2021 Resolution Time

Remember last year when my resolution was to travel more? Hahahahaha! I either really missed the mark on that or went above and beyond due to going everywhere on our Destination Date Nights. I managed one real trip (mostly for work), but a dozen destination staycations. We are going to continue to do that this coming year, and we'll be finishing out this year with a trip to Thailand and a Zoom NYE party. 

Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash

So, what sort of resolutions can we make when it comes to travel if we are unsure we can even travel? This is when we basically just employ our "be flexible" skills and hope for the best, but expect everything to be cancelled or delayed. We have a bit of hope on the horizon with Covid vaccines rolling out, even if they are uncertain as to when they will be available for the rest of us.

In February we'll be going on a birthday road trip for my mom. We've booked an Airbnb up in the San Juan Islands where we can distance from people, drive around the island, and pick-up take out or make our own food. We're able to take the dog, there's a firepit and a hot tub, so we'll be living large for a few days away from home.

Depending on how well this road trip goes, we may take more, but it also depends on how the pandemic is faring. Even if we do, we still have a great list of destinations we'll be doing staycations for, including the following:

• New Orleans (Mardi Gras)
• Norway
• China (Chinese New Year)
• Dublin (St. Patrick's Day)
• Morocco
• Scotland
• Spain
• New York City
• Chicago
• Iceland
• Mongolia
• Tokyo
• Moscow
• Sydney, Australia
• African safari (Kilimanjaro) 
• Cuba

Please let me know what else you'd like to see on this list. We are looking to do 2-3 a month, so we'll see how many more we can cram in. These take us through July though. If you have suggestions, for what to see/do/eat in any of these places, or the place you want to add, let me know that, too. I'm looking for creative ideas to make each trip unique, even if we don't leave our house. 

This background made it look like I was wearing my Invisibility Cloak while taking this pic.

It's possible that we will be able to go back to having gatherings for real and I'll be planning our regular Harry Potter party for the end of July (or we'll be Zooming again like this year). It's equally possible we are still in this until September or December, which I feel is more likely, so I'm not planning any real travel until I know more. 

Do you have any New Year's resolutions? They don't have to be travel related even. Maybe you're looking to learn a new language or pick up a new skill, or open an Etsy shop, or start a family. I'm into hearing all your hopes for 2021. 

• I might start learning French again. 
• This past year got me back into podcasts. I made time for them. I binged my favorites over the last 4-10 years of content while working. If you're looking for recommendations:
• Sawbones - for weird medical history
• Wonderful - for just happy, feel-good content where they talk about things they like/love
• Minority Korner - for all things regarding people of color and representation
• The Adventure Zone - if you enjoy great storytelling and D&D (you don't need to know anything about D&D or other tabletop games to understand what's going on, but you might cry...sob even, because the stories are so good and moving)
• My Brother My Brother and Me - three brothers who give bad advice. The McElroys have gotten me through this year and I will be forever grateful
• Neat! the Boozecast - for all things bartending, hosted by a New York bartender and her dad
• Mission to Zyxx - a fun sci-fi storytelling podcast that's all improv
• The Beef and Dairy Network - a comedy podcast about beef and dairy products with fun fake news, but also some interesting facts
• I've gotten back to Twitter. 
• I'm also excited to see how travel changes after Covid. I hope that it will be safer and healthier. I know people don't love masks, but I'm happy to continue wearing them, especially on public transportation where people are crammed together (like planes and busses). 

That's it. This is my last  post for the year. Tell me how your year has gone and what you're looking forward to in 2021. 

Let's Talk About the Holidays

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope you're having a good one. We had a quiet socially-distanced family get together on Thursday. We exchanged gifts, sat outside, and wore masks. And yesterday we put up a Christmas backdrop, had my mom over for our traditional dinner and played some games. This is not the year for us to have a big party. 

This year we've been able to see people one-on-one in front of houses or in backyards. We've exchanged gifts by mailing them or dropping them at people's doors. While it's not conventional, for the most part it has been pretty nice, because we've had the chance to engage with people in different ways than usual.

We had our weekly Zoom brunch last weekend and did a white elephant gift exchange. We've also done our annual Die Hard viewing. While we're sitting around chilling this Covid Christmas, we've been catching up on what everyone's doing and learning some new things.

The tropics have awesome holiday traditions that we don't have, like Junkanoo and Parranda. 

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Drive-thru light shows are becoming increasingly popular this year. Our zoo has a drive through zoo lights. we haven't been yet, but we still might check it out. Above are some pics of our visit last year.

We've received a lot of cookies this season. Here are some of the best holiday desserts from around the world. One of my favorite things is a ginger cookie called Lebkuchen from Germany. They aren't on this list, but they should be.

I love a good myth and/or horror story. You've probably heard of Krampus, but have you heard of Yule Cat or Frau Perchta? If not, check out these scary legends of Christmas lore from around the world. 

This is the background I purchased for Christmas.

If you're like me, you've always wanted to go on vacation to visit the many Christmas markets of Europe, but we have family obligations and it's always more expensive to travel then. Well now you can check out these beautiful markets virtually and save money by not getting to buy anything.

New Year's Eve is going to be super weird this year for a lot of people. We don't normally go anywhere, but we enjoy watching celebrations online. This year we've decided we will celebrate in "Thailand" and then have a virtual Zoom party where friends and family can drop in and play games and share good wishes and stories from the previous year. If you want to feel like part of the action, check out these virtual celebrations around the globe.

You'll be seeing pics of my New Years Eve partying, especially if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook.

What are YOU doing for December 31?

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links, and I may be compensated should you choose to make any purchases through them. This allows me to keep this blog running for you. Thanks in advance! 

Going Back to Hogwarts

December is always a very busy month for us, with my birthday, and parties, and Christmas brunch and Yule Ball. This year has been different, but no less busy. In fact, we even still had our White Elephant brunch (via Zoom) and attended Yule Ball (virtually) for charity. We went back to Hogwarts...with friends...from home.

If you've missed my previous Yule Ball posts, check out 2019's pictures, 2018's, and 2017's. This is always a great event that raises a large amount of money for charity. This year was much smaller, and all online, with cheaper tickets, but we were still able to raise a ton of money for TransActive Gender Project. The Portland chapter of Harry Potter Alliance is trying it's hardest to combat the negativity from JK Rowling over the last year or so regarding trans people, because we actually believe in equality for all people and recognize trans women as women and trans men as men. We feel that donating to causes that she is against, but are wonderful and valid, we're doing our part as Book 8 to take back our fandom.

While everyone couldn't be at a ball with everyone else, we made it a weekend-long event, which included two dance parties by DJ Switch on Twitch, a Triwizard Tournament where champions did a list of tasks for points - just some of the tasks were making an owl out of a toilet paper roll, making a picture frame and pretending to be a moving portrait, doing the Beauxbaton's ribbon dance, and imagining a new Hogwarts class - competitive book trivia via an app on Twitch, a story time on our YouTube channel, a bookmark competition, an online raffle, and even a pick-up, take-home feast from a local bakery that created a special menu for this event.

On Friday we dressed up, went to pick up our feast from Hungry Heart Bakery, then came home to our decorated house and set out our food and got ready to rock out. Then we ate and had a mini dance party in our living room. 

On Saturday, I watched people post amazing Triwizard task entries on the event page, then tuned in for story time with a witch reading tales from Beedle the Bard. We reheated some leftover feast food (you don't think we actually ate all that, did you?) and then tried our hand at book trivia. 

On Sunday, I helped tally points for the tournament to choose our winners. Then later we got back on Twitch to rock out again, with our closing party, featuring nerd wrock music. We all learned about some great bands we hadn't heard before. This is also when all our tournament and trivia winners were announced, and all the raffle winners were pulled.

On Monday, we still had some of our feast leftover, so we had an unofficial 4th night of Yule Ball. While untraditional, like everything else this year, this was a fun and creative weekend that was low stress and a great way to end this year on a high note.  

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, regardless of what you celebrate or don't. If you're looking for something to do this weekend, one of our local theaters is streaming their 2019 recorded showing of Die Hard: the Musical Parody. If you want to help keep a great venue alive and have a blast at the same time, this is definitely a good place to spend your money. This is a annual tradition for us now, and I'm glad we have the opportunity to still do keep that up.

How's everyone celebrating the end of 2020?