two years in review

my fam then -- at st. olaf

So. It's been two years to the day since my first post, which was about celebrating my emergence into a much wider, less defined world than the one I had previously known.

Just over one year ago, I got my wisdom teeth taken out. The doctor said my teeth were "unusual," and while I was too loopy at the time to ask what that meant, I vaguely remember someone explaining that the roots of my teeth were curved around that major nerve shooting up my jaw and into my skull. You know-- the one that makes your whole jaw go numb if they bump it during surgery.

So, last year at this time, I was sustaining myself on liquid food and ranting about the cost of healthcare. For a more general overview of my state of mind one year after graduating college, check out my guest post with Liz on St. Olaf's Sociology/Anthropology Department blog.

This year, I find myself feeling pretty differently about life in general, particularly from how I felt and thought about life two years ago, when I graduated college.

my fam now -- wearing st. olaf gear

Things in general are different. A bunch of my friends and classmates have recently graduated from masters' programs, which is wild; some of them are just starting the process of applying for further education, which from where I'm sitting feels like almost as big of a milestone. My friends are starting to have babies, too. It's becoming glaringly clear to me that we are moving into another stage of life, bit by bit. Some of us, myself included, are moving into the "2-5 years of experience" range that so many non-entry level jobs require. This feels like progress. 





remember this??

Even the blog has changed a few times since it was born on May 29, 2011. I went from posting a few times a week, to maybe once or twice a month, if we were lucky, to weekly on Wednesdays (how it is now). I've started posting from my phone, which is not an ideal situation but has made it possible to post a few times when I wouldn't have otherwise been able to. Also, there is now a "second set of baby steps" Facebook page! And, on Sunday nights, we now post our All Good Things in a new medium. 

One of my dedicated readers suggested that I mark this anniversary with a two-year blog review rather than a regular post. Read on for my favorite search terms leading to the blog, the most-read posts of all time, and a few posts I never actually wrote.

The Best Most Common Search Terms That Have Led People Here

1. "ways to eat canned tuna." The post: 50 delicious ways to eat canned tuna*, June 16, 2012.
2. "fear of ladybugs." The post: fear and ladybugs, September 10, 2011.
3. "date locals." The post: 5 reasons to date locals, February 15, 2012.
4. "and i smiled." The post: smiling meditation: war stories, April 15, 2012.
5. "baby steps for anxiety." The post: 5 ways to banish anxiety, February 23, 2012.

Top 5 Most Read Articles

1. single girl living. February 6, 2013. On food and cooking, mostly. "I'm crowdsourcing solutions to a world of problems, and at the very least asking questions that need to be asked."
2. better shared. October 14, 2012. On hosting friends and on local activities. "It doesn't matter what we do because we are doing it together."
3. another reformation. January 30, 2013. On church, and faith: the good, the bad, and the... next Reformation? "Anyway, I still think the Black-Eyed Peas raised a valid question: Where is the love???"
4. the same room together. July 9, 2012. On homesickness and identity. "But I couldn't shake one nagging question: What would it take for me to get 30 of my closest friends into the same room for four hours?"
5. things i've learned since i left college. March 31, 2012. A guest post by my friend and classmate Kyle. The title is pretty self-explanatory. I wonder how this list would be different if Kyle were to write an update. (Kyle? Do you have anything you would like to share with the class?)

3 Posts I Never Got Around To Writing

1. Pumpkin beer! I kept incredibly careful notes last fall about all the pumpkin beers I'd tried... But there were always so many far more compelling things to write about! This year, maybe...
2. Online dating. As this is something I've never personally done, I didn't think I could do the topic real justice... But it seems like an important part of the young adult experience! I've asked literally too many of my friends to count on two hands to write a guest post about it, and got mostly just shifty eyes in return. Maybe I can convince J to try online dating for couples? Or maybe someone will message me after this post and volunteer... Cough, cough.



i legitimately struggled to post this...

3. I was thinking at one point about writing a post about fear, talking about my debilitating fear of bees (and anything remotely resembling a bee) as a segue into all the things there are to be afraid of in "the real world." But then something a little more pressing and less depressing would come up and I would write about that instead. I have a feeling this one will officially resurface at some point.

Stay tuned, readers and friends. We've somehow stumbled this far; I have no idea where we will go from here but I hope we can find out together in the weeks, months, years to come!