Happy New Year! I hope your 2022 has started at the pace you prefer (or maybe didn’t know you needed?). I spent a majority of my first weekend of the year in loungewear with my tripod, laptop, and caffeine, planning and reflecting and planning again.
It's hard to believe that 2022 marks the 10th anniversary of Caramelized.
Let’s rewind to 2012 just for a moment, shall we? It’s true; Caramelized was born through a PR writing class assignment. We were instructed to develop a series of four blog posts on any topic in the world through a private link, which was submitted to our professor for a grade. I was living in Austin at the time, where the food scene constantly fueled my creativity and social calendar. I had naturally been photographing every bite on my first iPhone and using Instagram to add a fun filter (remember when?). A food-related series felt right. And once I put pen to paper, I couldn’t stop.
I truly don’t even recall how my professor scored the beginnings of that blog, splashed with a light blue chevron background and curly-font logo—reminiscent of my then dark brown curls—with measuring spoons hanging off the “c.”
I do, however, recall the conversation with my friend and fellow PR major Hannah, who suggested I take the link public and keep going. The unexpected Twitter notification that Caramelized was named a “Top 10 Food Blog” by the Austin Chronicle two years later. The move just months later back to Memphis, where blogging independent of an organization was essentially a foreign concept. The picnic photo shoot I meticulously styled that turned out to be the picture-perfect scene for Alex to propose. The Caramelized Supper Club subscription boxes. The virtual Caramelized Supper Club during the first month of the COVID pandemic. The early, early mornings and blog-filled weekends. The countless recipes, grocery trips, dinner parties, relationships, and now reels that collectively comprise a third of my lifetime—the entirety of my twenties.
And here we are.
And here you are.
Thank you.
Thank you for being here and embracing the evolution of this brand and space that is, in every sense, the same mission today as ten years ago. Let’s make each day sweeter and our everyday experiences more elevated—not unattainable but, rather, more intentional.
Here’s to ten years and a beautiful 2022 ahead. xo, Cara