that's pretty neat

Like many people of my generation and of the female gender-identifiers, I have a hard time celebrating my accomplishments of any size and can be overly critical of myself. That especially comes out around the New Year when I think back on what I've done over the past year (first thought is always, not a lot) and what I want to “fix” (I know, bad term to use) in the next year.

Of course 2023 was very memorable because I got married and successfully planned and executed a destination wedding and surrounding events/activities. That was a major part of 2023, but it shouldn't be the only thing I take away from the year. So as a reminder to myself, here are some other (smaller) things I accomplished in 2023.

• I currently have a 213 day winning streak in Wordle.
• I read 40 books. This was lower than my original goal of 50 books to match pervious years, but I didn't have as much time for reading in the first half of the year.
• I got in a good rhythm of working out with Peloton. I worked out over 6,500 minutes, about double from 2022, and did exactly 500 workouts (I swear that was not planned). Overall I've felt stronger, been able to do longer and harder workouts, and been constantly reminded than even a little bit of movement makes a huge difference in my mood and stress levels.
• I successfully honeymooned in Norway with Chip, traveling to 4 different cities in 10 days with only a 32 liter backpack.
• I saw some great live performances throughout the year. Some of the most memorable were Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, “The Book of Mormon”, Jonathon Van Ness, Jimmy Carr, Taylor Tomlinson, and Dan Mintz (voice of Tina Belcher).
• Overall, I managed work well and showed my worth. We had a lot of changes in the company this year with several rounds of layoffs, and it means something that I wasn't affected by them. There were bouts of challenges, especially near the end of the year, but I continued to learn and adapt to the work I was given.
• I spent a good amount of time outside with Chip and Pepper. Over the summer we went to local parks almost every weekend and made a couple longer day trips to places like Mountain Park. In the fall and early winter, we also had a routine of getting coffee in Old Town on a weekend morning then walking Pepper through the surrounding neighborhoods.
• I improved at voicing my opinions (when I have them) and following my gut to make decisions.
• Just this writing is an accomplishment! Earlier in the year, I did well physically journaling about the books I've read, and I'm happy to continue doing that and other writing here.