Year In Review: 2021
Note for those interested: I have done this survey every year since 2000. It’s nice to go back and review where I was in the years past, and how much has changed. I save them here. The earlier ones are lost, but I sure would love to read them! This is the FIFTH virtual publisher that I have moved these surveys to which shows how long I’ve been doing this. 1/livejournal 2/myspace 3/blogspot 4/facebook and 5/medium. PS. Quit Facebook. Woooooo let’s get to it:
1) Was 2021 a good year for you? This is the first year I’ve kind of dreaded filling out this survey. I think it’s because VERY little happened. Seriously, don’t get too cozy or you might fall asleep before the end of this. 2021 was a day-to-day kind of year which is fine. It was uneventful. Boring even, but happy and healthy, peppered with some nice moments.
2) What was your favorite moment of the year? My first run after a very long time. Olive was so big in utero that things shifted and made it difficult to run after she was born. I’m finally getting back to it. I feel so much more like myself when I run. Also, when my new kitchen was installed. (Tile still to come). Know a West Seattle tiler?
3) What was your least favorite moment of the year? When we (again) had to un-adopt a puppy (this one we named Wolfie the Bunny) because although Alice tested negative for dog allergies, she very clearly had them when she visited a friend’s house who had a dog. We were getting the dog in two days when she had a severe reaction. Sigh. Oh and then the next day, the kid she visited tested positive for covid which was super fun to try to keep my two kids apart while Alice quarantined.
Another least favorite moment was when we ended up in the ER during the height of the Covid resurgence with Olive because she had gotten into a bottle of Tylenol. Spoiler alert: she had barely 6mg in her system which is not even a toddler’s dose. Kid just wanted to go on an adventure.
4) Where were you when 2021 began? I was assleeeeeep.
5) Who were you with? Christian. Olive and Alice were in their room next door.
6) Where will you be when 2021 ends? Wouldn’t it be amazing if I was putting the final touches on my second book? Nah, I’ll probably be asleep. Edit: guess what, it’s 11:54 pm and I’m still working on this, so that’s where I’ll be!
7) Who will you be with when 2022 begins? With my little family. Edit: nope! Tea and my computer.
8) What did you do in 2021 that you’d never done before? Renovated my kitchen. Got a covid test (negative). Got two covid vaccinations and boosters. Had our aura photographs taken and read which was incredibly affirming. Watched Mystic Pizza.
9) Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? Last year I vowed to stay alcohol-free for 1000 hours and commit to more mindful drinking. I did that then inevitably fell back into my old patterns, only this time, I didn’t enjoy them and noticed negative impacts from drinking. This year I’ve decided that I’m done with alcohol for good. What I used to love, I now am just not into. Plus, these old bones gettin’ too old for hangovers and hives. Maybe one day I’ll decide I want a drink here and there but I don’t see that happening for a long time. Also, I’m going to take a month off from sugar in January.
10) Did anyone close to you give birth? Laina! Ashtyn will soon.
11) Did anyone close to you die? Sweet Margot, the only cat I’ve ever loved, who belonged to my dearest friend and her family. He was nearly 19.
12) Did you travel outside of the US in 2021? No and I’m sick of the US. Sometimes I browse Canadian Zillow.
13) How many different states did you travel to in 2021? One: Colorado to meet up with my entire (nuclear) family for my dad’s 70th birthday. First airplane trip with two kids and zero dogs. They wouldn’t eat anything except a milkshake that I waited 25 minutes for and Olive would eat ketchup that she sucked off of fries!! Yayyy!!!!
14) What would you like to have in 2022 that you lacked in 2021? Last year AND the year before, I answered this question with “FUN.” Meaning travel and good tidings and no more covid. It didn’t work, so I’m going to try some reverse psychology. I’d really love it if the pandemic would continue and we would never leave the house all damn year. Also I’d really love to eat tons of sugar and feel like crap every day. I hope my book fails too. (Okay that made me nervous).
15) What date(s) from 2021 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? January 6th. The day viral misinformation led to true, real-life insanity. No others. Really, this entire year was one long day.
16) What was your biggest achievement of the year? I received my pub date for I Am Quiet — April 12, 2022! Also, I was able to write the feature story for the Evelyn Cheesman Bravery issue 17. Loved it!
17) What was your biggest failure? I did much less writing and much less working out than intended. It’s tough when childcare is not covid-safe and you have two hours to yourself each day to do everything you can imagine you need or want to do.
18) Did you suffer any illness or injury? It took me roughly a month to realize my knee felt like it was exploding cause I was eating a Trader Joe’s cheetoh here and there when I was getting them for Alice and Olive. Dairy! I even went to PT for it. Rough. My fault.
19) What was the best thing you bought? Teva waffle slippers that stay on my feet. A new kitchen. UNDER CABINET LIGHTING.
20) Whose behavior merited celebration? Me, mine. I win. No for real, this year took work. My family. My parents.
21) Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I’m not surprised enough by anyone’s actions to be appalled and depressed anymore.
22) Where did most of your money go? The kitchen. Oh goodness, the kitchen. And no I won’t put a photo up because it’s not done yet, it needs tile. And Christmas. I went way overboard. Just found a bag of gifts I had forgotten about. WHOOPS. Next year everyone’s getting a box of jelly beans and we’ll call it even. Plus we won’t have any money because we have to buy new siding for our hour because it’s falling apart.
23) What did you get really, really, really excited about? My decision to no longer drink. Like, maybe ever.
24) What song will always remind you of 2021? Olive’s go-to-bed song: Wash. by Bon Iver. She won’t go down without it. I’ve played it so many times. Spotify says 681 times on my phone alone.
25) Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Sadder. I’m sick of this covid garbage.
ii. thinner or fatter? Fatter which is annoying merely because I don’t want to buy new clothes.
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer. ha! This all seems depressing but it’s not. Just ebbs and flows.
26) What do you wish you’d done more of? Writing. Exercising.
27) What do you wish you’d done less of? Eating candy. Gross I don’t even like it. Maybe cleaning but if I didn’t do that I’d lose my mind from chaos. But I am very weary of cleaning, guys.
28) How did you spend Christmas? In a dizzy tornado of wrapping paper and toys that only make noise. They ONLY. MAKE. NOISE.
29) Something you learned about your children in 2021? Olive is only in it for a laugh. Her comic timing is incredible. I also don’t think we ever have to worry about her. The girl will not be moved. She will do nothing unless it is her idea. When she’s happy, she makes it a joke. When she’s angry, she makes it a joke. We are never not laughing.
I’ve learned that Alice is such a sensitive soul, but she is iron at her core. Emotionally, she is so similar to me: a highly sensitive person and introvert. She is going to do daring things. Quietly, and without anyone touching her. ha!
30) Something you learned about your spouse in 2021? That he’s an incredible writer.
31) Favorite books you read in 2021?
Picture Book: Time is a Flower by Julie Morstad
Middle Grade/YA: A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry and We Dream of Space by Erin Entrada Kelly
Adult: Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab, The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, and Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. Another favorite was The Upstairs House, by Julia Fine, but what I loved most about that one was the concept and the rest was just pretty good.
32) Books you plan to read in 2022? Landline by Rainbow Rowell, The Sentence by Louise Erdrich, Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel.
33) What was the worst book you read in 2021? Good Company by Cynthia D’aprix Sweeney. Ugh, Broadway actors. Ugh, marital strife and cheating spouses. Ugh Shakespeare. And The Midnight Library by Matt Haig was wildly overrated, although not bad.
34) What was your best meal of 2021? Gluten-free, dairy-free cheeseburgers on my birthday from Blue Moon. And a cake that I bought this year instead of making.
35) Did you learn anything about yourself in 2021? I learned that I am something called an HSP or a Highly Sensitive Person. This explains 99% of my life choices and hang-ups. It also allowed me to give myself grace instead of blaming myself for not feeling normal and having to go into recovery for normal things like phone calls.
36) Which global event had the greatest effect on you in 2021? Covid Covid Covid
37) Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? No, I still hate everybody. Except you.
38) Did you make any new friends in 2021? No, I haven’t even seen any of my old friends. What are friends? What are lower halves of faces?
39) What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time to January 1st, 2021: I would tell hose-holding, porch-hiding Andie to just wait a few more moments, because then she would have a magnificent shot to spray the cat that ate the baby bunnies. (See instagram highlights).
40) What was your favorite month of 2021? Nevembry
41) Did you miss anybody in the past year? Just the barre studio.
42) Did you do anything you are ashamed of this year? I ghosted my physical therapist. Sorry heeeeeeeee. … Oh, I cancelled the appointments, just didn’t tell her why. I’m not a MONSTER.
43) What was the worst lie you told in 2021? I’m not really a lie-teller but I did pleeeenty of telling the kids I wasn’t sure where that thing was that they were looking for, knowing very well that I had thrown it away weeks ago.
44) Did somebody treat you badly in 2021? Nope.
45) Did you treat somebody badly in 2021? I sadly had to end the life of a little hummingbird that was beyond repair after colliding with my parents’ window. I told all of the kids that it flew away. Yep…flew away. To a better place…Oh, I guess that was a lie I told.
46) What was your proudest moment of 2021? When I finished reading my 50th book! I finished at 54 with The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante
47) What was your most embarrassing moment of 2021? I came in to a Bravery inclusivity and racial sensitivity lecture meeting late, thinking we were still in the preceeding party portion. I was wearing a giant duncey birthday hat which immediately fell off in my face. The speaker must have thought I was nuts. Here’s a photo. Why, you’re welcome:
48) What was the best time-wasting TV show you watched in 2021? Housewives of Beverly Hills. What a glorious mess. The White Lotus
49) What was the worst TV show you watched in 2021? Listen, I was entertained, but Squid Game stayed with me in a way I don’t love. I also watched it dubbed, which may have been a mistake. I didn’t really watch much that I wasn’t really into this year.
50) What was your favorite viral video of 2021? The one when the bear runs through the restaurant with a cop chasing him and someone off camera asks, “is that Jeff, the hot cop?” LOVE IT
51) What was everyone else doing in 2021 that you did too? I started wearing non-skinny jeans. Peer pressure, man.
52) What was everyone else doing in 2021 that you did not do? Joining TikTok. I have a bad feeling of the backend of that app. Very Black Mirror if you ask me. Also, I’m sick of seeing everyone lip syncing words to viral videos and music. Issues with your talent level and digital blackface aside, it’s just annoying.
53) Newly discovered skill or hobby? I didn’t newly discover it, but I did get back into my weaving! I made a piece I had wanted to make for a while, using old crib sheets and onesies, woven with bright colors that remind me of them.
54) How many things did you buy from Instagram ads? One. That rubber thing that sticks to the inside of your gas-cap door and works as a hand cover when you grab the gas pump. Amazing. Oh and a sweater I’ve never worn. Oh and the slippers…and I helped my mom buy a remote control raptor for Alice for Christmas, which WON THE DAY.
48) What was your greatest musical discovery? The cover of How Soon is Now? by AG featuring Dresage which I only discovered cause of The Crown and it’s also the only thing I discovered because I am old and prefer to only listen to everything that I have ever listened to and that’s that. Honestly though, I can’t tell if I love it or hate it.
49) What did you want and get? A single kayak! Teva slippers. My family to stay healthy. A redecorated office.
50) What did you want and not get? Tile backsplash in the kitchen. A new couch.
51) What was your favorite new film of this year? Don’t Look Up. It was….wow.
52) What was your favorite TV program? Never Have I Ever, The Sex Lives of College Girls, Yellowjackets, Mare of Eastown and Pen15.
53) What was your favorite record from 2021? no idea. what day is it
54) How many concerts did you see in 2021? Zero.
55) Did you have a favorite concert in 2021? No.
56) Best 2021 discovery? That you can wipe a dryer sheet on your baseboards after dusting and it will repel dust!! Have I tried it?? No not yet.
57) Worst 2021 discovery? The new Sex and the City series is… sigh. It’s just … sigh. I’m still gonna watch it.
58) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? On May 18th, I turned 39. I, again, don’t remember my birthday. I don’t know what my problem is. Maybe I block it out. I know we had burgers and I know we ordered a delicious cake. The next one is a big one! 40! Prepare to go roller skating, everyone.
59) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Me being able to go to barre. Less alcohol.
60) How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2021? Unflattering.
61) What kept you sane? Reading! Sunshine.
62) Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Tom Hanks, merely for his narration of The Dutch House.
63) How much money did you spend in 2021? Remember that room of gold coins that Scrooge McDuck used to jump into? That much.
64) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2021:
Pack their lunches the night before.
65) What are your plans for 2022? I’m not sure we can plan for this one, guys.