A new year has begun and we are so excited for what 2017 will bring, but first, I thought it would be fun to look back at CC and Mike’s Top 10 Lifestyle Blog Posts of 2016.
1. A Letter of Forgiveness to the Man Who Tried to Murder My Mom – On Sept. 16th, 2016, I sat down and in 30 minutes —with a lot of tears shed—, I wrote a letter of forgiveness to the man who tried to murder my mother on Sept. 16, 1990. To this day, it is the most read and most shared blog post that I’ve ever written. Nelson Mandela once said, “When a deep injury is done to us, we never heal until we forgive.” I encourage you to read this post if you never have, not because it’s my most read and most shared post, but because it is only in forgiveness that we truly find freedom. Also, the true life events that you will read about in this post, inspired me to write a book. If all goes well, it will be coming out later this year and I would love if you would follow along with me as I embark upon my journey toward becoming an author in 2017.
2. Hey Girl in the White Dress – I wrote this post in our RV on a road trip to Omaha. I didn’t share it until several months later and, quite honestly, I was blown away by the response and how many times it was shared and read. This will be the post that I show my children and everyone that I love before they walk down the aisle and say their wedding vows. This post is what everyone who is getting married should read. This post is what I want to say to every girl in the white dress and every man in the tux before they say, “I do.” If you haven’t read this post I encourage you to do so and share it with anyone you know. Like I say in the post, more people need to hear the TRUTH about marriage before they say I do. “I write this post not to scare you, but to prepare you.”
3. Our One Room Challenge Reveal – In April, Michael and I took the One Room Challenge, basically as a bet when he told me that I couldn’t decorate the room off our kitchen the way I wanted too because the budget was way too much for the sitting room I had designed. Well, that lit a fire and I decided to commit us to the One Room Challenge. Check out our Room Reveal and also take a walk down memory lane and see how we transformed this room for just $500 in only 6 weeks – Week 1 | Week 2| Week 3| Week 4| Week 5|. Oh yes, and this room was featured on House Beautiful so that was super cool!
4. The Non-Highlight Reel – This post is proof that in between the pretty, posed, and planned, people want to see REAL LIFE, and the Miller’s are more than happy to keep it real. This post, where I shared a true life picture of how disastrous my house usually looks and how awful I am at laundry, is one of my most read lifestyle blog posts of all time. Head on over for a laugh and a behind the scenes look at how terrible I am at cleaning house.
5. Pumpkin Sheet Cake – This was my most used quick and easy recipes in 2016. If you haven’t read this post or made this dessert you are so missing out. Yes it is a HUGE hit at Thanksgiving but trust me, it’s a hit any time of the year. My kids are already asking for this again. They love it for their birthday dessert. It’s amazing to take to parties and get togethers. It’s awesome to make ahead for dinner parties. One of my favorite things about this dessert is that it actually gets better over a period of several days. SO, if you want to make it a few days ahead before your party or get together, no problem.
6. Deck the Halls Christmas Tour – I participated with several other bloggers in a lifestyle blog hop to show our home for Christmas. We shared our kitchen, breakfast nook, and living room for the tour. If you didn’t get to take our tour, head on over now and check it out.
7. Simply Fall Home Tour – This was another fun lifestyle blog tour I participated in with some amazingly talented other design bloggers. If you want to see inside our home, this tour takes you inside our entry, living, kitchen, dining room, and master bedroom and bathroom, as well as our backyard and pool.
8. Rest As Resistance – My amazingly talented sister wrote this piece on the need to find time, to MAKE time…to simply rest. It’s a must read you guys. 
8. My Summer Mom-Fail post was a crowd pleaser. Just head on over if you want to see and hear about me being an absolute hot mess, yet again. Yes, that’s me with a sock unknowingly hanging on my necklace during a TV interview.
9. Here is my other most used quick and easy recipes – my Easy Homemade Cookie Cake . If you’re looking for other yummy recipes, make sure to check out my Lifestyle section on the blog – FOOD
10. And coming in at #10 on the list is the post on our RV Redo. If you haven’t seen the before and afters of the RV that we renovated before we took it to Yellowstone, you’re going to want to check this post out.
If you made it to the end of this post, congratulations! You have now seen CC and Mike’s top lifestyle blog posts of 2016. One year ago we decided to go out on a limb. We decided to re-brand, to start blogging again, to pursue my dream of selling print art to people to use for design in their homes, to start doing what we really love—building, and flipping and working in real estate. Six months later we launched CC and Mike. It’s been hard. There has been ups and downs. And you know what it has also been, incredibly challenging and exciting and thrilling. We still don’t have it all figured out but we know one thing for sure…we are sure thrilled that you guys are going along on this journey with us.
Coming up in 2017….
Hopefully we will flip a house. We have been working our butts off, trying to find the right one.
CC’s book will be completed and published, or at least that is the plan and what we are working toward
We will be sharing more quick and easy recipes, family fun and trips, and crazy stories from this journey we call life.
Before I sign off, I leave you with our family quote: “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years.” -Abraham Lincoln.
Thanks for following along with the Miller’s. You guys are the best. No really, you are. Let’s do this 2017.
