2021: A Year in Review

And just like that, another year is over and it’s time for my annual review post. I can’t believe 2021 is almost done and 2022 is right around the corner. This has certainly been a big year with some huge highs and very low lows. So, without further ago, let’s dive into my 2021 year in review!

January

2021 started out really great! My husband, Colin, who works at the hospital was able to get his first dose of the vaccine, my aunt and uncle came out to visit from Toronto, and we started our tradition of bi-weekly date nights (which we need to start doing again). We also sold our condo in January!

February

February 2021 was a pretty busy month. With the sale of our condo, we had a lot of running around to do, paperwork, visits to the dump, etc. Highlights of this month include making dan tat (egg tarts) for Chinese New Year and officially setting our wedding date.

March

This was probably the most difficult month of the year. Very sadly, my mom’s partner passed away. My mom then got covid and because I was spending so much time with her after her partner’s passing, I got covid too. Luckily, my case was quite mild compared to most I’ve heard about and I didn’t pass it to Colin (vaccines work!). Despite the very low lows of March, we did still have a few fun moments going out for my mother in law’s birthday, playing virtual games with friends for Colin’s birthday and sending out our save the dates.

April & May

I’m lumping April and May together because these were kind of maintenance months where nothing really big happened. On the health and wellness front, I got into a routine of exercising every other day (which I did not keep up past June) and started therapy, got bloodwork done, and got my eyes checked. We also had a little staycation at a local Vancouver hotel to celebrate our 6th anniversary.

June

In June, I got my first dose of the vaccine! That felt like such a huge turning point in this incredibly long-lasting covid battle. In The Heights also came out in June which was our first time back in a movie theatre. And we had a few dessert tastings for our wedding!

July

July was a fun month! At the last minute, we were able to head up to Colin’s family’s annual getaway to Pender Harbour for the long weekend. After having missed it in 2019 (because we lived in Prague) and 2020 (because of the pandemic), it was so nice to see everyone again. I also turned 29 in July and we celebrated with a weekend away in Whistler.

August

The best part of August was hanging with my aunt, uncle and cousins when they came out to visit from Toronto. I loved spending time with them and showing my youngest cousin around my alma mater, UBC, which we’re hoping he’ll attend. In August we also got to do our dress and suit fittings for our wedding, which was a lot of fun!

September

Obviously the biggest highlight of September was…we got married! Our wedding was amazing and I really loved how much time we got to spend with our guests on the day, as well as before and after. In addition to our wedding, Colin’s brother also got married in September. Love was in the air that month!

October

October started out a little stressful with a leaking sink at our apartment. But the rest of the month was incredible as we honeymooned on the east coast. We spent three weeks visiting Montreal, Halifax, New Brunswick, PEI and Cape Breton Island. I’m super excited to start sharing those travel posts on the blog!

November

November was another very busy month. We landed back in Vancouver on a Saturday and on Sunday morning, we met our new landlords to get the keys to our new apartment. November was all about packing, moving, browsing Facebook Marketplace, carrying heavy things and setting up our new home. While I regret doing the move ourselves (next time, we hire movers!), I’m so happy in our new space and love exploring our new neighbourhood. Another highlight of November: Booking our 2022 trip to Hawaii!

December

The first two weeks of December flew by in a blur! We were busy getting ready to spend the holidays in Toronto, but we did fit in a few fun things like early Christmas dinners with our moms, a guest post on remote work, and a Canucks game. Halfway through the month, Omicron really started to ramp up and so did restrictions. Sadly, most of our big family Christmas events in Toronto were cancelled but we were still able to see some loved ones in smaller settings. It was so nice to head back home for the holidays!

What changed on Teaspoon of Adventure in 2021?

I think I took the pedal off the gas a bit when it came to blogging in 2021. I started the year off strong, even hiring someone to finally figure out my Google Analytics (which I’ve looked at maybe three times). But with the wedding, honeymoon and our move, Teaspoon of Adventure was definitely put on the back burner for the latter half of the year. In fact, I even skipped publishing my weekly posts three separate times, which is something I haven’t done in almost four years of blogging.

In 2022, I want to recommit myself to Teaspoon of Adventure. I want to write awesome content, get more active on social media and grow my blog. I want to be proud of my writing and really make this my special corner of the internet.

The state of my freelance work in 2021

Like most years, 2021 saw me working with some new clients and letting go of some old ones. I think I’ve grown in my writing and social media skills, as well as just my business savvy. I was able to increase my rate with a number of my clients, which was way overdue, but still need to increase it going into next year. I also want to focus more on content and writing, rather than social media, so I can get off my phone!

Towards the end of 2021, I’ve really started to feel an entrepreneurial itch. I want to do something for myself, but I’m not exactly sure what yet. I’m hoping that develops into something more in 2022.

Big life updates from 2021

2021 was a big year for life changes! This was the year we planned a wedding, got married, sold our condo and moved into a new apartment. It feels like almost every year there’s something huge to celebrate in my life, which just makes me the luckiest person. Going into 2022, I want to enjoy this awesome new apartment and my awesome new marriage, while looking ahead at what’s next for our little family.

2021 Travels

Of course, being the sophmore year of the pandemic, travel wasn’t as big a part of my year as it has been in years past. That being said, I still did manage to do a bit of travelling. For 2021, we kept the trips domestic to be on the safe side. Here’s where we travelled:

• July long weekend in Pender Habour, BC
• July birthday weekend in Whistler, BC
• 3 week honeymoon in Montreal and the Maritimes
• 10 days in Toronto, ON for Christmas

In 2022, the plan is to get back into international travel (if we can do so safely). So far, we have a trip to Hawaii booked for January (fingers crossed we can go!), plans to head back to Toronto for a wedding in August, and an open week in September where we can hopefully celebrate our first wedding anniversary somewhere abroad.

Reading update

2021 was a very up and down year for my reading life. Things started out really strong: I was reading about 4-10 books per month, sharing my monthly reading recap on the blog, and I had even joined a book club. But about midway through the year, my reading took a big nosedive. I went from finishing 10 books in May to just one book each in October and November.

I think part of the change was I just got busy. Work was busy, I was busy planning a wedding, and our honeymoon and move to a new home kept me busier than ever. I also find that when I’m busy, I don’t reach for a book. In my limited downtime, I usually just want to turn my brain off with a bad TV show or scroll through Instagram. Is that the best way to unwind? Probably not.

But I don’t want to put pressure on my reading. I stopped sharing my monthly reading recaps on the blog and while it has resulted in less reading, I also don’t feel forced to read. I got back into reading as an adult because I love it and I do want to make it a habit. But I don’t want to stress myself out over reading goals or only read so I have something to share on the blog or social media. I am trying to accept that my reading will ebb and flow, and because my reading is just for me, that’s okay!

Best books of 2021

All that being said, I did still read over 50 books in 2021 and I’d love to share some of my favourites with you!

• Book I’d recommend everyone read: You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin & Lacey Lamar. This book was both hilarious and heartbreaking. Definitely a good eye opener for non-Black people and I imagine a lot of Black readers would appreciate the honesty and shared experiences in this book too.
• Book I wish I had read sooner: When Breathe Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi. This book was so powerful! It came out in 2016 and I don’t know what took me so long to pick it up.
• Book that made me laugh out loud: One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul. This book by Canadian journalist Scacchi Koul was absolutely, laugh out loud, hilarious. I loved her stories about her immigrant family’s experience in Canada.
• Book that made me cry my eyes out: Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad. Between Two Kingdoms tells the story of Suleika’s journey with cancer and it’s a real tear jerker.
• Book that would make a good movie: The Panic Years by Nell Frizzell. This book is all about that time in a woman’s life when she has to decide what she wants to do about kids, work, relationships, etc. I loved how honest Nell was in this book and how much I related to her feelings. I think it would be so cool to bring a character like this to a screen, as so many women in this age group are written as either baby-obsessed or totally sworn off kids. I liked reading about this middle ground.
• Best fiction book: The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany by Lori Nelson Spielman. I don’t read a lot of fiction (about a fifth of the books I read this year were fictional) but this one was a standout. I stayed up way too late finishing the story of this family’s adventures from Italy to New York and back again.
• Best non-fiction book: The Rural Diaries by Hilarie Burton Morgan. I went into this book with incredibly low expectations and was totally blown away. It’s so well-written and I completely fell in love with Hilarie’s life on the farm outside of her Hollywood acting career.
• Best audiobook: In The Heights: Finding Home by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Quiara Alegría Hudes & Jeremy McCarter. I have loved the In The Heights musical for years and really enjoyed the movie. I listened to this companion book and it’s so great on audio. America Ferrera narrates, there are a ton of people involved in the movie and musical who read their own sections of the book, and there is even singing!

Looking back on my 2020 predictions for 2021

This is my favourite part of my year in review posts! I love looking back at the predictions I made in 2020 for 2021 and seeing what I got right and what I was totally wrong about.

Back in 2020, I predicted that spring 2021 would be pretty status quo with some hopeful vaccine news and covid cases falling. I was kind of right, in that spring was pretty normal and vaccines did start rolling out, but cases went back up, which I didn’t see coming.

I predicted travel would be more open in summer 2020 and that I might get to go on a solo trip or trip with a friend. Travel wasn’t as open as I thought it would be and our only trips in the summer were pretty close to home.

My fall predictions were pretty spot on: I said we’d get married, go on an epic honeymoon, and then spend Christmas in Toronto. And that was all true!

I also made a handful of mini goals for 2021. Let’s see how I did!

• Keep up baking and do more cooking
  • I definitely have not done as much baking and cooking in 2021 as I had hoped.
• Continue reading and surpass my reading goals
  • As mentioned above, my reading has fallen off a bit this year but I’m okay with it.
• Take advantage of living so close to the beach and spend more time outdoors
  • We’ve now moved to the other side of Vancouver and further from the beach, but I’m loving exploring our side of the Seawall and parks in Yaletown.
• Try more of our local restaurants instead of always ordering from the same few places
  • I’d say we did better at this in 2021 but there’s lots of room for improvement. Especially now that we’re in a new neighbourhood, there are so many new restaurants to try!
• Prioritize joyful movement
  • I did find a YouTube fitness video series that I love and while I haven’t done it consistently all year, I think I’ve definitely improved on moving in a way that feels good for my body.
• Have some no-screen date nights with Colin
  • We could work on this one!
• Find some non-screen hobbies
  • Another one to work on!
• Write a book
  • I did do some personal writing this year but I didn’t write a full-length book.
• Take advantage of having benefits and actually go to the dentist/optometrist/etc.
  • I did go to the optometrist, a massage therapist and the doctor. Dentist is still on the list!
• Spend time with friends and family (hopefully in person!)
  • Restrictions loosened and we did get to see more friends and family in 2021!
• And maybe even figure out some kind of skincare routine
  • Who was I kidding with this one?

Predictions for 2022

Now, we get into the fun part. What predictions do I want to make for the year ahead? I don’t want to make any big resolutions or goals for 2022. Like most people, I find the inspiration rarely lasts past January 15th. Instead, I’d rather envision a great year ahead and work to make that vision come true, while accepting that there will be some unknowns along the way.

Work

In 2022, I’d really like to get reinvigorated about my freelance client work. I want to work hard, feel inspired, raise my rates and start working with some new, awesome clients. I want to hone in on a signature writing service, instead of doing work I don’t love as much. I’d also like to branch into something entrepreneurial that is totally my own. The idea of passive income sounds great but I know a lot of hard work goes into something “passive.”

Home

There are lots of things I hope happen on the home front in 2022. I want Colin and I to embrace our new neighbourhood, trying out new restaurants and going on walks. I want us to bring back our bi-weekly date night and commit to more screen-free time together. I’d love for us to get back on top of our financial goals, saving for retirement and big life changes ahead.

I’m really looking forward to making the most of our new home as the weather warms up. We have an amazing patio and I hope we make the most of it in summer 2022. I’m predicting barbecues, reading books out on the chaise, and sipping cocktails under twinkling lights on warm summer nights.

Blog

I want 2022 to be a big year for Teaspoon of Adventure! I want to recommit to my weekly publishing schedule and really just put a lot of effort into my writing, photos and social media. I want to grow my readership and maybe take on a partnership or two. This blog isn’t a big money maker, but it would be cool if I could get it to head in that direction.

I definitely want Teaspoon of Adventure to be a travel blog first, as that is my biggest passion and where my biggest readership lies. But I’ll be sharing lots of life updates too, just like I always have. I hope my travel-obsessed readers stick around for those too!

Travel

I predict 2022 will be the year we finally get our passports stamped again (though Omicron might have something to say about that)! Now that we’re into year three of the pandemic, I hope it can be more about how we can continue on with our lives and passions in a safe and respectful way, rather than waiting for this all to be over. I’m very fortunate to live in a country with great vaccine access and I hope that can be true for more of the world in 2022.

Fingers crossed we’ll be off on our first international trip to Kauai, Hawaii next month, spending a week exploring the island with Colin, his mom and his aunt. I don’t think we have anything planned for the spring, though I’d love an impromptu local trip. In the summer, we’re heading back to Toronto for a long weekend for a wedding. I also turn 30 in the summer and I’d love to celebrate that with a trip, though Colin isn’t able to take any time off then.

In the fall, we have about a week booked off and I’m hoping we can go somewhere international. I know we’re both eagre to get back to Europe, as it feels like we have unfinished business there, and revisiting Japan is high on our list too. It’s too early to say where we’ll be allowed to go, but I’m hoping that September trip is awesome!

---

Thanks so much for checking out my 2021 year in review! How was 2021 for you? I hope you had a wonderful year and wish you all the best heading into 2022!