• Location: Michigan
• Mood: busy
• Music: Mom sharpening knives

RETROSPECTIVE

here is something crazy about how fast time goes...it flies, it swoops, it zooms and I am left gasping again by the fact that it is once again the end of a year that sped by. It’s been a good year for all of us, and we only see good things for the year to come.


Family & Personal Highlights of 2018

• Keeping myself diabetes-free and my weight down
• Singing with Karin in a huge 1000 participant Gospelfest concert
• Anders participating in the year-long X-Cup mountain biking tournaments and Cykel Wasa
• My oldest best friend visiting for a week
• Martin home for 6 weeks in the spring
• A 3-week visit with my mom
• A weeklong visit with my brother and his family
• Karin’s senior prom and high school graduation
• Visits from our good friends Kathey and Russell, twice!
• Martin working the summer program and getting a job at his school
• Karin writing, managing, performing and singing in her school play
• Karin getting a summer job at Axis and then extended for 6 months
• Karin getting her driver’s license!
• Martin starting his sophomore year at college
• Getting Anders’ mom moved to assisted living
• A 3-week trip to Michigan for the holidays

I read 103 books this year, If I counted correctly, which isn’t certain because I trying to figure all this out on the app. So many of them were excellent books, it will be hard to pick the very best!

Best Books of 2018 (in no particular order and not including re-reads)

• Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper
• Last Will by Bryn Greenwood
• The Library Book by Susan Orlean
• Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
• Factfulness by Hans Rosling
• La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
• The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
• The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey
• Castle of Water by Dane Huckelbridge
• The Bookman’s Tale by Charlie Lovett
• Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
• The Mermaid by Christina Henry
• Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranti
• Sunday’s on the Phone to Monday by Christine Reilly
• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novak

Once again, I spent far more time on Instagram this year, enjoying beautiful art from all different kinds of artists, than I did finding new music on Spotify. I love my Spotify playlist and listen to it every day but this year I mainly managed to clean up the list instead of adding many new artists, but I did find a few:

Best New Artists of 2018

• H.E.R.
• Christine and The Queens
• LÉON
• Izzy Bizu
• Charlie Puth
• Frou Frou
• Portugal The Man

I actually kept track of the movies I watched this year for the very first time using the Letterboxed app. I watched 52 films! I wonder if that is more or less than usual...guess I will know after a few more years of keeping lists. Lists! The films that struck a chord were: Struck by Lightning, The Greatest Showman, The Prestige, Black Panther, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Coco, Tag, The Florida Project, I Tonya, About Time, Lady Bird, The Favourite, Mary Poppins Returns, and Bohemian Rhapsody.

The TV shows I've watched and enjoyed this year were: The Handmaid's Tale, Westworld, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Outlander, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. I feel like I’m forgetting something.

Some manageable goals for 2019

• Walk walk walk (and get a new treadmill)
• Continue with WW, keep weight down
• Replace the sofabed/couch in the playroom
• Do some major decluttering
• Get Martin's Klimt project prints framed
• Be more regular about posting here!

I expect 2019 to be a calmer year in every way, now that we are done with Karin’s graduation and all the visits. I am looking forward to a trip in the spring with my two best friends to Lisbon and possibly some traveling with work. We are awaiting the arrival of Kathey and Russell just in time to wrap up the end of the year, and spending some more quality time with my mom before we head back to Sweden. Happy New Year!