Here are some things that happened in 2020. Let’s start with some pre-pandemic activities:

I witnessed the magic that was Bachelor Live (yes those are dancers doing choreography in front of a crying montage).

Visited Lava Hot Springs twice!

Saw two concerts: King Princess and Best Coast (Best Coast was on March 6!)

Saw a few Sundance movies:

Rejoiced when Parasite won best picture:

Celebrated Galentines:

The pandemic and quarantine hit and I did 1 million puzzles, took 1 million walks, drank 1 million Maverik diet cokes, and logged on 1 million zoom calls. I ordered take out, wore tie dye sweats, played house party, watched all the Mission Impossible movies, practiced yoga, had a zoom slime night, watched as many outdoor movies as possible (Courtesy of casa Wightman and the SLFS Drive In), took in a few of those zoom reunions/ watch alongs (Some Kind of Wonderful and John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch come to mind), and tried new hobbies (looking at you punch stitching). In addition to the pandemic, Salt Lake City also hosted an earthquake and a wind storm with hurricane level speeds which was as you can imagine, really *great* for everyone’s mental health.

I read these books (I starred my favorites):

• The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Change the World, Melinda Gates *
• The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Princess Margaret Royal Rebel, Georgie Blalcock
• Pieces of Her, Karin Slaughter *
• The Thunderhead, Neal Shusterman
• The Toll, Neal Shusterman
• Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan *
• The Night the Lights Went Out, Karen White
• Merci Suarez Changes Gears, Meg Medina *
• With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo *
• Skyward, Brandon Sanderson *
• Time After Time, Lisa Grunwald
• Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, R. Eric Thomas *
• Mexican Gothic, Silvia Moreno-Garcia
• Small Spaces, Katherine Arden
• Out to Get You: 13 Tales of Weirdness and Woe, Josh Allen *
• Lies Jane Austen Told Me, Julie Wright
• Leave the World Behind, Alam Rumaan (technically haven’t finished this one yet)
• Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik *
• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis *

Listened to these podcasts:

• Bachelor Party
• The Big Picture
• The Rewatchables
• The Connect
• Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
• Girl Meets Show
• Who? Weekly
• Be There in Five
• Unlocking Us with Brene Brown
• The Daily
• Smartless

I completed a “tour” of local parks.

I also tried to take full advantage of the beauty of Utah including two earthworks: the spiral jetty and the sun tunnels.

Made some things including Spanish tortilla, a COVID pinata (HBD Amy), macrame plant holders for my gurls, and a rainbow candy board in honor of the premiere of The Home Edit TV show.

Courtney and I became addicted to pour paintings and spread that addiction to as many people as possible:

I worked on my creative endeavors by attending Storymakers Conference online. Gabby and I also started a tradition of “Sister night” where my sister and I facetime once a week and work on creative projects.

One of the good unexpected moments of 2020 was I decided to buy a house! A cute condo in a neighborhood I love. I loved walking around the neighborhood this year, especially at Halloween (everyone went all out). It was definitely a change and a little scary, but I’m so glad I took the leap!

Embraced the camping life (which included sleeping in a hammock and driving my Dad’s camper van to Yellowstone).

Felt grateful for friendships near and far:

Continued to be obsessed with this baby niece of mine. I was lucky enough to see her this year despite the pandemic. I’m trying to teach her the right things, like being loyal to Bucees (don’t worry it’s water in there, but one day she’ll join her Auntie and Mom in their diet coke and diet dr. pepper runs).

And then, right before I said goodbye to 2020, I said goodbye to my wonderful Grandma

2020, you were a strange year, full of the tough and surreal, but also full of so many acts of kindness and miracles.

I hope 2021 holds good things for all of us!

Currently: Replacing my “Hallmark” movie obsession with my non-seasonal true crime obsession now that December is over.