Top Nine of 2020

It is hard to summarize this year. I have seen a lot of posts titled, “See ya, 2020” and “So Long to 2020”. Rather than dismiss this last year as a dumpster fire or black hole, I am trying to find the light in what was a very dark time. This year included a global pandemic, political challenges, and social injustices. I will be the first to recognize how incredibly hard this year. I am saddened by these dark times and I am missing my family and friends; I am missing being active and more engaged in my community; I am missing just going to a damn bar for a cocktail. Those are things I should and am fortunate for, because they are so incredibly insignificant compared to the losses that so many others have experienced this year. All we can hope for in 2021 is that there be recovery for those who have lost so much.

In practicing gratitude, I am so beyond thankful that this year I remained healthy. A small but mighty feat for a year like this year. I not only remained healthy but I also gave birth to our first daughter. In any given year, giving birth would be a miracle. This year, it felt like a miracle and a half. We had tough year economically but I am thankful for my job. I am thankful to have had time to invest in my handmade craft business. Being quarantined also allowed us to be at home and to work on several home projects. All in all, 2020 was a pretty low year. But I am so thankful for these simple blessings in my life.

It is not surprising that my top nine of 2020 reflect my home, my sanctuary. Between today and tomorrow, it my not feel so different – we will still be quarantined at home. But it is within our hearts and our minds that we must navigate the days ahead of us. May 2021 bring us recovery but also ability to exercise peace.

It’s always a good time for a REFRESH

Pretty much every year I commit to new years resolutions, and 2020 was just like every other year. I committed. I wrote down the things I wanted to stick to, I even wrote a blog post about it. For a quick recap, my 2020 guiding principles and goals are below.

Since 2020 has been such a different year, I felt it was a good time as any to be able to hit a refresh on this year’s goals and to re-envision what I am prioritizing most these days. To do this, I decided to create a vision board one evening and it was such a relaxing way for me to centralized around the phrases and photos that I genuinely gravitated to. (Below is a picture of said vision board). Rather than dive into each icon on my board, I wanted to focus on one of the first phrases I saw and cut out…”a year of identity”. Its funny how the world works in mysterious ways right?

I really felt that this was the start of a good vision board and refresh because that phrase really is how I have envisioned this year. I started the year with a trip to my beloved city, Paris, and family reunion in Switzerland. It was even more of an amazing trip because I got to bring my husband there for the first time. My French/Swiss heritage is such a part of me – my identity – most people that know me, know I am that francophile friend. In the early months of the year, we found out that we were pregnant with our first daughter (I wrote about it in a blog post here and again here)- again such a huge change in our identity as just a married couple to becoming parents (yikes, were we even ready for that?). Then COVID happened…and I think we all went through a somewhat identity crisis with being isolated from our family and friends for months on end. In the middle of pandemic, I had the opportunity to make a move and change jobs to what I have always considered my dream job. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity and it has been so wonderful and worth pursuing – again a big part of my personal investment in my career identity.

While this year has certainly brought in a lot of changes for us all, I have to reflect on the fact that this year has also provided me with so much fulfillment when it comes to my individuality, professional development, and our identity in becoming parents – in particular, me becoming a mom. As someone who is a type A planner, this year has been nothing short of unexpected growth. But I find the more I prepare rather than plan, the more I am able to ‘go with the flow’ and fall into my own identity with every season of change. I have intentionally left spaces on my vision board for just that – filling them in with the delightfully unexpected. From here, I will finish out 2020 looking to this vision board for the daily inspiration that fills my soul.

2020 New Year Guiding Principles:

1. Intentional

2. Quality

3. Creative

2020 New Year Goals:

1. Health: focus on moving every day. Workout 2 to 3 times per week. Feel better about my body and health.

2. Read: make time to read 1 book per month.

3. Write: blog 2 to 3 times per month.

4. Organization: clean out my entire gmail, google drive and accounts by the end of the year.

5. Create: develop inventory for Etsy Shop and collaborate with 5 partners over the year.

6. Home Renovation: ensure our entire house is cleaned up and organized by the end of the year. Complete at least 7 of the 10 projects on my list (some are not essential projects but rather ones that would be extra).

New Adventures on the Horizon

Happy Friday y’all! It’s been an amazing day of rest for me. Sometimes we just need it, right?

Well today’s day of rest was not like many others for me, it was the start of my maternity leave 🍋 Prior to today, it’s been a long week of 10 to 12 hour work days. It’s been at least 6 weeks of working at least 6 if not 7 days a week. It’s been just shy of 4 months of starting this new job that I love (yes, I started a new job in the middle of covid, craziness I know). It’s been 7 months of sheltering in place and 9 months of being pregnant while managing my first time being pregnant let alone during covid plus a job change/this work hustle. Needless to say, MY BODY IS TIRED!

Today I allowed my body to catch up. There are 18 things I wanted to do today, but I told myself there is always tomorrow. So I made myself a fancy coffee, whipped up a veggie scramble, took a nice long walk at the park, read, watched some tv and took a nap. How glorious it was! ✨ I am excited to finally be on maternity leave and let my body rest before our baby girl arrives. This time is most importantly about her, and my husband and I welcoming her into our family but selfishly (and so I have heard from other moms) it’s about me too. Resting, healing, and staying fulfilled as a person, hustling in my career, while also becoming a mom to this amazing little girl. I am excited to get to those 18 other things too during this time off, while nurturing my little one and teaching her to be a woman of strength and grace. It will be such an adventure, one that I am so excited to begin for our soon-to-be family of three ❤️ (well if you count the dogs, family of five 🦮🐕‍🦺)