Life Lately: December & My Reflections on 2023

What a year! Usually, the end of December is kind of a sad time for me because I do enjoy this time of year. But, to be honest, I am kind of glad tomorrow is the beginning of a new year. This festive period has been difficult and I am kind of glad it’s over. I am ready for a fresh start, ready to focus on new goals. I feel like I have done a great job of documenting the highlights to remind me of how good life is this year and there was a lot this month to be thankful for!

Life Lately: December 2023 & My Reflections on 2023

Festive Dance Recital & Dinner & a movie

At the beginning of the month, we got invited to our friend’s dance recital at a hotel in Bellevue. It was a nice festive atmosphere and we met some of the people from her dance troupe. Afterwards we went to a delicious Mediterranean restaurant in North Seattle and then to see the movie Dream Scenario. It was a nice evening being able to catch up with our friend!

Trivia with friends

We also headed to pub trivia with my friend and her new boyfriend twice this month! My friend and I used to do trivia every week in our early 20’s so it was fun to try it again with our partners. It just reminds me of how competitive I am haha!

Decorating for Christmas

The decorating looked a bit different this year. For the first time in my life, I didn’t get a real Christmas tree. Money was a bit tight this year and we have a curious kitten in the house who broke several ornaments last year so we decided to avoid the headache. I did put out my two faux trees and decorated with non-breakable and homemade ornaments.

Crafting and DIY is something I have gotten really into this year as well! You can check out my DIY ornament series at the links below for all of my Christmas DIY projects 🙂

I didn’t put out as much this year but it still felt cozy and magical just the way I like it!

Hosting Christmas Eve Dinner

Since we spent Thanksgiving in Nevada, we decided to host my family and our friends for Christmas Eve. My grandpa was able to make it too which was so special. We had about 15 people in total and plenty of food to go around. We watched The Grinch and then watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets because my friend Justin & Nora’s daughter had finished the second book. It was a wonderful way to end the evening!

I was also able to harvest my very own carrots to roast for dinner and give away for Santa’s reindeer!

Taking Theo for a Walk

My husband has always wanted to try and leash train out kitten Theo. He even bought a cat backpack so we could take Theo for walks with us. He finally got a chance to get Theo on a leash on a trail near our house this month! It was the cutest thing I’ve seen in a while. He did so great!

Festive Baking

This year, as a gift, I decided to make cookies! I found such a delicious gingerbread cookie recipe! I prefer it to the NYT recipe I used last year! A batch of sugar cookies from the Joy of Cooking was also on the menu. Jake also made some yummy Scottish Shortbread!

Helping Dad with Doctor’s stuff

My Dad has started a new therapy for his feet and we have been driving an hour each way every Wednesday since he started. That will continue until mid-February. I am so thankful that I can do this with him. It feels good to be an advocate for him so that his treatment is as optimized as possible!

Highlights from 2023 by Month

January

Jake and I went exploring in the mountains along State Route 530 near Arlington, WA, I shared a lot about habits and how you can add instead of take away to achieve your goals in the year ahead. We enjoyed some beautiful and cold days cuddled up with the cats, and I began planning for the Spring and Summer garden!

February

We got a dusting of snow, added “Moo Doo” to the garden beds, and celebrated Valentine’s Day with a home-cooked dinner and some tasty Mexican Bakery treats. I also started the first of the seeds indoors for the gardening season ahead!

March

We celebrated my Mom’s birthday, Learning to Bloom turned 6!, and I shared about starting a copywriting business. It was also a month full of seed starting and garden focus!

April

My dad started his house hunting, I got caught up with friends over video chats, and we spent Easter with my dad and aunt and also had them over for a homemade Greek dinner later in the month. I harvested my first-ever broccoli from the garden, planted out flowers that I had started from seed and started all my Summer squash seeds!

May

I turned 36, PAID OFF MY STUDENT LOANS!!!, spent Mother’s Day with my mom and had Lou and Jeff over for dinner for the occasion, and caught up with a friend at her new place down in Olympia! We went to Folklife Festival, and hosted my brother’s friends for his birthday! We harvested the last of the broccoli and the first of the kale, chive blossoms, lettuce, peas, and radishes. It was also the month of planting out all of my little starts for the Summer garden.

June

We helped my dad move into a new house FINALLY!, and took him to dinner for Father’s Day. We celebrated our friend’s son’s graduation, our 4th Wedding Anniversary, and our 10th Dating Anniversary. I went to a bachelorette party in Seattle, we saw Matt Bellassai at Tacoma Comedy Club, and Jake got a new boat! Harvested the first strawberries of the season, and more lettuce and radishes. We also had a flower explosion!

July

We started the month with a low-key 4th of July and then went to dinner and the Keith Sweat concert with some friends. We went to my dad’s family reunion and went out that night with two of my cousins to have some drinks and sing karaoke! The Cedar River was the perfect place to float on those hot Summer days, and I went to a little pool party at my friend’s house and went sailing with Jake for the first time! We harvested the first of the cherry tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, blueberries, and beans!

August

I took a blogging break during August. I had lunch with my cousin Lydia, we celebrated Seafair on our small boat, and I went to afternoon tea with some friends. We took a trip to Chicago which was so much fun, celebrated our friend’s birthday with dinner at his house, and watched our friends renew their vows on a sailboat ride in the Puget Sound at sunset. My dad got a new truck, we took a boat trip to Blake Island for the day, and I went to a bridal shower!

I got my biggest vegetable harvest ever this month too!

September

To start the month, we celebrated my dad’s birthday, went to a Labor Day block party in our friend’s neighborhood, and I attended a Labor Day Weekend picnic to catch up with some old friends. We had an outdoor movie night in the backyard with our friends and their kids, I made dinner for us and we had it out on the patio, and we ended the month with a camping trip to Lake Kachess in Eastern Washington where we were able to visit my grandpa in Ellensburg and took the boat out on the Columbia River!

October

We celebrated Jakes’s birthday with Mexican Food at a new spot in Kent and a homemade Margarita and movie night. My old coworker got married at a beautiful venue in Ravensdale, WA, I decked out the house for Spooky Season, it was a month of connecting with friends, and we had our annual pumpkin carving party! I also completed my second year of #Blogtober which I thoroughly enjoyed. Doing #Blogtober helps me make the most of Spooky Season which is officially my favorite time of the year!

I did a lot of garden clean-up and unfortunately, our first frost took out some blooms prematurely.

November

We went out to dinner with a group of friends to celebrate our friend Nora’s birthday, I watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with our friend’s daughter who is reading through the series for the first time, and had a dinner catch-up with some old coworkers. Jake and I took a road trip down to Nevada for Thanksgiving with his mom and stepdad with a stop in South Lake Tahoe for a few days. It was nice to getaway together!

December

Shared all this above but time with family had been so nice this month!

2023 Reflections

I set lots of intentions for 2023 and I don’t want to say that I failed them but I didn’t fulfill a lot of them like I wanted to. I have great follow-through when it comes to keeping promises to the people around me but when it comes to setting myself up for success I seem to fall flat. My confidence is nowhere near where I want it to be. I set the intention to block out my weeks to get some traction with business things but then when the time comes, I distract myself with cleaning the house or doing something unproductive like playing a silly game on my phone.

Something I am proud of this year is my garden. I can see how far I have come from my first-ever garden and the abundance this year was more than I ever dreamed of. It has quickly become my favorite hobby and something that helps relieve so much stress in my life.

I have such gratitude for the health of my family and hope to help them improve it more in the new year. And this year showed me how much I have to be thankful for in my relationship with my husband. He is so patient and supportive and loving and I don’t know where I would be without him. He is the best person and I feel so grateful to be doing this life with him. I hope I can pay him back tenfold for all that he has done for me this year. I feel like I truly found my person and life partner 10 years ago.

Next week, I will be sharing a post about my goals and intentions for 2024. I will share how I plan on achieving them as well and hope you’ll follow along!

In the Garden…

The garden is officially hibernating but I am in planning mode for the Spring and Summer Season! Keep an eye on this space and Instagram for more of my plans in the New Year! I also started a garden journal over on Substack. You can check that out weekly on Mondays in the New Year for my garden musings and ramblings if you’re interested!

What I’m Enjoying at the Moment…

The glow of Christmas lights
Homemade hummus
Christmas leftovers
Festive teas
Homemade gingerbread cookies
Snuggling on the couch with my husband and cats
Checking out gardening books at the library!

Blog Posts to Catch Up on…

Catch up on YouTube…

Day in the Life | Garden Chores, taking down Fall decor, and some yummy meals!

Life Lately: December & My Reflections on 2023