Hello, 2021!

Well, what a year last year was! So what happened in mine? Here we go:

  • Family time: I am very lucky and thankful for the fact that I live so incredibly close to my parents (a quick drive) and brother’s family (a few minutes walking).
  • Friend time (virtually) increased as well! With more time to scroll through social media, it made it very easy to just reach out to people I maybe haven’t been in touch with as much recently or for a long period of time.
  • Snail mail: I don’t think I’ve sent as much mail as I did in 2020. So many postcards and letters! I have always loved snail mail, but let life and work get in the way of things. I picked it up last year (along with new and fun stamps) and hope to continue it. Who doesn’t get a warm feeling when they randomly get a letter in the post?
Kitten
Got these cool holographic tyrannosaurus rex forever stamps!
  • Kitten: I adopted a cat (and named him with the help of my friends: Sir Winston, Earl of Grey)! This is the one thing I predicted for 2020; I guess you could say it was actually more of a resolution I had made for myself at the end of 2019 for 2020. I worked a full time and a part time job for the holidays and decided I would use the bonus funds I had worked so hard for to adopt a cat in 2020. He makes this apartment more fun and full of energy!
This photo was taken just over a week after I adopted Winston. He was just about three months old here.
  • Career: I started a new job (fully remote now). I feel very lucky to be able to say that. I am very hopeful for what challenges and changes this will bring! Any suggestions for keeping sane while working fully remotely are appreciated.
Winston likes to chase my fingers as I type.
  • Baking: I got back into baking to promote calm and enjoyment. As work and life had been a bit draining, it was a very welcome thing to just take a bit of time back for myself to create.
Antoni in the Kitchen recipe
A lemon poppy drizzle cake from Hand Made Baking book and salty lemon squares from Antoni in the Kitchen.
  • Reading: I just hit my reading goal! I had set my goal to be 52 books read for the year and had just made it to 53 on the last day of the year. As I felt a little bit of a scramble to reach my goal, I decided that for 2021 I would put less stress on myself and reversed the goal to 25 (any bonus books will be just that: a bonus!). I have also really been wanting to get back into creative outlets, so having less pressure to hit a book a week will help give time to that.
You can tell when I started to really get more into the reading goal.
  • Travel: I was not able to travel anywhere, but I did start a small savings account for future travels. So, we will see how that grows and goes! I have been getting plenty of travel ideas for different trips and have several travel buddies, so I am very hopeful for fun plans when possible.
The last big trip I took was in October 2019 to Portugal and Spain. The last night of our trip we visited the Cementiri de Montjuïc pictured here.

Let’s see what this year brings!