2020: A Year In Review
I mean, 2020. What a strange year this has been. I’m very used to traveling all the time, busy, busy, busy. 2020 was looking like it would be the same, I already had big plans. I was going to head to Washington DC with my high school girls in June. I had a trip planned to Paris and London in July with my good friend Becky, then I was going to meet Adam in Stockholm and would maybe head to Norway after. Then of course, the worldwide pandemic hit and all plans were put on hold. It was February when things started brewing, but I thought things would be cleared up by June. Boy was I wrong!
This year has meant a little more stillness and solitude (at least for us because we don’t have kids). Or maybe it’s been a full tail spin for you? We are super fortunate in that even though our normalcy was sent off track, we are lucky enough to have stability in our jobs, and the only plague has been boredom from a life that was once full speed ahead. We still managed to have some epic good times learning how to navigate in a world of social distancing, testing often and spending time exploring the great outdoors.
In this post I’m only going to focus on the fun times we had.
Pre-COVID
Spent our 2nd NYE in Belize, this time in placencia
We went to Belize on our first New Years trip abroad back in 2007. It was an epic journey, so we revisited it this year and ended up on the beach in Placencia partying with the locals. My favorite way to enjoy ringing in the New Year is on island time.
Finished our first construction project, a garage conversion at our house in Los Angeles
We started out 2019 with big dreams of building a house from scratch in Landers (near Joshua Tree). When those dreams were squashed by construction costs we refocused our energy on our own home in L.A. We had always wanted to convert our detached garage into a guest house so we began that project instead. We finished the project in March of 2020 just as the pandemic started to hit. Lucky for us since we both work from home and have a 2-bedroom house, it has become an extra office so we both have a good amount of space for zooming.
COVID-Times
Painted an entire house (our Joshua Tree Airbnb)
Inspired by the garage conversion construction and painting my own back fence last year, I decided it was time for a paint refresh on our family airbnb in Joshua Tree. We weren’t renting it because of the pandemic so it was good timing for an upgrade. Plus, it’s on 5 acres and the perfect escape from L.A. to chillax under the desert stars. With help from my parents and my husband, we transformed the exterior with a tiered mountain landscape across the entire house. My parents also added this amazing pergola to shade the back patio.
Saw the poppy superbloom
I thrive on discovering new things to see or do, so during the pandemic I hunted around for outdoor activities. I had alwaysd heard of the California Poppy superbloom, and 2020 ended up being a good year for it. Some friends and I went out to explore and take in all the brightly orange colored poppies.
Discovered Michael Jackson’s “Thriller House” in Echo Park (Los Angeles)
Finally Snorkeled La Jolla Cove (Didn’t see the Tiger Sharks though, darn!)
Walked on the Moon (well, kind of…)
I plotted out our road trip to Yellowstone and saw that Craters of the Moon National Preserve was on the way. We stopped in to explore the black volcanic rock wonderland for a few hours.
Saw the Rainbow Colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park
Some friends of ours had pre booked Yellowstone campsites a while back for August, and when they invited us to join it felt like the perfect escape from home life. We packed up an RV and took a mini road trip to join them for a week of exploring. The highlight was the rainbow colors of the Grand Prismatic Spring!
Kayaked Yellowstone Lake at Sunset
The colors of the sky lit up in so many colors as we paddled along the lake. Also these photos cost me $350 in water damage repairs to my camera screen and I shot the rest of the trip on auto because I couldn’t see the screen. lol.
Created our own Burning Man in Joshua Tree
My friends and I were planning on going to Burning Man in 2020. There was a lot of disappointment when the year dragged on and it became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen. We decided to leverage our 5 acre and have our own “Mini Burn,” complete with activities and DJ sets. Everyone submitted COVID negative tests the week prior to the event, and congregated in the desert for 3 nights of fun. From flower crown making to Star-gazing and “Cosmos,” we had an amazing long weekend wearing our burner-inspired clothes and dancing under the stars.
Checked off another California National park, Death Valley
It was my husband and I’s 9th anniversary on November 5th. Since the pandemic wasn’t letting up I wanted to plan a trip to explore safely in the outdoors. Death Valley is a 4.5 hour drive from Los Angeles so we packed our bags for an epic long weekend hiking and sight-seeing.
Celebrated my 40th birthday in Tulum!
Tulum is one of my all-time favorites places because you get beach, jungle, ruins, and adventure (cenotes) all wrapped into one beautiful boho chic town. We drank mezcal-ritas on the beach, had dinners by candlelight, swam in cenotes, and got COVID. The end.
