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.

Here are some things that happened in 2019:

I welcomed a lot of cute babies into the world, including my my first niece, Norah, in July!! A lot of those babies were new cousins: Charlotte (January), Mark (November), and Ryker (Who was technically born in 2018, but his blessing was in 2019). I also had a blast celebrating Pasha and Malone!

I created a vision board, painted pumpkins, made friendship bracelets, and did other artsy crafty things.

It was a big year for concerts: Kelly Clarkson, The 1975, Lizzo, Jenny Lewis, Aly & AJ, Jimmy Eat World/ Third Eye Blind, Geographer, Carly Rae Jepsen, Ariana Grande, Matt and Kim, Santigold, Bon Iver, Marina, Vampire Weekend, Charli XCX, Ingrid Michaelson, Kim Petras, and Angel Olsen. Plus a few twilight concerts from afar like Courtney Barnett.

I read these books:

• The Hazelwood, Melissa Albert
• Educated, Tara Westover
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Heather Morris
• Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens (If you read this, you NEED to check out this article)
• The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
• The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan
• The Westing Game, Ellen Raskin
• The River, Peter Heller
• The Witch of Willow Hall, Hester Fox
• To Night Owl from Dogfish, Holly Goldberg Sloan
• The Rest of the Story, Sarah Dessen
• Burning Glass, Kathryn Purdie
• The Paper Magician, Charlie N. Holmberg
• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (In Progress)
• Night Shift, Stephen King (In Progress)

Read most of those books with this book club, which has been going strong for 10 years!!

Had a lot of friends move! Some short distances (RIP the compound) and some much farther (Too far. Looking at you Caity and Jenny).

Weighed in on the Popeyes/ Chick-fil-a sandwich debate

Had fun pool times with these party people:

Dyed my hair red.

Was called into the Young Women program at my Church and had lots of adventures with the girls and other leaders including fake camping, graveyard scavenger hunts, sushi go, ax throwing, service projects, yoga, paper flowers, lessons in car maintenance, a Harry Potter themed YW in Excellence, and flag making.

Attended my first Storymakers Conference with my writing group and had a blast!

Was influenced by these accounts:

• The Home Edit
• A Beautiful Mess
• Be There in 5
• Britta_Beauty
• Things I Bought and Liked
• well.read.book.club
• Timothy Goodman
• Knorpp and South
• Jordan Sondler
• Jordan Ferney
• Busy Philipps
• Indy Blue
• Ann Danger
• Big Bud Press
• Laura Izumikawa
• Notengaged
• Christina Winkelmann
• Any and all astrology memes

Got to see West Hollywood in all its glory at Halloween:

Welcomed Shake Shack to Utah!

Watched a lot of movies, everything from Sundance films and Oscar nominees to made-for-tv Christmas masterpieces:

Enjoyed some live shows as well (not pictured – Freaky Friday):

And a fashion show! Watching my friend Laura’s husband, Afa, compete on Project Runway was so fun and seeing his live show was also incredible.

Listened to some podcasts:

• Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
• The Rewatchables
• Girl Meets Show
• Bachelor Party
• Cold
• Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard
• The Hottest Take
• Boss Hags

Visited St. George, Lava Hot Springs, and Disneyland!

Checked in on the Bees

Continued my faithful patronage of the Utah State Fair

Was a less faithful patron to Lagoon, but still managed to make it a couple of times (as in only two times – and I had the season pass!)

Tried a clean beauty box and became obsessed with Gua Sha (which I don’t have a picture of for some reason? but here’s a different box. They always come with a little print.)

My parents and Gabby came to Utah to visit me

Discovered a new Houston place: Smithers Park

And lastly, took this mirror selfie, which has a mantra I think we should all take with us into 2020. Happy New Year Everyone!

Currently: Grateful that Gabby is in Utah for New Year’s Eve this year

I guess I blog once a year now! Here, in no particular order, are some things that happened in 2018:

I went to a few concerts: Rostam. Lucius. Kate Nash. The Killers. Janelle Monae. Kimbra. Also took in a few twilight concerts from a parking garage. Sadly Florence and the Machine, Sylvan Esso, Drake, and Childish Gambino are not on this list.

Celebrated a lot of milestones with my Martinez cousins: Josh and Kim got married! Abby is pregnant!

I lost both my grandfathers. Here we are at Grandpa DeLaMare’s gravesite:

And here we are having a Cuban dinner in honor of Abuelo Martinez:

I shaved my head (well part of it).

I turned 30! And so did a lot of good friends.

Threw some parties, including this pool party.

Visited the Hall of Breakfast.

Read books. These books to be exact:

• The Seance, John Harwood
• Strong Poison, Dorothy Sayers
• The Kitchen House, Kathleen Grissom
• Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance
• Fangirl, Rainbow Rowell
• All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot
• This Will Only Hurt a Little, Busy Phillips
• Unqualified, Anna Faris
• Scythe, Neal Shusterman
• The Magic of Ordinary Days, Ann Howard Creel
• The Death of Mrs. Westaway, Ruth Ware
• Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Calahan
• The Woman in the Window, A. J. Finn
• Educated: A Memoir, Tara Westover
• The Other Side of the Bridge, Camron Wright

Also enjoyed many nights discussing books (and tv, the movies, and every bachelor contestant) with my book club.

Said goodbye to my Sister and Derek (and Ziggy) as they moved to Texas. Have since exchanged approximately 1 billion Marco Polos with Gabby.

Went to Europe.

Joined a club. A Hot Tub Club.

Finally got recognized for drinking lots of soda when I got to participate in a focus group with Sodalicious.

Went to Las Vegas to reconnect with old friends.

Also checked Neon Museum off my bucket list while I was there:

Ate everything on the menu at Spudtoddos.

Said goodbye to Michael who sadly is now always in Texas when I’m in Utah and vice versa.

Watched Movies.

Scooted my way around town.

Participated in Nanowrimo and spent many nights at Starbucks trying to hone my writing skills.

Said goodbye to Mindy as she started new adventures in Arizona.

Volunteered with the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation. Jingle Bell Run is pictured below (I was in charge of games for Elf Village), but I also did JA Family day which was great. Family day was at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

Broke into the beauty influencer industry.

Celebrated Courtney’s birthday with a trip to Disney.

Wore perhaps my best Halloween costume to date, Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi of Princess Diaries fame.

Maintained my status as Lagoon season pass holder.

Celebrated at Jordyn’s Britney Spears themed birthday party by wearing this plaid skirt ONE MORE TIME (get it?).

Celebrated Liz’s birthday with high tea at the Grand America.

Went to Waco.

Got the best surprise of 2018 on Christmas day when we found out Gabby was pregnant!

Finally, I ended 2018 by WINNING a family Chopped competition.

Happy New Year to all of you! May 2019 bring us all wonderful things!

Currently: Trying to get a handle on all the end of 2018/beginning of 2019 movies I need to see.