2018 Resolutions and the Top 10 Posts of 2017

Nappy New Year!  (this was a typo...but I liked it so much I kept it.  We should all be so blessed as to have a new year full of naps.)

I hope everyone had a relatively chaos-free and enjoyable holiday season!  Now, t'is the time for resolutions and looking back.  And overall, I'm pretty pleased with 2017.  Lil' Man turned 2--which means we have kept him alive and in a general state of health for another year.  We had no major medical or financial crises, and I even managed to max out my 401k.  Oh--and I chopped all my hair off for charity over Christmas.

10 inches gone to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths.

I'm hoping this will sate my do-gooding needs until I can start giving blood again in April (I got benched for a year because we traveled out of the country to an area with malaria risk).  In the meantime--I'm loving the cut.  I feel like I have so many more quick options for styling!  If I want to wash & go, I can just add a little mousse, scrunch, and head out the door. If I want to flat iron, it takes less than 5 minutes.  So glorious.

One of last year's resolutions was to eat more breakfast--and that I did. With the exception of a couple days in the summer, I ate breakfast every day, and catalogued much of it on Instagram (to the confusion of several of my friends, who thought my dates were actually a rating system). I also managed to keep up with my line-a-day journal (though sometimes by catching up a week at a time--life's crazy, yo.)

This year?

1) Eat more vegetables.  We got fruits in the bag, but we just aren't good about getting a lot of veggies on the plate.  Unless you count potatoes.  So I'm hoping to mix it up a bit more.

2) Exercise.  I know, it's so trite, but seriously needed.  We just got a 6 month family pass to the gym at our church, which is less than 5 minutes from our house.  No excuses.  I'm still working on figuring out a reasonable, measurable goal, but at this point, if I go even 4 times in the entire year, that's better than 2017.

3) Moisturize.  Winter is upon us, and dry skin is a plague.  I have plenty of hand cream, foot cream, face cream, even in-shower lotion...but do I use it?  Not really.  I feel like I should take better care of my skin now, and avoid the expensive surgeries, Botox, and firming creams later down the road.

Keeping it simple with three.  I mean, I have work goals too, but I won't bore you with those.

And now, on to the Top 10 Posts of 2017!

1) Adventures in Parenting: 15 Months, and 2017 Mom Resolutions

2) Adventures in Parenting: "Don't You Want Another?"

3) Tater Tot Poutine

4) Boudin King Cake

5) Adventures in Parenting: 16 Months In

6) Working Mom's Beauty Regimen

7) Pinterest Project: Basement Bar

8) Adventures in Parenting: 18 Months In

9) Thirsty Thursday: Sequiota Bike Shop Bourbon Slush

10) Pizza is Not an Emergency, and Other Personal Finance Lessons I Learned the Hard Way

Top Posts of 2016

Hey gang--thanks for hanging in there with me for another year on the interwebz. It's been a weird one, definitely a year of transition, both for me and for this blog.  This is fairly evident from the posts from 2016 that were the most popular.  To those of you who read this, thank you.  Without you, I'm just a girl chucking her thoughts and recipes into the inter-ether. Which, I mean, I'm still going to do, regardless--this is my creative outlet after all.  But getting feedback from you makes it a whole lot more interactive and fun.

So, in no particular order, here's the top posts from 2016!

Boudin-Crusted Jumbo Shrimp

Looking Back: Journal Entries from a New Mom

Grits & Grillades

Working Mom Edition, Part 2

Fifth Wedding Anniversary Gift: DIY Wooden Puzzle

Why I'm Okay With Being An "Old Mom"

Thirsty Thursday Cocktail: Jumping The Shark

Pumping at Work

World's Best Grilled Cheese

Beach Vacationing With a Baby

2014 in Review

It’s time yet again to look back 365 days, reflect over things learned, experienced, tasted & tried.  This year, we ran The Scoop for its second and final season, closing up in October.  We tried a Daniel Fast and succeeded…and tried a Whole 30 Challenge, and failed.  We saw a Supermoon, vacationed in the Smoky Mountains, met a bear…

 

“sup?”

Oh, and I made a few posts here.  Not as many as I’d like, but apparently you all liked them anyway!  I am so grateful for those who take time out of their busy lives to read my words… and I hope that the recipes and tips found here help someone!

TOP POSTS OF 2014:

10. Fried Potatoes & Chocolate Banana "ice cream" (Daniel Fast series)

9. Veggie Burritos (Daniel Fast series)

8. Boudin-Wrapped Jalapeno Popper

7. Sweet Potato Pancakes, & Red Beans & Rice  (Daniel Fast series)

6. Infused Water recipes & Veggie Spaghetti (Daniel Fast Series)

5. Shrimp Boil Salad (Guest Post from Primo)

4. Bruschetta & Cajun Veggie Boil (Daniel Fast series)

3. Daniel Fast Prep 

2. Daniel Fast Protein sources & Surviving a Party while you're Fasting (Daniel Fast series)

1. Pressure Cooker Chicken & Sausage Gumbo 

2013: Year in Review

The FeauxCajun Kitchen has survived another year in the blogosphere!  And it’s thanks to our awesome readers like you…yes you, with the eyeballs.  THANK YOU for reading!  I know this is just a small-time, part-time, just-for-fun blog, definitely not on par with the Pioneer Women & Bloggesses of the world, but I really appreciate those of you who find your way to this site, however you end up moseying over here.  The idea that ANYONE reads this blog still blows my mind some days. :)

It’s been a crazy year around these parts, since a good portion of my year was pre-occupado with the Hubs’ & I’s new business venture, but we survived our first season with only a *few* extra gray hairs to show for it.

Achievements:

• I had a goal of getting 100 new subscribers in 2013…and ended up with 163 new readers!  So thank you, all you new followers!  Y’all are AMAZING!
• This fall, my pumpkin pancake recipe went “viral” on Pinterest, getting repinned over 5,000 times… (I don’t actually know what the cut off for “viral” is…but 5,000+ seems like it would count.  I mean, if I had a virus and I got 5,000 people sick, I’m pretty sure I’d be hearing from the CDC or something.)   This is part of the reason so many new awesome people found this blog!
• My most frequent guest poster Primo’s recipe for Crawchos was selected by CajunCrawfish.com as one of their 5 Unique Crawfish Recipes to be listed on their website!
• We got some sweet props from 417 Magazine in October, and were listed as one of the 417-Area’s Top 5 Local Blogs!

Top Posts of 2013:

#10: The Galloway Greenway Smoothie

#9: Abita Root Beer Caramelized Onions

#8: How to Have Ab-Normal Finances

#7: Andouille & Potato Soup

#6: Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

#5: The Loozy-Anna Dawg

#4: A List of Louisiana Festivals

#3: Clean Eating on a Budget

#2: The 2013 Fashion Challenge

and the #1 most popular post of 2013 was…

The “Cotton Anniversary” Gift – Homemade Ticket Stub Pillow!

So again, thank you for being you, and I’ll keep being me, and I’ll keep on writing so long as you crazy kids keep reading!  God bless & happy New Year!

Best of 2012!

Here we are folks… two days in.  Have you broken your resolutions yet?  I hope not!  Just remember…I’m cheering you on.  Whatever they are, I’m here in Virtual BlogLand wishing you the best.  With tiny virtual pom-poms.  “BE! AGGRESSIVE!  B-E AGGRESSIVE!” :)

So far, so good here.  I drank five 16-oz glasses of water yesterday.  Pretty stoked about that.  Today, I’m on my second glass. 

 

So as a quick lil’ recap, I’d like to recount for you the five most popular posts of 2012! 

This is potentially more for my benefit than anyone else’s, but hey…it’s my blog.  So there.  Neener neener and stuff.

 

1. Wine Charm Pinterest Project

2. Thirsty Thursday:  Glowing Halloween Punch

3. New Orleans Stuffed Artichoke

4. Microwave Mug Muffin (I think I can thank the chocolate chips for that…)

5. Louisiana White Beans w/ Ham & Sausage

And now…what can you expect here in 2013? 

Um… More of the same?  I think this Top 5 shows a good representation of this blog.  Three recipes (two of which are Cajun), a cocktail, and a craft project.  Yessir, we’re DIVERSE!

(Hopping on the lateral train of thought: Long ago, at a different company down in Louisiana, I was pulled out of my office to go out in the field to take some staged field work photos.  When I asked why, they told me the photos were going into our company calendar that they send out to clients every Christmas, and they wanted to make sure the calendar showed how “diverse” we were.  …I was the only female in the environmental department.  Good times…)

 

All joking aside, if there’s something in particular that you would like to see more (or less) of on this blog, now’s the time to speak your mind!  Is there a Cajun/nonCajun dish that you’d really like to see my take on?  Is there something you LOVE that is horrifically, horrendously bad for you that you’d like me to attempt a “healthed up” version of?  Some crazy cocktail?  More organization/budgeting tips?  More presshuss photos of our pug?  Restaurant reviews?  Go ahead…SPEAK!