A few snapshots from our Easter lunch! We had the most perfect weather and a very competitive egg-hunt.
January Around The Web
The first month of a new year is always an exciting fresh start — especially this year! Between unfathomable lows leading up to inauguration day and the joy of seeing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sworn in, this month was a rollercoaster for our country. Personally, I got back into the swing of working from home after a holiday break, embarked on my first ever Whole30 with my parents, and celebrated Dale’s immunity day after his second Covid-19 vaccine!! I’ve also been analyzing and organizing my house — basically a New Year’s tradition. Around the web I loved seeing this sustainable DIY:
I’m also really loving browsing for antiques online. I love this piece Mackenzie found for her home!
After my Whole30 month is officially over (just a few more days!) I know I’ll have to do at least a little baking. Maybe these cookies? Or my weird recent craving, key lime pie?
On a healthier note, two of my favorite Whole30 approved recipes: Jambalaya and Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai
Feeling much more patriotic as this month comes to a close!
And I LOVED the inauguration fashion. Fancy coats are my favorite, I wear my bright red J.Crew one all winter long.
Not so patiently waiting for these lamps to arrive for our bedroom.
And I’ve been loving our new humidifier, and so have my dry eyes.
Someday I would love to upgrade my IKEA desk I’ve had for years. This one is a contender…
Here’s to Peace and Health in 2021!
Cross Country Skiing at Turkey Hill
I spent New Years’ weekend at Turkey Hill with my family. My mom and I went cross country skiing around our property two times — it was so beautiful and I was amazed at how much the scenery changed each day. The second morning there was a hoarfrost which made all the pine trees look like real life flocked Christmas trees! It was the perfect way to kick off the new year.
2020 Best Nine
I somehow skipped last year but I’m happy to be sharing my best nine from 2020 today! It is truly impossible to sum up 2020 with any combination of social media posts. It was a year of many lows and challenges for all of us. This year, more than any other year in my recent past, was spent with my immediate family. There was less travel than I had planned and MUCH more time at home, but these photos do reflect a few highlights:
This year I worked from home from mid-March through December. While there isn’t an end in sight to this WFH life yet, there were some amazing projects and learnings that came from re-imagining my daily work life. Pictured is chalk art I created for Hallmark spreading positivity in a time where we needed it more than ever!
This year Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were elected! While a highlight, there is still much work to be done and divisive challenges to work through. There is also a vital need to keep up the work led by the Black Lives Matter movement.
Dale and I celebrated five years of marriage! Our plans were to spend a week in Santa Fe. While that trip didn’t happen our outdoor appetizers at Campground and outdoor dinner at Plate in KC were just as special.
Dale matched at KU Med for his Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship! I’m so proud of all the work he has put in over many years to get to this point in his career. It is an unbelievably strange year to match in Pulm Crit Care and he amazes me every day with his dedication to his patients.
I was still able to participate in some amazing extra projects for Hallmark this year! They included helping with this mural for Children’s Mercy Hospital led my my friends Meredith and Matt. It was a much needed bit of normalcy to work on a creative group project (safely outside!).
My grandparents (Grammy & Pop) celebrated 60 years of marriage!! This is one of the days I’m most grateful for this year. So much work went into safely celebrating with our family this summer and I will never forget it!
My sister Sophie got engaged to the best guy, Alex, this year! I can’t wait to be a matron of honor in her wedding next summer and helping her find her dress was another highlight of 2020!
Dale and I managed to take a road trip to Colorado in September. I’ve shared lots of photos here on the blog and it was an amazing escape from reality for a week. I know that I will forever be extremely grateful for any opportunity to travel after this year.
We also fit in a sister staycation in Brookside this summer! I had really been missing the pool this summer so we rented an Airbnb in our neighborhood that had a pool and had the best day swimming, relaxing, and playing Catan.
The moments that aren’t pictured really are hard to sum up. Covid changed all of our lives significantly and while the year ended with Dale receiving the first dose of his vaccine those who have lost family and friends this year have been on my mind a lot. I hope that we can stay strong through 2021 in order to save lives and see a much different recap of this coming year!
Christmas Tree 2020
This year my family masked up and headed to Fulk Farms to pick out our Christmas trees! Kaldi joined us and we loved walking though all the trees. Dale and I finally picked a tree that was the right size for our living room (not too small this year!) and I love how people driving down our street can see it through the front window. Have you decorated for Christmas yet?
Ptarmigan Lake Trail
Our trip went way too fast and our last day arrived before we knew it! Dale’s number one request was that we hike up to Ptarmigan Lake, and while it was a little longer of a hike than anticipated the view at the top was spectacular. I’ve never been to Colorado in the Fall and really loved getting to see the start of fall with the orange and red ground cover and yellow trees. I’m more grateful than ever that we had a chance to get on the road and visit somewhere new. None of my travel plans went as expected this year but it was SO nice to have the smallest bit of normalcy with a road trip. I hope you all are staying safe and have some adventures of your own (even at home!) planned for this Fall!
