2024 was a really good year. It was a year of stability (a second year of no job changes for either of us) and a lot of fun trips (Southeast Asia plus a lot of domestic travel). It was the first year of my life where I've had to navigate a lot of physical challenges, first recovering from my bad ankle sprain late 2023 and then being set back by runner's knee as I tried to get back to normal activity. We started to embark on big life changes that would manifest in 2025.
In 2024, I:
- Visited Cambodia, Thailand, Oregon, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Maine (twice), and California
- Took 30 flights
- Ran/hiked about 219 miles (surprisingly high given that I was recovering from injuries for most of the year)
- Did 54 strength workouts
- Saw 16 plays/shows
- Read 30 books
JANUARY
Another year of Ruthie being cute.
I sprained by ankle badly in late 2023 so much of 2024 was spent slowly recovering from that injury. I extended my personal strength training sessions for the first few months of the year. Along with physical therapy, this was really helpful in my recovery when I was slowly working up towards being able to run again.
We went on a fantastic 3 week trip to Cambodia and Thailand! We started in Phnom Pehn, where Angkor Wat exceeded our expectations and immediately became one of our favorite wonders of the world we've visited.
FEBRUARY
Our Southeast Asia trip continued in Thailand. We started in Chiang Mai, where we enjoyed wandering the city and finding tons of temples and great feed.
We visited an elephant sanctuary which was as amazing as it looks.
Unfortunately I spent a few days feeling... not great.
Next we did a whirlwind tour of Bangkok. The Grand Palace temples were incredible.
Visiting the famous Emerald Buddha was a surprisingly powerful experience despite the crowds.
The packed streets, heat, and exotic street food was very overwhelming but such a cool experience. We loved where we stayed in Chinatown. We also randomly stumbled across the best Italian restaurant of our lives.
Our last stop was a perfect week relaxing on the island of Koh Lanta. We lived it up in our White Lotus-esque but still relatively affordable resort
We rented motorbikes and had so much fun zipping around the island (driving on the left to boot)! It was low key terrifying but no one crashed.
We did a fun cooking class, with the added benefit of being at an animal rescue.
Happy beach time
Happy snorkeling/boat tour time
Happy cocktail/amazing food time
MARCH
We enjoyed weekend Ruthie walks in nearby parks throughout the year.
I painstakingly, over the course of months, built back up to running 15 minutes straight which was such an exciting post-injury milestone.
I was in my second/third year as an Outdoor Grants Manager for the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, which I really enjoyed. I occasionally got to do site visits for parks funded by our grants, such as this paid pretty bike ride on the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
Ruthie was cute and muddy.
We did a weekend trip to Portland to visit my stepfamily.
Ruthie was cute among the spring flowers.
Ben's mom and stepdad visited.
APRIL
I spent a lot of time refinishing our deck, including endless hours learning to use a pressure washer and sander to strip off the old paint before putting on new stain.
Spring!
We did the inaugural trip with Ben's high school friends to New Mexico.
Whole crew at Bandelier National Monument.
Many laughs and cute kid moments were had in Santa Fe.
Ruthie missed her papa.
MAY
Ruthie in her favorite spot.
I went to the Washington Parks and Recreation Association conference in Vancouver with a handful of coworkers.
From there, I went to New York City with my mom and Ben. It was supposed to be our annual extended family opera trip but most people had to cancel last-minute. The three of us blase enough to book non-refundable fares went anyway and had a great time making the most of it.
We saw three good shows (our favorite was probably Chekov's Uncle Vanya starring Steve Carrell)...
And enjoyed wandering the city.
I tacked on a visit to Dahlia, Steve, and Sasha in Philly.
JUNE
While I spent the spring refinishing the deck, Ben spent the spring overhauling our yard.
I visited my mom on San Juan Island and Ruthie and Finn had fun playing in the ocean.
I went on an overnight work trip to eastern WA (this is my hotel on Moses Lake).
JULY
I enjoyed summer activities like yoga at Gasworks.
Ben and I went on a great camping trip to Mount Baker. We enjoyed relaxing by the river...
And beautiful hikes...
And Ruthie was happy.
We went to a few concerts including The Decemberists at the zoo.
AUGUST
I went on my second annual solo backpacking trip at Rainier.
It was beautiful and fun overall but I concluded that solo backpacking is probably too scary after I got woken up in the night by what turned out to be a deer a few feet from my tent.
I inserted myself into Melissa's aerial silks hobby and started going to circus classes - so fun!
My gradual injury recovery continued - I slowly and painstakingly trained for and ran a 10k race which felt great.
I continued occasional baking projects like this delicious pistachio loaf cake.
Ruthie was cute on summer neighborhood walks.
SEPTEMBER
Ruthie was a cute cuddler.
A photo of my team at work from our annual staff retreat.
Annual family South Carolina beach trip!
We stayed at a new rental house this year which was epic.
Lots of fun including silly dancing time with my cousin's kids.
I tacked on a visit to Amy in Virginia and got to meet her sweet dog...
And visit her cabin in the mountains.
OCTOBER
After the 10k race, I carried on adding distance in the hopes of training for another half marathon, but started having knee pain at the 8 mile distance. I went back to physical therapy. It turned out to be runner's knee related to overcompensating for my bad ankle. I had to stop running and basically start from scratch with strengthening and slowly building up which was rough.
We went to a number of fun shows including Larry David and John Oliver.
I continued my cross stitching hobby, finally making a portrait of me and Ben and Ruthie.
I got to go on my first ever out of state work trip, to a conference held at Acadia National Park in Maine! Pretty sweet. The conference was for people who work on the Land and Water Conservation Fund federal grant program that I work on.
Bar Harbor was a really cute and fun town to spend a week exploring.
I arrived early and my cousin Leah joined me for the weekend.
We had a great time seeing the highlights of Acadia National Park.
NOVEMBER
This happened.
We went to a good number of plays, including our second/third-ish season having season tickets to the Seattle Rep.
Ben and I went to the Bay for Thanksgiving.
We had a nice time catching up with Ben's family and friends, including a nice hike on the Marin coast.
DECEMBER
We got a Christmas tree for the first time ever! Ben was a good sport.
Ruthie was cozy with our new family stockings.
We went to Maine for Christmas, with Ben joining for the first time.
Lots of nice family time and snowy walks on the ocean, even though I got an annoying cold.
We celebrated my 34th birthday at the cabaret.
I'm finally posting this in October 2025, when big things have materialized since 2024! Looking back, 2024 was a banner year full of many of our favorite things, remembered fondly before life changes in a major way.
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