2022 was a difficult year for me, so I welcomed 2023 with very high hopes. But just as the year started I shifted my approach: I dropped all my expectations. It ended up being a wild year in both good and bad ways. Above all, I’m proud of the hard work I put in that allowed me to learn, grow, and change.
January
This month was a doozy. I interviewed for a new job and had my first skin cancer removal. I felt like I was slowly crawling out of a dark hole as the new year started. I snapped this photo of my nephew at a family gathering, and the pure joy on his face always makes me smile and reminds me that life doesn’t have to be so serious.
February
A month for home improvement projects! I finished updating our primary bedroom and picked a paint color for a new front door, while simultaneously plotting my next project: a home office refresh.
March
We have some good memories from March, but a favorite of mine was stumbling upon the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile at the farmers market. This photo made it on our Christmas card!
April
As a sixteenth birthday gift, we took Emma to Los Angeles for her spring break. On our last night, we caught a beautiful sunset from the Hermosa Beach pier.
May
I finally began to make progress on my home office after taking months to decide on the right paint color.
June
For my birthday, we took a short trip to Colorado at the end of the month. Brandon snapped this photo of me on a very fun (and very cold!) railroad ride in Georgetown.
July
It was a busy and fun summer month, but a highlight for me is this picture I took of Schmidt on National French Fry Day with one of his favorite treats.
August
Brandon and I drove to Norfolk, Virginia, for our Global Entry interviews in August. In 24 hours we threw 600 miles on the car, ate a delicious dinner in Virginia Beach, had our interviews, and returned home.
September
We were away from home 10 nights spread across three trips in September and looking back, it was absurd. It’s difficult to recap this month with one photo, so let’s go with a perfect NYC bagel from Liberty Bagels.
October
This month was my big trip to Europe with Jennifer. We took a selfie together almost every day of our vacation. This one was in Dubrovnik, Croatia!
November
The highlight of November was getting a new (to us) sofa for the living room. It was an entirely unexpected purchase, but we love it so much! A few days after this photo was taken we added a rug, too.
December
At the end of the year we had the opportunity to meet one of our favorite bands, The Lone Bellow, before a show in Richmond, Virginia.
