My Top Posts From The 24th Project

Putting myself through a yearly challenge meant that I came out of it with over 400 posts. If you’ve read all of them, I’m really amazed because even I didn’t read everything that I put up here.

Like I’ve said time and time again, it wasn’t easy and sometimes the posts weren’t the best, but other times, it was all worth it. The posts I’ve selected below are the best example of that: they’re the first ones I think of when I think about the purpose of this blog. Some were successful with the readers, others weren’t- but they all made a point.

I couldn’t make a top ten because there was a lot of material to go through. So instead, I picked out the posts that I felt best described each and every month of this journey.

Here they are.

February: On Buying and Furnishing a House in Lebanon and Saying No To The Zaffe. The start of this blog was very shaky, but I slowly started finding my footing after a visit to the local wedding fair, and subsequently kicking off my own wedding planning and move.

March: Oh No, Not the Jehez Again. Because even to this day, I still have multiple conversations with my mother about what was missing from my jehez and what we should and should not have gotten. The conversation still always ends with me pointing out that we live in the capital city where malls are everywhere.

April: In Honor of the Birthday Guy, Forwards, and A Youth Spent in Airplanes. Of all the posts I’ve written about Ahmad, the first two are my favorites because one was written for his birthday and the other was about how our relationship became serious. The third post is about my childhood.

May: A Lebanese Woman and A Palestinian Man and What You Don’t Need for Your Lebanese Wedding. The first post is about a central issue to our marriage and relationship, and a cause I strongly believe in. Of all the posts I wrote for Beyond Beirut, it is my favorite. The second is poking fun at the stereotypical Lebanese weddings.

June: The Visa Application Process, The Housing Situation, and What is a Bride? The wedding planning started getting into its serious stages and the posts from June reflected that, even though I was fasting for Ramadan and didn’t have much energy to write. These posts each reflect an important stage in the process: the honeymoon, the move, and the wedding.

July: Someone Get Me a Hairdresser Please, The House is Done, and Thank You John Legend, Love Lebanon. This is when all I could talk about was the impending event. I still couldn’t find someone to do my hair, despite trying many options available. But on the positive side, the house finally came together, increasing my anxiety of moving in. And I got the chance to attend an amazing concert that I will never forget.

August: So I’m Fat?, Marriage is Not An Accomplishment, and What Living in the Netherlands Taught Me. This was the month before the wedding and I was starting to get really tired of the process and writing about it. It was also a month were a lot of my decisions were coming under scrutiny, as well as a chance to reflect upon that other big decision I made: living in the Netherlands.

September: The Most Perfect Wedding Day and So I Said Yes. Because what else?

October: A Month of Marriage and How Far We Have Come. That month was our first together as a married couple, and in between adjusting to the new house, the new relationship status, and trying to get back on track at work, I couldn’t help but stand back and reflect in awe about everything we had been through.

November: Hostessing, Plenty of Fun, and Mothers and (Married) Daughters. It was a time where I was sort of stuck in limbo between the newlywed glow, especially highlighted by getting the wedding pictures back and being anxious to share them, and settling in, exemplified by me trying new things at home while never feeling completely disconnected from my parents’ home.

December: The Bridal Transformation, Confidence Boost, and Happy Days. I was starting to burn out at this point, just as the weather was getting colder and the responsibilities were increasing at work. It was one of my worst months for the blog but I powered through it and stuck to the themes I felt most comfortable writing about.

January: Married Without Children, Good Girls Don’t, and No Shame in Online Dating. I guess the newest approach to Beyond Beirut will be to write about love and relationships in our society, and those three posts exemplify that. They were all very well-received and highly popular, making it worth the effort.

I still don’t know what the new year holds for this blog, but I’m excited to find out. Thank you for reading and making every post memorable!