Yeee! What a wonderful year it was. This yearly recap is always so fun to create - I love looking back and feeling so much gratitude for the year behind me. It's funny how my greed for travel and adventure sometimes has me believing that I don't go to enough places, or that I'm in some sort of rut (this happens a lot!). But all I have to do is take a peek back in time to see how golden life truly is.

This year Jimmy and I both turned 30, an age I'm loving and embracing in every way. I made some big strides at work and have met my goals of growing in my professional confidence and authentic leadership. We bought our first HOUSE! Tiny, yes, but a home just the same. With that change, we moved to a gorgeous new location, with a community that supports us in every way. It was our third full year in California, and we sunk into it in a whole new way this year,

It was hard to narrow our experiences down into groups of five but I gave it a go; here are my "top five" pics from 2015.

2015's Top Five:

Eats:
Oscars Mexican Seafood, San Diego
Cheeky's, Palm Springs
Hanazen, Orinda
Plow, San Francisco
Pelikan, Stockholm

Getaways:
Sweden (Part I and Part II)
Palm Springs
San Diego
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
Yosemite National Park

Songs:
Gold by Kiiara
Yours to Bear by HoneyHoney
Hummed Low by Odessa
Cloudline by Joseph
Demon by Shamir

Movies/Shows:
The Revenant
Jane the Virgin
Black Mirror
Chef's Table
Narcos

Buys:
Tiny House
Blue Apron
Pons shoes
Madewell jeans
Manpans

Reads:
The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Maine
Still Alice
Station Eleven
Super Sad True Love Story


I'm feeling so much gratitude, and so much excitement for 2016. Let's do it!

(p.s. Here are my "best of" posts for 2013 and 2014)

Best of 2014

Wow, doesn't it already seem so passé to see "2014" in a blog title? I think I've been mentally preparing for 2015 for awhile now. It seems like it's going to be a good one, and it already feels so natural to me (to say, to write). Plus, the first week has been great, so that's a good sign. Bring it on!

I allowed myself a complete and utter PAUSE over the holidays. It felt really good. I literally forgot about work and responsibilities, and even about blogging. I'll post about some of my goals for the year soon, but one of my goals is to relax about blogging. As you all know I don't blog very often or consistently, and I'm okay with that. I want to keep being okay with that and not letting guilt creep in whenever I miss a week (or 3!). For me this space isn't about gaining followers or trying to impart wisdom on the world or trying to make a buck. For me it's a creative outlet, a small community of followers and friends, and an inspiration to keep learning and growing. None of that should require stress or pressure on myself. So I have no idea what this blog will look like in 2015 - but I know it will be very me. Thanks for continuing to follow along :). 

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For 2013 I did a little recap of the year via lists, and I decided 2014 was great enough that I should do it again. 

2014 Top 5:

Getaways:

1. Lost Coast
2. Kauai (part one, two, and three)
3. Bodega Bay
4. Truckee
5. Cape Cod

Songs:

1. From Eden by Hozier
2. Two Pears Dancing by The Moxie Strings
3. Reflections by MisterWives
4. Chandelier by Sia
5. Turn It Around by Lucius

Shows:

1. The Lone Bellow / Don Quixote's, Felton
2. First Aid Kit / Fox Theatre, Oakland
3. Anders Osborne / Terrapin Crossroads, San Rafael
4. Southern Soul Assembly
5. Tiny ukulele performance in Kauai 

Buys:

1. Macbook Pro!
2. Ski Pass (to my Tahoe mountains!)
3. Birchbox subscription
4. Brown Sutro booties (no longer available)
5. Urban Smith "avventura" necklace (a gift)
+Everlane cashmere sweater (also a gift!)

Eats:

1. Margs, Truckee
2. Boonfly Cafe, Sonoma
3. Hanalei Taro and Juice Co., Hanalei
4. Pine State Biscuits, Portland
5. Broder Cafe, Portland
+Pok Pok, Portland
+Piccino, San Francisco

Books:

1. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
2. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
3. Not That Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
4. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
5. #Girlboss by Sophia Amoruso 

Movies/Shows:

1. Wild
2. Dexter
3. The Walking Dead
4. Interstellar
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Phew! It was hard to pick. And now it's time for a new year of favorites - bring it on '15!

Happy New Year To You

Don't you just love fresh starts?? I do. And I love goals and beginnings. And I love sparkles and champagne. So naturally, I'm a sucker for New Years.

It's exactly a week into 2014. Mine started with teeny tiny firework show viewed from a peak 11 miles away. Then with a bit of a cold, a lot of nice relaxation, and then a great start back at work. Now I'm ready to dive in.

I have a lot of goals for this year. Did you know that if you write down your goals, you have a much higher chance of achieving them? So here we go, I'm writing them down, everything from the vague to the dreamy to the weirdly specific.

This year I'm going to do a lot of yoga, eat an almost-paleo diet (I'll post on that soon), and hike and run more than last year. I'm going to get to bed earlier and wake up earlier. Last year was the year of exploring our new home, this year we'll go a bit further - I'm going to travel to Hawaii or Alaska, or maybe even both. I'm going to keep developing my mindfulness practice. I'm going to absolutely rock it at work. I'm going to be purposeful in everything that I do. I'm going to get my darn wisdom teeth out once and for all (it's been on my to-do list since 2008). I'm going to print more photos and put them up around the house. I'm going to make sure Jimmy knows how much he's loved and appreciated every day. I'm going to do more hike-in camping, and improve my photography skills and keep learning Italian. And I'm going to keep writing about it here, because I love it.

It's going to be a good a year, right? I hope yours is starting off with a bang!

Best of 2013

Oh 2013. It really does seem true that each year is better than the last. I could go on for ever and ever about this year, but I'll try to keep it simple.  Jim and I grew in so many ways, both in our relationship and separately. We started 2013 out on a road trip across the country for our move to California. We spent most weekends embracing the new space and beautiful weather, traveling everywhere we could within a 4 hour radius of our new home. We ran our first half marathon, spent a lot of time outdoors, made new friends. We've enjoyed the new challenges and experiences that go along with having new jobs. It's been a selfish year really, one just for us, and I know that's something we'll never take for granted.

It seems impossible to summarize the year, but the best way I can think of is through this list of lists...

Here are the year's Top 5:

Weekend Getaways:

1. Austin
2. Big Sur
3. Bodega Bay
4. The Lost Coast
5. Mendocino

Songs:

1. Roll Um Easy by Sarah and Christian Dugas
2. Teach Me To Know by The Lone Bellow
3. Up Above My Head by The Wood Brothers
4. Attaboy by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile
5. Marmalade by Anders Osbourne
+ House of Stone by Mandolin Orange
+ Black as Night by Nahko and Medicine for The People
+ We Will All Be Changed by Seryn

Concerts:

1. Trevor Hall and Nahko / The Independent, San Francisco
2. The Lone Bellow / The Independent, San Francisco
3. Zac Brown / SAP Center, San Jose
4. Delta Rae and ZZ Ward / Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
5. The Wood Brothers / Great American Music Hall, San Francisco

Purchases:

1. Pour over coffee set, Part 1 and part 2.
2. SodaStream
3. The softest flannel sheets (actually this one was a gift!)
4. Favorite new workout capris
5. Our scooter!

Eats:

1. Lotus Cafe / Jackson, WY
2. Sushi Go 55 / Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, CA
3. Ciccio / Yountville, CA
4. Penny Ice Creamery / Santa Cruz, CA
5. Nick's Crispy Tacos / San Francisco, CA

Reads:

1. And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
2. Sunset Magazine (my new fave)
3. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
4. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivy
5. Animal Tracks and Scat of California



It's time for a new year of favorites - bring it on '14!

Happy New Year, all.