2019 Year in Review

I hope everyone had a great week and a very Merry Christmas. I usually have a weekly series, Week in Review. This week I thought it would be fun to do a Year in Review instead. So enjoy a recap of the year and share thoughts about yours.

Top 9 from Instagram this year.

Favorite Books

I am realizing I didn’t write a single book review for the blog this year even though I did read a lot. I wonder if I should start including book review posts again in 2020 or nix them all together. What do you think?

Anyway, on to my best reads of 2019…

Tell Me More: Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I’m Learning to Say by Kelly Corrigan. This book spoke to me. So much so that I re-read it. So much so that I plan on giving a copy to all the moms in my life for Mother’s Day next year. So much so that I plan on going through and highlighting my favorite parts before giving the copies out. It is insightful and truthful and funny and perfect.

Elenor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. I think I am behind on discovering this gem. It is another one that I will probably re-read, which doesn’t happen often. If you haven’t read it yet, add it to your list for 2020.

Favorite Movies

I can tell we are doing alright because we are paying for our very own instance of HBO. Yep, that’s one of my benchmarks for how well the hubs and I are adulting. Most of the movies we watched this year weren’t brand new in the theaters but streamed from the comfort of our home. So these may not have been released in 2019, but we watched them for the first time this year.

BlacKkKlansman.When a good movie is based on a true story, that makes it even better. This sounds unbelievable, but it is about how a black police officer infiltrated the KKK in the 1970s.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald . There was a lot going on in the movie and took me watching two times to catch how the backstories and characters related to what I already knew. Even though there was a lot going on here, I still enjoyed this movie. I am sucker though and will return to the wizarding world anytime it’s offered.

Favorite TV shows

The Mandalorian. DisneyPlus got us hook, line, and sinker with this new series. It is the main reason we subscribed, and baby Yoda has us returning excitedly every week. I haven’t liked the latest trilogy of movies, but the side stories have been solid, including The Mandalorian.

Russian Doll. I didn’t watch this for the longest time, thinking that the Groundhog Day type loop gets old easily and has been done before. One late night I was tired of scrolling and finally gave it a go. I was pleasantly surprised that it executed a twist to the repeating story very well, and Natasha Lyonne is a pleasure to watch.

Favorite Blog Posts

This is actually a plug! I am going to be hosting a blog meet and greet in January asking bloggers to leave a link to their own favorite post of 2019. So be thinking about what you have published on your blog and would want to share. I’ll be highlighting links that get shared in my 2020 Week in Reviews.

Best New Discovery

Leonardo’s Children’s Museum. We had the best weekend earlier this year in Enid, OK. Leonardo’s was easy for all three kids to explore and for me to keep an eye on them all. We could have spent the whole day inside or at their fairytale playground. Napoli’s down the road offered a delicious meal after we had worked up an appetite.

The best local to OKC discovery has been the salad plate at the Mediterranean Deli. I’ve been a fan of this place for more than a decade but only got hooked on their salad plate this year. You can pick 4 salads from their deli for only 6 bucks. It is fresh, filling, and affordable.

Biggest Struggle

Lack of sleep. My sweet baby girl has been an amazing addition to our family, but she has not been a great sleeper. It’s been hard trying to get through work every day on a few hours of sleep for over a year. Then it’s been hard coming home trying to be a present parent and spouse.

Biggest Achievement

Weaning. Just in the nick of time for the new year, the baby is completely weaned (this week!). It’s helped her and I sleep better through the night.

Side note, she’s well over a year old now, but I can’t stop calling her “the baby”.

Fox25 reached out earlier this year to collaborate on doing some online Back to School videos with them. It was a unique experience the kids and I got to share.

One Word to Describe the Year

Foggy. The sleep deprivation has been no joke. There were many times I was awake feeling like I was walking through a dream.

Hopes for 2020

Focus. Last year my hope for this year was to try to find a balance between work, home, and all the extras. Technically I did all the things. I didn’t do anything well though. I am realizing I am at a time in my life where I need to trim the fat temporarily if I am going to make it through.

So I have stepped back from a few elected responsibilities at work. I have also submitted my last post as a contributor to the Oklahoma City Blog, and I am still looking at what else I can take off my plate. I’m not sure what that looks like for this blog yet honestly. But I hope by cutting back I can be more focused at work while I am work and on home while I am at home.

Thank you to everyone and anyone who has taken a moment out of their day to read anything on BigAndPinkyToes this year. I appreciate your time and comments and our friendships.

I would love to hear what word describes 2019 for you? Happy New Year, friends!