In the final hours of the last day of the first month of 2020… I’m finally posting my 2019 recap. For the past 3 years (you can read 2016, 2017, and 2018‘s posts) I’ve written a yearly recap on the blog. Not only to keep you guys in the loop of my life, but to also save for myself to look back on in the future. This year, it has taken me WAY too long to get this recap out there. This was partly because I was feeling uninspired with the way I’ve laid it out in the past.
Ryan (my boyfriend) has his own blog (which mostly talks about our monthly budget and his progress to financial independence/retiring early) but he did a 2019 “wrapped” post that I really loved reading! Here’s his post if you’re interested in reading it… and I’m putting my own spin on it below!
Movies
Ryan and I bought the Regal Unlimited pass in the summer of this year when it was rolled out. We typically go to the movies 2-3 times per month, so we felt it was a pretty good deal for how much we go! I usually share the movies we’ve seen in my Chit Chat posts but here are my top 5 for the year!
- Book Smart
- Knives Out
- Avengers: End Game
- Toy Story 4
- Spiderman: Far From Home
Music
We went to two concerts this year: Jesse McCartney and Bryce Vine! Both were so amazing in their own unique ways. I’d love to go to more concerts in 2020. We are already planning on going to see Chelsea Cutler in March which I’m so excited about and to Firefly in June! Here are my top artists of the year via Spotify:
- Chelsea Cutler
- Bryce Vine
- Jonas Brothers
- Maggie Rogers
- Khalid
Books
I set a goal to read 52 books in 2019. I read 42. I was bummed that I didn’t hit my goal, but I was so happy with the amount I read still! Here are my top reads from each month of the year:
- El Deafo by Cece Bell
- Educated by Tara Westover
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman
- Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid AND The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
- Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
- Red, White, & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
- Wild Game by Adrienne Brodeur
- The Whisper Man by Alex North
- Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane
- The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Travel
2019 was a great year for traveling! We’re hoping 2020 is even better but more on that later 😉 Here’s where we traveled and when this year!
Los Angeles — January
Arizona — January
Savannah + Charleston — July
Cape Cod — July
Girls weekend in Wildwood, NJ — July
Cousin beach day trip to Wildwood, NJ — August
Another beach trip to OCNJ just Ryan and I — September
Trip to LA for the OU vs UCLA game — September
Trip to Dallas for the OU vs Texas game — October
Norman, OK to see Ryan’s family — December
San Diego — December
San Francisco — December
The Blog
I kept up with the blog pretty well in 2019 despite all the crazy changes I went through! Finishing grad school and accepting my first job were pretty huge adjustments I had to make this year. Here are some of my favorite blog posts I published in 2019:
- How to Start Financial Planning – Tips for Newbies — Ryan guest posted on the blog and he talked about financial planning! This was also around the time he started up his own blog. You can read about it at the link!
- Getting Out of a Mental Rut — Around this time of year, I was really struggling with my adult practicum placement. It was an adjustment and I was feeling overwhelmed and uninspired. I asked you guys what you do to escape a mental rut and it ended up being one of my fav posts and one I refer back to often.
- My Travel Wishlist — This post was super fun to make! Now that Ryan and I are trying to travel once a month in 2020 (more on that later) I find myself going back to this post for inspo!
- Amazon Wishlist for School-Based Speech Therapy — This was fun to write because I shared my Amazon wishlist that I had been curating for my entire grad school career! From books to games to art supplies, I shared my most wanted items at the time.
- How My Job is Going — You guys love nosy posts 😉 it’s ok… I do too! This was my first real “job update” since I started my CF.
Personal Highlights
Started working for my spin studio doing their email newsletters
Began my second (and final) clinical practicum in a Skilled Nursing Facility
Met an online friend and decided to join her book club
New SoulBeat Studio opened
Birthday spin class (got to ride on stage!)
Green Eggs for bday brunch
Capstone presentation
Graduated from UD
Started my first job as an SLP
Phillies game with Kelsey, Lauren, and our boyfriends (our first triple date!)
2019 was an awesome year, and the fact that it took me so long to write this post is no indication of how I felt about the year! If anything, it was my subconscious telling me that I didn’t want this year to end! January 2020 was a rough start to a new year/decade… I feel like so many celebrities and people I distantly know have passed away. The month itself felt like 3 months long. The stress of going back to work and picking up where we left off was definitely rough. I couldn’t be happier that this month is now OVER; I hope you guys are feeling the same. So excited to wake up tomorrow and start fresh with a new month. February, I’m ready for you! And I promise I’ll be back on the blog a bit more now that this post is done 😉
