the last blog post of 2016

The Last Blog Post of 2016

2016 was my first year blogging on self-hosted WordPress and my all-time worst year of blogging output. I’ve barely cracked 100 posts, and I am officially declaring this one my Last Blog Post of 2016. After nearly ten years of doing this, I don’t feel a need to make excuses or apologies for inconsistency or offer promises to do better. I’m just grateful if you show up when I do!

2016: The Leap Year That Leaped Into the Abyss

Personally speaking, 2016 was probably a better year than 2015. No one in my family was diagnosed with cancer or spent a holiday in the hospital, so let’s start with that.  I spent time with my book-blogging BFFs in Chicago and celebrated ten years with my husband at Disneyland.  We still have our jobs, our house and our dog…and Hamilton.

But in the world outside our little world, this was a remarkably, memorably rotten year. The biggest reason not to be glad it’s nearly over is the fear that 2017 could be even worse. But if it is, at least we’ll be expecting it. Part of what’s made the past year so rough is that the hardest hits took so many of us by surprise.

The family dogs on Christmas Eve

Currently
  • Reading: I finished a couple of books right before Christmas, and I had no unread items in my feed reader on the morning of December 26. We had family visiting and lots to do over Christmas weekend, and I went back to work yesterday. Basically, I’m puttering right now.

Since my commuting time is greatly reduced during the holiday weeks, I’m in between audiobooks, too. I mentioned in my last Currently post that I might DNF Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist,  but recent events have made me rethink that, and I bought her two previous memoirs, Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic, from Audible yesterday. Princess Leia was quite a writer when she wasn’t saving the galaxy.

  • Watching: I’ve been to the movies five times in the last twelve days.  I saw Rogue One in three different theaters with three different groups of people between December 18th and 23rd. We saw La La Land on Christmas Day. And last Thursday night, I saw my very favorite movie on the big screen for the very first time when we went to a special American Cinematheque showing of The Princess Bride in Hollywood.
  • Writing: Obviously, this is one thing I have not been doing. One reason I’ve been puttering around reading-wise is that I have four finished books to write about, and I don’t want to get further behind. I haven’t worked on my Year in Review posts, either. I’m hoping to make progress on all of this over New Year’s weekend since we don’t have much else going on. On the bright side, I just might be well set for blog content to kick off 2017!
Further Reading: Year-end Lists and Reflections

Books of the Year from a variety of sources:

Reading, writing, and thinking:

Happy New Year! Thank you for being here, and I look forward to seeing you again in 2017!

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,318 other subscribers
Currently: Trying to Get Things DONE

Currently: Trying to Get Things DONE

When Everything On Your List is “In Progress” Currently, I feel like so many things in my life are in a state of partial completion. Surprisingly, compared to some years, we’re a little ahead on our holiday preparations. The gift shopping is almost finished and most of what we’re giving has been wrapped. Paul put up the Christmas tree last weekend, but we didn’t decorate it. (It’s pre-lighted, at least, so it hasn’t been sitting in the […]

Thankful for a Long Weekend [Show and Tell Sunday]

Thankful for a Long Weekend [Show and Tell Sunday]

My agency doesn’t give a holiday for the day after Thanksgiving, but everyone in my department took Friday off. I’m thankful for a long weekend and wishing it could be even longer! Paul and I had Thanksgiving Day to ourselves. The kitchen stayed quiet and we went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. I had the Thanksgiving Day special and my husband–no fan of turkey–ate filet mignon. We both got just what we […]

A September 11 story: On a day like any other, all things become imaginable

A September 11 story: On a day like any other, all things become imaginable

There are moments that the words don’t reach There is suffering too terrible to name You hold your child as tight as you can And push away the unimaginable —“IIt’s Quiet Uptown,” Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton; An American Musical On September 11, 2001, some things became less unimaginable. And even when we can push them away, we can’t keep them away for long. A day like any other…a day like no other September 11, 2001 started out […]

Show-and-Tell Sunday: A Change, A Break, and Christmas

Show-and-Tell Sunday: A Change, A Break, and Christmas

I have the entire week leading up to Christmas off from work! I’ll be baking and cooking and wrapping gifts. I’ll be spending time with family. In between, I have some reading lined up and I hope to do some writing. I’ve got a few reviews to catch up, and some end-of-year pieces to prepare…but when they’re done, I won’t be posting them here. I’m taking a few days off from the blog in order […]

Show-and-Tell Sunday: The Week That Was

Show-and-Tell Sunday: The Week That Was

Monday was exceptionally Monday-ish, Tuesday was unproductive for different reasons, but our CEO took the agency’s Leadership Team to lunch, and at least we got out of the office and the food we good. This was an appetizer. I’d have been fine with it all by itself! Wednesday was a day for catching up from Monday and Tuesday. Thursday was broken up by meetings.  On Friday, I assigned some work to the new staff member who […]

Show-and-Tell Sunday, No-Mo' NaBloPoMo

Show-and-Tell Sunday, No-Mo' NaBloPoMo

It happens. A blogger succeeds at posting daily for 30 days, then disappears for nearly a week after it’s all over. I could say I felt like I’d earned the break, but that would only be a partial explanation.  Since my father was released from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day, he’s needed more attention on a day-to-day basis. It’s fortunate that he, my sister, and I all live in the same town. It’s even more fortunate–for […]

Show-and-Tell Sunday: NaBloPoMo, 2 Days to Go

Show-and-Tell Sunday: NaBloPoMo, 2 Days to Go

Taking a noncommittal, one-week-at-a-time approach to NaBloPoMo–I honestly can’t remember if I officially signed up to participate–got me through four weeks of  daily blogging, so I’m not all that worried about seeing it through the last two days of November. I think what made it work was seeing it as an opportunity to mix up my content, try a few new things, and give some old things a new lease on life. Nonfiction November provided the […]

Show-and-Tell MONDAY: Recapping Sunday

Show-and-Tell MONDAY: Recapping Sunday

The day started with a motorcycle and ended in a hospital, but despite what you might suspect, one had nothing to do with the other! But to begin by backtracking, this happened last Sunday: Yesterday. Paul and I began our morning with a ride to Malibu on his motorcycle, where this happened along the way: When I took my phone out of my jacket pocket after we got home, I found this text: An hour […]

Show-and-Tell Sunday: Not Much of Either!

Show-and-Tell Sunday: Not Much of Either!

My one-week-at-a-time approach toNaBloPoMo has worked for 22 days, but this may be the week it falls apart. Last week was a crazy-busy one for work–meetings, producing reports, redesigning other reports–and a rotten one for reading. I’m close to the end of three different books, but haven’t managed to make enough reading time to actually finish any of them…and even if I did get there in the next day or two, I’m not seeing much […]

Show & Tell Sunday: Mid-November Edition

Show & Tell Sunday: Mid-November Edition

I finally made a graphic for this Sunday post thing I’ve been doing. My one-week-at-a-time approach to NaBloPoMo November worked for a second week, and it looks like I may be on track to make it a third. Some of you may be wondering what’s happened to the books, though. Well, as so often happens when the emphasis shifts to blogging, this thing has reared its head again: However, I do have two book discussions slated […]

Show & Tell Sunday: One Year with Winchester!

Show & Tell Sunday: One Year with Winchester!

On November 8, 2014, we brought home an addition to the family. Today we’re celebrating our first year with Winchester! Since he’s only four years old, we look forward to many more with him…even though he’s turned out not to be the dog we thought he was. The day we brought him home, and the first of many hours chilling on the couch with his best friend. Our little captain is on the bridge! There’s […]