I did not grow up camping. (I would famously sign up for girl scout camping trips, get all the way to the parking lot, then refuse to get on the bus with everyone else.) NO ONE would mistake me for a tomboy (even though I grew up playing outside most of the time). So when John first started expressing an interest in camping, hiking, and backpacking our junior year of college, my first thought was, oh HECK no. No, thank you. You go do your thing; I’m great right here.

However, a hallmark of our relationship has always been quality time together. We do almost EVERYTHING together, minus the eight or so hours per day we’re at our jobs. If John is mowing the lawn, I’m probably out weeding something. If I’m working on stirrers, John is probably researching a trip in the chair beside me. We do have our own interests and hobbies, but we love being together and try to maximize that as much as we can. So this new activity that I was vehemently not interested in caused a tiff between us for awhile… until I eventually gave in :)

And gosh, I’m so glad I did! We’ve had some amazing adventures over the last few years and seen so many beautiful things by traveling on foot and sleeping away from civilization. By far the most impressive was our post-graduation hike in the Presidentials, summitting Mount Adams (the second highest peak in the Northeast!) and Mount Jefferson.

Yes, that photo is showing you we hiked on our own two feet ABOVE the clouds!! The beautiful thing about camping and hiking, though, is that you can have equally fun, challenging, and inspiring experiences closer to home and without as much time commitment (or sweat!). We’ve had some great adventures in North Carolina, too:

These days, we do less backpacking (where we carry everything on our backs and hike out to a campsite) and more car camping (which still involves sleeping in a tent, but there are usually bathrooms and running water and you don’t have to carry all of your supplies with you!). Both are fun; the main trade-off is convenience for breathtaking vistas! If you want to spend quality time with friends, I can’t think of a better bonding experience than sitting around a campfire with no distractions and hours together stretching in front of you. It’s like the grown-up version of a sleepover!

I wonder if any of y’all were surprised when I mentioned camping on EFM for the first time. Either way, I hope my experience encourages you to give camping and hiking a try if you’ve been hesitant in the past!

In my next post, I’ll share some of our camping favorites. Once you have a basic stock of supplies it’s a delightfully inexpensive and beautiful way to travel, but it can be intimidating and expensive when you’re just starting out!

Ten years ago last week, a boy named John Thomas called up a girl named Emily Ayer and blurted out, “So… I think I like you.” Around her nervous giggles, they set a first date – ice skating at the local rink. About halfway through, he pulled her over to the boards and asked if she wanted to go out with him… to which she replied, “I thought we already were!” (It was her first date ever, so we’ll forgive her confusion.)

Ten years plus one day, an interstate move, two cats, countless travels, a college graduation apiece, one engagement, one wedding, and one house later, John and Emily went ice skating again, this time outdoors in the crisp clear air and under the bright lights of downtown Raleigh.

I’ve already shared our full love story, so I won’t repeat it again here. But our relationship, aside from my relationship with God, has been the defining story of my life, and so our ten year dativersary deserves at least a small mention! As I wrote in an anniversary card to John, my life has been immeasurably richer, richer than I could ever have imagined, for having him in it, and that is something to celebrate.

This excerpt from Mere Christianity was read at our wedding. When I first came across this passage, soon after John and I started dating, I pretty much hated it. I thought it was unromantic, and untrue. Ten years on, I find it both terribly romantic, and more true every day. To me, it represents perhaps the best that one could hope for in a relationship: that you have a deeper love for each other with every passing year. That has been the case for us, and I am grateful.

Friends! I hope you had a truly marvelous Christmas. Ours is 2/3 of the way over – my whole family still hasn’t been able to get together to celebrate, so we’re reconvening over Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend! :)

John and I are looking forward to a special date night on Friday, where we’ll do our own look back at 2014 and dream a bit about what we want our 2015 to look like. I can’t wait! In the meantime, here are a few of the highlights of the year on EFM and in our lives!

2014 dawned with SNOW! More snow than we had ever seen down here – about six inches in one storm! It was fun to see our house dusted in white. We also snagged last-minute tickets to a Duke game at Cameron, and in February trotted out to Asheville for a tour of the Biltmore (amazing!). I posted two of my most popular posts ever, about my homesickness and paying off our debt. In February, I shared our love story and my 60 Before 30 goals!

March was so fun! We took a weekend trip to Charleston that we both remember as being just about perfect. We also welcomed best friends to North Carolina and checked off goal 49, canoeing down the Haw River!

In April we started our garden! As the weather warmed up we enjoyed more warm weather activities, like Bulls games and sitting on our own front porch. I wrote two posts about what we eat.

We did a few things in May (including strawberry picking at the farm across from our neighborhood!), but by far the most notable was our week-long trip up the California coast and out to Yosemite! I covered it in seven posts: Malibu, Ojai, Montecito / Santa Barbara, Montana de Oro, Cayucos / Cambria, San Simeon, Big Sur / Monterey and Carmel / Yosemite / San Francisco.

It was an AMAZING trip and we would recommend it to anyone!! Our roses also burst into bloom at home.

Whew! In looking back at past years-in-review, it seems June always kicks my tail, and this year was no exception! I can’t complain, though, because it was all such good stuff – I traveled to Charleston and Nashville for work (which included Jeni’s for the first time – bliss!!), to New York City for a baby shower for Marget/bridal shower for Natalie, and to Boone to camp with friends!

In July we headed back to New England for Natalie and Joe’s wedding! We also harvested loads of tomatoes from our backyard.

August! Always one of my favorite months, because it’s usually when we spend a week at my favorite place in the world, the island in Maine where we have our cottage. This year we got to go sailing with friends while up North, and it was definitely a highlight! (I posted a short video.) We also invited friends over for a porch party and I shared a home tour in two parts.

We kicked off September with a Labor Day visit to Asheville (two in one year – lucky us!!), this time with my Dad in tow. We bought him a white water rafting trip for his birthday, and it was a hoot to do it together! September also marked our first trip to Monuts, after which I shall never be the same again. I wrote about six years of blogging, our marriage advice, and our friends’ wedding.

In October, we really stepped it up fitness-wise – I hope to write about that a bit in 2015. We combined a trip to Connecticut for a wedding with a trip to NYC to meet our new nephew (!!), I took a separate trip to New York for work, we went to the State Fair with my parents, and we hosted our second annual pumpkin carving night!

Ya heard what I was saying about those donuts, right? :) We balanced them out with short runs and long bike rides, and a few walks in the woods just because. I loved traveling to Grand Cayman for work and being featured in Emily Ley’s Simplicity series!

December was sweet and relatively slow. It was a joy to share our home with my family at Christmas for the first time!

It’s good to step back and be grateful, and grateful I am. It was a great year. Friends, it has truly been a delight to be a small part of y’all’s lives this year, and to have you as a part of mine. I’ll be back soon with more on my plans for 2015!!

After a gloomy, rainy week in North Carolina, the glorious weekend we just had reminded me of everything I love about fall. These seasonal lists serve the same purpose – they get me excited for the months to come, and remind me of all the things I really want to do but might not remember to do! What’s on your fall to do list?

Pick apples at an orchard
Make apple pie biscuits
Host the second annual soup and pumpkin carving night
Make Thomas Keller’s chicken pot pie from scratch (filling, bechamel, pie crust, and all)
Hand out candy from our front steps (we’ll see if we can top our total from last year!)
Cheer at a Friday night football game under the lights
Make pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
Order Christmas cards
Watch the goat showmanship class at the State Fair (yes, it is as awesome as it sounds)
Make biscuits at our church’s Fair booth
Hike somewhere new with beautiful leaves

P.S. The Caitlin Wilson Designs giveaway is open until Friday!