the rowleys: 2016 review

I decided to do a year review even though I am behind on other posts. I can't believe another year has come and gone just like that. this year has definitely gone by faster than any year previous. I feel like this year was a mixed bag of great but also terrible things. I feel like it has been a difficult year for a lot of people. many people I know are going through things that can push you to your limits. but rather than letting them defeat them they are growing more resilient and learning ways of dealing with them. this year has been a very divisive one for our country and I think this election was excruciating for everyone. I was very disappointed in our options this year but I am remaining optimistic that our country will head in the right direction. I am shocked by how many deaths of greatly loved celebrities and musicians have occurred this year. I was particularly sad about David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Leonard Cohen, and Carrie Fisher.

I know I haven't posted any pictures of our house yet and I definitely intend to. we made huge progress with our yard this year. one of the reasons we bought our house was for the yard which is 12,000 sq ft. the previous owners never did anything with it though so it was just dirt mixed with gravel. the back fence is also sloped higher than the rest of the yard so we decided to dig out the slope and build a retaining wall/planter. we also wanted to plant grass so we had to haul out all of the mixed gravel. we were crazy enough to do this project by ourselves. it was the hardest manual labor I have ever done and it took my hands months to regain all of their function (more on this later!) this year I also lost 4 toenails (from wearing too small shoes during marathon) and had a concussion from being bucked off my mom's horse. maybe I'll be nicer to my body in 2017 :)

this year I read, or rather listened to, 103 books!! I would listen to audio books while doing yard work, running, driving, cleaning, shopping, pretty much anything. I listen to them 1.5-2x speed and now listening to them at normal speed sounds ridiculously slow. Jason and I use a library app to get our audio books so the best part is they are all free! there is a wait for the more popular books so I read a lot of OK books while waiting for them. I have a lot of favorites from this year. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah was one of my top favorites about two sisters in Paris during WWII. it was so beautifully written and the story was poignant without being overly sappy. Other WWII era books I really enjoyed were The Paris Architect and All the Light We Cannot See. I read many biographies by musicians and Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth was my favorite. I loved how she described growing up in Cali in the 60's and 70's and then the underground music scene in New York in the 80's and 90's. it made me nostalgic for a time and place that I've never known. also I've always wanted to be in a band so I love reading about female musicians. Hunger Makes me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein (of Portlandia) talking about her time in band Sleater-Kinney was enjoyable for me especially since she didn't live the typical rock star lifestyle. Miss O'Dell by Katherine Ketcham a biography about a woman that hung around the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, among others during the 60's and 70's during the peak of their careers. She worked for some musicians, dated others and I found her story so interesting. I was also a little jealous that she got to be there for some of the greatest moments in rock history. I read some classics for the first time like The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Double, and Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky all of which I recommend. As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of the Princess Bride by Cary Elwes (who played Wesley) is a must read for any fan of the Princess Bride. I especially loved the audio book because it was read by different actors from the movie. I'm not usually huge into science fiction but I thought Dune was excellent. Travels with Charley is based on John Steinbeck's roadtrip across America with his dog. It was full of beautiful imagery describing 1960's America. there are plenty more notable books from the year but these are some of my favorites.

I also started cooking much more this year! to be honest I hardly cooked meals that required any planning before this year. since Jason works from 3-11:30pm it makes it difficult to have a normal dinner or cooking schedule. I decided that I just need to cook dinner early or the day before and that has worked out for us. I now cook about 3x a week which is a huge improvement for me. I feel like I have learned way more about cooking this year then I ever have. I try to cook a variety of different types of food but the main meat source is usually chicken because that is what I like. maybe I can branch out more in the new year even if it's meat that I don't eat but Jason does.

2016 in pics:

snow at my parent's cabin in January