Welcome to 2021! I’m not sure I’ve ever been so thrilled to see a new year. Over the years my relationship with New Year’s Eve has shifted. When I was in school I didn’t think of it as a big deal, since to me the whole “New Year, New Me” thing didn’t really equate in my brain; a “New Year” meant a new school year to me. Since graduating school, I welcome and celebrate the New Year much more.

We have hosted a NYE party each year since buying our house, so it was a bit strange to not have a house full of people, or Disneyland’s fireworks to ring in the new year. But despite not having a party or going anywhere, I wanted to still get gussied up, because, as you can imagine, I really haven’t much this year. I watched a lot of DC content over the last few months, and have a new found love for the character of Harley Quinn who inspired my NYE look, combining vibes from both Birds of Prey and the new animated Harley Quinn series. And even though this photos were snapped in the alleyway just two doors down, I donned a mask, because not only make a rather fitting mask for my outfit, I wear one any time we leave our property, including walks around the neighborhood.

No matter where you live, 2020 was a tough year. In a year that took a lot away, I became even more thankful for what I have. I also realized that even though I regularly call myself selfish and individualistic, when it comes to community, I’m not. And it’s sad that toxic individualism and a lack of understanding has caused so much chaos, violence, and death here in the US.

Like with everyone, COVID-19 has impacted our lives, which includes this blog, as small and minor as it is. In all honesty, I thought about calling it quits. Awhile ago I had decided I wanted to share more places rather than just me and my clothes, and as you can imagine, COVID really put a damper on that. Even local outings were nixed, to say nothing of the various big travel plans we had lined up.

When it comes to resolutions and goal setting I had for 2020, I am rather impressed with what I was able to accomplish considering the pandemic. In 2020 I wanted to continue to find more eco-friendly solutions, including cooking more, saying I had a unique plan for the blog with regards to that, which was starting my Cooking with Vincent series. While we have been baking our own sandwich bread for the last two years, we moved on to making our own sourdough (like so many other people amid this pandemic), as well as hamburger buns, and cinnamon rolls. We also started trying more vegetarian recipes.

Other goals we set each year is the planning of house projects, which we aim to do one or two each year. For 2020 we planned to have a coat closet built and redo our front yard. While construction was deemed essential and has operated throughout the pandemic, we opted not to have someone in our home to construct the coat closet. However we did though landscape the front yard ourselves. I plan on sharing it sometime in the future! We did end up doing a bonus project, which was partially redoing the kitchen, with fresh paint and restored hardware, you can check it out here.

Of course I don’t think the New Year is the only time to make resolutions and create goals, I aim to do it whenever I see a need. For example, earlier this year I realized I needed better understanding with regards to the issues of racism, and started to read more on what it really means to be actively anti-racist. I also decided it was important to add activism as an aspect of the blog.

While of course a new year doesn’t mean all of our problems are gone, there are some years that really go down as shit years in the history books, like take 1968 for example, that was an awful year. Entire books have been written about that year, and entire episodes of programs have been dedicated to covering that year, as I’m sure the same will happen with 2020.

Looking ahead in 2021, I honestly can’t wait for January 20 to arrive, because with that we will truly enter a new era for the United States. I am overjoyed beyond words to say goodbye to what was one of the worst administrations in history. I also have some goals set, but am keeping them under wraps for awhile. We really don’t know what the future holds as this pandemic continues. I know Patrick and I are the lowest of the low when it comes to vaccine priority, and of course, it only makes sense, as frontline workers, essential workers, and high-risk citizens all deserve to be the first to receive it.

So fuck you, 2020, and here is to 2021, may it be even just the slightest bit better!

Outfit
Harley Quinn Tattoo Mask: Made by me
Harley Quinn Jacket: USA Jacket (however the floral design and fringes were originally white, but they were silver in the film, so I painted those portions silver myself)
Themyscira Tee: Teepublic
Leopard Cigarette Pants: Vixen
Shoes: Minnetonka