I keep writing in my morning pages that I want to start blogging again, but writing in my journal is not actually making it happen. There’s no time like the new year, though, so here’s a bit of a review of 2018 and a promise that I’ll hopefully be back more often. I get ideas in my head during breaks from school that I can do all the things, so we’ll see how this goes. This post got a little longer than intended, but when you are wrapping an entire year, I guess that’s how it goes!

A year of art

I made a lot of art this year. I started right away in January with a Lisa Congdon painting class from Creativebug.com and I never really looked back.

I post a lot about my art projects on Instagram and did a round up of the journals and art I had made over the year a few weeks ago. Much of my visual art has been through art journals.

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My stack of journals and artwork from 2018 (so far!). Four months of daily painting projects (January through March plus October). Two complete #getmessyartjournal journals, one is the daily project from Creativebug in September. Two books I made that aren’t finished on the inside. My hobonichi and a doodle sketchbook that’s mostly inspired by Lisa Congdon. My current art journals. My morning pages notebooks. And a stack of index cards from #dyicad2018 that I remembered after the initial picture.

A post shared by Suzanne Earley (@suzanne_earley) on Dec 16, 2018 at 12:27pm PST

A year of stitching

I spent a lot of time with needle and thread this year, too. I have done a ton of embroidery and even finished a couple of quilts, including this Christmas quilt that’s been in the works for (mumble-mumble) years.

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I can’t remember when I started this quilt. It’s been several years. I started quilting it last year and have just thisorning finished the last of the quilting. Still needs a binding, of course. When I decided to do my #meanderingmagic feathers for the background, I knew I could, but I didn’t ask myself if I should. By the time I did, it was too late, so here we are. Of course, I’m glad I did, it just took awhile…. #quilting #christmasquilt #longarmquilting#machinequilting#longarmquilter#twasthenightbeforechristmas

A post shared by Suzanne Earley (@suzanne_earley) on Dec 29, 2018 at 7:46am PST

A year of change

I got fed up with my health this year and made a bunch of changes, for my skin I used under eye patches

I started seeing a new chiropractor in March and have seen a huge improvement in my back and neck pain.

I started WW in March and lost 42 pounds.

I was stunned to find out that I had gall stones and had my gall bladder removed in May. I had no idea so many of my symptoms for more than a year were my gallbladder. Pay attention to your body!

A year of pictures

I completed a daily photography project. A photo (almost) every day. I missed one in August (the day before the first day of school) and in November when I had stopped actively taking a photo a day, but still managed to take one all but one day. Clicking any of the thumbnails below will take you to the full picture on Flickr.

A year of reading

I read a lot of books. I keep track of them on GoodReads. My top read of 2018 was probably “The Poet X” by Elizabeth Acevedo, but I read a lot of other great books, too, so it’s hard for me to pick just one or even 10. Below are the covers of everything I read (and logged) in 2018. I read a lot of picture books, too, but I guess I don’t track those!

A year of travel

I tried to go to NYC in March to see Hamilton, but an enormous snowstorm stranded me in Houston for a day, before I flew back to Des Moines.

In April, I flew to Florida for a visit to Disney World with my sister and her girls and then a family wedding.

In July, we took our annual family vacation, this time to the East Coast, with Bar Harbor, Maine as our ultimate destination.

Mark and I visited St. Louis for Labor Day.

For Christmas, we took a skiing vacation to Lutsen Mountain. The guys all skiied, I stayed in the hotel and stayed busy with books and projects.

Looking forward

I’m trying to get this finished up and published before the clock turns to midnight. I’ll come back tomorrow and write something about my goals and plans for 2019.