Photos of 2018

2018 was the Year of the Dog. Adopting our Quijote in May was a watershed moment for us. There has definitely been a before and after to how we approach travel, socializing, and our daily life with this adorably sweet yet feisty addition to our family.

I have a tradition here of summing up my year in photos from my Instagram, both my own favorites and the year’s “Best Nine,” as counted by an app.

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A post shared by stephanieliebold (@stephanieliebold) on Apr 24, 2018 at 5:59pm PDT

This time it seemed a little different, since I hadn’t been posting to my Instagram gallery as frequently, and a lot of the photos I did share were from earlier years.

Still, I think this can give you a little window into my 2018…

You Like This

In a way, you (or anyone who liked my Instagram posts) voted for this first set of photos, since Best Nine just automatically selects the photos with the most likes.

Best Nine (from left):

Row 1 — Motel sign, Sedona / Desert Botanical Garden, Phoenix / Women’s March Phoenix 2 — Dragon tree shadows at Coronado Island, CA / Spreckels Organ, San Diego / Monet Pond, Denver Botanic Gardens 3 — Typewriter at George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, Phoenix / Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Consuelo, Altea, Spain / Mosaic in the Vatican Museum

My 2018 Picks

This collage I put together somehow feels more like my past year — especially with Quijote at the center of it all!

1 — Pompeii at Arizona Science Center / Date Night, Yuma, AZ / Typewriter at George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center, Phoenix 2 — Downtown Tucson / Quijote / Dragon tree shadows at Coronado Island, CA 3 — Sunset at La Jolla, CA / The Farm at South Mountain, Phoenix / San Marco Square, Venice, Italy

What memories stand out from your past year?

August 6, 2018August 7, 2018

Everyday Magic

There are Instagram accounts where every photo looks a bit like a fairy tale.

I typically don’t follow them. It’s like they’re trying to create this illusion of perfection.

Instead, I want to see the real-world magic – the rain on the window, the dried vine that looks almost lacy, the pattern of the light through the blinds, the flowers my nephews picked for me. The beauty that’s all around us.

That’s what I want to share with you.

March 27, 2017March 27, 2017

A Friend in the Cellar

Phillip and I are walking through the passage into the cellar under Monticello, when a woman coming the other direction stops us. Because she wants to take a photo. Of us. For us.

Wait…what?

“It just looks so cool with the light filtering through the fog behind you…it’s okay…I work here,” she reassured us with that non-sequitur.

Still slightly stunned, we hand her a phone, pose for a photo, and then find ourselves in a conversation about our visit to Virginia and her work at Monticello (which does not typically involve walking around taking strangers’ photos).

“Have a good trip!” she calls after us when we finally part ways.

I randomly respond with “Thanks! May the Force be with you!”

She stops in her tracks. “Have you seen it?”

Of course, she means the then-newly-released Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, that had shocked fans (including us) with the death of a hero.

“Yes!” I was still moving through the stages of fictional character grief, and she just opened her arms to hug me.

The three of us stood in the passageway awhile longer, talking about the movie and the plot twist and feelings and nostalgia, and it was this beautiful moment of connection in a really unexpected location.

P.S. I just posted more about what to see at Monticello and will be posting how to tackle tickets and tour schedules later this week.

Last photo by Liz Marshall.

January 16, 2017January 11, 2017

Photos of 2016

Near the end of 2015, I posted the collage of Instagram photos the Best Nine app considered my best nine. (I think they’re just the most liked.)

Looking at the collage, it didn’t feel very representative of my year, though.

So, with encouragement from Traci and others, I decided to choose one of my Instagram photos every month that felt significant or like it just fit, and then compare it to my Best Nine at the end of the year.

The photos at the top are my “best nine”, and here are the ones I chose for each month…

They don’t really overlap, except for that weather-beaten tree. I remember almost choosing some of the same ones the app did – some months had a couple photos that seemed like a good fit for that month.

I’m still on the fence about whether I want to do this again, but it is really cool to look back and see snapshots of the past year this way.

Locations of Best Nine photos (l-r, from top):