This is the second in a series of five navel-gazing retrospective posts celebrating my five years of blogging in which I offer my top five posts for each year. For the first post looking back at 2006, click here. Also stay tuned for a celebratory giveaway at the end!

Having been an urbanite for a full year, 2007 didn't offer as much novelty as my first year living in the city, but it was no less full.

2007 was about a hiking, hiking and more hiking, and backcountry camping for the first time. It was about re-learning to be in a relationship and balancing that with my newly found sense of identity and independence. It was about listening to the whales under the moonlight with D. in Grand Manan, New Brunswick, and driving 12 hours to New Brunswick a few months later with Sis for a weekend of music at Mom & Dad's. It was about joining a weekly writing group, completing NaBloPoMo and dealing with what felt like the snowiest winter ever. And finally, it was about going back to work after an 11-month sabbatical, one of the biggest events to impact my energy that year.

my cozy urban balcony space

Here are my top five posts:

Sabbatical Reflections - Part I - I started feeling the strain of my impending return to work after 11 months off, but was - and still am - forever grateful for my sabbatical experience.

Grand Manan Pics Pre-fog and Post-fog - OK, I'm cheating here and including two posts in one entry, but I can't include one and not the other. Our camping trip to Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick, was downright magical. Whales below our cliff-top campsite, two full days of hiking and two bald eagle sightings. 'Nuf said.

view from our Grand Manan campsite

On Creativity... - Musings on how creativity must be part of my calling and how it made me feel alive and content. An awakening no doubt.

A Good Day - Short, sweet, powerful.

Meatpie Madness - Chronicling my first meatpie making adventure. Classic!

a tired me and a tired Cassie after a weekend of backcountry camping

Stay tuned for 2008...