I’m baaaack. I took a much needed “semi-break” from worrying about blogging or even really posting anything online for a couple weeks. I’ve only posted 4 photos on Instagram since Christmas. That’s big for me because when I’m on a roll, I aim for a photo every day. I just really needed to let go of the pressure to post (yes, that’s real) and get my mind a bit more grounded. This holiday season was VERY fun but it was a lot. Every weekend had so much going on and we travelled and went through all the festivities while also working full time and I honestly felt about thiiiiis close to a break down. I just got really in my head about everything that was (or wasn’t happening) in my life and was seriously struggling with contentment. I wanted to really reallllly unplug and just delete Instagram off my phone entirely but I don’t think that was totally necessary. Youtuber Liza Koshy recently posted a video that was basically a glorified mental health PSA and she said the BEST thing and the way I interpreted it is, “Sometimes your Instagram feed is what is starving you”. Love a good pun/analogy. A punalogy. So if are feeling way too overloaded, struggling with your place or purpose, or just need a 10 minute pick me up, watch her video. I typed out a big long post about how I’ve been handling this newly surfaced anxiety in my life and “the curated collection of perfectly posed and filtered photos” that we scroll through throughout the day. It was actually good stuff but the moment passed and I chose not to post it. Another day perhaps.
So now that I have been a total downer, I wanted to briefly recap my holiday season if for nothing else, to have a little entry for me to look back on with fond memories because it really was a magical season.
We enjoy a three-day Christmas extravaganza complete with Christmas Chinese dinner. Yup. Christmas was on a Tuesday but on Sunday we got together with one of my loveliest friends and her hubby while they were visiting family in Seattle and had a fabulous brunch at Cutters near Pike’s Place Market (it’s phenomenal) and obvi we meandered through the Market afterwards because when in Rome, ya know….then we ferry boated across the water to my parents house and enjoyed “heavy hors d’oeuvre’s” (my favorite kind of meal tbh) and watched the Seahawks game with a bunch of my cousins and grandparents. Good food, good convos, good game, good stuff. The next day was Christmas Eve and this is when we had our glorious Chinese feast at my other grandparents house. Tempura, chow mein, fried rice, classic Christmas delicacies. It was actually really nice to do something different instead of the usual ham and roast for once. We jetted off to Christmas Eve service with my parents and our friends and they made it SNOW during the service so that kept it lively. It was actually like a full on Christmas production so way to go, Gracepoint. We opened all our gifts that night with my family when we got home and enjoyed champagne, matching pajamas (thanks for being good sports everyone), and ended the night with some HOT nightcaps. Literally, they were lit on fire. Christmas day is always weird because you just kinda take it easy and nobody knows what to do until it’s time to eat. We had our traditional Christmas morning brunch (the first thing I think of when I think of our traditions is our fresh squeezed orange juice and orange rolls), watched the Disney Christmas Day Parade (I was in it one year (before I even worked for Disney) so now it’s tradition to watch), and opened up our stockings from Santa that were filled with small candies and some clothes and champagne lol thanks Santa. We had the grandparents over for a prime rib dinner and had friends over later that night for a lively round of Heads Up and called it a night.
I’ll make this quick since this is getting longer than I expected. For New Years, we flew down and met up with my parents in Carlsbad (near San Diego) and stayed at the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara and enjoyed some time by the pool, at their fabulous mall, and went on some awesome walks and bike rides (this is when I was taking my mental break so this was a good thing). We also got to connect with Alec’s parents who drove down for the day and we had our belated Christmas with them which was SO fun. We got seriously hooked up with some amazing gifts this year, we were shocked. We rang in 2019 with a 5-course INCREDIBLE meal at Vivace at the Park Hyatt and joined in on their big New Years party with drinks and dancing and a balloon drop! Woo!
So if you’re still reading this, there you have it…my holiday season is officially wrapped! I hope you are all entering this new year with a clear head, some goals to work towards, and a spring in your step. I really feel like 2019 is going to be my best year yet and I really do want to say thank you to everyone who reads these posts and follows along with my life. Not because I’m trying to be insta-famous or anything like that because I really do just write because I love it, but it means a lot to know that you all care (: I am going to change things up this year and shift more towards writing posts that actually contribute to YOU and write things that are more applicable to your lives because as much as I think I am very interesting (ha!), I’m sure these mile long personal posts really aren’t adding all that much substance to your lives lol. OK I LOVE YOU ALL BYE!
Heather Fern 