‘Tis the season for reflection and introspection, and, in keeping with tradition from the last few years, my list of 25 Things in 2016.
I swear, this task never gets any easier to complete, but I love looking back over my year to round up the big and not-so-big moments that made it what it was.
- Boldest move of the year – branching out to teach yoga on my own!
- Biggest trip, and most amazing yogini’s long weekend ever happened thanks to Wanderlust @ Aspen/Snowmass. Incredible.
- Biggest semester of #adjunctlife came this fall with seven hours offered (and I’m slotted to do 10 in the spring – yikes!).
- First trip* to Houston to visit my brother and see him get married! ❤ This one also gets an asterisk accomplishment for flying with four kiddos (and thankfully three other grownups!).
- Made the cut at HVFH and had several articles accepted for publication after the site moved away from their monthly publication rotation. Still hoping to one day earn coffee. 😉
- Tried and didn’t freak out and even kind of loved aerial yoga. Holy arm workout!
- Trimmed my own bangs for most of the year. Let that explain their occasional awesomeness and total randomness and haphazardness!
- Wrote 92 blog posts! Well, I think. That requires counting and I don’t math, so….
- Read 50 books! That one I know, thanks to keeping tabs!
- Started cupping with Ben (our backs and shoulders) and just before the Olympics made it cool.
- Pumped every blessed night from July to November so we could know how much Trumy was getting in his last feeding of the day. EVERY. NIGHT. Bless the mamas out there who pump exclusively or at work or at all – it is a pro-cess.
- I hugged Glennon!
- Took on my first private yoga client. Very fun!
- Discovered what it is like to really breathe clearly and smell ALL the things. No joke – my nose is so legit post-surgery, I spent most of the year thinking I might be pregnant, but nope – just uber smeller!
- All but stopped buying drive-thru coffee. Yay, me. Yay, FPU! 😉
- Which brings me to….participated in my first official Financial Peace University class. We’re still working on our debt snowball, but making great progress (see above about #adjunct life).
- Designed my very own (and accidentally patriotic) mala. I adore it.
- Got a couple’s tattoo (queen’s crown for me, king’s for him) to celebrate our 10th anniversary in August.
- Voted for the first female POTUS candidate.
- Took live, in-person, holy fan girl moments! yoga classes from Kathryn Budig, Seane Corne, Rod Stryker, and MC Yogi.
- Played taxi service for the middles to preK all the live-long days of the fall semester.
- Watched, for the first time, all seven seasons plus new episodes of Gilmore Girls. In five weeks. I am not exactly proud of that.
- Thanks to Lincoln, I listened to “Hold On” by Walk Off the Earth approximately 10,000 times on Spotify.
- Started going to streamline swim classes, and while I did freak out and I don’t exactly love it yet, I am going to keep at it.
- Began a daily meditation practice that has at times fallen off the map, but is back in full force and with a grand goal to start off 2017.
And that’s it! That’s the year! I could go on and on 
about this, the Year of the Appliance and Car Maintenance, but really this list is full of love and growth, so maybe 2016 wasn’t such a kick in the pants after all. Or, if it was, it was a kick in the right direction with so much excitement for things to come in 2017.
Bring it, New Year!
And a happy one to all of you, too!
The Modern Maiasaura 