5 Years Blogging - A Retrospective: 2007

This is the second in a series of five navel-gazing retrospective posts celebrating my five years of blogging in which I offer my top five posts for each year. For the first post looking back at 2006, click here. Also stay tuned for a celebratory giveaway at the end!

Having been an urbanite for a full year, 2007 didn't offer as much novelty as my first year living in the city, but it was no less full.

2007 was about a hiking, hiking and more hiking, and backcountry camping for the first time. It was about re-learning to be in a relationship and balancing that with my newly found sense of identity and independence. It was about listening to the whales under the moonlight with D. in Grand Manan, New Brunswick, and driving 12 hours to New Brunswick a few months later with Sis for a weekend of music at Mom & Dad's. It was about joining a weekly writing group, completing NaBloPoMo and dealing with what felt like the snowiest winter ever. And finally, it was about going back to work after an 11-month sabbatical, one of the biggest events to impact my energy that year.

my cozy urban balcony space

Here are my top five posts:

Sabbatical Reflections - Part I - I started feeling the strain of my impending return to work after 11 months off, but was - and still am - forever grateful for my sabbatical experience.

Grand Manan Pics Pre-fog and Post-fog - OK, I'm cheating here and including two posts in one entry, but I can't include one and not the other. Our camping trip to Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, was downright magical. Whales below our cliff-top campsite, two full days of hiking and two bald eagle sightings. 'Nuf said.

view from our Grand Manan campsite

On Creativity... - Musings on how creativity must be part of my calling and how it made me feel alive and content. An awakening no doubt.

A Good Day - Short, sweet, powerful.

Meatpie Madness - Chronicling my first meatpie making adventure. Classic!

a tired me and a tired Cassie after a weekend of backcountry camping

Stay tuned for 2008...

5 Years Blogging - A Retrospective: 2006

This month I celebrate my fifth blogging anniversary. <Cue wild applause from the crowd!>

I'm sometimes quick to berate myself when I don't stick to things (though it might just mean I've learned what I set out to learn - but that's a whole other blog post); this year I choose to give myself credit where credit is due.

I set out blogging January 25, 2006 and I'm still here. Huzzah!

To celebrate I decided to have a little fun - well, at least it's fun for me - and comb through my blog posts to come up with five favourites for each of the five years. There's no real rhyme or reason behind my choices, I just chose posts that spoke to me, brought back good memories, or maybe reflected an important development/experience/breakthrough of that year.

So if you will let me indulge in a little narcissism, the next few weeks will include, among other things, five retrospective posts and maybe a little celebratory something for you at the end for still being here!

Here goes...

2006: An Urban Living Experiment begins

After a failed reconciliation attempt with my then husband and partner for 13 years, I moved to a delicious little 1920s apartment in the city with slanted hardwood floors, a bright red kitchen and proximity to all the city could offer to a first time urbanite. I parallel parked for the first time (no dings!), discovered old movies and took pole dancing lessons. I started an 11-month sabbatical from work, learned how to rebuild a home, a social network and a sense of self. I even started letting down the walls I'd built around me and found a liking for a certain Mr. D.

slanted floors

I wrote 140 posts that year. Here are my top five:

Introducing - My very first post evah. I had no clue where this blogging thing would go.

The Pheonix: Ashes and Hope - Rebuilding a solo life had its ups, but it had some pretty severe downs too. Luckily hope rises from the ashes.

red kitchen, Mémère's apron

Me, My Car, My Travel Mug - A Trip Report - My first solo trip down east (home) in my little blue Civic. This was a HUGE thing given that just two years before I was terrified of driving in the city, had never put gas in a car and my husband drove me everywhere. I even managed to drive through Montreal. Yeah baby!

3 Circles of Friends, 3 Amazing Outings - When I lost my marriage I lost my social network. A big part of 2006 was building confidence in taking social risks and discovering that I could make friends on my own. Not bad for a woman in her thirties.

curlicued radiators

Comfort on a Cool October Night - Part of rediscovering my sense of self included discovering what brought me comfort. This post is tiny, but it still soothes me today.

girly lamp

Coming soon, 2007...