Showing posts with label yearly round up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label yearly round up. Show all posts
I'm not sure if I've ever done a Top-Book-Of-The-Year style post before. But, my mom always asks me what my top 5 or so books were from the year before. She knows that I read a lot, so they can't all be good. In fact, they are not. I read a lot of duds last year! But I do have several favorites that I'd love to recommend to you!
This may have been the first book I read in 2022! And what a start! I LOVED this book. It's about a neurodivergent woman named Molly, who works in a fancy hotel as a maid. She takes her job very seriously! One day she happens to walk in on a murder scene in on of the suites. Even though this is a murder mystery, it's still incredibly heartwarming and sweet. The characters are so great! I really loved this and recommend it to anyone really.
This is not a new book, but I read it for the first time last year. Atomic Habits examines how to add new habits into your routine most effectively. I picked out a lot of useful tips from this book! Mostly, if you want to form a new habit, you should add it to something you already do without thinking. For example, we all brush our teeth every morning without thinking about it - so if you wanted to add something like doing 50 squats to your daily routine, you could do it along with your teeth brushing habit to form the new habit.
Also not a new book, but I had never read it before. In short, this is a coming of age story of a young girl who grows up in Brooklyn. Her family is quite the cast of characters and are all easy to root for.
While nothing 'major' happens in this book plot wise, it's just a pleasure to read and become immersed in.
This was an audiobook for me, and I highly recommend that experience. The narrator has a great accent that really adds to the story telling. This is about a man named Hubert. When he calls his daughter in Australia each week, he tells her all about his friends and all the fun things he's been up to. But he's lying. He's really lonely with no friends at all. So when his daughter plans a visit, he scrambles to cover up his the fake life he's concocted.
For fans of true crime or the Jean Bennet Ramsey case, this book is about a journalist who grew up next door to a little girl who was found in a ditch. She's been haunted by this case. When another crime takes place all these years later, she can't help but think they are connected and returns to Indiana to try to solve the mystery. Some twists I saw coming, others I didn't. And to be honest, the ending still has my mind mixed up.
Historical fiction always has my heart, but I really can only do so many WWII novels in a year. At first I thought this one would be just like all the others, but it's ended up not feeling like it! It's fairly straight forward, dual perspective past and present. The big 'twist' wasn't even surprising - but for me I just loved the characters and the writing style. It was just engrossing. I especially loved Alice's point of view, and her relationship with her son, who is on the spectrum.
Read With Me:
-Kristen
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I have to say when I wrote my favorite posts of 2019 last January, I never expected 2020 to turn out like it did. Of course no one did, but I can't help but reflect. 2020 was full of surprises!
Even though so much has gone wrong this year, I have to say, a lot has gone right! When we were forced to stay home, all of our priorities shone through. It re-centered our focus and helped us find happiness in the little things. I have not hated the slower pace! Honestly, I hope our schedule mimics 2020s more than 2019.
I look forward to doing a round up of all my favorite posts each year! It's a fun excuse to go back and read through the things I've written. Sometimes I'm surprised to see a photo and realize it happened this year, when it feels like a lifetime ago.
2019 was filled with great trips, fun crafts and plenty of pug pictures! It was also the year of my rebrand from Pugs and Pearls to kristenwoolsey.com! Super exciting and I feel like that little makeover re-inspired me. Blogging under my own name just feels right.
What's interesting though, is when I started selecting favorite posts to share in this round up, I noticed they were all on the same theme. I've never been a niche blogger, but I really talked about simple living a lot this year. That's so reflective of how I felt personally. After a few crazy years, I truly enjoyed getting back to basics and uncomplicated living. What makes me happy is being at home, spending time with friends, and being productive. Not hustling.
If you are struggling with 'the hustle' I think this round up of posts will truly help you get started on simplifying. Although it's an ongoing journey, the benefits begin right away.
I'm wrapping up 2018 with a few of my favorite posts from this year! Thank you so much for following along this year, and I hope I have lots more for you in 2019!
These are all tried and true recipes that will save you money and keep you healthy! (Well the Asian slaw does have a lot of sugar, but it can be amended!)
All in all, 2018 was one for the books! It's amazing how much actually happened this year. Our year was full of new life and some really hard losses too. We both stepped into new roles this year, so there has been so much learning in 2018! We visited new places, met new people and set new goals. 2019 is already shaping up to be incredibly full, but also wide open! Thanks for reading along this year!
This was definitely a fun year for room makeovers! After we got married I did a lot of nesting and we did several home projects around that time. Last year, though, I did a ton of decluttering and really minimized our home. It was such a therapeutic project! After we cleared things out I really wanted to refresh a few spaces in the house. The most dramatic change happened to our guest room! I still love how this room turned out and we haven't really changed much since I posted the makeover in January. We did add a small TV in place of the mirror above the desk, and I changed the Euro shams to a really nice gold/beige Ralph Lauren cover instead of the blue ones.
January also included my favorite outfit post to date! This look is what I would love to wear everyday if I could! I absolutely still adore my camel coat and that tartan bag from Mark and Graham! Seeing these pictures actually made me go and get my haircut into that long bob again!
February is our anniversary month! We celebrated 7 years in 2017. (Which means 8 is coming up next!) And I wrote one of my favorite posts ever about our marriage. The post sort of evolved as I sat down typing. It started out as a just a quick blurb about our anniversary, and it turned into a really neat summary of each year we've been married. Every year has been different, but it really does keep getting better. (If you work hard together at it.)
In March I shared all the things that make me a weirdo. That was super fun to write, and I so appreciated all of the comments joining in on the weirdo party!
Continuing the 2017 makeovers was the fun update we did to our master bedroom. I absolutely adore this paint color and I still really like the way we rearranged the furniture! I will say that the quilt set we bought absolutely did not hold up. We had it for about 6 months, and it started to feel rough and some of the seams were coming loose. We grabbed a different quilt from Ross and overall the room still looks pretty much the same.
That post inspired my entire Home Tour series! You can see every room of our house there, including pictures of what these rooms looked like originally and how they've transformed over the years. I absolutely love before and after photos, so I thought maybe you do too!
I was so happy to share my personal project of trying to reconcile being positive but also being irritated by a lot of things/people at the same time. This attitude adjustment really helped me! Being critical or judgemental is the last thing I want to be, so I've really worked on that this year. These feelings resurfaced a little bit last month with a family issue so I'm obviously still working on it-but I really think it's less often, which is great.
I LOVED sharing my blogger bloopers with you in May! Fashion blogging is obviously not my full time job, but I have so much fun taking pictures with my photographer and I think that really shows in this post. In future outfit posts I'd like to include more of these types of pictures!
This June marked 1 year since we adopted Bailey! It was just absolutely amazing to watch her blossom over this past year. She is such a good dog, and all she wants to do is cuddle under the blanket with you. She is our most problematic pug, with all the typical problems associated with the breed. She gets terrible allergies, so we have to give her a pill for her itchiness. She also has the driest eyes! The girl basically gets Restasis for dogs, which ain't cheap, but it makes a huge difference for her.
I also had a blast with Blake being a fashion blogger for the day! He was such a good sport, and these are honestly some of my favorite photos of him and us of all time!
After testing a few home-made cleaners in the first part of the year, I was really excited to share some recipes with you all! The window cleaner and room freshening spray are still my favorites! Since starting my Grove subscription I don't make a whole lot of cleaners anymore, but I still stand by these recipes. I will admit the smell of vinegar is not my favorite, so I'm more likely to reach for my Mrs Meyers all purpose spray.
I also have to mention my Going Digital post about ditching my paper planner! It is by far my most popular post of this year.
June was also the month I launched my new blog design! I spent about a month working on it, and since then I haven't changed anything! I really love it and think it represents me very well. Sometimes you just gotta change it up!
I spent a lot of time this summer trying out DIYs! I'm still obsessed with this castile soap face wash. I've changed it up a little by adding in frankincense and a bit of jojoba oil! The jojoba oil make this foam so luxurious! (You do need to shake it very well before use, since the oil and water separate.)
My favorite project of the whole year! We did a little vlog of our annual West Palm trip, and I love how it turned out! Obviously I can see a thousand ways we could do better next time, but watching this makes me so happy. I don't think we are going to be able to go in 2018, sadly!
In by far my most personal post of the year, I shared my thoughts on my almost mental breakdown. 2016 was a really hard year, for a lot of small reasons mostly. 2017 has been such a turnaround for me! I feel like a completely different person now. I thought that maybe my experience might resonate with you and would also help me remember this season of my life! (That's the main reason I love blogging!)
In September I did my first giveaway! Sponsored posts are no joke, but I absolutely LOVE these photos and my teeth whitening results were very real! It actually makes me miss summer and we've only had like 5 days of cold weather so far..
September was definitely clouded by Hurricane Irma! We knew so far in advance that she was heading our way, and we were SO ready to go back to our normal lives. We only lost power for a few days but many of our friends didn't have power again for over a week.
Sharing my makeup routine was something I had been wanting to do for months! I'm so glad I finally bit the bullet and shared this! I SO appreciate recommendations from other people, so I know you all do too. I AM kinda ticked when I look at my after photo because I had just gotten my eyebrows done by a complete newbie and she screwed up my left brow!! It's finally back to normal, but that picture makes me cringe a little.
We adored our trip to North Carolina in November! It was such a nice getaway and entirely too short. The Biltmore was the highlight for me!
After a lot of reflecting, I was so happy to be able to put into words what I've been trying to express for a while now. Friendship in your twenties is SO interesting, and it's amazing what seasons and transitions in your life you go through-and sometimes you don't even see it until much later.
I finally did it! I managed to take a photo of my outfit every day for a month! (I seriously have about a dozen photos of outfits in July that I have no idea what to do with. Not the first failure, I might add.) The lemon dress was by far everyone's favorite! It's mine too. It's the perfect outfit when you don't know what else to wear, great for multiple occasions and comfortable!!
And that wraps up 2017! I only had about 70 posts this year, which is crazy compared to 2015, when I posted 205 times! The thing is, I'm really happy with what I'm sharing here. I know I could do better, because I can't count how many times I don't bring my camera to something. But, what I do share is meaningful to me and it's not something that I just post for the sake of posting.
Thank you so much for following me along this year! Bring it on 2018!!
