I know most of you don't give a shit about perusing a summary of my year, so I put some blog post highlights immediately below this paragraph so you can see if you missed anything you might like. You can click on anything that's a different color and it will take you to that post.
Blog Post Highlight Reel
Good for you. I mean it. Islands in the stream of consciousness from the massage table
Time is Money - how I'm cutting down on running around
I know this much is true
Plum Paper packages tied up with strings
Road Trip tips & tales
The day the Comcast cable died
Where I'm from
The other side of fear
Types of Assholes at the Park + Ride
I'm the person who...
I'm going through a phase.
Self Esteem Boot Camp
These dreams go on when I close my eyes
I'm too old for this shit
Crowd favorite MFD posts ran monthly January through December.
Show Us Your Books celebrated its first anniversary in October. All Show Us Your Books posts can be found here, and my top 10 books I read in 2015 can be found here.
Cooking: recipes I laid on your table this year
Mimi's bacon breakfast muffins, Veggie Soup for the Soul, Egg in a Mug (from Nicole Marica), Breakfast burritos (freezable), krauty chicken, orange kielbasa in the crock, No bake energy bites, butternut squash mac & cheese-ish, oven baked ribs, holiday double cheese scalloped potatoes, cucumber salsa, iced coffee in bulk, easy breezy dinner, cold taco dip, veggie pizzas, reese's peanut butter s'mores in the oven, yo quiero taco cup, egg sandwiches (freezable), fire in the hole bites, once upon a turchicken burger, loaded cauliflower bowls, to brine or not to brine: let's talk turkey, it's all greek to me salad (from my mom), dog stew AKA poop soup (for dogs),
A huge benefit of this blog for me is having a place to store my memories and lists and life events, so I'm a fan of the yearly look back. Before I figure out where I'm going next year, I want to review where I'm coming from. It makes sense to me. I vary how I do these posts every year, and this year it's monthly. Sort of.
Life Highlight Reel
January: Mummer's Parade January - Cibo with Jill & Frank. February: friends dinner at our house. March: Dirty Dancing on stage with Carol and the ladies in Michelle's family - My birthday weekend in Niagara Falls March 14-16
April: Celebrating the Diva's first birthday - March of Dimes Walk for Babies with Team Eva the Diva. May: Beverly Hills 90210 Gay Bingo - Memorial Day wknd at Melissa's - Memorial Day wknd part two at the lake
June: Jimmy & Jackie's annual Flag Day party, Annual Shook BBQ, live music at Crossing Vineyards, family day on the boards in OCNJ, dinner at Tallulah's, David Gray and Amos Lee (with Andy) in concert at the Mann Music Center
June into July: family vacation in Emerald Isle
July: Girls' Weekend at the Lake, Girls' weekend in Boston & Maine, impromptu weekend in Stone Harbor around a Ferko concert with a stop in Sea Isle to hang with the Sannellis. Also, hair chop.
August: First annual Sannelli Doyle day in Asbury Park to see Gringo Motel, celebrating Jill's 30th, bowling, Billy Joel concert at Citizen's Bank Park, weekend at the lake
September: a weekend at the Villas for MFD's birthday, during which we found out we got the shore house we put a bid in on, Sean's last semester at Villanova, checking out Spruce Street Harbor Park before eating at Vetri for MFD's birthday. Fifth anniversary road trip: Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Black Hills, Deadwood, Devil's Tower, Little Bighorn, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Jackson.
October: Our 20th high school reunion on Spirit of Philadelphia, my fabulous niece Lola graced the world with her presence, we closed on our shore house, Philly Cheesesteak Festival with Marla, dogs as Star Wars crew for Halloween.
November: Pancreatic Cancer walk with the family in honor of my grandmom, friends dinner at Bistro di Marino, Zahav with Mark & Sarah, shore house work crews, my little girlfriend Amelia is born, Thanksgiving volunteering and at the shore
December: A weekend alone at the shore, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Dad & Carol's Christmas Party, Christmas
I would be remiss if I left today without thanking you for joining me for another 365 days around the sun. If there's anything you'd like to see on this blog, I'm always open to suggestions - please leave a comment or email me (lifeaccordingtosteph@gmail.com). While I appreciate you reading this year, I'm even more grateful for the interactions via comments on here, email, Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. The interactions are the threads that tie this hobby together for me and I appreciate them and you for reading.
