And that's a wrap...2017 Highlights

As we close out the year, it's important to look back on how we lived our year. We should be asking ourselves, did we practice kindness every day? Were we present in our lives? Did we take risks? Did we step out of our comfort zones? Did we laugh and did we cry? Did we stand up for what we believe in? Did we speak up enough? Did we listen enough? Did we stay true to who we are? Did we strive to be better each day?

As I reflect on these questions of the past year, I also smile at some of my highlights and moments of living I did in 2017. Below are just a few of the more notable ones. 

• My son had his first foray into standing up for what you believe in as we attended the Women's March in Hartford. 
  
• I watched 7 out of 9 of the Best Picture nominees (this is the most I've seen pre-Oscars ever) 
  
• I presented for the first time at the NAIS Annual Conference as the culminating project for my Aspiring Heads Fellowship. My cohort group was very proud of presentation (as is evident by our group photo below).
  
• I was installed as a new mom into the Greater Hartford chapter of Jack and Jill of America. 
  
• We got away as a family and spent some time in Narragansett, RI. Nothing beats time at the beach. 
  
• After a gazillion superhero movies (and remakes), I finally got a Wonder Woman movie during my lifetime. 
  
• My husband and I took in lunch and a show in NYC as we finally saw Hamilton: The Musical on Broadway. 
  
• My son and I continued our activism by attending West Hartford's Walk in Solidarity with Charlottesville. 
  
• I finally made it to the Dominican Republic for the first time (despite having lived in Haiti for two years when I was younger) to celebrate my brother Vincent's nuptials. 
  
• As an avid Ted Talk fan, I finally attended my first Ted event - TedxHartford. It was pretty cool and perhaps one day I'll have the courage and inspiration to do one myself. 
  
• I turned 40 and stayed fabulous 😜

2017 was a pretty good year. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't perfect and there were some difficult moments, but I choose to embrace the positive. I look forward to seeing what 2018 has in store for me. Happy New Year!