2021 was mostly a weird hard pandemic blur, but with a few notable milestones. We settled into life in Seattle, I changed jobs (from Forterra to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife), we survived our first full year of dog ownership, and we bought a house! Covid easing up enabled other highlights including resuming in-person socializing and trips with friends and family and running my 6th half marathon.
In 2021, I:- Visited Washington, Oregon, California, South Carolina, and Maine (with those other states all happening in the last 3 months of the year, after not leaving Washington for 1.5 years)
- Took 7 (slightly nerve-wracking) flights
- Ran/hiked about 304 miles
- Saw 2 plays/shows (and I think 5 movies, which didn't used to be notable)
- Read 30 books (personal record!)
JANUARY
The year began with newfound stability in our townhouse in Beacon Hill (then rented, now owned) and our menace of an adolescent puppy Ruthie.
For the first four months of the year I worked at nonprofit Forterra as a Senior Project Manager. No other notable happenings in January because I had bronchitis for the entire month and then some.
FEBRUARY
Seattle got a big dump of snow! We had fun frolicking around the neighborhood.
Ruthie got spayed and was a good sport about wearing her silly "surgery suit". Unfortunately, this ended up being the turning point after which she developed a whole bunch of anxiety, behavioral, and health issues that we are still working through almost a year later.
MARCH
I enjoyed lots of walks getting to know our new-ish neighborhood.
We finally got around to taking Ruthie hiking.
APRIL
Spring arrived. I love watching the seasons change via this tree in our yard.
We spent a lot of time on dog-related activities like obedience and agility classes...
And countless hours playing fetch in the yard and the dog park...
Covid vaccines arrived!
MAY
I started my new job as the Environmental Sustainability Coordinator at Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Thankfully, I have continued working from home throughout the year, so I only had to drive to Olympia on my first day.
I took two weeks off in between jobs and spent the leisure time doing stuff with Ruthie...
And baking! Croissants are by far my proudest baking accomplishment to date.
After 1.5 years of being engaged, Ben and I finally got engagement photos taken by my lovely and talented friend Mitch.
JUNE
Ruthie's anxiety and behavioral issues got bad enough that we got a dog trainer. We are still working through some of those issues today, but one issue that the dog training solved rather magically was petting and cuddling. Ruthie used to growl and bare her teeth at us when we pet her, and with a few weeks of counterconditioning she was transformed into a sweet affectionate girl!
We celebrated my mom's birthday with more fun baking projects.
The first time Ben and I ate at a restaurant in over a year! We have loved frequenting the small but mighty number of restaurants in our neighborhood and starting to feel a connection to the little community here.
We did some nice day hikes over the summer, including this one with Ben's stepsister Wendy...
And Ruthie had such a great time playing in this waterfall pool that she suddenly figured out how to swim!
My dad, stepbrother, sister in law, niece, and nephew visited from Oregon for a Mariners game. It was the first time I had seen my dad in about 2 years, and even longer for the rest of that family, so a very exciting reunion.
JULY
Our dear friends Matt, Rebecca, Sterling, and Andrea flew in from out of state for a very fun camping trip in the North Cascades. We car camped at two campgrounds...
Survived intense dirt roads and a long (by pandemic body standards) hike up to Hidden Lake fire lookout...
Had a blast lounging around camp and playing games...
And endured one last hot and buggy hike up Sauk Mountain before celebrating Ben's 33rd birthday back in Seattle.
AUGUST
I bought my wedding dress! The shopping experience was every bit the "say yes to the dress" fantasy I've had for years, with my mom and BFFs Darcy, Marion, and Melissa along for the ride.
Because we're "those people" now, we threw a one year birthday party for Ruthie at the dog park with a few of her buddies.
True to form, Ruthie refused to eat her birthday cake or play with her friends and instead only wanted to play fetch.
We leaned into being car camping people, upgraded our tent, air mattress, and stove, and took Ruthie camping for the first time along the Mountain Loop Highway. Unfortunately the campground was terrible and after 1.5 great hikes shortly after this moment Ruthie got spooked and refused to walk down the trail. We had to stuff her in a backpack and carry her for almost 3 miles back to the car. We're still working on the walking issue, but the silver lining of this incident is it caused us to get back on working with a dog trainer and other specialists.
SEPTEMBER
Melissa, Marion, and I went apple picking for a second (soggier) year.
We squeezed in one last camping trip at Deception Pass.
It rained a lot so Ruthie tent cuddles were the highlight.
After dropping out of obedience and agility classes for a few months due to anxiety issues, and working with a private trainer, Ruthie was able to return to agility class!
I left Washington for the first time in 1.5 years and flew to South Carolina to resume my family's annual beach trip. It was a delight to see aunts and cousins again and meet new babies.
OCTOBER
We went to a theater for the first time in years!
This is my favorite of Ruthie's toys. No other notable happenings in October because we were in an insane whirlwind of our landlords informing us that they were selling the townhouse we live in, asking if we had any interest in us buying, and our idle investigations into that possibility somehow snowballing into us making an offer on the house in just a few weeks.
NOVEMBER
We bought our townhouse! It took just six weeks from when our landlords let us know they were selling to when we closed on the house. It was absolute chaos and maybe the most stressful month of my life. We are kind of still recovering. But I am amazed and grateful that we were able to seize the opportunity and make the jump to homeownership in a place that we absolutely love.
We also celebrated our 6 year anniversary just a few days after closing on the house. I think we just watched movies and slept. Going to see a musical we've been wanting to see for years was a good belated celebration.
We took our first proper road trip since the pandemic started, first visiting my dad on the Oregon coast, and then spending a week in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving. It felt a little bit like going home to be there for the first time since we moved away in late 2019/early 2020.
It was a wonderful whirlwind seeing as many friends as we could possibly cram in and celebrating Thanksgiving with Ben's family. The sunshine didn't hurt either.
Because we love doing half marathons in times of life chaos - Ben and I hauled ass all the way back from the Bay in one day in order to get home for the Seattle half marathon. This was my sixth and Ben's third. We fell hard off the training bandwagon in the midst of house buying craziness, so we both had good races all things considered.
DECEMBER
I went to Maine for Christmas with my mom's family! It was precisely my vision of walks along the water, puzzles, good food, and time with family. Sadly a few people couldn't come because of the omicron surge, but thankfully no one got sick and we made it home reasonably smoothly in the midst of "snowmicron".
I returned to a very snowy Seattle. We had planned to go to Portland for a belated Christmas/birthday gathering with my dad and stepfamily but made the difficult decision to cancel. Despite that, I was mostly able to enjoy a chill snowy week off at home, including a 31st birthday of good food, going to see Spiderman, and quality time with my big cute and little cute.
I believe better things lie ahead in 2022: hopefully a further easing of this pandemic, hopefully a more well-adjusted and happy dog, and certainly, finally, a wedding years in the making!
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