magic on sunday: favorite albums of 2016 🎤 // see you in 2017👋🏾

tonight i sat around a cozy dinner table at one of my favorite neighborhood spots (the lodge, if you’re wondering) for a friend’s birthday gathering. after he shared with us what he hoped the next year would bring, we all sort of went around and shared our own. when it got to me, i mentioned that this year was really one of my best – the best so far – if i could be so bold. it felt too premature to look ahead without really reveling in what has been.

this year started coming out of a pretty big low. 2015 wasn’t kind to me, so the bar wasn’t set very high to have a remarkable year, but somehow, even with that, 2016 feels like the kind of year where everything just sort of…clicked. i slowed down a lot, got real comfortable with consciously spending more time alone, met some really great and amazing people, took a painting class and dove into other creative endeavors (like this newsletter!), stood up for and listened to myself in ways i never had before, left a job that didn’t make me feel fulfilled, found one that really does, traveled solo internationally for the first time, reconnected with old friends, mended and matured a few relationships, and for the first time, just really felt like, for the most part, i’m living the life i want to live.

there’s a piece of paper on my door that says, “you have who and what you need”, as a reminder that all that i could ever hope to possess is already at my core. i look at it every day when i grab my keys and head out, and somehow over the past 12 months, i’ve come to actually believe it.

i’m riding into 2017 with the conscious reminder of this, and i pray that you do to.

this is my last newsletter of 2016, as i’ll be traveling to maine next weekend and d.c. the following. things are a little different this week, with a list of my favorite albums of the year, and a much longer than normal playlist with some of my favorite highlights.

magic on sunday: my favorite albums of 2016 [spotify playlist]
light upon the lake – whitney
teens of denial – carseat headrest
human performance – parquet courts
no burden – lucy dacus
phase – jack garatt
next thing – frankie cosmos
22, a million – bon iver
coloring book – chance the rapper
singing saw – kevin morby
weezer – weezer
blonde – frank ocean
how to be a human being – glass animals
telephone – noname
masterpiece – big thief
human ceremony – sunflower bean
cardinal – pinegrove

what did you listen to this year? i’d love to know.

until 2017,
meghan

[magic on sunday archive]