Friday, December 31, 2021

Best of 2021

• The year started out well with a new president who is thankfully not a monster. All rational humans breathe a sigh of absolute relief.  However it is Bernie Sanders that steals the show at the inauguration and appears on both RJ and Stefanie's IG pages (as well as nearly everyone elses!) as master of the meme.


• Emily wakes up & poses for a snapshot on February 6th after almost two months sedation due to Corona. She finally came home on March 17th, back in hospital for a few days, and then home again for good on the 30th.

• I got my COVID-19 vax!
• The George Floyd verdict.
• Spending the day in Jim Thorpe with Kayla.
• Going to The Colonial with Jax to show him Singin' In The Rain, which he loved!

• Discovered the outstanding documentary Halston (2019). I came to realise that he was not only an artist but a true genius. I really loved that all those interviewed talked about him as a real person, one with flaws, but mostly they spoke of his vision and his loyalty. He could be hot-tempered and sometimes entitled but it was clear from everything that his colleagues and friends said that at the center of his being, Halston was a good man. (The miniseries that came out was just dreadful. McGregor was a terrible choice, in my opinion. He's too short and small - had the producers ever seen a photo of Halston's hands for chrissakes? They were massive! And I felt that McGregor played Halston a bit too campy and the show focused too much on negative aspects of his life and personality.)
• Renee's last note.
• Ted Lasso night with Xavier.
• Photographing the house on 306 Hollywood and then lucking out and being able to drive 30 minutes further and meet my bestie at the Passaic County Fair and hang out at her booth. We even scored a selfie outside the high-class outhouses.

• Lauryn's wedding!

• Drove to Flemington to purchase a gorgeous vintage typewriter. (Then met up with Amy for lunch in the next town over!)

• Took learning to the next level by signing up for Duolingo Plus. I was smart enough to screen record my favourite ad before I said goodbye to them for good - ad-free is the best way to live life!

• Celebrated what would have been Nana Irma's 100th birthday.
• Spent some more one on one time with Bailey, helping her make a Christmas card for her father.



Visit with Emily, Ana, and Adam!

• Watched a scary movie every day in October.
• One last tour of Belgrade Street with Mum. (The carpet that has held up since 1980!)
A farewell selfie with Mum in her parents' old bedroom.

• Four years working to learn Spanish with Duolingo. Cuatro años trabajo aprender el Español con Duolingo. (I'm pretty sure that sentence is extremely flawed but it's the closest I can get at the level I'm up to at this time.)



• Drove out to Ohio and was reunited with the Coleman ladies, first with Heather at her home, then I had Maureen over to the house I rented in Chagrin Falls, followed by an afternoon out with my oldest and dearest friend in the world, Autumn. It was a whirlwind trip and I was a moron to not schedule it for longer, but I would go back again in an instant.




• Got to visit the town of Chagrin Falls which was featured in my fave Christmas show, The Gathering. I snapped photos of some of the spots featured in the film, did a bit of shopping, and then went back to the posh rental to watch (and re-watch!) that Ed Asner classic. 





Books and Cooks Tour with Jax where we got to see the building from The Trouble With Angels! Jackson and I always seem to have the most fun together when we see oddball stuff. He was thoroughly impressed with the "fortress".

• Watched 25 holiday shows for Christmas.
• Read a total of ninety books this year!
• Text from David featuring a New Year's Eve sunset in Positano.


• Finished the year with some black eyed pea soup care of Bishop, which he hand delivered to my place. We were masked up (I don't get my booster shot til next week and we wanted to be extra careful) but still managed a couple bday hugs and selfies to end the year on a high note.



All in all, with it's enormous highs and lows, 2021 was far better than 2020. The year ended with my seeing online that the world lost Betty White. I spent the rest of the night and into the wee hours of the morn watching her as Sue Ann Nivens in Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund in The Golden Girls. She was a beam of glowing sunlight on a gloomy universe. She packed a helluva lot in her 99 years. 

(That line from Chuckles Bites the Dust topped every hilarious moment that preceded it!)

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