18 for 2018 Retrospective

A Year in Review

It’s that time of year — the holidays are (mostly) behind us, and a new year is on the horizon. The New Year will bring what it will bring (que será, será), and I’ll post soon about 19 goals I have for 2019, but for now I’d like to reflect on 18 of my accomplishments and best memories from 2018.

While I didn’t set “18 (goals) for 2018” up front this year, I think reflecting back on 18 accomplishments and memories from 2018 is a useful reflection exercise, too!

• #1: Helped launch a podcast — for teachers by teachers, the Inspired Proficiency Podcast, hosted by Ashley Uyaguari, already has a full season of episodes on everything from student motivation to interpersonal communication to brain breaks and more to inspire proficiency-based world language educators.

• #2: Encouraged hundreds of kiddos to be a little kinder to one another — by bringing “The Great Kindness Challenge” to Jones Middle School.

• #3: Tried the Carnivore Craze for a month —I ate a lot of meat / animal products only, and had some success…until I stopped sleeping, so I went back to regular low carb / keto. Learned a lot through this incidental elimination diet though! 🤷‍♀️

• #4: Built my own at-home Cycling Bike (I have a whole blog post about my setup if you’re interested in doing the same).

• #5: Spent a magical weekend in Chicago with my amazing Sister in Law, Jenn, and got to see Hamilton!

Randomly ran into some of Jenn’s family at the same showing of Hamilton and had a little reunion and Chicago Deep Dish together after!

• #6: Re-started my Japanese Studies and applied for the JET program to teach English in Japan next year (cross your fingers for me!)

• #7: Went to Houston for a quick Spring Break getaway with Justin, attended a giant Rodeo, and ate the best brunch of my life at Xochi!

• #8: Completed a service learning project with my students to help a school in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. Sent 9 boxes of school supplies and raised $800 in donations.

• #9: Mentored a wonderful student teacher, Ms. Anna Renner, who is wrapping up her last leg of student teaching now and is available for hire. Any school district would be incredibly lucky to have her, so snap her up!

• #10: Found conversation group partners from Japan and spent time with them regularly, sharing our languages and cultures!
• #11: Said goodbye to the classroom after 11 years of teaching high school and middle school Spanish.

• #12: Formed an LLC to be able to do educational consulting independently. Gave professional development (PD) workshops at Akron City Schools, Columbus City Schools, and for OFLA (The Ohio Foreign Language Association) as a member of their PD committee. Also helped support the wonderful work of Partnerships Make a Difference at their Critical Issues Summit for teachers and students interested in service learning in November.

• #13: Stayed in a yurt at The Wilds and took a pretty epic-for-Ohio safari to celebrate our 11th anniversary!

The view from our yurt did not suck!

Yurt stuff

Who knew we had this level of natural beauty in Ohio?!

• #14: Used newfound extra time and freedom to prioritize relationships — planning memorable experiences and visits with Justin, with extended family, and to cultivate friendships I value— more than ever before!

Above Left: Justin and I with his mama, Deanna; Above Middle: Justin’s Brother Jeremy and his wife Jenn; Above Right (L to R): Justin, Jer, Jenn, and me!

Visits to MI to see family should always involve themed outings.

Finally took that epic extended family Disney trip we’ve been thinking about for years over Thanksgiving!

Spending time with friends in Columbus — Above Left: Kristy and her littlest guy, Max; Above Middle my friend Jessie with her son Isaac, Kristy with her oldest, Tommy, and me with Kristy’s youngest, Max. Above Right: A perfect summer day at the park.

I also took the time to travel to visit valued friends from my Fulbright experience in South America! Above left: Visiting Kerri in Fayetville, Arkansas in July; Above middle: Visiting Carolyn, her husband Pete and their adorable kiddos Pearl and Beau in Charlottesville, Virginia in October; Above Right: Spending quality time with my Fulbright Roommate, Aryn, when we met up halfway in Yellow Springs, Ohio in November! It was great to reconnect ❤

• #15: Forced Justin to visit Phoenix Arizona in July and we almost died of heatstroke (but, bonus, got to work on prioritizing relationships again when I got to visit one of my best friends from high school, Nicole! ❤ )

So. Hot. And after sunset? Not cooler. Just dark and hot. Average temp was 107. That’s what I get for accidentally signing up for a condo timeshare pitch in the desert in July. 🤷‍♀️

(Also forced Justin to go to Vegas in August because apparently I really enjoy deserts in the summer? Poor husband).

• #16: Attempted to sail on Lake Michigan with friends but got rather seasick. Still, ended up on a little roadtrip to Traverse City area in Michigan which is always a beautiful:

Sleeping Bear Dunes and Lake Michigan

Traverse City / Cherry Everything

• #17: We added a real gym floor to our basement thanks to the world’s best brother-in-law / handyman extraordinaire, Jer, and I started focusing on strength training and cleaner eating, both with great results!

Even got to go in person to the one and only Glute Lab in San Diego to train with Bret Contreras, inventor of the hip thrust!

• #18: I started to settle into life post-classroom, finding a general daily routine of improving, then enjoying as I explore new things, continue to decompress from over a decade in the classroom, and grow into whatever is next:

I go for a walk every day :)

Always striving to use fewer screens, for less time, and for more meaningful purposes!

The view from my desk ❤

Autumn was my favorite season this year — usually it is a time I associate with stress and anxiety with returning to the classroom, but this year I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of this season of transition.

What’s next in 2019?

I will be writing a blog post soon about my “19 for 2019”. This coming year, I’m proactively considering several categories / values / priorities for how I spend my time and energy in the year ahead and some of them have metrics attached! More to come on that soon.

How about you? Was 2018 all you thought it would be? Maybe, like me, you didn’t explicitly set goals up front for the year but looking back you’re kind of amazed at all you did? What’s your favorite memory from 2018? What are you looking forward to in the new year?

If you enjoyed this reflective post, please clap below to give me feedback! ❤