Oh hey there, 2021!

Wow, we actually made it. Not going to lie, things were looking a little dicey there for…well, a year – but somehow we made it through mostly unscathed. Okay, well kinda scathed – but regardless, we made it through!

Before leaving for the holidays, I chatted with my friend Jess about the end of year anxiety we were both having – and while we were relieved 2020 was coming to a close, there was this pressure about thinking what we’d accomplished in the year. How were we productive? What major life milestones had we achieved? How had we changed for the better? I think we were both feeling a little tired of 2020, but also feeling a little disenchanted by the lack of progress we felt like we made.

But in reality – this year was a big year for all of us. And while we may not all have checked everything off our new year’s resolutions or personal self-betterment “to-do” list, I think we all went through a real transformation in more ways than we really realized. While not all of those changes were immediately visible, they’re the important ones that make you a little more resilient, and personally enlightened, and a whole lot stronger too. And sometimes those things are much more important than checking a box, or crossing something off a “to-do” list anyways.  Anyways, besides reflecting on the year we’ve had – I spent a good two weeks completely taking time off from work, or really anything that included being productive. After a long year, I definitely needed to just be, and recharge without trying to accomplish too much. I cooked with my parents in South Carolina, watched movies, attempted to potty train Milo (it’s a work in progress…), and enjoyed some much needed naps.

When I wasn’t napping, here were a few of my favorite highlights from the holiday break!

 Spent break drinking lots of hot chocolate (the Mindy’s Hot Chocolate from Foxtrot makes the best hot cocoa!) and wore these matching PJs from Shinesty on repeat. So cozy, and when you’re wearing PJs every day, you might as well make them seasonal 😉  Completed my annual cookie bake with my mom and made the tastiest gingerbread men cookies. Gotta say that my baking and icing skills were pretty rusty, but they turned out kinda cute! And lucky for me, they actually tasted better than they looked.  I got a few new kitchen gadgets for Christmas, but this amazing new Terra Kaffe espresso maker truly wins (and my boyfriend officially gets the title of “boyfriend of the year” – thanks Ray!). I’ve been living that Nespresso life for awhile, but wanted something to up my latte game (and officially replace my Starbucks habit), and this machine is both beautiful and makes insanely good espresso drinks (plus you literally just have to push a button, it’s that easy to use!). Anyways, more to come on why I love it – but this was definitely the most exciting Christmas gift of all this year 🙂  Milo had the best time in South Carolina – whether it was trying to systematically destroy our Christmas tree or our daily hikes in the forest. He was living his best pup life for sure, and I’m sure he’s going to miss being able to go on so many adventures when he’s back in Chicago. He became a very good adventure pup and loved walking off leash too!

So anyways, I’m already missing the much needed time off, and going back to work this week is going to be a rude awakening. But luckily, I’m making it a short week to help ease back into the it! On Wednesday, we’re heading to Charleston  for a few days, and then the Smoky Mountains to stay in a beautiful cabin before heading to Nashville on the way back to Chicago. Might as well make the 10+ hour drive from South Carolina back to Chicago worth it with some fun pit stops, right? Considering we can’t really travel too far these days, road trips have become the new exciting way to travel, so we’re rolling with it 🙂 Hope you all have a good week easing back into the work week (and kicking off 2021 on a good note!)