2019, you weren’t half-bad. Like any year there were some lowlights. Some of them continued from other years and others were new challenges to face. It was a year of bittersweet beginnings and sweet new smiles. It was year of decades… a new personal one for me and some important missed ones, like my parent’s 50th anniversary and what should have been my mom’s 70th birthday.
We started the year with the bang. Our baby girl that wasn’t due until February 9 decided she should instead be a January girl, surprising us by arriving over two weeks early. I think she was as excited to meet us (and her big brother) as we were to finally see her! I took a little extra time for this maternity leave with L and loved every minute of our time together. It’s been fascinating to watch her grow and see how much of her own person she is compared to our experience with Q. So far, she’s proved to be quite the foodie – open to trying just about everything!
There were some great meals as always. Most notably to Common Lot in Millburn, which was so amazing it warranted not one but two trips this year! And of course we had our amazing meal at The Aviary to celebrate my 40th birthday followed by an amazing visit as always back to our favorite, Sleep No More. What an experience. We need to plan a return visit there, stat. And then there was my recent visit with N to the Pembroke Room which has me ready to try tea at more spots across NYC (currently accepting recommendations!).
We had a very travel light year (likely to be the case understandably for the foreseeable future) — with adventures in general limited to day trips / outings to zoos and museums. Before I returned to work, my dad and I took L on a day trip into the city to check out The Vessel and the new Hudson Yards shopping area. We went to Hoboken and over to Weehawken to the site of the infamous duel between Hamilton and Burr. T and I had a Brooklyn date day and checked out the Beyond the Streets exhibit in Williamsburg. There were multiple visits to our local(ish) favorite, the Turtle Back Zoo. And we took a trip to Pennsylvania to visit Sesame Street and the Crayola Experience.
I’ll give myself partial credit on all my 2019 resolutions. I’ve been writing more — both here and in some freelance writing I’ve been doing. And I slowly started back on my post-partum exercise journey, including participating in the Project Mommy + Me series at Project Physique and getting back into the saddle in earnest on the Peloton bike. I managed to get J to join me at the Run the Vineyards 5K at Laurita Winery, where I was reminded that I’m not a runner but that tackling different physical challenges outside of your comfort zone can be fun just the same.
There were some other random cool opportunities. I had the chance to be part of Rothy’s inaugural class of The Collective, helping to share about the eco-friendly and stylishly comfortable brand I love so much. I was able to finally make it to BlogHer, attending their Creators Summit in Brooklyn. I paid a visit to fine line tattooist Jonboy Valena for a tiny special piece of ink that tells a big story. My sister and I continued Will You Accept This Podcast, releasing 28 episodes totaling to 1.4K minutes of shows! Looking forward to kicking off our new season next week.
Over the next week, I’ll be taking a look at resolutions as the new year starts and taking a look back at some of the highlights over the last decade since, crazy to think, but this blog has been around even longer.
Happy 2020 to you all!
Hoping 2020 has happy new beginnings