2020 ... year of the pandemic. Am I right? Nevertheless, let me make note of what has happened so far pandemic monotony aside.
JANUARY
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| Crest Mountains, California (July 2019) |
Originally, we had planned to take a drive across the US between Christmas and New Year's. Those plans took a back seat when Justin's grandmother was in a car accident and taken to the hospital.
Rather than return straight home following her death, we took off to Nashville, Tennessee to hang out with Justin's sister and meet his new baby second cousin, Annalen. We shared Grammy's delicious last cheesecake with those in the family that hadn't made it to Christmas.
For the last night of break, we stayed at the Atlanta Intercontinental Buckhead and watched New Years' Eve fireworks from the top floor while playing games and having a "quiet night" with friends. It was exactly what was needed.
January continued ....
FEBRUARY
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| San Francisco, CA (April 2018) |
February brought a bit of excitement as we started planning a March trip to NYC, pre-covid. We got a bit of snow and we began spending every night at Trader Vic's where we made friends witl regulars, learned about Trader Vic and the origin of the mai tai, and discovered secrets about the Hilton where the last Trader Vic's was built in the 1970s. We also finished up out second semester of French 2 and ultimately decided not to continue with French 3 with the same school.
MARCH
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| Santa Monica Beach, California (July 2019) |
March started pretty crazy for us. We attended a Tiki convention, then a travel convention, went to a travel meet up in Atlanta, had a flat tire (that almost made it impossible for us to attend the meet up), then flew off to NYC the last possible weekend before everything was shut down for covid. When I was put on paid leave from work, I got busy cleaning every nook and cranny, organizing, and listing clothes and other items on Poshmark and eBay while also putting together a box for Goodwill. It was a busy month and we are so glad we got to do so much and meet so many people prior to lockdown! Even following lockdown, we still managed to get a lot done!
APRIL
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| southern California (April 2018) |
April was a pretty tough month for me. I got into a fight with a friend and I spent a few weeks depressed not only about the situation with my friend but also about the world in general. I had intended to have a busy month, but it ended up being a pretty quiet laid back month instead. Lunch dates with my husband were quite fun and enjoyable as we broke up the day with interesting takes on leftovers and long walks. Facetime cocktail hours punctuated the month with a few ups to bring a little more joy to the situation.
MAY
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| Rosemary Beach, Florida (August 2019) |
May was more of the same. I shipped the kids I watch some candy and activities to keep them busy and help Grammy. I worried about whether or not I would have a job as the pandemic continued. Then, we had to cancel all of out travel plans for the rest of the year. To bring my mood up, I discovered GoldBelly the perfect opportunity to order chocolate babka from Breads Bakery in NYC. Who doesn't love delicious babka? I was also pretty happy to make a few sales on eBay and Poshmark. April was a pretty expensive month for us as we sought ways to celebrate Mother's Day, graduation, and weddings without seeing family.
JUNE
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| 30A Florida (August 2019) |
Justin went back to work in late May/early June, just in time for hard drives in my Drobo to fail. We replaced all but one. I continued listing items for sale online and making friends. Nearly every Friday including wine and an Al Pacino movie; it was pretty fun. I also spent a bit more time on self-care: curling my hair and painting my nails, things I never have time for or make time for when I'm working.
JULY
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| the Vessel at Hudson Yards in NYC (March 2020). |
My husband surprised me the last week of June by getting a "free" day off for the long July 4th weekend. We jumped in the rental car and raced across the country for our first ever cross country road trip. Our first stop was at the Grand Canyon. We then continued on to Temecula to grab some wine from one of my favorite wineries, and Laguna Beach to get some sun before turning around On our way back, which was pretty much direct, we made a point to stop at The Little Painted Desert (not to be confused with the Painted Desert) and also just outside of Caprock Canyons State Park (it closed before we got there) to photograph the sunset.
As an aside, I must note, it was extremely difficult to stay socially distant keeping covid in mind during our travels, however, we were excited to be able to get a hotel room at the Thunderbird Hotel just outside of Grand Canyon the night before our stay when it is typically a pretty difficult hotel to get a room at.
It was also extremely difficult planning a trip with zero notice and a strict return date.
Other things we did during July: made fresh pasta with a pasta maker, baked eclairs and croissants from scratch, replaced the tires on my car, broke my phone, learned new ways to clean things, I wore a mask for my first time out of the house during Covid. We bought a raclette warmer and a juicer; there is nothing like fresh-squeezed orange juice on a Saturday morning!
AUGUST
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| Grand Canyon in AZ (July 2020) |
August is typically where I end my 6-month review, despite the fact that September has already begun. I went back to work at the end of the month, but it didn't keep me from being all "domestic" going up to that. Finding new ways to get stains out of clothes, learning new recipes, hanging curtains, and (my pride and joy) getting all of the artwork from the past 6 years of travel hung on an "art wall".
The very last week of the month my husband and I thought we might have to move, so we spend a week looking at rental properties and trying to rethink our budget and reimagine our life in a different location. It was mind-boggling and scary, but it was comforting to know that whatever our future looked like, it was together with my significant other. (I also got to see some really awesome properties!)
So how has 2020 looked for you? Mostly good? More bad? Somewhere in between? Are there things you wish you had done or things you wish you hadn't done? Do you have expectations or plans going forth for the rest of the year?
