I’m a bit behind on making a post, but I simply could not resist hopping on the 2016 nostalgia bandwagon. 2016 is one of my all time favorite years. It was absolutely my favorite year before Quinn and Tripp came into the picture. I was surprised to see so many people also hold the same fondness for it that I do. I think I thought my love for it was circumstantial, but I also think culturally it was such a fun time- probably partly due to the music; the music was *the best*. Social media was simply fun- “doom scrolling” wasn’t part of the vernacular. We also had yet to live through a worldwide pandemic. Most people my age were graduating college or in their early 20s- simply a fun time of finding our feet as young adults. 2016 was a huge year of change and FUN for DJ and me. We were married in August of 2015, so it was a large part of our first year of marriage too.

I graduated from nursing school and we packed up our things and moved to California! Our entire life and the entire world felt like it was on the horizon. Endless possibilities. We made trips to Michigan, Baltimore, MD, New York City, a restaurant in the Ozarks, Fort Worth to visit my mom and Pete, New Mexico, The Grand Canyon and Monterey. I actually lost a lot of my photos in 2017 when my phone crashed, but I’ll share some of what I have left! Thankfully I still have many of those photos embedded in the posts I’ll link!

As soon as we moved to California, I started this blog. Here’s my first post! I can’t tell you all how much I absolutely fell in love with blogging. Well, clearly, 10 years later I’m still here so I suppose that is evidence in itself. Previously this blog was under the name “Mack Marie”, and my tagline was “living loving learning”. When the word “basic” came into the cultural zeitgeist I realized I could probably be the poster child. Out of self-consciousness I quickly deleted my tagline as to try to break free from the Ugg boot loving, chevron printed, Starbucks pumpkin spice drinking, live laugh loving box. But, alas, I couldn’t shake my basic ways entirely as evidenced by my beloved chunky necklaces worn far into 2018, being a far too frequent Target shopper and my expert level knowledge of The Bachelor franchise. Nonetheless, I was embraced here in the blog world- and wow, those were fun times! I felt like blog world was on fire & when I moved somewhere that I didn’t have a community, I immediately found community here. I really miss those internet days! I’ll never forget my first ever hosted meet & greet– does anyone remember those?!

We spent the summer settling into our Cupertino stomping grounds, exploring new restaurants (oh how I miss the food!) and frolicking about Northern CA. I always used the word “frolic” when we lived there. It felt like the Bay Area was our playground!

At the time, I was 22 and studying for the NCLEX. Even though I was studying for boards, for some reason it felt so much less stressful than all of nursing school had felt. It was the first time in so long that I didn’t feel a tremendous amount of stress and pressure. I felt like I was truly living for the first time; I genuinely remember thinking that. I reflect so fondly on who I was then- a bit naive, incredibly motivated and so excited about what was to come. That world-is-your-oyster feeling is something special to reflect on! “Endocrine disrupting chemicals” weren’t even on my radar, I published recipes on here that would be considered quite “mid”, and I went on long runs in the mountains by myself.. where there were mountain lions- ahh to be so carefree again lol.

2016 was the year of Snapchat filters, artsy coffee shots & The Chainsmokers. “Closer” will always be inextricably linked to 2016 for me.

I was so proud of our first apartment that was decked out in HomeGoods and TJ Maxx (I still remember I made countless trips back and forth).

We got involved in a church that we loved soon into moving there. I joined the church hiking group and made lifelong friends, Tammy, Dani and Sara there!

I discovered Peet’s coffee- my obsession. I became friends with the barista, Connie, who worked at the one near us. She reminded me a bit of my mom. She was there nearly every day I stopped by to study, and I so enjoyed our chats. I wish we had stayed in touch, and I hope Connie is doing well today!

2016 was the year I discovered podcasts and listening to Serial became part of my personality. We also discovered one of our favorite restaurants to date- Mt. Hamilton Grandview.

The last 10 years I have lived, loved and learned a lot…even if we no longer have throw pillows that say so. Oh 2016, you will always have a special place in my memory!