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2004: Monday Monday how could you leave and not take me - It is FUN to read this day in a life from when I was in grad school. I went to the gym! Talked a lot on the phone (clearly this is before texting was common). Early Dr. BB!
2005: The Wedding - 2005 was rough for me - I had pneumonia and was sick for ages, I took my second prelim for grad school and was stressed about it all the time. But I was a bridesmaid in a high school friend's wedding (this couple has divorced since then *whomp whomp*) and took Dr. BB to Michigan for the first time. Definitely click on that link if you want to see NGS doing the most NGS pose.
2006: Life Ain't Always Beautiful - I'm still sad for the man with the disheveled hair and I hope he's at peace. I wrote a lot about going to the gym in 2006. And my now-husband, then-boyfriend took a lot of photos of me being ridiculous.
2007: What an exciting year. I could not decide on just one post here. Dr. BB and I got engaged! Then we moved in together! I also got volunteer of the year.
2008: Sweet Summer Scent - Can I get a what what for celebrating Francie Nolan and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn here? Also, we got married in 2008. MARRIED!
2009: I need to stop watching TMZ - I got worked up about celebrities responses to violence against women. I'm still enraged when I think about this.
2010: An Inconvenient Truth - The girl in this story never did call me. I hope she got help.
2011: Coup d'kitten - Click on that if you wan to see the most adorable photo of teenage Zelda. 2011 was a tough year. We moved someplace I didn't want to move to, and then I broke my leg.
2012: View from the Balcony - Sad for everyone. But more cute photos of Zelda, we moved AGAIN, and if you check the comments here, you can see a comment from Suzanne, a comment I think about a lot still to this day. (Oh, if you want to watch me have a breakdown IN WRITING, read bullet point #3 in this post.)
2013: Five by Five -Traveling and Celebrating Edition - 2013 was a quiet year, but I bought some adorable cake toppers for my sister's wedding.
2014: Three Days in Nashville - Bestest Friend and I did our original writing project where we wrote every day in 2014-2015, but I'm picking a post that wasn't even in the project. Bestest Friend and I spent a weekend in Nashville and did everything. I still a wear a Biscuit Love tshirt to bed at night.
2015: Old Farm Dog - Still a handsome guy.
2016: Homecoming 2016 - I haven't been back for the homecoming game since pre-COVID. I have got to make it a priority this year.
2017: Buying Our House, Part V - We bought a house!
2018: Cage Match: New Diet Coke Flavors - Spoiler: All these flavors are terrible.
2019: Six Months with Hannah - Hannah the Dog was new!
2020: The Duke and I (with second epilogue) by Julia Quinn - I don't know if this is the best post of 2020, but it is one of the most popular posts ever on this blog.
2021: How I Maintain Momentum for Exercise - Another pretty popular post. I guess there are a lot of people like me out there looking for an answer about how to make exercise bearable.
2022: Our Ornaments Through the Years - I like that they're all in one place here. I did an AMA for NaBloPoMo and those are interesting posts, too. Part I and Part II.
2023: Beauty Tax - This is hands down the most popular post from 2023.
2024: I don't know, friends. Do you have a favorite post from 2024?
I loved going back and reading the post about buying a house! We bought our house in 2017 too (October). So it will be 7 years next month.
ReplyDeleteAnd your beauty tax post was one of my all-time favs.
I really liked your "tattoo's I'd get if I were ever going to get a tattoo" post this year. You know how I feel about tattoos, but it makes me want to do the same exercise.
I didn't realize we bought houses at about the same time. What a crazy coincidence.
DeleteOh, interesting. The tattoo post might be an option for Best of 2024.
Aha! So is the "BB" in Dr. BB "Biker Boy?" I always wondered about that!
ReplyDeleteI think I discovered your blog in 2021, and I remember the post about exercise. I just reread it and am appreciating again how good it is. You have some great advice for people who- gasp- don't like to exercise! And, you know I love the photos of young Zelda. : )
Yes, it is Biker Boy, which is a dumb name because it makes it sound like he rides a Harley or something...Oh, well. If I had known I would marry him, I would have been more thoughtful about the nickname.
DeleteBaby Zelda is soooo cute. I love kitten photos.
This is the perfect countdown post, Engie! A best of the best of!
ReplyDeleteI just read "An Inconvenient Truth" and... chills. I really hope she called someone and got help too. Can you imagine that happening today in some place like Texas or Ohio?!
It's a scary thought to think of what Planned Parenthood could even offer someone like that today. I hope she got help.
DeleteYou keep rack so well. My life is a blur.
ReplyDeleteMy life is also a blur! That's why it's all written down on this blog!
DeleteI'll have to click on these links when I have more than five minutes! Fun!
ReplyDeleteHa! Don't worry about it, Nicole. There's no need to go back. I think you have the gist of the joint.
DeleteI love this idea and may steal it at some point!! I have bookmarked this post for when I'm at a computer, as it will be fun to look back on past Engie!
ReplyDeleteIt is too hard to pick my favorite post of 2024, but I love your book lists, as I always get good ideas from those posts.
Book lists are not always a hit, oddly enough. I do it more for my own benefit than anyone else's, but I'm happy to hear they help you out sometimes!
DeleteBaby Zelda! New Hannah!!! I'm very excited for the big 2-0 tomorrow!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was a bit anti-climactic. LOL.
DeleteIt was so much fun to go through the links and read all these things about your life that I didn't know. It's so hard to pick a favorite post from this year. I love the CBBC and those posts. I enjoyed the tattoo post and the Dr. BB interview, and all the guest posts. So, I'm useless to you because I can't pick one!
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised the tattoo post is getting so much love. Isn't it funny how you can spend tons of time on a post and it doesn't get a great reception, but you dash one off (like I did the tattoo post) and people remember it? It makes me think we should all be very lazy with our writing.
DeleteGah! So many beautiful, brave, and honest words you've written over the years!
ReplyDeleteCall me superficial, but I think my favorite post so far this year is that post you wrote on what you wore in one week. I love that kind of peek into people's lives. And the Dr. BB guest post was a lot of fun too because it's so much fun to get to know him better.
Oh, wow! That post where I posted what I wore every day seems like so long ago, but it was March 2024! CRAZY how time flies.
DeleteI have loved your 20th anniversary lead up. My blog will be 20 in November of 2025, and I've been thinking that maybe I would do a post like this one, one post from each year. I'm glad you did this, I'm going to through yours. Fun!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! I sort of wish everyone would do a post like this no matter if they've been blogging for 20 years or 2 months!
DeleteThis was so fun to read -- lots of fun posts to revisit. And thanks for the shoutout! I stand by my views on romance - the more mundane and specific the details people know about their partners, the more romantic.
ReplyDeleteYes, Suzanne, I 100% agree with you, which is why I think about this comment at the time. I was relatively newly married at the time and I found the whole thing mortifying, but I really do sort of see it as romantic now because we were such a team during that time. We really had to learn to communicate and did learn a lot about each other. It really is a comment that I reflected on and learned from, so thank you for that!
DeleteSuch a fun idea! It occurs to me that this year marks the 15th anniversary of my WP blog. I might have to borrow a page from your virtual book and recount some of my fave posts.
ReplyDeleteI wish everyone would do something like this no matter how long they've been blogging!
DeleteI'm on break at work, and I was in Charlotte when this published, so I really need to come back and read all of these posts - it's always crazy fascinating reading posts that happened way before you knew the blogger.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to think that anyone blogged before I read their blog. How am I supposed to catch up?!
DeleteWow Engie, this is a great list - I clicked on a few of your old posts and have to come back for the rest. I am so glad you've been writing for so long.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out some of those old posts. It was a fun exercise to go through every year. I don't know if I've ever deep dived into my archives like that before.
DeleteI think you've linked to the One With The Breakdown before, haven't you? I seem to remember something about Christmas lights, so...
ReplyDeleteSuzanne's comment was so on point. It's okay for some people - not everyone - to know the boring, mundane, nitty gritty details of your life. I don't really have that, and I do wonder what it would be like.
Also, baby Zelda gets me every. time. Those eyes! That fuzz! <3
I don't know if I've linked to that one before, but I don't doubt it. It's a classic in watching a mental health crisis happen before your very eyes.
DeleteKitten Zelda was too much. Too much fuzz, too much cuteness, too much sass.
So cool to go back in time with you.
ReplyDeleteI love your go-to pose. Legendary.
I still do that pose way more than a woman of my age probably should. Oh, well!
Delete