2018 Year in Review
Happy 2019! I just love the feeling of a New Year, not because it’s anything special, but because it gives me time to reflect and celebrate victories of the year and look forward to the next. One of my very favorite posts from last year was my year-end review of 2017, and at the end of an exhausting 2018, it feels even more imperative to count the good things.
January
- We rang in the New Year at our house with some very close friends and yummy food.
- I kicked off the year with my one little word, Connect, in hopes of prioritizing my connection with God through deeper prayer, connecting with my body, exploring more natural household and beauty products, being more intentional with my online connections, and creating space for vulnerability.
- We celebrated Chloe’s 5th Birthday with a big ole treat. Our girl is spoiled.
- My best friend, Brittany, got engaged and they set a wedding date for September! I literally screamed when the text came through and was thrilled when I realized I would get to see her multiple times in one year.
- We played lots of games with friends: Bananagrams, Jackbox, What Do You Meme?, Utter Nonsense, Code Names and Forbidden Island.
- Book Read: Grit: Passion, Perseverance, and the Science of Success
February
- I took on a daily photo challenge in February and learned a lot more about the DSLR I purchased last year.
- After lots of studying, I PASSED MY REAL ESTATE EXAM. Kevin surprised me with a sign in the yard and yummy dessert.
- I completed Liz Lamoreux’s 21 Day Tell It: Collage ECourse. Highly recommend.
- Helped Taylor paint almost every room in their new house. Truly one of the sweetest memories of our friendship.
- Brittany asked me to be the matron of honor in their wedding.
- Kevin traveled for work for the first time, and Chloe and I held down the fort.
- We got some amazing weather, so we opted for a picnic and the obligatory family feet photo.
- Books Read: Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better and All the Leader You Can Be: The Science of Achieving Extraordinary Executive Presence
March
- Kevin and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary.
- It snowed the most beautiful sloppy snow, and I snapped my favorite photo ever of our home. Check out Chloe watching me through the window.
- We celebrated a HUGE milestone in our debt free journey.
- Mom and I went to a cooking class to learn all about how to use and cook with an Instant Pot. Macaroni and Cheese game changer, my friends.
April
- We celebrated our Two Year Highridge Ranch-iversary, which meant it was time for a little home reno project. April was the start of the research phase.
- We upgraded to iPhones with Portrait mode. Game. Changer.
- Books Read: A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World and 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge and Found Self-Help That Actually Works, Yes Please
May
- I had an entire week of PTO to burn (or lose), so we took a last minute trip to Las Vegas!
- Sarah saw us struggling to take selfies in our new hammock, and offered to take these photos of us. For sure, my favorite photo of us this year.
- We made the last payment on our Honda Civic – a couple years early!
- Books Read: The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Have Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store, Capturing Light: The Heart of Photography, Ruth’s Journey, and The Road Back to You
June
- We traveled with my family to La Jolla, CA for a week and stayed in a stunning house on the coast.
- We started on our bathroom renovation project after having a window installed and a couple months of researching.
- Books Read: Great at Work and The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth
July
- We celebrated fourth of July at Missouri’s state capital with Alex and Tony.
- Kevin’s brother, Dave, moved in with us (and Chloe gained a best friend)!
- Kevin had surgery to remove his gallbladder and we spent time recovering.
- Books Read: The Genius of One, One Thousand Gifts, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
August
- I celebrated my 27th birthday (without a major break down).
- I made a prayer binder to help focus on my prayer life and goal of connecting with God.
- We completed the bathroom renovation and I’m thankful (a million times over) for family that helped us through the project. We could not have done it without them.
- Books Read: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, and Cultivate: A Grace-Filled Guide to Growing an Intentional Life
Photo by Matt Mason Photography in Lake Geneva
September
- Kevin started streaming Overwatch and PUBG on Twitch regularly.
- I celebrated 8 whole years of blogging.
- I flew with Taylor out to Milwaukee for Brittany’s Bachelorette Party. So. Much. Fun.
- We tailgated a whole bunch and hosted the Ernsts for Taylor’s first ever Mizzou game!
- I stood beside Brittany and Evan as they tied the knot in the beautiful town of Lake Geneva. We definitely celebrated the night away.
- Book Read: Girl, Wash Your Face
October
- We celebrated the wedding of our friends, Alexa and Andrew, in St. Louis.
- I finally finished Friends which I started last December, and despite enjoying the show, took a long break from TV.
- We stayed at home for the first Halloween since moving into our house, and we had lots of trick-or-treaters!
- Books Read: The Road Back to You
November
- We experienced an autumn with the most beautiful colors I can remember…
- …and then it snowed for the first time of the season.
- I got acrylic nails for the first time and loved them.
- I started Bible Journaling through Grace and Gratitude (haven’t finished yet, but the beginning was fun.)
- We purchased a new skinny Christmas tree and put it up way too early. No shame.
- I decided on my 2019 word of the year, rest.
December
- I saw the play A Christmas Carol and spent quality time with my parents while Kevin was in Denver.
- Kevin turned 27 (yep, he’s younger than me).
- The press released Kevin’s biggest project to date. So stinkin’ proud of him.
- We spent a difficult Christmas in St. Louis surrounded by family and friends.
- I tried Top Golf for the first time and somehow managed not to come in last.
- We rang in the New Year with friends, cats, and Barred Owl.
Cheers to 2019!
Six Years of One Little Word
For the past six years, I’ve chosen a word to focus on for 365 days. As I think about my word for 2019, I thought it would be fun to reflect on past words and how they have impacted me.
Joy – 2013
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Bible Verse:You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11 (ESV)
Intention: At the time, my intention was to learn to live in the moment and stop wishing away each day in hopes for the weekend or the next thing. I wanted to be thankful for all that I had been given. Psalm 16:11 was my favorite and I wanted to discover how that fit into my daily life.
What I learned: Joy isn’t necessarily the opposite of sadness and definitely doesn’t mean that hard days don’t exist. It is about finding the little things to be thankful for and spending time in God’s presence. I read One Thousand Gifts by Ann VosKamp for the first time and it really played into the gratitude aspect of this word for me.
Rooted – 2014
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Bible Verse: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)
Intention: Kevin helped me choose this word as a reminder that I was right where God wanted me to be. My main intention for 2014 was to choose to be rooted in my decisions and in my God. Following His plans and making the best decisions for my future, so that I can be my best and my happiest. I chose this word because I was going to be making a decision about where I was going to find a job and live following college.
Blog Posts: Rooted (A Couple Years Later)
What I learned: Making the decision to stay in the same city felt like being planted in the same pot with new soil and fresh rain. I realized that we had already built a foundation and friendships, we just needed to change our mindset that this was “home”. Finding and getting involved in a community church as opposed to a church through our college made a big difference in that.
Adventure – 2015
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Bible Verse: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 (NIV)
But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Ruth 1:9 (NIV)
Intention: I chose adventure knowing that Kevin and I were going to be getting married and moving in together. I wanted to focus on trying new things (like cooking, hosting, owning my own business) and being happy with not immediately being good at them.
What I learned: Kevin surprised me with our honeymoon destination and I think that really opened my eyes to the idea of being spontaneous and not needing to be in control of every single thing. In the first year of marriage and living together, you really have a lot to figure out – sometimes being adventurous meant cooking new meals and it also meant having a car breakdown two hours away from home and having to figure out buying one in a pinch without it seeming like we were in a pinch.
Nourish – 2016
Bible Verse: For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 1 Timothy 4:4-6 (NIV)
Intention: I was looking for a more peaceful and relaxing word to encompass a lot of the goals I had in the realm of self-care. I wanted to slow down and make time for myself and the things that God wanted me to make priorities in my life.
Blog Posts: The Year of Nourish | The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up | January Prompts | A Nourishing 2016 (Traveler’s Notebook Flip Thru)
What I learned: By the end of the year, the term self-care felt over used as an excuse not to do hard things, which wasn’t my intention. I am proud of the way that I scheduled (yes, actually scheduled on my calendar) time in for myself and grew as a person during this year.
Thrive – 2017
Bible Verse: They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. Psalm 1:3 (NLT)
Intention: My intention with thrive was to live intentionally and outside of my comfort zone. I kept thinking “thrive, not just survive” and I think that came from the feeling that life was flying by me. For the first time, I felt the settle in of routine without new classes, the excitement of getting engaged and married, new house, new jobs, etc.
Blog Posts: The Year of Thriving | Thriving in the Garden
What I learned: I feel like one of the easiest traps to fall into is the one of discontentment, which is what I was trying to fight. I know that I personally am often looking toward exciting events, weekends, and the next thing without actually living in the moment. I did some learning on how to be content with what I have – capsule wardrobes and minimalism – and I think for me I realized that to some degree, I’ll always be longing for something more because I was made for eternity, and glory with God.
Connect – 2018
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Bible Verse: You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water. Psalm 63:1 (NIV)
Intention: My goal was to prioritize my connection with God and take action to work on relationships in my life, including my relationship with myself and the things I’m putting in/on my body.
Blog Posts: The Year of Connect
What I learned: Connection has felt like a fairly passive word for me, because it came a lot easier than expected. I feel like this year has solidified a lot of friendships I’ve made over the past couple years and was easily transferrable to my job as well, in the way that I invested in co-workers and formed partnerships. As far as connecting with myself, I did a lot of research on the Enneagram (I’m an eight) and that’s been really eye opening to my motivation and certain parts of my personality that felt misunderstood, even by me.
I’m hoping to finish the year strong with connect and really glean every possible thing I can from it at this moment. At the beginning of 2019, I’ll be sharing my new word of the year, which is already all picked out. Any guesses as to what it might be?
The Year of Connect
Happy 2018, Happy Monday, and Happy New Goal Setting Season!
This time of year is so inspiring and a teeny tiny bit overwhelming. I’m always excited for the week after Christmas when I get to celebrate victories of the previous year and uncover new goals for the next. Over the last week, I’ve been mulling over it slowly and praying the Lord’s guidance over the next year of my life. Just like last year, I coupled this reflection and prayer with Lara Casey’s Powersheets and I couldn’t have been more pleased with how things are looking for 2018.
I’m taking action on what matters.
I evaluated my life in terms of a couple different categories – Health/Wellness, Personal Growth, Spirituality, Self-care, Romance/Significant Other, Friends/Family, Finances and Career – rating them on a satisfaction scale from 1-10. It can be difficult when using this strategy because a lot of the areas over lap, but doing this exercise helped me to narrow down places of strength and places of weakness. Of these sections, I choose the three with the lowest scores to focus on next year. As I was reflecting on the numbers, I made a huge discovery: my goals last year resulted in those areas being the highest rated! I felt so validated about making progress even though my efforts and the outcomes weren’t perfect.
On the other hand, last year I struggled with in my goal setting last year is that I added a lot of “fluff” to my monthly, weekly, and daily goals – things like reading a certain number of books, completing Project Life, or taking a photo every single day. These things are all valuable, but setting specific numbers and timeframes for things like these won’t have a positive impact on my life right now even though I like doing them! I found that by adding these things and being able to check them off, I was less likely to spend time focusing on things that were more challenging or new to my routine.
As the goals began to unfold, I considered how these goals would impact me and the people around me and what measures I would use to determine if the goals had been met or not. This really helps me when it comes to motivation.
As I considered these categories and wrapped up my journey with the word thrive, I considered a myriad of new words to choose from. For the longest time, I thought it was going to be whole or brave, but I think those are going to end up being companion words to the one I eventually settled on – connect.
Connect | verb
to bring together, associate or relate
to form a relationships or feel an affinity
synonyms: unite, attach, join, secure, combine
So here we are, my goals for 2018:
- This year I’m prioritizing my connection with God. I want to do a deep study in prayer and intercession as well as read the Bible in a year.
- This year I’m connecting with my body by focusing on the foods I eat and investing in time moving. I also want to explore more natural household and beauty products.
- This year I’m connecting more intentionally online, in friendships and in my marriage. I want to be silly and spontaneous and flexible to trying new things
- This year I want to do a better job of connecting with myself. I want to consider my need for simplifying and perfection. I want to create space for vulnerability and being open. I want to explore new ways of saving money and reducing the temptation of the shopping high.
For each of these goals, I’ve created smaller action items that I’m going to be working on throughout the year in hopes of overcoming burnout and the typical slow down that I start feeling halfway through the year.
I don’t plan on participating in the official One Little Word project like I have in the past, but I am going to keep a journal and follow some of the prompts Ali Edwards has provided through the class in the past. I know that showing up to my word is really going to be the pinnacle on whether or not connect makes a difference in my life.
As a first practice, made this vision board for my planner so that each day I can remind myself what I want to come out of this year and why. There are feelings of cozy, pups, simplicity and body love – all good things for 2018!
Are you choosing a word or making goals this year?
Thrive | September Goals
September is here and it’s bringing all of my favorite things – football games, nicer weather, and all of the pumpkin flavored things. For the first time this year, August actually felt the length it was meant to be. We had a lot going on including multiple weekends out of town, so it will be nice to stick around town this month. Mizzou’s plays three weekends in a row at home during September, so we are looking forward to all of the excitement that brings. Kevin has been to every home game but one in the past seven years and I’ve been to almost as many, if that gives you any idea of how seriously we take our Tigers.
August was full of being absolutely spoiled my my family and friends. I’m coming at you from a new computer and have some fancy headphones to match, thanks to my thoughtful hubby. Speaking of, we went on our first photoshoot together, which was a total blast. I’m looking forward to a lot more dates like this in the future and I’ll definitely get around to sharing some more photos soon.
On the Blog In August:
- August Goals
- Currently – Things I’m currently snacking on, anticipating, borrowing, admiring, and purchasing.
- Coffee Date
- Little Letters
- Documenting My Story with Project Life
- The Garden + My Journal – One of my favorite posts ever about our community garden
- 73 Questions at 26 – Lots of fun questions I used to keep the temperature of my likes and dislikes at 26.
- Quarterly Book Report
August Goals Recap:
Monthly
Celebrate turning 26– Turning 26 was so much easier for me than turning 25 was. I was spoiled rotten and celebrated myself by making my annual birthday cheesecake.Schedule a hair cut with a new stylist– This was a fiasco and I ended up getting my haircut by the same stylist I’ve been going to for the past two years. It turned out just fine, but maybe I’ll get to try someone new in the future.Read Artist’s Way and complete challenges– Done and still keeping up with morning pages on a regular basis. I’m glad to be putting some of these practices into my life.- Send two cards using the INK app – Dang, I really wish I would have done this. I’m adding it again for September.
Daily
8 Hours of sleep each night– Since I was being intentional this month, I did a LOT better on this than I normally do.Low FODMAP foods– I mentioned last month that my doctor suggested the low FOD MAP diet for me. I did a lot better eating this way but I’m trying to do even better in September.Journal– Straight up knocked it out of the park.Workouts– I’m proud of what I did but am looking to ramp that up with more walks and outdoor runs in September.Oils– Done and done!
September Goals
Monthly
- Celebrate 8 (!!!) years with Kevin
- Take photos at my family’s annual golf tournament
- Get my passport – I’ve been meaning to update this since we got married, but haven’t gotten around to it. This needs to happen this month.
- Schedule another photo shoot with Kevin
- Send some thank you and encouragement cards – Hand written cards are my favorites but like I mentioned above, I didn’t quite get to the INK ones from last month so I want to incorporate a couple of those as well.
Daily
- Move my body + Quiet Time + Essential Oils
The Garden + My Journal
In all of the posts that I’ve shared about our house, I have never shared the best part: we live next to our best friends. In all honesty, it’s just as epic as it sounds and I’m dreading the day that we don’t live 15 steps from front door to front door.
Earlier this year when we were talking about all things outdoor landscaping and gardening, their empty raised beds came up. I jokingly mentioned using them if they weren’t, and next thing I knew, we were huddled over their kitchen table with a ruler and a plan.
We went to a garden store within a couple days and got lots of veggies and flowers – tomatoes, bell peppers, jalapeños, zucchini, basil, mint, and lots of marigolds. We did a lot of research on companion plants ahead of time and we read that Marigolds are really helpful to have around vegetables to prevent bugs and other pests.
We got lucky that the beds were already filled with some pretty amazing soil and each spent time tilling one of the beds. We didn’t get to plant right away because we had a torrential down-pouring for a week straight. All of the plants we purchased, aside from the zucchini and half the marigolds, were “starters” or baby plants, so we keep those under an awning to prevent them from getting washed away in the rain. In the meantime, I did a little black-hole style pinterest browsing about garden journals and of course had to make one of my own.
When it was finally time to plant, we quickly learned that we either 1) needed more marigolds or 2) needed to invest some time in shooing the animals away. Within the first week or so, we lost a couple tomato plants and felt very weary about the zucchini seeds, which landed us back at the store. We decided then to expand our garden to another area of their backyard and even plant some trees, with the help of services from the Georgia Tree Company homepage online. This allowed us some extra room, which was a good call in retrospect.
I’ve only ever grown vegetables in pots, and even then, they didn’t ever turn out very good. During my last attempt, the landlord at my old duplex sprayed something inside of the pots around the plants. I wasn’t sure what it was and when I asked, he had already thrown the the packaging away, so I was afraid to eat or offer the veggies to anyone. During that summer, the plants never got very tall or wide and stopped producing veggies early in the season.
Because of that failed attempt, I think I was even more excited when we started to see new growth and flowers, because I knew vegetables would eventually follow. From the beginning, we agreed that I was going to water on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and then she was going to check on them and water as needed on the other days.
Probably my favorite part of the whole experience was when she was telling her sister how much joy she was finding in garden, only to learn that she loved playing in the garden when she was a little girl. I don’t remember gardening growing up, but I’m the same way, I can’t deny how much I love being out there (as long as I have bug spray on) so much that even pulling weeds doesn’t phase me. I’d much prefer that to getting ready for work every other morning.
I’ve shared by heart on producing fruit here once before, but I couldn’t help but include something similar in my journal. The whole process from tiny little seeds to food that I get to use to nourish my body is such a good reminder of our growth as Christians and the importance of being pruned and watered regularly to continue to bear fruit. 
It’s been about four months since we started our garden and yesterday was our biggest harvest yet. Based on the number of green tomatoes and almost ripe peppers, I have a feeling it won’t be our biggest by the time the season is over. I can already tell that growing veggies is something I really want to continue to do. There is so much to learn and perfect that I don’t think this will stop being challenging and exciting. I got to have a lot of fun conversations with co-workers (some who convinced us to try pollinating our zucchinis by hand) and giving veggies away just tends to make people happy.
I’m off to start planning next years garden – what are your favorite things to grow?
About
Hi, I'm Jacqueline - believer, learner, and all around hobby enthusiast. I'm married to my highschool sweetheart, Kevin, and we live in the midwest with our sweet pup.
On this blog I share all kinds of things about my life - from my faith journey to the garden in my neighbors backyard. I've been blogging for almost eight years and use this space as a way to document my daily life.
Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the internet.