10 Things I Learned in 2013

2013 was a great year. It was my third year blogging, my third year being married, and my fourth year being a homeowner. As the year is coming to a close in just a few hours, here are 10 (somewhat random) things I learned over the past year:

1. This was a lighter year for us with the DIY which made me realize how fun it is to actually live in the home we work so hard to fix up. We didn’t do as many projects this year, so I had more time to focus on organizing our home and doing more decorating. And there was a healthy dose of simply relaxing and enjoying myself.

2. Painting the laundry room really did make doing laundry more pleasant.

3. Every blogger should attend a blog conference. I’m really not exaggerating. I learned so much and met so many great people.

4. Instead of feeling anxious all the time about not posting on here enough, I’ve embraced that I would rather post when I have something I’m excited to share rather than posting for the sake of posting…more of a quality over quantity approach.

5. I love how the bathroom we remodeled turned out, but I realized that for us, hiring contractors for things I could probably figure out myself is almost as much work and stress as just doing the work myself.

6. Prior to this year, I feel like I didn’t share all that much about myself. I’m not sure what I was worried about, but I have learned to let that go. I’m really excited to share more about our financial independence goals, simple living, and less is more approach. Starting this is daunting, though. I have million ideas and writers block at the same time.

7. After 32 years, I have come to learn that I like oranges. Mandarin oranges to be exact. Prior to this, I had not yet found an orange I liked. The chewy white stuff and texture always got to me. It was a big day for me when Marty shared a wedge of his mandarin orange and I actually liked it.

8. In past years, Marty and I would go for lots of walks around the neighborhood and nearby park in the warmer months, and then come winter we would only venture out on unseasonably warm days. This is the first winter where we have bundled up on even the cold days and gone for after dinner walks, and I’ve learned how fun it is. I may look like the marshmallow man walking around, but it’s kind of peaceful since we are often the only ones out.

9. Audiobooks have been my big entertainment discovery of the year. Even better is that the library has tons that are free to download. I used to get so frustrated when I would search for an e-book on my library’s website and they only had the audio version for download. I kept wondering who listened to those. Ha. I know better now. They are great for getting to those books I would not normally have the time to sit down and read because I can listen to them when I’m prepping dinner, doing stuff around the house, driving, etc. I also find them more entertaining at the gym than music or flipping through channels on the cardio machine TVs.

10. And finally, I have really come to understand much I truly appreciate all of you guys, my readers. You make blogging so fun and worthwhile.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and wishing you all a wonderful 2014!

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