2016 Thoughts, Resolutions, Re-caps, Bests
It’s time for my annual blog of thoughts regarding the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017! I realize that 2016 is generally being regarded as a “bad” year, but there were some good things about it as well. In terms of my personal life it was actually quite an amazingly wonderful year that I will look back on fondly!
As always to kick things off, here are, in my opinion, THE *BESTS* OF 2016:
BEST ALBUM: A Moon Shaped Pool - Radiohead
(Released: May 8, 2016)
Honourable mentions (in order of release) go to:
Blackstar - David Bowie (Released: January 8, 2016)
Midnight Machines - LIGHTS (Released: April 8, 2016)
Terrible Thrills, Vol. 2 (vinyl) - Bleachers (Released: April 16, 2016)
Good Times! - The Monkees (Released: May 27, 2016)
Side Effects - Dallas Smith (Released: September 2, 2016)
BEST MOVIE: Hello, My Name is Doris
(Released: March 11, 2016)
Honourable mentions (in order of release) go to:
Zootopia (Released: March 4, 2016)
Bad Moms (Released: July 29, 2016)
The Little Prince (Released: August 5, 2016)
The Edge of Seventeen (Released: November 18, 2016)
La La Land (Released: December 9, 2016)
BEST (new to me) MONTREAL RESTAURANT THAT I TRIED: Toqué!
(Chef Normand Laprise high-end market-fresh Québécois - 900 Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle)
Honourable mentions (in alphabetical order) go to:
Café Joe (Casual breakfast joint - 3068 Rue Saint Antoine Ouest)
Elio Pizzeria (Neapolitan Italian - 351 Rue de Bellechasse)
Joe Beef (Chefs Frédéric Morin & David McMillan high-end rustic Québécois - 2491 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest)
Nonya (Indonesian - 151 Rue Bernard Ouest)
Rustique (Rustic pies and desserts - 4615 Rue Notre-Dame Ouest)
BOOKS THAT I READ IN 2016:
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
Yoga Bitch by Suzanne Morrison
A Desirable Residence by Madeleine Wickham
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The Yoga Birth Method by Dorothy Guerra
Shopaholic to the Rescue by Sophie Kinsella
Aim True by Kathryn Budig
I hope that if you give any of my picks a try that you'll love them as much as I do!!
IN 2016 I TRAVELED TO THESE PLACES:
Regina, Saskatchewan X 4
Ottawa, Ontario X 6
Bangkok, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Krabi/Phi Phi Islands, Thailand
Bali, Indonesia
El Nido, Philippines
Osaka, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Tokyo, Japan
Edmonton, Alberta
Calgary, Alberta
Toronto, Ontario X 2
Muskoka, Ontario X 2
Laurentians, Quebec
London, Ontario
New York City, New York, USA
This was a difficult choice because I also loved Tokyo so much!! But I’m choosing Chiang Mai as my favourite travel destination of the year. The food, the culture, the animal encounters, the tree house that we stayed in... It was all beyond magical.
IN 2016 I SAW THESE BANDS PLAY LIVE:
Vance Joy
Hedley X 6
Carly Rae Jepsen X 4
Joel Plaskett
Passenger
Beirut
The Lumineers
HAIM
Death Cab for Cutie
Lana Del Rey
MØ
BØRNS
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
M83
Radiohead
The Most Loyal
I Mother Earth
Our Lady Peace
No question, Radiohead was the best live band that I saw this year. It was like a religious experience for me. The set list that they played was incredible and we were up right close to the stage. I swear that I made eye contact with Thom Yorke while I was up on Tim’s shoulders during ‘Karma Police.’ The whole thing was surreal.
WEDDINGS THAT WE ATTENDED IN 2016:
FAMILY/FRIENDS WHO HAD BABIES IN 2016:
And of course... RESOLUTIONS... First let's see how I did with my 2016 resolutions:
~ Food blog. Seriously. No more messing around!
~ Two more photo books to catch up on...
~ Keep working on my yoga inversions! Get away from that wall!
~ Plan an epic sabbatical for us! Do Asia!
~ Create human life?
~ Eat one vegetarian and one fish dinner per week.
~ Start dealing with some home renos.
These actually went pretty well for the most part! The only one that really failed, yet again, was the food blog. I just never seem to have the time for it, plus I still FB food blog all the time. I feel satisfied with this at the moment. I caught up somewhat on photo books, but somehow still have two more to do. Yoga was really great, even with pregnancy throwing a bit of a curve ball into my yoga practice for a large portion of the year. If anything, it provided me with new and interesting challenges. The sabbatical was a HUGE success! Creating human life was a success! I feel like we do decently alright with our home meals, and we did start home renos (our back door got replaced and we created a beautiful baby room), although we still have plenty more to do.
So this leads us to... 2017 RESOLUTIONS/GOALS:
~ Birth a healthy human child as naturally as possible. Try to be super chill and composed about it. (Can this not be enough??? It seems like it should be.)
~ Become someone’s mother without feeling like my life/identity is being clawed away from me. (This should also be plenty enough for the year.)
~ GET BACK MY HOT YOGA BOD ASAP!!!
~ Visit the Maritimes for the first time ever.
~ Renovate our kitchen.
I'm wishing everyone a wonderful 2017! Don't dream it, be it!
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