Wrap of 2025

 

Another year over and a new one begun.

Some highlights from last year:

Adventures:

1. Visited a steam Cider Mill
2. Hiked Rim to Rim at the Grand Canyon
3. Hiked in Acadia National Park
4. Took a horseback ride through the battlefields of Gettysburg 
5. Finished a 5K run/walk (first race since high school)
6. Picked flowers at a tulip farm
7. Visited friends in Seattle area
8. Went to a Fancy Tea
9. Visits with friends

Writing: 

1. Wrote a Summer Romance Article for SLJ 
2. Wrote a romance post for Teen Librarian Toolbox
3. Created a YA Romance Book Trope Database

Work: Hosted LOTS of programs

1. We had a fantastic evening with Sarah Beth Durst
2. Had baby goats comes visit us
3. Wally the Green Monster stopped by
4. Helped create a life-sized Candy Land game 

Books and Blogs:

1. Read a lot of great books
2. Attended James Ponti Author Event
3. So many blog hits this year 
4. Achieved my Goodreads book challenge
5. Wrote more than 350 blog posts this year

It wasn't all good, but I'm trying to focus more on the good than the negative. These moments made me happy. 

Wrap of 2024

2024 is over and it was a year!

Pictures:

I met Mychal Treets at our CT Librarian Annual Conference

I hiked in Glacier National Park

Went to a pop-up Gingerbread Bar

Saw the Northern Lights (finally) with friends

Visited Hyde Park

Vacationed in Ocean City, Maryland where we saw wild horses

I completed some goals and not others...

I did complete my reading goal of 225 books

I did not reach the 500 picture book reading goal

I did not reach my blogging goal of 350 blog posts

BUT I did reach 2 million views on my blog!

I did spend the year highlighting middle grade books

I did paint more

I failed at paper quilling

I did try resin - made a huge mess in the kitchen

My home library is more organized - my work office, not so much

Reviewed a bunch of books for Fresh Fiction and a couple for SLJ

Highlights of the Year

Visiting Glacier National Park

Visiting Banff 

Saw my friends in Seattle - we went to a Wallaby farm

Visited friends in Knoxville where we saw Northern Lights

Attended a James Ponti author event

Attended an event with Kristan Higgins and Kate White with author friend Regina Kyle (sadly, I took no pictures)

Visited Elizabeth Park for the tulips 

Interviewed a favorite middle grade author, Jessica Burkhart

Visited Nantucket with family

Wrote a mini essay for KidLit for Kamala on my experience with book banning

Ate lots of ice cream from Mel's and other sweet treats

I was sent lots of great books from publishing folks

There were some hard moments too, but not as easy to talk about those things.

 Some of them happened indirectly to me, so I'm not sharing those.

Conference proposal rejected - which I thought was a sure thing

After visiting the doctor, I have high cholesterol - so I've worked hard to change the way I eat, which has been a struggle. I do love sweets and cheese. Everything in moderation. 

What were some of your highlights from the year?