Last sunset of 2017, and it is almost time to welcome in 2018. And not to wish away the year too eagerly, because there was definitely a lot worth celebrating, but I am ready for the mindset of what opportunities a new chapter will bring. Before I get too far ahead of myself, I do want to share some of the big moments and memories of 2017. I know I’ll enjoy looking back at these and be able to see how far we’ve come when we look back at all the things.
Accomplishments
Debt free (jan) & New Job (may) & Promotion (aug)
• In January we rung in the New Year as being debt free and it felt so good. It was all my debt from prior years—thank the Lord for a husband with financial skills and discernment! Also, we now own both cars, which was also a major financial relief.
• T went for and got a new position. He is much, much happier now. As for me, I also was promoted this year, which was special for so many reasons.
House
New stove (feb) & Magnolia bench pew (jun) & settee
• For decor, we added two new big pieces—a bench I saw at TJ Maxx and immediately fell in love with. My parents bought it for me as a very generous birthday gift. For our living room, I had begun wanting additional seating and one day we walked into Dirt Cheap and found really nice love seats for $100. Sold. We managed to fit it just barely into T's CRV and headed home with a love seat I've loved (and the dogs, too—it's their new spot) ever since.
Health
Minimalizing & Whole30 & winning a Fitbit (oct)
• I can't remember what year we are on with minimizing our life, but this year we continued to remove more items from our home. I feel like we finally reached the point where we could enjoy our hard work, because the house suddenly seemed so spacious. This was due in part to deceasing what we have and being selective with what we bring in. We’re definitely more thoughtful, thinking more long term now than ever before. T has always been really good at this anyway, so it's been more of a change in a state of mind for me.
• In February, we started and finished Whole30 for the first time. It was an amazing experience, because we felt so much better and healthier then. We both lost significant amounts of weight, slept better, could think better, and just overall it put us in a better state of being.
• I won a very cool thing that I was excited about winning—the Fitbit HR! It was my first time to win something that I wanted and something that I would actually use. I’m looking forward to bringing it with me to Italy.
Recreation
New Orleans (may) & Wilco (sep) & Minneapolis (oct)
• For our kind-of anniversary, we went to New Orleans for a quick getaway.
• T loves Wilco and we had the opportunity to see them in September. I wasn’t as taken with them, but I am so glad we were able to experience it together..
• I finally visited my best friend in Minneapolis.
Community
GM’s Wedding & SW’s Baby & T and N & & church
• S had her baby—a miracle and answer to prayer! I am so thankful for this friendship and that God blessed our friends with a beautiful baby girl.
• T and I were blessed with a new friendship—T & N. They have been such a blessing to our lives and I hope we are friends for the long haul.
• Little frustrating, but when it comes to church, we still haven't found a church home. It's really hard to be disconnected once you become used to having that second family in your life. I'm praying that we'll find where God wants us to be and be able to connect asap.
Family & Marriage
Dogs turned 10 & 3rd year of marriage & dad car accident & Baby H
• Celebrated 3 whole years of marriage and we haven’t killed each other yet! Success! It’s close some days. I think blessedly T and I are very laidback people, we have fun together, ultimately we’re there for each other, and yet it’s still an adjustment to have someone in your space all the time. Overall, I think we’re doing really well and we love each other and choose to love each other every day.
• My family moved here in Sep 2016, so they just saw their first whole year in Memphis fly by. Two big things happened: Dad got into his first car accident while it was raining and then on Memorial Day we experienced the worst power outage since I moved here in 2006. It was rough, but not as bad as it could have been. My brother is adjusting, and it’s been nice to spend quality time with him. We were able to take him to the Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie, which I loved being able to do with him. The family also experienced their first snow early on when they moved here.
• At Christmas, T and I revealed that we are thinking about trying to have a baby after Italy. This has been fun for both sets of parents to day dream and think about cuddling a grand baby in the future.
Me
Hand lettering & blogging & actively working on myself & eyebrows
• Blogging — I vowed to start writing again. I knew it would help as an outlet since everything with K happened and that mentally I really needed a place to share my life. It has been on and off this year, but it’s been a lot more than years previous and I’m grateful that somehow I am making time and using my energy to begin to write again.
• Actively working on healing and loving myself — With everything that happened between 2014-2015, I was really depressed. I only started to come out of it, early this year. I got to the point where I wanted to and thought I finally had enough energy back that I felt like I could make a change. And here I am, reading all the blogs, listening to the wisdom of friends and family, reading Brené Brown, and crying and laughing along the way. Something else that has been difficult for me is my physical appearance. I’ve always felt ugly, but this year I decided to grow my eyebrows out and surprisingly, it. Is. A. Long. Process. You think it would be quick, but it’s like when you decide you want your brows to grow out, that’s when they decide to slow down.
Best Purchases
Rothy's & Longchamp (mar) & iPad mini & Airpods & Moviepass & Byta & Baggu
• We were blessed to be able to afford some extra items this year. Looking for comfortable flats? Rothy’s. Need a roomy bag that can travel with you anywhere and isn’t cumbersome to do so? Longchamp. Need a lightweight cup to carry with you in an effort to be green and reduce waste? Byta. Tired of plastic bags that crud up the environment? Baggu. I absolutely love my iPad mini and use it daily. I wanted it because I wanted something small enough to bring to Europe with us. AirPods was another item on my wishlist—easy. Items on my wishlist are usually things that I perceive will make my life easier. At work, I keep my headphones on to help me work, but my phone would fall on the ground when I would roll my chair back or swivel—it was irritating! Plus I love the shape of Apple’s earbuds. The last thing I’ll mention is Moviepass. This has been a fun subscriptions and we’ve seen more movies in the last month than we have all year, because we don’t have to worry about wasting money on potentially horrible movies.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget all the blessings in a year and just move on. Looking back at this brings me some joy because we actually ended up doing, seeing, and receiving a lot. Just thanking Jesus for all His many blessings and I can’t wait to see what’s to come in the following year. Happy New Year, y’all!
