Striving to Live a Life of Adventure, Excellence, and Faith.

2018 Recap

Overall, this past year was a good year.  It had some low points (two surgeries in two months), but it also had some high points too. I thought it would be fun to look through some fun pictures from the past years and see some fun highlights.

We kicked off the New Year in Nashville watching the Predators play and then followed by a New Year's Eve concert by our favorite Jimmy Buffett. 

January was non-stop and work projects that filled my calendar.
By the time Valentine's Day rolled around,
I was so excited that my hubby sent me these beautiful flowers.

We also celebrated Jamie's Birthday with a quiet dinner at home and cake. 

My sweet friend Tammy came to visit, and it was so good to see her and catch up. 

I also celebrated my amazing friend Carol's Retirement from Virginia Tourism.
This woman and I have laughed so much over the past few years,
and I truly miss working with her.

In early April, things started going down hill as we lost our sweet Scooter Man Davis to a cancerous tumor.  It was so hard to say goodbye, and our house has never been the same.

April also brought 4 different trips to the hospital (2 ER visits and 2 surgeries).
After several weeks, and post surgery, I started feeling a little better.
But, some of the issues that came up during the surgeries lasted until October.

Matt also signed up for another season of softball.  
This was the ONLY game I made it to in the Spring (maybe even fall.) 

I was lucky enough to find time to spend with these two awesome friends too. 

On April 24, we lost ButterMan Davis.  He was our last Davis Boy, and it was sooo hard to say goodbye. He died 6 months to the day of us loosing Lil Man Davis. That meant that lost all 3 three of our cats in 6 months.  They were 17 years old, and they lived great lives, but man was it hard.
Our house was sooo quiet and sad place this summer.

In June, we headed to the beach with Little Bit Davis. 

Our vacation crossed over with mom and dad's vacation, as well as the Montgomery's vacation, 
so we all met up for dinner. 

This child made the trip.  We had so much fun with her. 

When we returned home from vacation, we hosted Matt's 40th Birthday Party. 
We had a great time celebrating, and of course we themed it Margaritaville. 


In August, we added these two precious kittens to our family. 
Lily Cane and Isabel Cane Davis (named after hurricanes)

In September, I headed to the UK to be part of the Long Road music festival. 

Before the Festival we got to visit Kensington Palace  
(I took this photo from the gardens on my phone. How beautiful.)

We also were able to visit Buckingham Palace

And, I was able to cross off this Bucket List item and visit Highclere Castle where
Downton Abbey is filmed.

I made it back in time to celebrate and work another Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion.

And, even found time to catch a little music with my dad during the Festival too.

In October, life slowed down a little and Dustin and I headed to an ETSU Football Game. 

And, Lily Davis was settling in just fine with Matt.  LOL!

Matt and I also headed to a corn maze with our friends - The Montgomery's. 

And, November brought Christmas Tree cutting and Thanksgiving.


December brought my Birthday, and Matt and I really enjoyed just spending the day together.

The next night, my good friend Nikki and I saw Elf at the Barter Theatre. 

We got an unexpected snow in early December too, which was gorgeous.

And, the kittens grew and grew!

I also got to spend lots of time with this awesome girl a lot this year. 

Nikki, Ryana, and I spent time with Ryana before she left for Cambodia.
We hosted the Malone Family Christmas Dinner at our house the weekend before Christmas. 

Then my childhood best friend, Summer and I headed to see Mary Poppins in theaters.

I also had time to catch up with my college best friend Melanie, before she went back to Switzerland.

And, through it all, Matt and I enjoyed another year together 
and looking forward to all the future holds.

Now that brings us here to the year end!

As I’ve started work on setting 2019 goals in my PowerSheets, but before I get too ahead of myself, I wanted to do a quick reflection on progress of my 2018 goals.

2018 Goals Reflection + PROGRESS 

Goal #1 - Be Intentional in Growing Closer tot he Lord
I saw some good growth with this goal.  I successfully read through the bible in a year, following the Chronological Reading Plan.  I also was able to have longer quiet times every other week or so. 

Goal #2 - Be Disciplined with Daily Nutrition
This goal saw a little improvement.  During the Fall, I began eating around 1500 calories per day and lost 35lbs in 3 months.  I hope to continue this trend in 2019, as I have a lot more weight I would like to loose.

Goal #3 - Be Disciplined with Fitness

I actually started off the year strong on this habit, but after getting sick in April and May, I completely stopped working out.  Hoping to ease back into it next month.

Goal #4 - Be Disciplined with Healthy Habits
This goal included making sleep a habit (getting around 8 hours every night), as well as being more proactive in setting doctor's appointments, taking better care of my skin, and keeping a clean and organized home.  I was excited to say that all these things happened.

Goal #5 - Love Matt Well

I am so blessed to be married to Matt, and I just love our marriage.  This year, we celebrated his 40th Birthday and went on a few dates; however, in 2019 I would like to find more ways to "date" my husband and show him how much I love him.

Goal #6 - Encourage and Love Family and Friends Well
This goal included sending Birthday and Anniversary cards, celebrating milestones, and spending time with my family and friends.  I would say I did okay on this, but really want to do better in 2019.

Goal #7 - Be Disciplined with our Finances
A mountain of health related bills did not help this area in our lives this year, but its a major goal of ours in 2019.

Goal #8 - Introduce Fun and Adventure into my Life
Okay of all the goals, this is the one I bombed.  I mean totally did not move forward at all.  I had all these dreams of hiking, biking, golfing, playing tennis, and so much more.  But, I let life get in the way and didn't make this a priority at all.

Goal #9 - Cultivate Hobbies and Fun into my Life
This goal was full of taking time to read, blog, and so much more.  I would say I ended the year stronger than I started.

Goal #10 - Be disciplined in growing in my career, becoming a servant leader.
I took opportunities this year to really get back in the weeds and get my hands dirty (so to speak) to relearn a lot of digital and social media marketing skills.  I still have a lot of growth I want to do, but this was definitely a year of relearning, and that felt so good. 

Later this week week I’ll be sharing my 2019 goals as well as my word of the year! In the mean time, here are some great resources to do your own reflection and goal setting work:

Lara Casey's Goal Setting Online Workshop - Click HERE. 

Cultivate What Matter's PowerSheets - Click HERE

This goal setting series has been so helpful to me over the past few years, and if you are looking to plan ahead and set 2019 Goals and give yourself vision for the year ahead, I recommend this Goal Setting Series. 

Happy New Year's Eve Friends!

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