What a year, friends. I’ve shared along the way, but it has been an interesting one – probably the hardest of our life together. We weathered major change; we had an unprecedented string of large, unexpected expenses; we got yeses when we wanted nos and nos when we wanted yeses; and most bitterly, we lost our beloved cat Jack.

But as I sit here, I can only end the year feeling richly blessed — a daughter of the King who has been given good things in abundance. To start, my husband is healthy, my daughter is healthy, and our families are healthy. I could stop right there, and that would be enough. It really would be.

But there is so much more, and it is one of the delights of my life to share it with you all. So here we go – some of our favorite moments of 2017, in our lives and on the blog.

In January we celebrated June’s birthday with a kitty-themed party for family and friends! Her birthday prompted a post that meant a lot to me, reflections on our first year together. John and I also celebrated our twelfth dativersary. I plowed through books this year and began including what I was reading in my monthly goals posts. On the blog, I shared June’s buffalo check nursery and the first Marvelous Money post of the year, on making trade-offs.

In February I stepped outside my comfort zone and invited ten neighborhood ladies over for a Favorite Things party. It was a success, and kicked off a year of settling into our community and gaining friendships, for which I am so grateful! I shared one of my favorite posts ever this month, as well as 31 ideas for winter meals (I’ll be referring back to this list in the chilly weeks to come!). I turned 30 and shared 10 hopes for the next decade.

We broke ground on our long-awaited backyard renovation in March! We picked berries and enjoyed being outside, including on a beloved hand-me-down set of wheels. I shared about taking ballet again and paying off our mortgage early.

In April I spent my first night away from June, on a work trip to Alabama and Mississippi where I got to hug two familiar faces! We celebrated the resurrection of our Savior as a family and June was a natural at her first egg hunt. I am SO pleased that I finally got it together and posted my first of several Triangle guides: Durham!

Our backyard project wrapped up in May and we have been enjoying it ever since! I know I owe you an official reveal – hopefully coming this spring! :) At the end of the month, June got to travel with me to Charleston for another work trip, and in June, we logged our fifth camping trip with the Rays!

In honor of Mother’s Day, I wrapped up the first installment of my Marvelous Mama series with the best addition yet — my own Mom. We also filmed June in June: Volume 2 (even cuter than Volume 1, somehow!), and I shared our five must-have baby registry items, a simple trick for developing habits, and wisdom from my Dad.

June participated in her first parade – our town’s Fourth of July celebration – the next month, and we of course also celebrated one of our favorite summer holidays, Cow Appreciation Day! I shared seven tips for new college graduates, a post I loved writing.

The highlight of July was without a doubt our trip to Michigan. We visited John’s family cottage near Traverse City along with 25+ other Thomas family members, and it was the most fun. We were on the water all day, and the cousins (young and old) had a blast!

Just three short weeks later, we made another epic road trip, this time to my family’s cottage in Maine! To be honest this trip had its challenges (ahem, someone I won’t name inexplicably waking up for 2-3 hours every night…), but we were so grateful to be with family in such a treasured place! I wrote about a simple but impactful house contentment hack and John’s 30th birthday book.

September was a full month! We rendezvoused with my family again in Asheville over Labor Day weekend, then celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary with a day at the zoo and a dinner out, just the two of us. I made apple cider scones to celebrate the first day of fall, and we flew to Providence to celebrate one of my best friend’s weddings! I wrote another favorite post from the year: five intentions for our next five years of marriage.

Our ray of sunshine completed a successful first round of trick-or-treating in October (and I congratulated myself on my first semi-homemade costume!). In November, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of Southern Weddings, the anniversary of June’s baptism, and John’s Christmas present (early!) by getting away to Charlotte for the night to see Jim Gaffigan! Our first night with both of us away from her, thanks to my parents :) I shared 26 ways to save money, 10 great dinners for new parents, and all of the articles we read in Articles Club this past year.

We returned just yesterday from our Thomas Christmas celebration in California, and now have a few quiet days at home before going back to work in the new year. We’re heading out for our end-of-year celebration dinner soon, and I’m looking forward to finishing up my PowerSheets prep and setting my goals for the year over the next few days. I’ll be sharing more on Monday, so keep an eye out :)

I am so grateful for this year we’ve had, friends, and I am truly so grateful for all of you. I often stop to think how crazy it is that such smart, kind, thoughtful people come hang out here and have stuck around for so long. It is one of the biggest blessings of my life to share with you, and I am SO excited to continue doing so in 2018. I think it’s going to be a good one :) In fact, I know it is, because in the second week of January I’m kicking off a nine-week series with Nancy. It is centered around the most-requested topic from my 2017 blog survey, and I think you will love it!! Can’t wait to share :)

2016 year in review
2015 year in review
2014 year in review
2013 year in review
2012 year in review

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Articles Club is tonight, and it’s a special one — our two year anniversary! This group is always a highlight of my month. Last year I shared a bunch of the articles we read in our first year, and I thought it would be fun to do so again!

I included tips for hosting your own club in that first post, too — the only difference is that now we eat dinner together instead of snacks! In January we got to talking about lasagna, and I insisted on making my favorite recipe to share its glory with the group. After we realized it’s even MORE fun to chat over a delicious meal, we never looked back! So far, we’ve done Mexican (several times!), Greek, Indian, and American cookout :)

Here are a few of the articles we’ve read in the last year…

Mindfulness
Stop Hustling and Get Your Life Back
The Luxury of Silence
Should Schools Teach Kids to Meditate?

Money
Can Money Buy You Happiness?
4 Women with 4 Very Different Incomes Open Up About the Lives They Can Afford
Want to Be Happy? Stop Being So Cheap!
How FOMO Can Ruin Your Finances

Poverty
The Pope on Panhandling
How Utah Keeps the American Dream Alive

Work
Is There Life After Work?
How to Close the Gender Gap
Career Tips from Entrepreneurs

Aging and Dying
Why I Hope to Die at 75
How to Become a “Superager”
Before I Go

Self-Improvement
New Year, New You? Forget It
The Cost of Holding On
What Do You Like About Yourself?

Minimalism
Welcome to AirSpace
The White Wall Controversy

Just two great reads :)
The Ghost Ship That Didn’t Carry Us
When Your Child is a Psychopath

Sound like fun? We’re always happy to welcome new gals, so if you’re into eating, chatting, and reading and live in the Triangle, we’d love to meet you! And don’t think you’d be the only one — after the similar post I wrote last year, three new ladies emailed and joined our group! Just send me an email :)

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I’ve been meaning to write this post for months, but I always stop just before doing so – perhaps because it seems too simple? It’s something that’s really made a difference for me, though, so I’m finally sharing!

Photo by Anagram Photo from our last home tour (since which a lot has changed – maybe time for a new one?)

On occasion, I find myself feeling disgruntled about our home. On any given day, maybe it’s the reddish tint in our wood floors. Or the size of our lot. Or the lack of natural light. Or that we still haven’t replaced our sofa pillows to match the vision in my head, four years into living here. Or maybe it’s just a vague feeling that creeps in of our home being less than, unsatisfactory, wanting…

Want to know the fastest way I’ve found to snap myself out of that (totally ridiculous but still very real) funk? It’s not rearranging the furniture, and it’s not even buying something new. It’s cleaning something. Or, more accurately, sometimes it’s simply tidying.

I am most content with our home in the moments before a dinner party (or a pumpkin party!) is set to begin: everything is in its proper place, the counters are wiped and free of lingering mail and crumbs, the place mats are straightened on the table, the rug has vacuuming lines, the table lamps are on, and a candle is glowing on the coffee table. I look around and think, wow, this place is so nice! (Ha!) Everything feels fresh and loved. As my friend Robyn said at Articles Club earlier this week (and I’m paraphrasing), we find ourselves loving things more that we spend time loving.

Of course, with a full life and a toddler bent on finding a new home for every item that’s not nailed down at least once a day, that “party-ready house” is not realistic most days. And that’s completely okay. But realizing that contentment is only a fifteen-minute tidying session, not a thousand-dollar shopping spree, away has been so fruitful for me.

Have you found this to be true for yourself? Any other house contentment hacks you want to share? :)

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Since y’all seemed to like my post sharing a month of meals in January, I thought I’d pop back in with a spring edition! I’m not surprised that post was popular, as I’m always looking for new tried-and-true recipes myself. Hopefully you’ll find a few recipes in today’s post that look promising enough to add to your own rotation! A few things:

— You’ll note that since April was a much busier month than January for us, many of our meals were, ahem, simpler. Grace and a side of vegetables was and is the name of the game.
— I’ve marked with an asterisk any recipe we were making for the first time.

Photo from Pinch of Yum

Week 1:
Saturday, April 1: out
Sunday, April 2: chicken piccata and sauteed asparagus
Monday, April 3: meatball subs and sauteed broccoli
Tuesday, April 4: chicken tikka masala, rice, and naan
Wednesday, April 5: sweet potato burritos with avocado salsa
Thursday, April 6: buffalo chicken pizza and salad (Publix dough, frozen buffalo chicken, chopped red onion, shredded cheese, and Whole Foods 365 blue cheese sauce)
Friday, April 7: potstickers (family recipe)

Week 2:
Saturday, April 8: vegetarian black bean enchiladas
Sunday, April 9: hot dogs and sauteed broccoli
Monday, April 10: lemon parmesan pasta with grilled chicken
Tuesday, April 11: peanut noodles with carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms (from Pretty Delicious)
Wednesday, April 12: chana masala, rice, and naan
Thursday, April 13: grilled sweet potato tacos (loose interpretation)
Friday, April 14: out

Week 3:
Saturday, April 15: out
Sunday, April 16 (Easter!): ham, mashed potatoes, green beans with shallots, salad, and rolls
Monday, April 17: ham sandwiches and salad
Tuesday, April 18: Articles Club night – I brought guacamole from this recipe and Mexican corn
Wednesday, April 19: three pepper pizza and salad (Publix dough, jarred sauce, Monterey Jack cheese, and chopped up red bell pepper, poblano pepper, pepperoncinis, and red onion)
Thursday, April 20: cobb salad
Friday, April 21: bratwurst, pasta salad, green salad, and baked beans

Week 4:
Saturday, April 22: out
Sunday, April 23: chicken tikka masala
Monday, April 24: traveling
Tuesday, April 25: traveling
Wednesday, April 26: traveling
Thursday, April 27: traveling
Friday, April 28: turkey and ricotta meatballs* on crusty bread with sauteed green beans

Week 5:
Saturday, April 29: lemon parmesan pasta with grilled chicken
Sunday, April 30: corn and zucchini chowder*

I’d love to hear if you have a favorite recipe for the spring or summer!

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