I finally saw the pumpkin float in Central Park, I took tours of gorgeous old mansions upstate, we all dressed up for Halloween, Nathan drove my parents to Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia while they were visiting, I wrote about my very favourite Thanksgiving recipes, I went blonde, I compiled my favourites of 2021, my parents met Nathan’s mom for the first time, I spent Christmas with my whole family for the first time in two years, and I found my favourite photos of the year. My two biggest failures of the year? Trying to eat these A-Z foods and my attempt at wardrobe challenge. Here’s how my 2021 resolutions went.
1. Read at least one book per season.
2. Juice at least five times a month.
I feel like I was a completely different person at the beginning of 2021 and all the prior years before that? Juicing is not the answer, honey. I did start out the year still doing them, but like, what a weird thing to track each time…? Eating disorder much? I’m not stating how many times it happened and I promise it won’t be on this year’s list. I’m sorry to anyone I’ve ever triggered any time I’ve talked about juicing.
3. Take Baby Dog on an adventure at least twice a season.
Winter: we took her to Canada for four months, so I think that counts for at least two adventures.
Spring: one trip to Central Park and one to Coney Island.
Summer: took her to New Jersey for a wedding and then to upstate New York for another wedding.
Autumn: took her to Canada for Thanksgiving & then to Central Park to see the fall foliage.
4. Get Nathan to take more photos of me.
5. Try at least one new restaurant each month.
January: Old Bagel House (woof, bagels should be illegal outside of New York, come at me)
February: <the whole month I either had COVID or was recovering>
March: Bar Primi (great spot, dim lighting, you can’t go wrong)
April: Bar Dalia (wonderful, intimate)
May: Dame (absolutely stellar fish and chips), Vicolina (oddly subpar, overpriced Italian)
June: dell'anima (very okay, but not worth the trek to 11th Avenue), Forsythia (one of my favourite new Italian places), Mystic Pizza (wildly average, but very cool to be there because of the movie)
July: Mimi Cheng’s (great dumplings), Spunto’s (great pizza), Marks Off Madison (crazy good turkey club sandwich)
August: Society Cafe (decent!), Ten Bells (very cute, even for Brooklyn), Vic’s (perfectly okay, but don’t think I’d return), Ruta (best new Mexican place I’ve tried in a long time)
September: Amylos Tavern (pretty good!)
October: Minton’s Playhouse (decent for a venue)
November: Red Hat on the River (incredible mussels), Di Fara’s (great but not worth the trek)
December: Carbone (thoughts over here), Via Carota (so so good), Dolly Varden (great food and cocktails)
6. Submit pieces to publications at least five times each month.
7. Save $50 every Monday to use for travel spending money.
8. Buy nothing from Amazon or Wal-Mart, or at least limit it to once per month.
9. Cook A-Z new things.
10. Stop being so afraid.
Truthfully, I’m still pretty afraid. But this is a baby steps kind of resolution. I’d never have even dreamed of dying my hair blonde even a year ago, so that’s big for me. I’m also getting better at communicating boundaries in my relationships, so that’s also big.
One thing that I’ve very pleased to have kept up with? My monthly roundup posts. They’re my favourite to write, so I’m grateful that anyone wants to read them. Here are the links to the last twelve months of them: December 2021, November 2021, October 2021, September 2021, August 2021, July 2021, June 2021, May 2021, April 2021, March 2021, February 2021 & January 2021.
And here are all the best tweets posts from 2021 as well: January tweets, February tweets, March tweets, April tweets, May (part one) tweets & May (part two) tweets, June (part one) tweets & June (part two) tweets, July (part one) tweets & July (part two) tweets, August (part one) tweets & August (part two) tweets, September (part one) tweets & September (part two) tweets, October (part one) tweets & October (part two) tweets, November (part one) tweets & November (part two) tweets, December (part one) tweets & December (part two) tweets.
2022 resolutions coming tomorrow!