A Year in Review - 2024

My Year in Review is truly my favorite post to write and usually one I have fired up on KW by New Years Eve.  You can read the last ten years here:
(2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014)

It's January 3rd and I'm just starting to write this post which paints the picture of how insane the year has been. Raising two toddlers (now almost 2 and almost 4) is not for the faint of heart. Throw in running my own company, and all the day to day basics of family life and trying to meet my personal needs and and I feel unhinged. Chaos aside, I hope I never let life get too busy to keep up with this blog. I hope to always have this creative outlet and diary of sorts to share with my kids one day. So let's get started wrapping up 2024. 

2024 was beautiful and hard. We had some amazing weekends away, an international trip to Italy, a successful year with my company, and a new dog we welcomed to the family. We watched our kids grow a year older, watching their bond build as they turn 2 and 4 in just a few weeks. We started to slowly find a groove in parenting young kids, even if it often felt like two steps forward one step back. It was the first year both kids were in daycare (Piper starting for the first time in August) and running my business became just a tiny bit easier. For all the beauty and growth 2024 had to offer, it also came with crushing losses and heartache as we said goodbye to both of our dogs within 1 month of each other. We did our best to navigate our overwhelming grief alongside our three year old who had to learn the tough lesson of death and loss. 

We've found a way forward through our sadness, eased by our new rescue dog Otto who distracts us and loves our kids endlessly. It was a year of highs and lows, highlighted month by month below. 

A Year in Review 2023

T e n 

This is my tenth year reflecting back on the last 365 days with my "Year in Review" post. It feels special, a decade of memories condensed to ten posts on my little corner of the internet.

It's my favorite post to write every year and you can read my recaps for the last nine years (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014). I went back through my last decade, reviewed month by month and adventure by adventure. In those ten years fell in love, I ran two marathons, moved west to Utah, finished graduate school, moved back east, started over, traveled to amazing places all over the world (Madeira, Iceland, Paris, Copenhagen), skied the west, road tripped across the country, camped in the dessert, hiked New England's highest peaks, went on scuba diving trips and my first overnight backpacking trips, bought my first house alone, met my now husband, got engaged and married, bought our first home together which we completely renovated, had two kids, and started my own business. It's truly been a decade of so many milestones and the rest is history or so they say. It is truly wild to look back at the big and little moments of the last ten years and I can say with certainty life is wildly beautiful, kind of crazy and can be savagely hard. I'm insanely nostalgic for all of these memories and can't help but wonder all the different directions my life could have taken over this transformative decade of my mid 20s and to my mid 30s. I do know for certain that I'm glad it all brought me here.

Year in Review: 2022

There's that popular parenting quote "the days are long but the years are short". It feels so true as I look back on the crazy and fun year we had as a family. I'm freaking exhausted and parts of the year were really hard but when I look back 2022 was such a great year for me, professionally, personally, and with my family.  It looked a little different than other years as we navigated life with a busy toddler and towards the second half of the year, a pregnancy. My business grew and it was the first year I saw a really positive growth and income as I built up my client base. Adam had a busy year at work as well but per usual, we made time for some fun. We managed to squeeze in an international trip, a ski trip to Colorado, and New England getaways and adventures. 

It's my favorite post to write every year and you can read my recaps for the last eight years (2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014). Let's take a look at 2022, month by month and adventure by adventure. 

Year In Review 2021

2021.... What a year it's been. I can say for certain that 2021 will be a year I never forget. It was filled with some of the most rewarding moments of my life yet, but also some of the hardest. It was another year of the pandemic and navigating this new way of life. We also had our son early in the year and shifted a bit into a different lifestyle - one where keeping him healthy and safe was our number one priority.

Despite the challenges the pandemic brought, we had an amazing year. We made so many memories together, finished some projects on the house, and watched Whitney steal everyone's hearts. This is my 8th year writing this review (you can see 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014) and it's still my favorite post I write all year.

A Year in Review - 2018

I don't believe in resolutions, in setting unrealistic goals for a new year, a "new you".   What I do believe in is reflection, in taking a minute to look back before you look ahead.  There is something magical about really sitting down to reflect on the year you've had.   This post, that goes live at the end of every December is my chance to look at all the beautiful places I've been, reflect on all the awesome people I've met, celebrate the things I accomplished and take some time to acknowledge the things I have to work on.   Year in review 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014.

My tribe at the summit of Mount Hunger

If I had to pick one word to describe this year, it's "challenge".  This year challenged me in ways I would have never imagined.  It challenged me to grow, to move, to get out of my comfort zones, to make big decisions, to challenge the way I thought and the way I acted.  Plain and simple, this year was a challenge.  Some challenges I embraced head-on, with courage and stamina.  And other challenges were spent crying into my whiskey on my couch.  I was challenged emotionally with relationships, financially with buying this house and taking over all my horses bills, and physically with diet and exercise (and a little too much beer). 

Olive and I at Mt. Moriah in the Whites on our first backpacking trip

I learned to embrace some loneliness and waking up on the holidays alone.   I learned to budget as financial burdens increased.  I learned to take my health even more seriously, and held myself accountable for my actions.  This probably isn't the happy uplifting way to start my review you were imagining but man, transparency is my new love language.  I know right now I am in the middle of it (well, end of the year) and that I am going to look back in ten years and laugh.  Laugh at how life has changed and how many new challenges I have had to overcome, maybe even challenges that will make this year look like a cake walk.  

A Year in Review: 2017

Per usual, this ends up being one of the best posts I write all year.  I have been writing these "year in review posts for a few years 2016, 2015, 2014 and it is always fun to see how life has changed.  When I sit down to write this at the end of December,  I get to sit back and pour a coffee (or glass of wine, depending on the time of day of course) and reflect on the year I have had.  All the trips, long weekends away, weekdays spent with friends, weekends spent lounging around this little town, and time with my four-legged clan.  I can't say 2017 was bad, or absolutely amazing, but I will say it was a good year.  I went to some amazing and unique places (Iceland and Mt. Katahdin to name a few).  

But 2017 you were good, and I was so grateful for time spent with family and friends doing so many of the things I love.  Hiking, riding, diving and relaxing, it was a year of everything.  Happiness and Health- how lucky am I?  With that being said, 2018 has a LOT of great adventures already planned.  In a few weeks, I will be soaking up the sunshine of Florida and a few weeks after that, dogsledding through Banff National Park in Canada.  But before we get carried away with the New Year, let's look back on 2017.  A hike in each New England State, a trip to the west coast, and a journey to the world's most Nothern Capital.  Here we go!