Is anyone else ready to wave goodbye to 2017 and bring in a new year and try this thing all over? Or is it just me? I feel exhausted haha.
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My 2017 (much like most of yours, I’m sure) has been full of lots of ups….and lots of downs–both in blog life and in real life.
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I feel like this year, I’ve had so much going on outside of “blog world,” that I kind of started to separate the real world and the blog world and distanced myself a little from my readers (that’s YOU!). So if you noticed that as the year went on, I became a little less sarcastic and a little less funny or “real” with you, it’s because I felt a little disconnected. And even if you didn’t notice, I did. Whoops.
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So as we start with 2018, I vow to do my best to be myself again and bring back some of the humor and the sarcasm and the “real life.” I also vow to start doing more videos, trying to share some woodworking tips and tricks, and do more shop related projects–because that’s what many of you have said you wanted. So, if you’ve got something you’d like to see or learn, shoot me an email 🙂 Because my idea tank is running low haha.
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Anyway…back to 2017. My 2017 brought about several difficult decisions. I decided to leave my good paying job without another one lined up. It was scary, but it was time to move on. Then, I decided a month later to take a job closer to home but making less money than before, but that I enjoyed more. It’s been a transition for both Danny and I. We also decided to put what we thought was our forever home on the market this fall due to some circumstances beyond our control.
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As far as the blog world goes, this last summer I also decided to attend my first blogging conference despite my heavy feelings of inadequacy. I took on my first sponsored posts, and had the opportunity to join some blogger contributor teams. I also took the leap and started a YouTube Channel and made my first tutorial videos. (Lucy’s dog house video was by far the favorite.)
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So it’s been somewhat of a wild emotional roller coaster ride this year. I’m hoping next year may be a little more….stable?? Haha.
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With all the ups and downs, though, this past year has been a productive one with lots of projects and builds. I posted over 50 building projects (not including sewing or simple DIY projects)! That doesn’t include the projects I built, but didn’t post about here. I would have never thought that was possible!
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So to sum up the best and worst of Woodshop Diaries in 2017, of those more than 50 builds, here are the top five most popular. Are any of these your favorites??
DIY Ballard Designs Knock Off Pantry Cabinet
DIY Bar Cart from a Single Board
Even though these were the “fan favorites,” my personal favorites were a little different. Here is a quick look at what MY top six favorites were:
DIY Herringbone Barn Wood Wall
And the five least popular posts?? Just for kicks and giggles, here they are:
So after such a busy year of awesome (and some not so awesome) projects, what is next for 2018?? Well, wood shop organization is on the top of my list of things to do. I plan to have (very soon) several tool cart builds and tips for shop organization and storage on the blog.
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I also have lots of furniture builds planned (as usual) and plan to start doing some Facebook live videos (so if you aren’t following along on Facebook, do that now!), and making some more tutorial project videos for YouTube. This will be the year of the videos (I hope ha!). I’m really wanting to focus my attention this year on growth as a woodworker–learning new techniques and methods–and on working to provide my readers with good, helpful tips and content. I’m wanting to focus my attention more on you guys and how I can help you!
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So as we start 2018, I wish you all a happy new year, thank you for following along, and hope that we can both grow and learn together as we go into this new year 🙂
Until next time, happy DIYing 🙂