It’s the last week of 2021! I can’t believe how much has changed for me over these past 365 days. As the year comes to an end, I spend some time looking back over my year and I am truly so grateful for all of the people I have met this year and the experiences I have had. It has been a whirlwind of winter sports, trips with friends, time with family and solo adventures around the world. To wrap up the final hours of 2021, I decided to spend my time doing what I did all year… playing outside! I’m looking forward to all of my adventures in 2022 and here’s hoping for another beautiful year.
HOLIDAY HIKING
After board games, poker, cookies and mulled wine with the fam… we needed some fresh air. We started off the final week of 2021 with the Vertical Mile Challenge at Rocky Face State Park. The VMC is a 2 mile loop where the first half of the trail is a nearly vertical rock face on the side of the mountain. We brought the two dogs and they had a blast scaling the rocks. Afterwards we took them to the park and tested out how they handled the slide and zipline.
ZOOM SECRET SANTA
One of my favorite parts of the holiday season is the ongoing Secret Santa I have with some of my friends from college. We use Elfster to randomize the selection each year and then surprise each other with gifts. Year 4 experienced several shipping issues, but we had a 50% ration of presents delivered on time. I think we can all just blame the global shipping crisis…
SHREDDING SLOPES
After cancelling my trip to the Alps because Covid, Joe and I decided to stay local and do a little NC skiing. Lucky for us, a mid winter heat wave rolled through the South East and made almost every resort shut down. We ended up going to Beech Mountain and spent the whole day doing loops on the 2 blue trails that were open. It was the perfect amount of terrain for one day, but at the end of our time on the mountain, I felt like I had seen every inch of the hill.
GOOD EATIN
It’s the final week of 2021 and I wanted my stomach to go out with a bang. This week my brother and I made bagels from scratch, garlic monkey brioche bread, shrimp boil and super salads. We also went out to eat at Black Cat Burrito and Troy’s 105 Diner in Boone. So much good food to end out the year and fuel up for an amazing 2022.
ENDING 2021 WITH HOURS OF HIKING AND A FEW COLD BEERS
I wanted to spend my final hours of 2021 in nature and surrounded by the people I love, so that’s exactly what I did. On December 31st me and the fam spent most of the day hiking in Blowing Rock on the Boone Fork Trail and saying “Happy New Year” to each group that walked by. After exploring waterfalls and climbing a few boulders we headed over to Booneshine for a celebratory beer or two. The brewery had a cute outdoor picnic area and we loaded up on appetizers and Hatchet Stout beer to stay warm.
GOODBYE 2021, HELLO TO YOU 2022
“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
Søren Kierkegaard
With that quote in mind, I’ll keep this end of the year wrap up short and sweet with a collection of all my outside in Nature pictures from the year. Cheers to a beautiful 2021 and here’s to the promise of 2022.
January
Started out the year with dry January, holiday hikes, outdoor dining, snow days in Killy and being generally cold 24/7.
February
Snow in NYC, lots of snow in nyc, Central Park jumps, early morning drives, the fun gondola , white chocolate macadamia nut cliff bars hokey jersey, Paige on a blue route, post skiing snack bar by Tucker and Em, beating Pat down all the black diamonds on Pico, snowy driving, Galantines on the slopes, surprise charcuterie board, Elinor’s ski mobile ride, fireball, more snow, more fireball, outdoor runs, strawberry ice cream, NYC adventures in the rain
March
Long runs, bike rides, museum days, park picnics, fire escape emails, mutually ensured destruction, sunsets and walking around the city while sharing headphones
April
Love!!!! (Maddie and Sam got married!), reunions, hide and go seek in the dark, rooftop soirées,Linds turned 30 🎂, park days, puppies, ponies, sunrises at the beach, cab sav and porch nights with the best grandparents a girl could ask for
May
Seafood, Fire Island, Bloody Mary’s, new friends, monochrome wig parties, rooftops, boats, parks, puppies, Charlotte scooters, roof off jeep drives and attempted planking
June
Storm king, Hank, art, boats, birthdays, reunion tours, DJ Elinor roof top partay, more oysters, Joe and Pat at Pat and Joe’s, revisiting my first apartment, Jet Skis and river days
July
Never walking Cornelia street again, kayaking Cayuga, bringing a breathalyzer to wineries, waterfalls, betting the farm, fields, fireworks, Fourth of July, 613+J reunion, Miami shopping montage, when in Wynwood, murals, mixed drinks, South Beach, rainstorms, museums, cheetah print, Yankees home runs, subway pull ups.
August
Bb L turning 21, poolside shots, swimming Sulley, Twilight road trips, Nashville bloody Mary’s, heat above, GVF, mechanical bulls, brunch, murals, Oktoberfest in August, grill master Sam, dirndls and lederhosen, montage of my favorite people projected on the wall, final AM boot camps, fairy godmother TJ, lobster rolls and the US Open
September
Sunny days in Asbury park, hungover hiking on the AT, tree climbing in Charlotte, moving to Germany, running the Berlin marathon, frolicking through Amsterdam, checking out Copenhagen, making new friends in Berlin
October
Capri by boat, Amalfi sunrise, Positano beach time, walking through history in Rome, memories in Malta, museums in Milan and Halloween in Berlin
November
Booster shot on Bismarckstrasse, canal pizzas, Carnival in Koln, croissants in Dusseldorf, walking through crunchy leaves in Berlin, early Christmas market Gluhwein and flower feast
December
New apartment, more Christmas markets, my first Berlin snow, NYC surprises, Santa-con consequences, road trip, Christmas at home, Dungeons and Dragons, sunny snowboarding and hours of hiking
