100 Small & Beautiful Things That Happened to Me in 2024

This morning I took the time to read Austin Kleon’s annual list of "100 Things That Made My Year” and was inspired to write my own.

Because my memory sucks, I called in my photo library for backup (I’ve surely forgotten some gems anyways).

Here we go.

1. Playing New Year’s Eve at Bent Stick Brewing Co. to launch a beer that was made for me – the Bow-Tie PA
2. My kids sharing the stupid picture of a kid in an oversized pinstriped suit and shades holding a martini glass that they still use in the online liquor servers training
3. Brewing a killer hazy IPA with my son.
4. The spiritual weight-loss of selling our old house and getting back to one mortgage
5. Hot pink sunsets on the walk home from work
6. Receiving my DUMB HOPE test pressings from Clampdown Record Pressing and hearing my music on vinyl for the first time
7. The bumper sticker someone in the neighbourhood has with a cowboy hat and the Shania Twain line “okay, so you’ve got a car”
8. Our new couch
9. The way all of my gear fits in the Honda Fit
10. Visiting Open Walls at Bleeding Heart Art Space
11. Playing a full-band show at SOHO with Lindsey Walker and her band
12. Our dogs finding the sunlight every single day
13. Wearing all denim for the Denim Daddies album release party and realizing I have a denim bow-tie
14. Playing a songwriters round with Ken Stead, John Hewitt and Kaeley Jade
15. Getting back into Kate DiCamillo – and reading – with The Puppets of Spellhorst
16. Visiting Bo’s in Red Deer and thinking “someday I will play here”
17. Finding several boxes of my records left unceremoniously outside my front door.
18. Hosting our first ever house concert with Claire Coupland (and meeting Claire Coupland)
19. Matching T-shirts for my sister’s 40th birthday party in Mexico
20. Very strong early morning beers in the airport at Belgian Beer Cafe, because the airport is a liminal space where time does not exist
21. Barefoot beach walks with my baby
22. Floating down a lazy river under a canopy of jungle trees, manatees, swimming in caves, swinging bridges and so much more at a Mexican theme park I’d never usually pay for
23. Making a music video on my phone by the pool at our AirBnb
24. Waking up early just to watch the sun rise golden over the ocean
25. A little soccer net and ball to aim for in the urinal
26. Hosting Sammy Volkov, Amanda Penner and Zack Elliot for our second house concert and filling our home with music lovers
27. Organizing my bow-tie collection in the studio
28. Eating the weekly Friday lunch special at Fuge Sausage with strangers on plastic picnic tables in the hot parking lot
29. Driving my kids to work for the summer at Waterton Lake and trying to reassure them they’d be OK as I recognized my own anxiety in their lack of appetite and sleep
30. Discovering I’d be heading to the Glen Workshop in Seattle
31. Sombrero shaped Tajin packaging perfect for rimming glasses
32. Hand-drawing a logo for a friend’s bluegrass band The Pluckin’ Holler Boys
33. Playing to almost nobody downtown in the pouring rain at 8 AM with my band and having just the best time
34. Accidentally matching my mustard yellow shirt to walls of CKUA radio
35. Sharing my disappointment about not getting any summer festivals and receiving so many encouraging messages
36. Beer-league bowling with my friends at Plaza Bowl and wearing different matching outfits every dang time
37. Pretending to be into the Oilers for the playoff run, then almost kind of actually getting into the Oilers and line-dancing in the brewery during intermission
38. Finding a dead bird on the sidewalk in such a perfect, graceful position – like she just glided down into the next life
39. Launching the Bent Ear concert series at Bent Stick with Mallory Chipman and reading poetry when people weren’t expecting it, even though I was pretty nervous about it.
40. My new Karhu sneakers
41. Sharing a stupid-big breakfast at Shiddy’s Distilling with Christie in the glorious two weeks before they stopped serving it
42. Recording an EP for my friend Paul Jensen and taking long lunch breaks
43. Discovering Red Rock Canyon in Waterton Park
44. Drawing a pretty good picture of my brother in law on the paper ‘tablecloth’ at Montana’s
45. Doing a surprisingly decent job at the driving range in Kelowna and wondering if some of the stories I tell myself about myself might not be true
46. Hanging out with Rhea March at CJSR radio
47. Launching DUMB HOPE with a 7 piece band to a packed house at CKUA radio performance space after watching Abigayle Kompst captivate a crowd with nothing but words and a guitar
48. Taking dumb selfies with my wife everywhere we go and refusing to let someone else take a better picture for us
49. Finding a giant gas-station cactus at Cactus Corner in Southern Alberta
50. The vast majesty of the badlands at Dinosaur Provincial Park
51. Touching a dinosaur bone - millions of years old and still in the ground
52. Discovering how much work and context it takes to explain “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit” to my band while in the van on tour
53. DUMB HOPE making it to number 5 on CKUA’s weekly top 10
54. The beautiful and welcoming vibe at Calgary’s Limber Hollow venue
55. All new bedding from Simons after many years
56. Film photos taken by my friend Annie
57. Making some fantastic meals from Fresh Prep
58. Working with my wife at Bent Stick Brewing
59. The lush grounds at Seattle Pacific University
60. Weird “lawn” decorations at the boathouses in Seattle
61. Watching a concert in lawn in the sun at the Seattle art gallery
62. The wild abundance of the full table charcuterie board at the closing Glen Workshop open mic
63. A paper towel dispenser definitely giving me the side-eye with giant googly eyes
64. My little painting from New Mexico folk artist ”Wonderful” Ed Larson
65. Hiking the 19 km Crypt Lake trail in Waterton Park
66. Casual deer on our lawn in Pincher Creek
67. The swinging chairs at Kilter Brewing in Winnipeg
68. Mini-golf and soft-serve at Fuddruckers in Saskatoon
69. Jumping off the couch to end a song at the Bro-Tel Backyard Festival
70. Getting to know John Hewitt and joining the ranks of Second Sunset Bookings
71. Buying a cordless nail gun and discovering I can use an adaptor to power cheaper Ryobi tools with my Milwaukee batteries
72. The huge smile on my face while watching Stop Making Sense in IMAX and having my mind blown again by David Byrne’s showmanship
73. The patch on my jean jacket that says “I’m a wreck” (thanks Stay Home Club)
74. Visiting a new church and getting a surprise organ concert
75. Riding the ferris wheel at Fort Edmonton with friends
76. Going outside to bring in the signs at work and seeing a sunset so beautiful I had to run inside and tell people to get out there and see it while it lasts
77. Staying up so so late and drinking PBR to watch bands like St.Arnaud at Breakout West in Saskatoon
78. Strolling through the art installations of Saskatoon’s Nuit Blanche and watching artists draw portraits and write poetry on a typewriter for strangers
79. My kids coming home from Waterton and starting a new phase of life – marked by apartment searches and my wife cutting off all of my son’s hair
80. The best Oktoberfest I’ve ever been to outside of Munich, in Vermillion
81. Accidentally kicking beers out of people’s hands while I spun on the stripper pole in the back of the party bus on our way from the Alberta Beer Awards with my work team
82. All-denim with my work team
83. Discovering one of the Wikipedia photos for “mongrel” looks a lot like our dog Gloria
84. Getting and loving my first tube mic from Advanced Audio
85. Recording my first “Indie 500” artist
86. Being welcomed into what felt like a family reunion at Manitoba Showcase and playing the best show I possibly could
87. Discovering thousands of dollars worth of mid-century Herman Miller chairs just hanging out in the basement of the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium
88. The kids insisting we carve pumpkins as a family and us having to find terrible pumpkins after we thought they didn’t care anymore
89. Dressing like Casey and Finnigan for our Halloween party
90. Hanging out, playing music and writing a song with TAYLR
91. Getting to perform at the launch of Edmonton’s first AEWest program from Canada’s Music Incubator
92. Lazing around in Victoria to celebrate 24 years married to Christie
93. Caesar butter from Fry’s Red Wheat Bread Bakery (even though we were too late for bread)
94. Visiting The Market Garden – perhaps the most beautiful grocery store in the world
95. Singing carols in the living room with so many friends at our Christmas party
96. Watching Christie and the kids decorate the tree together
97. Lindsey Walker’s 80’s themed 40th birthday party
98. Roaring Christmas fires in the wood stove
99. DUMB HOPE making some pretty great year end lists over at The Edmonton Journal and CKUA Radio
100. Closing out 2025 tobogganing with friends on New Years Eve