2016, you were quite the year. You were a year full of adventure and change. You took us on the most epic adventure of a lifetime at a much earlier age than I could have imagined (see all related posts here, if you are interested) . In 2015, I thought you would be the year I made a career change, but little did I know you would just be the year that I learned to make my current job work for me (and it really worked, for the most part!). You were the year I learned to truly love sharing with people on this blog. You gave me the time and space to read more books than I ever had. I loved you, 2016, which is the opposite of what I hear most people saying. You were definitely a tough year for our country and the world, but you were good to us.
January
We started off 2016 in London with my family. We got to see my brother Ben lead his high school marching band in the London New Year’s Day Parade and spend time together as a family enjoying the city.
After a lovely week in London, we strapped on our backpacks and began our huge European adventure. I’ve already written mini travel guides for the first half of our trip, so I’m going to put in links to those posts here instead of making this the “longest post known to man” with photos from every stop. We made stops in four countries during the month of January.
England
Watford & Harry Potter Warner Bros Studio
England’s Lake District
Scotland
Loch Ness
Ireland
Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula
Belgium
Belgian Waffle in Bruges
February
We visited three more countries in February. I’m still in the middle of writing posts on these stops, so I’ve shared links for all of the stops here that I’ve already written about and will update the links as I continue posting.
France
Toulouse
Castle Hill in Nice, France
Switzerland
Bern
Zurich
Lucerne
Geneva
Gimmelwald, Switzerland
Italy
Milan
Lake Como
View from our Airbnb in Lake Como
March
We ended our trip in mid-March by exploring more of Italy.
Cinque Terre
Florence
Siena
Sorrento
Rome
Siena, Italy
And just like that, we were back home in Texas getting back into the groove of normal life. We got back to making Austin home again.
We celebrated Easter with my family in Waco.
April
This is the month that I went back to work. It was a smooth transition back.
We enjoyed several beautiful spring walks by Lady Bird Lake and a hike in McKinney Falls.
We went to Chris Guillebeau‘s book signing at a local bookstore. He is one of my favorite inspirational bloggers!
I traveled to Chicago for my good friend Lauren’s bachelorette party where I saw lots of friends from DC!
May
For Mothers’ Day weekend, we traveled to Fort Worth to spend time with Daniel’s family and celebrate his mother.
Our anniversary is two days after my birthday, and this year my birthday landed on a Friday and our five year anniversary was on a Sunday – the timing couldn’t have been better! We had a weekend full of good meals, good friends, and a trip back to Texas wine country.
The next week we traveled to DC to attend a friend’s wedding and stay with our good friends, the Nygrens.
And to top off a month full of celebrating, my family got together in Austin to celebrate my mom’s birthday!
June
My baby brother graduated high school, so we went to his graduation in Waco!
We managed to scramble together enough points last-minute to take a long weekend trip to Costa Rica and stay at the stunning Andaz Papagayo Peninsula Resort almost completely free. We called this our “five year anniversary” trip and didn’t do much but sit by the pool and take in the gorgeous Costa Rican scenery.
For Fathers’ Day we met my family at Enchanted Rock for a hike and spent the afternoon in Llano.
July
We kicked off July with a drive out to see the view at The Oasis on Lake Travis. It almost looks like Tuscany!
We went to Waco to watch the 4th of July fireworks at the Baylor football stadium with my family.
We took a weekend trip to Dallas to spend time with my friend Becca as well as my cousin Rebecca and sister Ellen, and to spend an afternoon with my grandparents in East Texas.
I started the incredible Blogger Mentorship Program with Blair at blairblogs.com, and it completely changed my thoughts on blogging and made me excited about it again.
My brother Ben and younger sister Ellen came to Austin to hang out and celebrate Ellen’s birthday.
August
Daniel went to Louisville, Kentucky for a conference, and I joined him the weekend after to explore Louisville.
A couple weeks later we took our first trip to New Orleans where we spent a lot of time with my friend Brittany!
I finally put together our travel gallery wall with a Rifle Paper Co. calendar.
We visited the LBJ Library and Museum.
We played bubble soccer for the first time for a friend’s birthday party at Zilker Park.
September
We went back to Waco to see the first Baylor football game and my brother’s first halftime marching show.
My sister-in-law came to visit over Labor Day Weekend. We saw the South Congress Bridge bats for the first time.
Daniel and I discovered our favorite Austin restaurant, Emmer & Rye.
I took a sister trip with Ellen to Boston. We had the best time learning some history and eating some great meals!
October
I went to my first ACL Music Festival!
Luke’s Diner came to town!
I drove up to Dallas for my friend Becca’s bachelorette party.
My friend Kaitlin came to visit from DC, and we went to tour around Houston because she, her husband, and their soon-to-be-born baby boy are moving there in 2017!
November
We took a fall trip to Oregon where we spent time in Portland, the Mt. Hood area, the coast, and the Willamette Valley.
I was a bridesmaid in my friend Becca’s wedding. The wedding weekend was a blast!
We stopped in Waco on the way back from Dallas for my brother’s birthday celebration.
We went to a couple of concerts in one week (Boxer Rebellion and Switchfoot/Relient K).
For Thanksgiving, we spent time with my family. Our family spent time in Waco and in Garland, and we watched the whole new Gilmore Girls season. We also went to the Baylor/Tech game at Cowboy Stadium (it was a fun experience if you forget the actual game).
We made the crazy last-minute decision to move into a two-bedroom apartment and moved within a span of two weeks.
December
I went to Orlando for my company’s New Manager Training. The company rented out Universal Studios for us, and we got to ride all of the rides and eat all of the food for free!
We met my cousin’s new baby girl Addison. She is so cute!
We took a trip to NYC with our friends Kaelin and Andres and enjoyed the Christmas-y wonderland. We had a blast with our friends!
We celebrated Christmas with my dad’s side in Wills Point.
We traveled to Florida for a Bahamas cruise with Daniel’s family. It was so much fun!
We spent Christmas weekend in Florida with Daniel’s family.
And we then celebrated Christmas with my mom’s side in Waco after we got back to Texas.
Whew! 2016, you were amazing. Now, with a sigh of relief, I am enjoying the last few days of you at home, getting settled from our move, and gearing up for 2017. Here’s to a New Year!
Click here to see my Year in Review posts from 2015, 2014, and 2013.
{Thanks for reading! Want to know a little more about me? I’m a CPA learning how to balance a career with frequent travel while planting roots at home in Austin, TX. When I’m not exploring my home city with my husband Daniel or cuddling with our chubby orange cat Banana, I’m probably planning, packing, traveling to, or daydreaming about our next adventure. After all, my travel mug collection is never complete. If you have wanderlust too, be sure to follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat (emilya89), or subscribe to my blog!}
