2020 has been like that gift your relative gives you during the holidays and you open it up thinking it’s going to be something super cool but then you have to do this really fake smile thing when you finally unwrap it and unveil it’s terribleness. There’s definitely a picture in someone’s phone of that fake smile forever. Oof.
BUT! There lies good news, the coronavirus pandemic is only one of the gifts 2020 left under the tree. Let’s take two, maybe three or four, steps back and see what went well this year.
Things that went right
- I got a pretty dreamlike job opportunity and took it
- I was able to transition to a WFH position very smoothly when the shutdowns began
- I started this website!
- I was still able to take a few trips (more than I had in any previous years)
- My mental health has improved dramatically since being able to work from home and have less required social interaction
- I bought (and paid off!) a new car this year that is super reliable
- Student loans were deferred all year so I never had to think about making those payments
- I found out I will be an aunt in 2021
- I found a love for cooking
- I began a craft themed Instagram page and really took a step towards trying to make a living off of creative means
- I successfully cut sugar out of my diet in December (with a couple exceptions on the holidays and my birthday)
- I never got COVID-19, nor did anyone in my immediate family
- I made a new friend
- I was able to support a few small artists by buying their products! I began a sticker journal with the intention of continuing to support small artists and buying any fun stickers I see 🙂
Christmas #1
These past two weeks have probably been the happiest of the whole year. My brother was able to come home with his wife for the holidays which of course made my mom go crazy straightening up, changing the layout of the house, and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. It was so much fun to have them around. With my brother came his whole squad of friends from high school who were with us most of the week as well. One of my favorite things about the home I live in is it has become the “watering hole” so to say. If the friends are getting together for any reason, it’s at our house and I love that. It’s a really cozy feeling to have everyone in your own home.
We had so many people at our house the week before Christmas it was crazy (which in hindsight was a bad idea with the virus but we all trusted anyone who came over to know not to if they had any symptoms). We played games all week long. Exploding kittens was the newest game we learned which was a…blast lol. Catan is another classic in the family, which I have not yet won a single game of. This year we also took a small table and converted it into a ping pong table and held a tournament. DJ is practically unbeatable since he plays every day in Utah. Even my dad took a few swings while cooking dinner. We dug out the poker chips and I lost $12 in one night playing Texas Hold ‘Em. Somehow Bobby came out over $30 up each time we played which was just crazy.
We were also introduced to the card game Drug Dealer. There is a pile of cards containing one ace and one king, the rest being random other cards. The ace is the drug dealer, the king is the cop. Everyone sits in a circle and takes a card from the shuffled pile in the center. The drug dealer then looks around the group of people and tries to stealthily wink at the “customers” without getting caught by the cop. When a customer has been winked at, they can then flip their card over and say “sold”. If the cop catches the drug dealer, they shout “busted!” The drug dealer wins if they get all customers to sell before being caught. When I tell you this game is one of the most fun I’ve ever played I do mean it. I couldn’t wait to play it again. It was all laughs the entire time.
We celebrated our Christmas on December 18th this year and everyone was so happy with everything. My family all squished together onto the couch with our feet up and let me take a picture of everyone in their new slipper socks I made them. I got new boots to wear for the colder months since I didn’t have any winter shoes. I got a travel easel so I can take my paintings with me. I got some headphones which I’ve been enjoying so much. I got an assorted Stash tea box which I’m making my way through. Last but not least, I got a steel tongue drum that is so peaceful to play and listen to. Let this be the first instrument I master and play until my dying day. David got the same headphones and a Go-Pro to begin filming his skating and also to start recording home videos and one day start a vlog.
Christmas #2
The week after everyone left was much more low key. I practiced playing my drums and tried to come up with my own song. I treated myself to some Christmas gifts and got myself a new Xbox controller that has a headphone jack, new gaming headphones, and I finally purchased Stardew Valley for the Nintendo Switch.
I spent probably three days straight playing that game. I fell in love with it so completely right away. I’ve almost finished year 1 and I can’t wait to unlock more of what the game has to offer.
On Christmas day I met with David at his family’s house for dinner and another round of small gifts. They were nice enough to get me an unscented beeswax candle since the scents give me headaches. I love beeswax candles the most 🙂 The whole evening was super sweet and I ended up staying until close to 1AM with David that night. His mom’s birthday is also on Christmas day so I brought my drums and was able to play her happy birthday while everyone sang!
Birthday Getaway
On the 27th David and I packed up for a two night stay in Portsmouth, NH! My second little vacation this year. We wanted to fill the time with great food, beer testing, and walking around the town. We relied heavily on the Phantom Gourmet website for food places to try and they did not disappoint!
The first night we got there, we went to a restaurant called STREET serving street food from around the world. We ordered curry fries, a crispy rice cake, and dumplings con pow to start. The curry fries were served with a curry ketchup and they were a huge hit with both David and I. They were crispy on the outside without being too greasy and the curry drizzled on them was the perfect amount. The curry ketchup served with it completed the appetizer so well. The rice cake was PERFECTION. Sticky rice on the inside, crispy on the top and bottom, the sauce was to die for and the sweetest thing we had that night, and the chives are *chefs kiss*. The dumplings were also delicious, though spicier than we anticipated. We couldn’t decide originally if we wanted to get the dumplings or the Thai ribs. We didn’t end up finishing them as they were a little overwhelming with everything else we ordered. For entrees, I ordered a lamb shawarma (I’ve been dying to try shawarma for a long time now) and David ordered bibimbap. By the time the entrees came out we were both very full already but we endured as true food champions do and powered through a few bites before asking for some to-go boxes.
David and I haven’t tried too many new types of cuisine before. We tend to stick with the typical American, Italian, and Mexican. This restaurant blew our minds with all of the different flavors we were able to try. I really wanted to branch out from the things we know we like and try something completely new. Spots like STREET are hard to come by. I will definitely be looking for a place closer to me that serves shawarma for a more regular meal! We ended up eating the leftovers the next day and decided we had an even better appreciation of the flavors in our entrees the second day without the competition of everything else we ordered surrounding it.
I ate so much from STREET I felt sick before even leaving the restaurant. David had a little too much fun doing his best to get me to hurl on the drive back to the hotel (unsuccessfully I might add, my willpower is far too strong for such mortal games) and continuing on for the next hour.
We spent all of 10 minutes back in our hotel room before realizing the brewery we wanted to try was closing in the next 20 minutes. We suited back up and ran over to Earth Eagle Brewings. David picked out the Pilsner Michlik (a czech-american lager), and I took home the Bretren Code (an imperial coconut white stout with oak). Having nearly no experience drinking beer before, this was a delicious beer. We ran back to the hotel room to enjoy our drinks for a short while before collapsing into sleep at a ripe 7PM.
Day 2, my birthday! We woke up super early at 3:45AM and relaxed in the room until 8AM when the next stop opened. We decided to go and try The Friendly Toast for breakfast. We both settled into our booth underneath a very colorful painting of Prince and ordered some bennys. I ordered and devoured the Friendly benny while David ordered the Barbacoa benny. Nothing fancy this morning but still a delicious breakfast. The highlight was the flight of mimosas we ordered to go with it! There was a classic, a grapefruit, a peach, and a lavender lemonade flavor included. Neither of us had ever had a mimosa before, I could have drank the peach one all day long.
We walked around downtown Portsmouth for a few hours, popping in and out of shops when they opened. We came out of one with some gemstones for ourselves. Jasper for positivity for me and fluorite for studying for David. My mom recommended we drive up to Ogunguit, ME and walk the Marginal Way so that’s what we ended up doing. It only took about 25 minutes to get there and we parked and began our walk from the north end down. David brought his new Go-Pro to film most of the walk. It started raining on us about halfway down the walk but it was still so peaceful to be by the water and see the rocky shore that we hardly noticed. We chatted and looked at the interesting houses and back to the water splashing on the rocks. We went down to the edge of the water in one spot where the water pulling back from the rocks was the best ASMR sound you’ve ever heard.
After the walk we headed back towards the hotel, stopping at nearly every antique shop we saw on the way back. I found a second edition Webster’s unabridged dictionary from 1934 in one of them and bought it for my mom who loves unabridged dictionaries. We had just watched The Professor and the Madman starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn about the creation of the Oxford dictionary a few days prior to the trip.
We took a nap for a few hours once we were back, building up our appetite for the next food stop. We decided to grab a few more beers to go for when we got back from the trip. David picked out another lager from the Portsmouth Brewery before we headed out to dinner at BRGR Bar (which happened to be directly outside of the hotel we stayed at).
We decided to skip the appetizers in an attempt to avoid any further over stuffing and got right to the burgers. I ordered The Brazen while David ordered the OO-Mommy (can we talk about how great these burger names are? Spectacular). I still had to swap my plain fries out for some cheesy fries with bacon because who would I be if not excessive. And for a birthday drink…The Dude. An adult milkshake with Kahlua (oo-mommy my favorite), vanilla vodka, and grand marnier. Had the milkshake machine not been shut off before finishing the first, I probably would have tried a few more. But alas, I kept to my one birthday drink, scarfed down my burger, and made it through a good portion of my fries before David and I retired for the long 50 foot walk back to the hotel.
An awesome birthday 🙂
This morning we picked up a quick breakfast and tea at The Works Cafe before packing up and heading home. My mom loved her new dictionary when she got it. David left right away to drive back to his house so he can sleep for the night shift tonight. And I sat my butt down to do some writing that was much needed 🙂
Merry Jocmas to everyone and I hope you can come up with a list of things that went right for you this year even if there was more bad than usual. The little things are the most fun to celebrate.
