This post was inspired by my friend and former client Claire Williams, who recently wrote about her favorite things from 2024! Check out her Substack. You won’t be sorry.
Ok, HONORED to get a shoutout in this newsletter! I love how you broke down the year month by month at the beginning. And I've thought about your essay, "My Car Got the Kids I Always Wanted", so many times. Just the memory of it puts a lump in my throat. (Is there a memoir in your future???) So poignant. Can't wait to keep following your work in 2025. 💙
Thanks, Claire! I have thought many times about writing a memoir, and it may happen - but not right now. I'm still too much in the middle of change! Maybe in a few years :)
Ariel, this whole post radiates heart. From the paint-splattered tooth fairy note to the chocolate biscotti at dawn, your year was filled with so many quiet, beautiful moments that say this is life. I’m especially moved by how honestly you’re sharing the in-between space—where writing, motherhood, and identity meet and still feel unresolved.
Your essay about the car getting the kids you wanted was beautiful, Ariel!
FAVORITE PODCASTS: The Popcast (I'm on their highest Patreon tier.) • RELEVANT • The Oddcast with Brant & Sherri • The Holy Post (especially Drew's News & SkyePod Patreon episodes) • Saved by the City's Apocryfun series
FAVORITE BOOKS: The Small and The Mighty by Sharon McMahon • An Immense World by Ed Yong • 7 Primal Questions by Mike Foster • Ghosted by Nancy French
FAVORITE MOVIE: Fall Guy (I bought replicas of Ryan Gosling's jacket and shirt from that movie)
FAVORITE REGULAR TREATS: therapy Thursdays • solo night hiking at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest • pre-dawn Sanity Hikes™ every Wednesday • Dunkin Donuts Munchkins® • dark chocolate hot cocoa • naps in my pillow pit (100+ pillows)
TRIPS: Big Bend National Park backpacking & canoeing (with an old friend) • Monterey, California (with my brother & his wife) • Followership Conference road trip (with two friends)
Curaçao swimming with sea turtles (with my wife) • Zion National Park motocross camping (with Bob Goff) • my first solo, multi-day motorcycle trip—met a bear in the road! • Jefferson National Forest truck-mudding & camping • and hopefully, my Christmas break trip to London (with my daughter)
FAVORITE BOOK PUBLICITY TOUR INTERVIEWS: The 700 Club (TV) • Preacher Boys (the podcast that exposed my dad's crimes) • The New Evangelicals • The Roys Report • Bare Marriage (I got choked up on this one.) • Shifting Culture
I did not realize you were such a Popcast fan!! That's awesome. And my husband is reading GHOSTED by Nancy French right now; he's loving it. I'm also starting the audiobook of THE SMALL & THE MIGHTY because I love Sharon McMahon's substack. Your pillow pit is epic. :D Love reading about all of your adventures - thank you for sharing!!
Ok, HONORED to get a shoutout in this newsletter! I love how you broke down the year month by month at the beginning. And I've thought about your essay, "My Car Got the Kids I Always Wanted", so many times. Just the memory of it puts a lump in my throat. (Is there a memoir in your future???) So poignant. Can't wait to keep following your work in 2025. 💙
Thanks, Claire! I have thought many times about writing a memoir, and it may happen - but not right now. I'm still too much in the middle of change! Maybe in a few years :)
Ariel, this whole post radiates heart. From the paint-splattered tooth fairy note to the chocolate biscotti at dawn, your year was filled with so many quiet, beautiful moments that say this is life. I’m especially moved by how honestly you’re sharing the in-between space—where writing, motherhood, and identity meet and still feel unresolved.
Thanks so much for reading and for the kind words, Anton!
Your essay about the car getting the kids you wanted was beautiful, Ariel!
FAVORITE PODCASTS: The Popcast (I'm on their highest Patreon tier.) • RELEVANT • The Oddcast with Brant & Sherri • The Holy Post (especially Drew's News & SkyePod Patreon episodes) • Saved by the City's Apocryfun series
FAVORITE BOOKS: The Small and The Mighty by Sharon McMahon • An Immense World by Ed Yong • 7 Primal Questions by Mike Foster • Ghosted by Nancy French
FAVORITE MOVIE: Fall Guy (I bought replicas of Ryan Gosling's jacket and shirt from that movie)
FAVORITE REGULAR TREATS: therapy Thursdays • solo night hiking at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest • pre-dawn Sanity Hikes™ every Wednesday • Dunkin Donuts Munchkins® • dark chocolate hot cocoa • naps in my pillow pit (100+ pillows)
TRIPS: Big Bend National Park backpacking & canoeing (with an old friend) • Monterey, California (with my brother & his wife) • Followership Conference road trip (with two friends)
Curaçao swimming with sea turtles (with my wife) • Zion National Park motocross camping (with Bob Goff) • my first solo, multi-day motorcycle trip—met a bear in the road! • Jefferson National Forest truck-mudding & camping • and hopefully, my Christmas break trip to London (with my daughter)
FAVORITE BOOK PUBLICITY TOUR INTERVIEWS: The 700 Club (TV) • Preacher Boys (the podcast that exposed my dad's crimes) • The New Evangelicals • The Roys Report • Bare Marriage (I got choked up on this one.) • Shifting Culture
I did not realize you were such a Popcast fan!! That's awesome. And my husband is reading GHOSTED by Nancy French right now; he's loving it. I'm also starting the audiobook of THE SMALL & THE MIGHTY because I love Sharon McMahon's substack. Your pillow pit is epic. :D Love reading about all of your adventures - thank you for sharing!!