Happy New Year! Man, 2023 went by in a flash, especially the last half. Looking back on the year, I can say that I survived my first year of teaching and am half-way to being fully certified. I did not accomplish any of the goals I set last January, but we're not going to focus on that.

My teacher certification course started in July, and from that point forward everything in my life has kind of been revolving around it. The course itself only meets in person once a month, but there is so much homework. Because of this added pile of responsibility, I had to cut back in other places, and the main place that suffered was the blog. 2023 saw a total of 70 blog posts, which is about half of what I posted in 2022.

Thank you guys so much for sticking with me through this whirlwind of a year...especially the last six months or so.

Page views were definitely up, as were the number of post comments. Granted, a lot of that is due to one post, which I did not anticipate blowing up the way that it did, but I'm not complaining. Also up this year is my email subscription list, which you can join here.

Okay, let's take a look at the top ten posts you guys responded to the most.

10. What I Read June 2023 - This was, I think, my biggest reading roundup for 2023 with 16 books, but looking back at the actual post, I labeled quite a few of the books as flops and decided not to continue on with the series. That said, one of the books from that month's reading made my best books of 2023 list.

9. Monday Motivation - This was actually my first post of 2023. It was nothing special - just a weekly update about what was going on in my life at the time and an inspirational quote.

8. My 22 Favorite Purchases of The Year - The title says it all for this post. It was a round-up of my smartest purchases for 2022...and other than the planner, I still use everything on this list!

7. 10 Casual Winter-to-Spring Outfit Ideas - I'm surprised that this is the only clothing-related post to make this year's most popular posts list, but if only one was going to make the cut, this is a good one.

6. If I had a Book Club: 12 Months of Reading with Mommy the Journalist - I feel like I've been talking about my One Woman Book Club a lot the last few days, but you guys liked it last year, too, it seems.

5. Weekly Wisdom (Formerly Monday Motivation) - In February I decided to shift my Monday Motivation posts to Sunday and renamed them. This was the first such post. All I can figure is that you guys liked the inspirational quote I chose to go along with it, because otherwise it really wasn't anything all that special.

4. An Honest Review of Lash Princess False Lash Effect Mascara - I tried that viral TikTok mascara and shared my thoughts. Ultimately, the mascara wasn't for me, but it's got tons of 5-star ratings on Amazon.

3. Monday Motivation - The number of views this post has truly astounds me. It feels very exaggerated for what the post actually is. I think it's another case of y'all really liking the inspirational quote.

2. What I Read January 2023 - January of last year was full of good books for me, and two of the entries from that month made my best books of the year post.

1. An Honest Review of Lume Deodorant - This post single-handedly drove traffic for the blog for most of the year and is officially sitting in the number three position on my most-viewed posts for the blog's entire history. Wow!