2018: the year of everything

“And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been.” ~Rilke

Twenty eighteen will be known as the year of everything because, well, just about every big life event happened. The pinnacle, of course, is that I married my best friend in June. But, there was also a promotion and a challenging new role to accompany, the purchasing of a new home and moving from my residence of nearly six years, becoming landlords and much more.

I began the year with simplicity as my intention and, despite all of the madness of the year, I’m pretty darn proud of myself for keeping this intention at the forefront with progress made in many areas of my life as it relates to simplicity, I still have a ways to go — and probably even took a few steps back here and there — but the fact that I was able to move forward at all among the year of everything is enough for me.

For as rewarding as the past year was, it also contributed its fair share of challenges — primarily in my career. I took a (big) risk this year and things have been pretty tough since. My boss leaving a few months ago and resulting changes added more challenges and, unfortunately, work is not really a place I enjoy right now. My goal for 2019 is to change that — I’m just not sure what form that change will take.

Through it all though, I am grateful I have this blog and writing as an outlet. Thank you for reading and your continued support and engagement. It makes my day when someone mentions they tried a recipe I posted, read a book mentioned, or took a step to live a more sustainable lifestyle because of something I wrote about. I hope 2018 treated you well and you’re excited for what 2019 will bring. I know I am.

adventures + celebrations: married my best friends among my favorite humans; California x2; camping x3; celebrated hubby’s birthday in FoCo; Trombone Shorty x2; baptism; graduation; non-bachelorette weekend in the mountains; five work trips to Phoenix; Lorde; RJD2; one-year with my loves; Missio; Rockies season tickets; Custer State Park; mountain weekend away with hubs + pup; many times hosting family + friends in Denver; Canadian honeymoon; Niagara Falls State Park; hubby’s promotion; Clozee + Beats Antique; Samuel P Taylor State Park; TV on the Radio; Nine Inch Nails; Rembrandt exhibit; Rocky Mountain National Park; Big Wonderful beer + bluegrass; welcomed friends + family to our new home; SoDak x2; Elf the Musical; Dallas (work); beer festivus; Hawaiian Christmas; first holidays as married couple; Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park; Rockies beer festival; Sand Dunes National Park; DCPA subscription;

living in the arena: began 40 by 40 challenge; promotion + challenging new role; walk among the trees (still shaking from it); brewed beer; ServiceNow/HR panel; two Day in the Life all-day presentations/demos; kicked off huge work project + learned new platform; became landlords; A Simple Year course; successfully changed my last name (no easy feat); fell in love with cooking + addition of regular recipe blog posts;

lifestyle: successful no-sugar challenge; huge strides in living a more sustainable + zero-waste lifestyle; successful no-buy November challenge; Children’s Hospital radio-a-thon; limited coffee consumption to one cup/day; continued book club; led Schwab Volunteer Week project; cut + donated hair; farmers’ market Sundays; became EV owners; volunteer with Replace Denver BSL; stomach flu + other illnesses; grew friendships + let others go

milestones: two years of Denver Creates; two years as a Schwabbie; purchased new home + moved to new neighborhood; celebrated five years at Yates St.; 38th birthday; hubby’s 37th birthday; Ellie’s 6th birthday; six years of book club; 11 years as a Denverite

best-laid plans: Simple Joy Project; Foodimentary; zerowasteish.com; Malcom Gladwell writing course; Year of Tranquility (technically finished, but wasn’t very engaged); Margaret Atwood Creative Writing course

numbers that shaped the year: 

• 1,288: blog visitors (spanning 32 countries)
• 343: Denver Creates members
• 60: blog posts written
• 32: books read
• 11: sessions of Denver Creates hosted
• 10: Rockies games attended
• 6: state + national parks visited
• 4: high teas
• 3: camping trips
• 2: Haddenhams in our household (technically three w/E)
• 1: U.S. state remaining to visit to hit all 50

A look back at past years’ reflections:

• and then there were three: 2017 in review
• 2016 gratitude
• reflections on 2015
• 2014: A look back
• reflections on 2013
• 2012: A look back
• 11 reasons 2011 was amazing
• A year in review (2010)
• a human being, not a human doing (2009)