The Year in Review

Let's not sugar coat it, 2014 was a tough year. But when you look past the rough spots, it was a pretty good year. 

The Good:

I finally decided to stop being like Van Wilder and graduated

My sister got married in Jamaica and I took a ton of pictures

A trip to OBX proved group vacations aren't all that bad

The Bad:

I miscarried over the summer and while it sucked BIG TIME, the love from all of you lifted my spirits

I think I started to really open up more on the blog, sharing things like

Singing in Inappropriate Places

My struggle with depression after Robin Williams' suicide

Dave and me beating each other up at night

I wrote a short story and shared it here: Part 1 Part 2

Music that meant something to me

My Simpsons themed wedding

And sometimes Life smacked me in the face and said "wake up dumb ass!", like

When I got handed a "sign" wrapped up neatly in a little metaphorical bow

Finding a beautiful place both physically and mentally

Plus a few other favorite posts, like

Dave's promise to never leave my pizza burning

Having awesome women in my life

Winter isn't all that bad

I set a goal for myself (besides  my 14 in '14 challenge) on Goodreads to read 35 books which I've surpassed and read 47. I want to set a goal next year for 50 books, but it might be a little high reaching. We'll see. Anyway, here's my top 5 favorite books from the year:

1. This is Where I Leave You

2. Gone Girl

3. Every Day

4. The Husband's Secret

5. The Alchemist

Steph shared a really good quote on her year in review post: "There are years that ask questions and years that answer." This definitely was a year that questioned a lot for me. We shall see what 2015 brings....

Favorite Podcasts

It takes me a while to get "with the times". I discover something and think it's amazing and then someone will tell me "uh Nicole? This has been around for years." Podcasts would be one of those things. When I upgraded my iPhone, the podcast app was brought to my attention. Now I know podcasts have been around for years but they weren't something I thought I had easy access to until now. 

Now I'm obsessed. I listen to podcasts all day, every day. I'm pretty sure I'm annoying my boss with the whole "huh? what? you're talking to me? ugh hang on let me pause and take my earphones out".

Here are my current favorites:

1. Serial

Is there anyone out there who hasn't heard of Serial? They just wrapped up the final episode of Season 1, and it's become the most popular podcast of all time. I never thought I'd look forward to a Thursday, then Serial came around and I couldn't wait for Thursdays to come so I could listen in to the new episodes. 

2. Screen Junkies: Movie Fights

Screen Junkies is responsible for the hilarious "honest trailers" on YouTube, and their "Movie Fights" podcast is just as entertaining. Each podcasts features debates like "who was the best James Bond" or "What did you think of the new light saber". It's led to some pretty good debates between Dave and I.

3. Risk! True Tales Boldly Told

This is by far my favorite podcast. So much so I've maxed out the storage space on my phone downloading back episodes. I currently have 99 in the queue and a few more that can be downloaded. Risk! is a podcast where people tell stories about themselves that wouldn't be something they'd probably share with others. Fair warning, foul language is abundant in this podcast and some episodes are definitely NC-17-ish. Definitely not for the conservative type.

4. Welcome to Night Vale

Welcome to Night Vale is a fictional podcast about a small town set in a desert. It's a really weird podcast but it's enjoyable if you like to listen to audio books. 

5. Books on the Nightstand

Two people who work in the publishing industry created this podcast to talk about books. If you're the kind of person who likes to get ideas about the next book they should read, what more do you need?

6. The Cracked Podcast

I love Cracked's app, it's just full of random articles that I really enjoy reading. This podcast is an offshoot of their articles, which means once I've scoured through all the most recent articles I can then listen to them talk about it even more. 

7. Stuff You Missed in History Class

As someone who enjoys history, I love hearing about more obscure moments in history that you don't normally hear about. Not only does it give me tidbits of knowledge to share with others, but I'm also learning about things I would have never known about.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas (or Happy Holidays if you celebrate something else!) from me, Dave, Nibbler and Squishee!

May your day be merry and bright! 

A Christmas Card of Sorts

Dave's dad includes a "year in review" letter in his Christmas cards each year. It's something I always enjoy reading. Since it'd be creepy for me to ask all of you for your addresses so I could send you a Christmas card (and expensive to boot!), I thought I'd share the card I sent to family and friends this year with my own little year in review.

This year has certainly been a year for the books. We've definitely had some highs and lows, but luckily there have been more highs than lows. I graduated in May and began grad school in the fall. I just finished the first semester up and did very well. 

In June, Dave and I traveled to Jamaica for my sister's wedding. While there Dave was able to scuba dive and take in some sights. Unfortunately I didn't get to join him but hopefully we'll have many chances in the future to do so. In October, we joined a few friends in OBX for a few days and had an excellent trip. In doing so, we've also knocked off another state from our "visit 50 states" bucket list dream and are up to 10 states visited!

Nibbler and Squishee turned 4 in August. They're both still as cuddly as ever and currently treat the tree as their new toy box. I wake up each morning to find at least 2 new toys under the tree and the tree skirt askew. I like to think that they're just trying to give Dave and I a few presents as well. 

2015 is approaching much quicker than I expected, but as with each new year I'm excited to see what it will bring. Happy holidays to you and yours!

All my love,

Because Everyone Should be Able to Eat Pizza

This post is sponsored by Smart Flour, as always all opinions are my own. 

I recently decided to host a small tree trimming party with a few friends. It wasn't a big, extravagant event but I still wanted to be a good host to my friends and provide them with a good treat to snack on after they helped me decorate the tree.  

I had some gluten free pizzas from Smart Flour that I thought would be perfect to share with them. One of my friends suffers from Celiac's disease and the one thing she said she misses the most about eating gluten is pizza. What better way to say "thanks for helping me trim my tree!" than to surprise her with the one meal she misses? 

The first thing my friend said after her first bite was "are you sure this is gluten free?" The crust was crunchy and perfect. I don't normally eat the crust off my pizzas but even I ate it, and enjoyed it. Needless to say the pizzas did not last long and everyone was raving how good they are. 

I'm not going to lie you guys, I shy away from gluten free products. It's like fat free cream cheese to me, I just want to hiss at it and run away. Smart Flour's gluten free pizza is different. It was absolutely delicious and definitely something I'd enjoy again.

The pre-made pizza comes in three flavors, Garden Margharita, Classic Cheese, and Uncured Pepperoni. My personal favorite was the pepperoni. Crusts are also available for purchase if you want to make your own pizza. If you're interested in checking out Smart Flour's products, they have a handy list of locations here.