I'm writing this almost a month into 2020. While I did my personal review at the end of 2019, I then jumped into action and forgot to release this post. The past year, although trying at times, was overall very positive.

Travel

I took a major break from travel in 2019. By choice. Travel can be very exhausting for me, and 2018 was filled with it. This past year, I only traveled to Prague for an all hands trip for work. It was a lovely trip where I got to meet up in person with everyone I work with on a daily basis. Plus, I got to drag along my husband and revisit all of our favorite places from our wedding there a year and a half ago.

My favorite travel of 2019 was actually a day trip that we took to Colorado Springs in April for our 1 year wedding anniversary. We went to all of our favorite places from when we used to live there: Poor Richard's bookstore, Platte Furniture, Wobbly Olive, etc. The day was relaxing and lovely and just a great way to celebrate.

Hobbies

Reading and skincare were again my two biggest hobbies this year. There were a lot of great books that I read in 2019. My favorite non-fiction books included Sapiens and Maybe You Should Talk to Someone. My favorite fiction books were The Truly Devious series and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. For skincare, I was really into SK-II products in 2019.

A new hobby this year that I ended up spending a ton of time on was planning and designing the space in our new house. The house we ended up buying is over double the size of our previous rental. We deliberately chose a place that was too big so that we could put down roots and not get bored with the space too fast, but we're in no rush to fill it. The approach we're taking is slowly and methodically finding and purchasing quality pieces that we love to eventually build our dream home. It's been quite a process, but a fun one.

As far as video content, I still tend to re-watch shows and movies rather than go for anything new, but this is the current content that I was into -

My Favorite TV Shows

Lucifer, Younger, Madam Secretary, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Morning Show, The Imagineering Story, Prodigal Son, Veronica Mars, Last Week Tonight, Dead to Me, Whiskey Cavalier, Umbrella Academy, Dollface

New Movies That I Liked (That I Remember)

MIB International, Captain Marvel, Always Be My Maybe, Rocketman, Klaus

Favorite Restaurants

  • Latke Love
  • Cranelli's
  • Gabriel's
  • Ambedo food truck
  • Fujiyama
  • JP Nori
  • Miyo Cafe
  • Sazza Pizza

Favorite Recipe

  • Veggie dip
  • Baked apples
  • Josh's homemade hot chocolate

Favorite Big Purchases

I documented all of my favorites throughout the year on this blog. My number one favorite was, of course, my house. The following were some other top favorites:

  • Dyson AM10 Humidifier
  • Dyson Animal Ball 2
  • Dyson Airwrap
  • Nest doorbell
  • Nest thermostat
  • Primo Water Dispenser with Pet Station
  • King adjustable bed

I would also add all the new furniture pieces that we've bought for the house. I'm hoping to do a post on each room as they finish in the future, but we'll see.

Little Random Happenings

  • Launched the Remote Work Prep website
  • Celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary
  • Went to the Capitol Grill and saw Wicked
  • Went to the Renaissance Fair
  • Joined the community tech committee
  • Finished our backyard landscaping

Big Life Events

Got a promotion!

In 2019, I got a promotion from being a Technical Product Manager Lead to becoming the new Head of Product & Operations. This title upgrade came after a ton of hard work last year. Another step achieved in one day becoming a COO.

Bought a house!

This by far dominated the year. The first 3 months with saving for a down payment and finding the right place, then the the next couple going through the build process. Finally followed by moving in, getting settled, and starting to make it our own. I believe it will take 5 years before we truly finish that final step.

It took a lot to make this dream happen, but it was 100% worth it. I can't even begin to describe how much achieving the goal of buying a house meant to me. This is something that I've worked for my entire life. I love that I don't have to worry about when our rental term is ending next, or dealing with moving again. I love how much room we have and how much freedom we have to do whatever we want with the space.

I'm incredibly thankful for such a beautiful year of positive growth. Looking forward to what 2020 brings next.