2017 Reviewed — Lacey Henschel

When writing this post, it was a challenge to focus on the things I accomplished and not the stresses and anxieties I felt along the way. In the spirit of starting 2018 off with a more confident step, however, I kept the focus on the results of the year, which were often beautiful, inspiring, funny, and joyful. Here's to a new year and a new 365 days of memories.

Chaired DjangoCon US

Last year, I served as conference chair of DjangoCon US. I and more than a dozen other people spent months prepping, fundraising, reviewing proposals, making schedules, approving menus, and doing a million other small and large tasks so that more than 300 people could come together in Spokane to talk about Django for a week. Every conference has its fires that must be put out, but I'm so proud of this team and this conference. I know 2018 will be even better!

Rode in a bike race

In July, I joined my mom, my sister, and my cousins in Buffalo Gap, Texas for the Tour de Gap. All I can say about my performance is that I finished those 27 miles. Feel free to google my race results; I'm not ashamed!

In all seriousness, this was an awesome experience. I prepped by attending a spinning class a couple times a week for a few weeks, I borrowed my cousin's old bike that came with the festive pink water bottle holder you see here, and I had a blast with my family. Hope I get to do it again this year!

Started a new job

While at DjangoCon US, I accepted a job offer from REVSYS. I started there in October and have absorbed so much new information in the last three months that every day it feels like there is not room in my brain to learn more, and yet somehow I do. Leaving the University of Texas after six years was incredibly hard; my colleagues there are amazing people and very talented developers. Luckily, I recruited several of them to work on DjangoCon US, so I still get to work with them! This photo is the celebration selfie I took with my husband after I accepted the offer.

By some numbers

32: Outings with my Little through Big Brothers Big Sisters
6: Blog posts. Four published here, and two on the REVSYS blog.
2: Conference presentations. I spoke about networking at ACT-W Portland and gave the closing remarks at DjangoCon US.
8: Round-trip flights taken. I went to New York for a wedding; Texas for the bike race; Spokane, WA for DjangoCon US; Bismarck, ND for a family reunion; Texas to see family; Oklahoma for Thanksgiving; Lawrence, KS to visit REVSYS; and back to Texas for Christmas.
39: Books read. Favorites include Kindred by Octavia Butler, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, and Heart of Malice by Lisa Edmonds.
1: Homes purchased. We bought a house! It's very cute and has a large yard and will feature heavily in my 2018 goals.
2: Jobs held. I started the year only a month into a new job at the University of Texas, and ended the year three months into my new job at REVSYS.
1,407: Tweets sent. Busiest month was August with 182 sent tweets, unsurprising since that was the month DjangoCon US happened. Slowest month was September with 26, when I took a post-conference social media break.

2018 Goals

I hate to call these "resolutions," but I do have some personal and professional goals for this year.

Speaking: Give a Docker talk at a conference. I've submitted this talk to a couple of conferences already, and have a couple more conferences I will submit it to once their CFPs open.

Growing: Vegetables, that is. Plant a vegetable, grow it, and eat it. Now that I have a house with a yard, I want to garden again.

Writing: I wrote and published 6 blog posts last year, so let's make it 12 this year. I'm part of a couple of different writing projects this year, so hopefully I will be able to keep pace. I also developed a journaling habit in 2017, and I'd like to keep that going.

Reading: Read more. My goal for 2017 was a book a week, which I did not hit. Mostly this year I would like to be reading consistently, so my Goodreads goal is 40 books for 2018.