2015 Recap

2015 is coming to a close and I find it easier to think back on my year if I write it down. We've had a fun-filled year with it's fair share of ups and downs but here are some of the highlights of our year.


Books
My reading challenge for this year was to read 25 books. So far I've made it to 23. I'd like to think I could knock out a book a day these next couple of days and I'm sure as heck gonna try but it may not happen. I'm usually late to the game with books so it's not as if any of them are new this year but here's my list of books that are worthy of your time. They are quite varied: political, fiction, religious, Appalachian, cooking, you name it....it's on the list.


1. The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
3. On Writing by Stephen King
4. Gray Mountain by John Grisham
5. Deer Hunting with Jesus by Joe Bageant
6. Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans
7. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
8. Heritage by Sean Brock


Movies


I went to the movies exactly twice this year. Both times with my sister to see rated R female comedies which were funny but I'm not qualified to give you advice on movies considering I don't watch them.


Podcasts
I discovered podcasts this year and my life was changed forever. These are worth your time (as if you didn't already know).


1. Radiolab (the very best)
2. StoryCorps (duh)
3. Gilmore Guys (they break down every episode of Gilmore Girls, it's my guilty pleasure)
4. Serial (which I haven't actually listened to yet but I've heard only wonderful things about it)


Music


This year we bought a record player and started our collection of albums. We saw Old Crow in concert 3 times (Blacksburg, Denver, Roanoke).

TV
I may not know movies but I am an expert TV watcher. Aside from watching countless football games these are the shows I wasted precious hours binge-watching:


1. Drunk History
2. The Mindy Project
3. Sherlock
4. Parks and Rec
5. Orange is the New Black
6. Gilmore Girls for the 47th time


Animals
In 2015 a small fortune in vet bills (2 hip replacements, lots of pain meds, physical therapy, Lyme's disease test) and added some new outside family members to the farm. First 2 hens and a rooster, then 4 hens and minus one rooster. Do the math and we have 6 wonderful hens and said good riddance to a hateful old rooster who attacked all of us.

Food
We grew our largest garden to date and had the widest variety we've ever had. We ended the season with 10 cans of strawberry rhubarb jam, 15 cans of kraut, 16 cans of pickles, 4 cans of pickled peppers, 14 cans of salsa, 6 cans of tomatoes, and 40 cans of spaghetti sauce. We also put a good bit of asparagus, broccoli, rhubarb, corn, and zucchini in the freezer.

Travel
Our big summer trip was when I got on an airplane for the first time and we travelled to Colorado for a week where we hiked, camped, relaxed and decided we didn't want to move there.


We attended our first pro football game in Charlotte and watched Green Bay lose. Drew went to Italy for 2 weeks. We camped with family on Memorial Day. We spent a week on the New River with my parents. We had two weddings in Tennessee and my siblings and I spent a week in Williamsburg.

Here's a little video recap of the year

I hope you all have a wonderful New Years and a joyful 2016 filled with sweet friends, books to lose yourself in, travel to beautiful places, and animals to love on. What were some of your 2015 highlights? Books? Places to travel? Podcasts? Chicken names?

2014 Recap

2014 was one heckuva year.

Highlights

1. Graduated with my Master's Degree (and a 4.0 and a couple of awards....)

2. Accepted my 1st big girl job with benefits and the whole shebang

3. Moved to Floyd County
4. Read the whole Harry Potter series & became a believer
5. Saw Old Crow Medicine Show in concert (twice)

6. Added a new member to our family: Dolly

7. Started canning and composting and took our garden game to  whole new level.

8. Travelled to Pittsburgh & the Poconos in PA, caught a baseball game in Cincy, and spent our anniversary at the beach.
9. Said "see you soon" to friends and welcomed new ones into our lives
10. My sister married her best friend

11. Became godparents

12. Camping & hiking on Labor Day with family

13. Drew got a new tattoo
14. Rented a place and spent some time at Claytor Lake and the New River (thrice)
15. Drew did LOTS of hiking and I did a normal amount: various portions of the AT, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, Deer Cave & Red Fox Trail

 

As always spent a lot of time with family and friends. Lots of time reading and watching the Mindy Project and drank plenty of coffee and wine. Enjoyed my sleep, snuggles with Gracie, and getting to know some awesome teenagers.

 

 

Here's to 2015: a trip out west, a kick-ass garden, and immersing ourselves in this wonderful community. Happy New Year friends. It's a new year and it's never too late to do something you've always wanted.