I can’t believe today is here.
Last year I made a New Year’s Resolution that I kept secret for a while… until about June when I figured I was half-way to success and would likely be able to complete my challenge!
I resolved to write on my blog every single day of 2012, 366 posts. There were a few times I sat down to write very late in the evening and completed the post around 12:15 am… I was able to count those a success since my home-of-record is NC and technically it was still the same day there… not sure that makes sense, but it was my logic and it worked for me.
There were a few trips that I prepared the posts in advance and schedule them to “hit” on specific days.
As far as I know I only accidentally hit “publish” instead of “preview” once… that wasn’t fun. Fortunately it was mostly ready to go…
Here are a few stats from the year:
- Most popular topics I’ve written about (in order of popularity): family; travel; marriage; brothers/boys; Germany
- My top commenters are: smilindown, Pam M., Christy, Bug’s Mama, Joleen, and Judy.
- My top posts of all time are: Lollipops (6,000+ hits); 52 Things I Love About You (2,000+ hits); Germany; Cameras and Gear; homeschooling; The Hills are Alive With the Sound of…
- Top Countries viewing: US, Germany, UK, Canada, Australia, Italy, New Zealand
I have had so much fun with this blog, sharing our story with you, and more importantly, documenting our lives for future reading.
I have a new goal for 2013 that I look forward to sharing with you, but it will take some extra time of mine, which will mean I won’t have time to write every day. I still hope to write four-five days a week because I want to continue to document these precious years, the years where everyone is still under our roof.
2012 has been an fantastic year for the Hamricks and we are aware of just how blessed we are. We have worked hard to get where we are in life (through Matt’s school and work), health (though lots of running and Insanity), and financially (through our working off debt and building savings). Of course, we had to put the elbow grease into of those areas, but we know that it is only by the grace of God that we have the motivation, energy, and desire to stick with our goals. Because of that we give Him thanks for continually walking beside us.
A quick recap of our year:
January: Our “just the two of us” Dublin trip.
February: Matt and I hit the “we’ve been together half our lives” mark.
March: We officially became adults when we created our “Legacy Drawer.”
April: England trip to see the Hills.
May: Nana and Papa come to visit.
June: Annual Strawberry Picking Day.
July: Made to Crave… the beginning of my ‘getting healthy’ journey.
August: First time I ever ran 8 miles straight.
September: LegoLand!
October: The “What We Will Miss” series that posted while we were in Italy.
November: My birthday surprises and the awesome Barcelona Trip!
December: Moving from Germany to SC, Our sweet Farewell, Parker gets Pneumonia, and the Mainz Christmas Market Surprise.
Oh, and regarding the title… for the past few months I have been envisioning titling this post “365” since everyone recognizes that as the number that represents a full year, except when I realized 2012 was Leap Year I had to change it to 366.
thehamricks 
You did a fantastic job and it’s been such a joy to read! You’ve also inspired me, its kind of funny that my big goals for 2013 include blogging daily (because I love it), continuing to work on getting out of debt (because I need it) and getting in better shape with insanity (because I WANT it!). It’s funny how often I am telling Doug that “Jennifer did it, I know it works!”
You ROCK! I can’t wait to read your 2013 journey!!
I really admire your follow through. When you set a goal, you achieve it, and I think that is something that few people can say. You are truly an inspiration to us all!
Christy, that means a lot coming from the woman who smoked me at the 10-mile goal before her baby was 4 months old! (or three… I can’t remember how old he was when you did that). I miss you!