By the Numbers: 2014

Sunset at Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand

This past year was certainly not as travel-heavy as 2013, but Jonathan and I were still able to visit a few states and travel abroad once for our honeymoon. We also traveled quite a bit within the state of California throughout the year, including weekend trips to San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco, and multiple trips to the Central Valley for wedding-planning shenanigans.

The Best of 2014: Written

I'll most likely be absent from this blog until after the New Year as I celebrate the holidays (except for the second Semi-Charmed Winter 2014 Book Challenge check-in on January 1 of course; I promise I won't be late this time!), but I wanted to publish one last post of 2014 to share some of my favorites from the year. These are not necessarily the most popular posts of the year (I'll share those in my annual By the Numbers recap), but instead these are the posts I personally enjoyed writing the most. I hope you enjoy reading them as well!

The Best of 2014: Read

I'm a little nervous to post my top 10 books of the year today because I just picked up Leaving Time from the library yesterday, and we all know how much I love Jodi Picoult. But, The Broke and the Bookish is hosting a Top Ten Tuesday about the best books we read in 2014, and I just had to join in on the fun! So, pending any amazing books I may read in the next two weeks, here are my ten favorite books I read this year (all title links go to my Goodreads review):



My Name is Memory, Ann Brashares | This is my go-to book when people ask me for recommendations now. A must-read for anyone who enjoys time travel books and/or is looking for a good love story.

By the Numbers: 2013

I could pretend I waited until now to post this so it wouldn't get lost in all the other 2013 recaps in your blog feed, but let's face it: I just hadn't gotten around to compiling everything until now. :) My numerical summations of 2011 and 2012 were so fun, I thought I would do another one for 2013! Enjoy....

Dear 2013 ...

Photo via @mcstroup on Instagram

When I saw Amanda was co-hosting a "Dear 2013" link-up, I knew this would be the perfect way to recap the year. As I mentioned in my November recap post earlier this month, this year has been full of SO MUCH FUNNESS. (Yes, I am aware funness is not a word. And because I know this rule, I can break it. Ha!) Without further ado ...

The Best of 2013: Read

So I'm probably not going to reach my goal of reading 53 books this year, but I have read 39 already, and the even better news is that I thought eight of them deserved 5 stars! That means I absolutely loved more than 20 percent of the books I read this year, so I really can't complain about that. :) In no particular order, here are those eight special books:

A Year in Review: Life as an LC

Although I left my sorority's international headquarters on May 10, my last duty as a Leadership Consultant for Alpha Delta Pi just ended in Dallas this weekend, as the other consultants and I worked at the biannual Grand Convention.

This year was a whirlwind to say the least. For anyone who isn't Greek—or even those of you who are Greek but never experienced a consultant visit—this job probably sounds ridiculous. Some of us affectionately call ourselves "professional sorority girls," but really we serve many purposes: event planners, conversation experts, recruitment gurus, confidants, handywomen, and—of course—leadership consultants. No matter the specific purpose of our visit, we always met with the collegiate sorority officers to provide suggestions, analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the chapter, and develop detailed reports and chapter goals to help the organization continue to improve.

I already shared several of the things I learned during my first semester of this position, and now I'd like to share a few more:

By the Numbers: 2012

A year ago today, I posted a numerical summation of 2011. I decided to do the same thing for 2012, with a few different categories, and I also added a "most popular" section at the bottom. Enjoy!

Miles traveled by plane (everything else is too hard to count!): 56,615*
> 6,155 miles before I became a Leadership Consultant
> 36,542 miles as a Leadership Consultant
> 13,918 miles over Christmas vacation
Countries visited (not counting layovers, of course): 4
Austria | Hungary | Switzerland | France
States visited: 11
New Mexico | Missouri | California | Georgia | South Dakota
Arizona | Washington | Idaho | Illinois | Virginia | North Carolina
*Thanks, TripIt, for making it so easy for me to count my miles!

By the Numbers: 2011

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions, normally. I figure if I want to do something, I'll set a goal and do it; I don't need it to be January 1st to feel motivated. However, reading all my lovely fellow bloggers New Year's Resolutions posts has gotten me in the mood to set a few goals for myself. Before I do that, though, I think it's important to see what I've accomplished in the past year. So here's a rundown of 2011, by the numbers.