However, since today is New Year’s Eve, I thought it might be fun to take a look over the past year back before diving head first into a brand-new one tomorrow. The last couple of weeks Cam and I have spent a lot of time reflecting on how much has happened over the past twelve months and it’s just crazy. It’s weird because while I feel like the year went by both really fast and yet slow at the same time. On one hand it seems like we were just home in Michigan celebrating NYE 2010, yet it also feels like it’s been a very full year. So before we say good-bye to 2011 tonight, let’s walk down memory lane, shall we?
January started out the year in Greenville, South Carolina with a freak snow storm and a visit from my family.
We also officially adopted boxer/lab mix puppy Lola, and she’s brought so much joy to our lives! (I saw officially adopted because we originally started out just fostering Lola for a few weeks last December when I was volunteering at the Greenville Humane Society. She was the runt of the litter and very underweight so the plan was for us to foster her for a few weeks, and then return her before Christmas. We fell in love with her right away and decided we wanted to keep her, but we had already made plans to go out of town for the holidays. Luckily, the Humane Society was kind enough to find a sweet family to watch her while we went out of town and then we picked her up when we got back in January!)
April included a visit from friends from Charleston and Michigan, and a trip to Michigan to watch my sister graduate from college for me, and a business trip to the Netherlands for my husband.
May meant another visit to South Carolina from my family along with a trip to Charleston, a visit from Cam’s family along with a trip to Savannah, and a visit to Greenville from some of our good friend from Tennessee.
June was a busy month filled with saying good-bye to the wonderful friends we’d made in Greenville, and moving out of our apartment after a year of living in South Carolina. We also took a trip to see Cam’s family in Oregon (with a side trip to Seattle), along with driving from South Carolina to Michigan to visit with my family for a few days before driving from Michigan out to Colorado.
We celebrated our second wedding anniversary
Baby Lola Beans had her first birthday
Some of my favorite recipes include from the past year include these brownies, this cake, this bread, and all these cookies!
We hosted two holidays–Easter in South Carolina and Thanksgiving in Colorado
Between all of our travels and moves, we visited a whopping 19 states and drove our Jeep to both coasts!
We found out twice that we’d be moving slash I had two posts with the same title
(here and here)
And last but certainly not least…
This year, I fell in love with blogging.
Even though I technically started my blog back in 2010, this was the year that I really started to get a lot more into it and it’s become a much more significant and rewarding part of my life then I ever anticipated. (I’ve made almost 200 posts this year in comparison to last year’s 71!) I so enjoy having a creative outlet that allows me to chronicle this time in my life, and this I’ve discovered so many amazing blogs over the past twelve months, and I even had the opportunity to meet up with one of those bloggers (Ashley!) while living in Colorado. I’ll admit, as much as I’m enjoying these opportunities Cameron and I have been given to move to some amazing places, there are days when it’s difficult. Being away from family and friends in a new city can be very lonely sometimes, and I feel like blogging has given me this wonderful, welcoming community of people to connect with. Even though I’ve never met many of you, I frequently read your blogs and feel like I know you (and I mean that in the least creeptastic way possible). I’ve been continually inspired by your creativity; in your kitchens, in the way you decorate your homes, and in the outfits you put together. I’m constantly encouraged by your stories, your honesty, and the openess with which you share your lives. I’ve so appreciated the time you’ve taken to visit my blog throughout the past year, and your kind comments and emails have meant so much to me. This has been an incredible year, and I’m so glad to have you all along for the ride!
2012 you have some big shoes to fill.
I hope that you all have a festive, fun, and safe New Year’s Eve, and I’ll see you next year!
Xoxo