Happy Blogiversary!

Today I'm celebrating four years of blogging in this little space on the internet. To celebrate I thought I'd share some four themed facts and observations I've made over the past four years. 

Four Blogs I've been following since the beginning:

- Hugs and Lattes

- Kelly's Korner

- Rebekah & Co. 

- 34 Magnolia Street

Four Blogs I've found recently:

- Sincerely Shannon

- Whitehall & Rose

- My Favourite Adventure

- All The Joys

Four popular posts:

- Project Projet Life 2016

- #onebigtruth 

- Things I've Cried About This Week

- Chicken Strips & Groundhogs

Four Things I've Learned:

- People are crazy.  There will always be someone who thinks they should be telling you what to do.

- You need to do what makes you happy, not necessarily what makes other people happy.

- Respect for other people and their lifestyle and belief system goes along way.

- People love a bandwagon. 

Four Favourite Things About Blogging

- Blogging gives me an incentive to do things, take pictures and document life.

- Meeting people  women from all over the world (although mostly the US).

- It inspires me to try DIYs, contemplate hard questions and shift my perspectives.

- It's a hobby that perfectly balances my introverted-ness but also my tiny little extrovert. 

It's a little strange to think that I've been blogging here for four whole years but when you stop and think about it a lot of things about blogging are a little strange. And I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Tracks, Snacks and Favourite Words

I'm not sure if it's all the Christmas hustle and bustle, the weather or my shrinking to do lists and countdowns but this week went by fast! 

{one}

I'm cheating a little bit here because there are going to be multiple favourites under this heading. It seemed to me that there was a lot of good stuff in Blogland this week and after a couple of weeks of endless gift guides it was refreshing to read some good old fashion 'this is what's going on in my life' posts. These are just a few of my favourites from the week.

Stephanie's 'You Are A Blogger' post  might just be the best thing I've read in months. 

We often wait until the new year to start reflecting on changes but this week Alex compared this Christmas to Last Christmas and it was a neat way to look at things.

Rachel had some wise words to say about The War on Misery. Not everything has to be a competition.

I loved this reminder from Amy that our work matters.

{two}

Some of you might remember this post from the fall where I shared my developing love of the apple trees that grow in my yard. Well I'm continuing the love into winter because I think that these apples, still on the tree and covered with snow are just the coolest. I spent a couple of hours outside yesterday with my camera, we got a storm on Tuesday night and by the time yesterday afternoon rolled around it had stopped snowing, the temperature had risen a little and the sky was crazy blue. I realized as I happily snapped photos of the snow that it's not the snow I hate when it comes to winter. It's the cold. Yesterday it was hovering around 0 and there wasn't any wind so I was perfectly comfortable wearing my Old Navy trigger mitts (I have no idea what these are actually called, around here we call them trigger mitts, they're the mittens that have flaps to make them into fingerless gloves), lightest winter coat and was not worried about frost bite. Getting back on topic, apples covered in snow are pretty and they earned a spot on my favourites list. 

{three}

I'm not sure if I've really made it clear that I really do live in the country. After the snow there were lots of deer tracks in the snow, which were cool but deer tend to walk in a straight line, these tracks however are clearly not in a straight line. I'm pretty sure these ones were made by a furry little squirrel friend. And squirrels always make me happy. 

{four}

Avocados make me happy. First off all I love their green colour, secondly they are delicious and rounding out the top three reasons I love avocados is because they're healthy. This week my favourite way to eat avocado is creating a copy cat cajun chicken sandwich based on one I order all the time at a local restaurant. Cajun seasoned chicken breast, red onion, cheddar cheese, chipotle mayo and avocado on a ciabatta bun. I may or may not have eaten the same thing for both lunch and supper one day this week. And a honourable mention to the homemade oven fries that I've finally perfected after months of playing around with seasons and oven temperatures. 

{five}

I officially registered for Ali Edwards One Little Word class and declared my word of the year! I'll be sharing more next week about what my word is and how I'm planning to document my word through the year. I'll leave you with a hint that it starts with the letter 'R', has four letters and can be used in a lot of different contexts. 

I have a weekend jammed full of Christmas beginning with 'midnight madness' at the mall tonight with my mom to finish up the last of my shopping. Tomorrow night is J.'s Christmas dinner for work and Sunday J.'s parents are having their annual Christmas party. 

Linking up here and here.