographing a shoot with us AT THE EXACT SAME TIME that she sent me a message about wanting to do a shoot with us. Completely out of the blue! I love it when the Universe speaks to you like that. We found lovely models April, Tasha and Lu and we all met at Kayti's amazing studio near York on a gorgeous sunny day. We had gorgeous bags from Pup Tart to play with too! This was our first proper professional shoot with models and we were VERY nervous but luckily we were working with THE most wonderful, stylish and inspiring group of women - we still pinch ourselves that it actually happened and we can’t wait to do more!

8. WEBSITE LAUNCH

WOOHOO! We finally launched our very own website (you're on it right now, hi!) and although it seems slightly ridiculous how long it took us to do it we couldn't be more happy with our fun little corner of the interweb. We had quite a crazy launch as well with party games happening all over social media - with Twitter ‘Pass the Parcel’ as possibly my favourite as it was just utterly ridiculous and I have so much love for all the people who got involved in our crazy ideas.

9. PEPPER PUG

A huge thing for us in 2019 - after MUCH deliberation (and persuading from me) we adopted Pepper (then called Penny) from a charity called Muffin Pug Rescue. We don't know a huge amount about her history other than she was handed over to the charity from a home up North and she'd probably been house bound, possibly had puppies and had a large hernia when she went in to rescue. When people meet her she's quiet in comparison to Hero who demands your attention!! BUT we know from living with her that she's got a HUGE personality, is fearless and wreckless when it comes to throwing herself off furniture and turns in to a hilarious DEMON at food times. She also loves to run! And sit on your lap before you've actually even sat down. Hero has coped well with having a little sister and although he does get jealous and she steals his toys, he also loves snuggling up with her which totally explodes our hearts.
 

10. BIG LAUNCHES

We had a LOT of fun with seasonal launches in 2019, specifically our limited edition Halloween range and we also went slightly mad with new Christmas sweatshirt designs which we did for kids and adults this year. We had these photographed by the wonderful Hannah at In The Den Photography who we can't wait to work with again!

So, in a nutshell (or ten nutshells...) that was our 2019! And 2020 although a slow-ish start is proving to already be filled with exciting plans and new directions for DODO - thank you for coming along on the ride with us and leave a comment if you'd like to know any more about any of the above!