2017
The beginning of 2017 started off in the most beautiful way; a dear friend of mine (whom I consider my un-biological little sister) was getting married! The whole day was lovely, and the spirit of joy, love and happiness kept us all warm throughout the -25 degree Celcius temperatures. I was honoured to be part of their special day and continue to have these people in my life! In January, I also started a second job, working as a mentor and tutor. I stepped out of my comfort zone this year and completed my first ever paint nite and got creative at Creative Cafe; before this time, I did not enjoy art and always felt I was very bad at it. This year, I also went ice skating for the first time in over 10 years for my brother’s birthday, and later would take up snowshoeing as well. It was shaping up to be a year of new adventures!
Early 2017 was also when I made the decision to quit my job. After more than 4 years, it was one of – if not the most- difficult decisions I have ever made for a number of reasons. For starters, I didn’t have a new full-time job lined up to replace it, so I felt a little unprepared and uneasy about not having the same income flow coming in. Additionally, I had invested so much time and energy into the company, it felt like a breakup. What was the most important note here was the overall feeling I had about work; I always pride myself on working hard and learning new skills etc., and while my career or job didn’t necessarily define me, it was crucial for me that it always be something I enjoyed and felt benefited me not just financially. My job was not only feeling stagnant, but I was also feeling run down and was dreading coming into work every day. I never had anything positive to say about my workday, and I was feeling incredibly stuck. I knew this wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t going to get any better, so I had to remove myself from the situation. I was sad, relieved, excited, nervous, and optimistic all at once. As soon as I spoke to my boss and explained everything about how I was feeling and why I was leaving, I felt an immense weight lifted off my shoulders, so while there was still a few unknowns about what was next for my career, I was surprisingly okay with letting things shape themselves out.
One of the big highlights of 2017 was celebrating 30th birthdays for some very important people; first up was an incredible weekend in Ottawa filled with wine tastings and hockey! Too many laughs, too many jokes, too much 80s music and too much wine! It was truly one of the most fun weekends ever, and I know that the birthday man enjoyed himself to the fullest. A few weeks later, I surprised my best friend with a trip to Las Vegas to watch the Backstreet Boys Larger Than Life concert. The timing was perfect not only for us to get a trip in as best friends, but with having such a great kick-off to new beginnings with work. While we were only in Vegas for a few days, we jampacked those days will lots of site seeing, selfies, walking the strip, lounging at the pool, and ending off with the phenomenal BSB concert. Celebrating her 29th birthday in Vegas was surely a top 5 moment for the decade!
Spring 2017 graced me with the opportunity to begin working with family, as I started my job as an Executive Assistant for my brother and sister-in-law’s real estate business. While I was no stranger to working with family, I was intrigued to learn more about the world of real estate and gain new skills while sharpening those I had been working on with each new job title. A year in the 2010s wouldn’t be the same without another concert thrown in the mix, a few more paint nites, boardgame nights, exploring provincial parks, cottage weekends, and road trips. This year, I celebrated my birthday with a few close friends in Niagara Falls where we did a day-long wine tour visiting five different wineries. With a load of great experiences encompassing the first half of the year, Summer 2017 was shaping up to be nothing short of amazing!
Summer brought about cherry-picking trips, WWE live events, high-tea afternoons, more birthday celebrations for friends and close family, engagements, my first ever Vegan Fest, the CNE, a few more Blue Jays games, and to no one’s surprise, a treetop trek or two! Additionally, I got to experience yet another incredible Coldplay concert in Toronto. It was this year that I was asked to be part of two incredible weddings for the upcoming year as a Matron of Honour and the Best Woman, but more on that in 2018s post!
My best friend and I also ventured off to Chicago this summer to watch the Blue Jays on the road and check out the city! We saw the “bean” while walking around downtown Chicago, rode the sky wheel, ate a lot of deep-dish pizza, sat on a boat tour, and learned so much about the city’s skyscrapers and architecture. Chicago was an amazing city that offered so many perfect little shops and delectable snacks, definitely, a highlight was the popcorn shop and the little cupcake storefront. I am so thankful for another amazing road trip with my bestie.
Autumn brought another successful Client Appreciation Party for the Lucia Faria Real Estate Team, another Jays game or two, and a lovely girl’s weekend away in Blue Mountain. Of course, we continued to celebrate Halloween with our annual bash, followed by a wine tasting night-in, and a few attempts at karaoke and rockband – I didn’t say they were successful ones, but they sure were a hell-of-a-lot-of fun! A few more birthday celebrations were thrown into the mix, including some kids, as well as more creative afternoons at the cafe, and yes, a lovely tea-time double date as the year came to a close. Oh, and yes, another Star Wars movie in December – Star Wars VII: The Last Jedi. We hosted a family Christmas as well as another wonderful Friendship Christmas and said goodbye to 2017 and hello 2018 at the 80s themed New Year’s Eve party! No further commentary necessary, 2017 was superb!
2018
Before I even dive into the goodness that was all of 2018, I just have to mention how overcome with gratitude and joy I am as I look back at all the marvellous and incredible experiences and events that have taken place this decade. So many times we often think about our life as being busy and chaotic, it can take a while before we see that in the midst of all that, there are so many phenomenal things happening. While I’ve been sitting here writing this 2010s sendoff I am truly blessed. I value all of my experiences throughout the years and appreciate how I have been able to keep balance in my life. I am thankful that those relationships I’ve worked so hard to maintain are still intact, and hope that those who have come into my life recently can be met with the same fate for the next decade and beyond. Now let’s jump right into 2018 because baby, it’s a thrill ride.
The earliest days of 2018 consisted of birthday celebrations for family members and friends alike, royal celebrations, and classy high tea afternoons. There were wedding plans in the works and without doubt, a permanent glow in our hearts for all the love and happy times ahead for the next twelve months.
This year, I got to experience what some may argue was more than 10 years in the making, and that was a friends’ group vacation. At the end of January, a group of 8 of us jetted off to Panama for a week of fun in the sun. Without a doubt, this trip was an iconic milestone not only for the decade but for our timeline of friendship. Most of us on the trip had been friends for more than 10 years already and had never experienced a shared moment like this before. The trip started out as a way for us to celebrate the soon to be bride and groom in lieu of bachelor and bachelorette parties but soon became so much more. Coordinating the schedules of 8 people can be difficult, but we made it work and were able to have arguably one of the best weeks ever in hot, beautiful, Panama. Apart from everyday pleasures like lounging poolside, we partook in tours of Panama City (old and new), got to see the Panama Canal, visited a natural waterfall, played far too much BINGO, and consumed copious amounts of delicious food and thirst-quenching beverages; jungle juice anyone?
After Panama, it was full-on wedding planning mode as I assisted the soon-to-be-married couples with tasks like dress and suit shopping, mailing out invitations, and other wedding details. In early 2018, a few friends were celebrating the milestone 30th birthday; from dance parties to medieval times, there was so much to celebrate! Spring meant it was time to practice that golf swing and discuss the upcoming nuptials over some tea or wine. There was also a surprise Mad Hatter Tea Party Bridal shower thrown into the mix!
Next to Panama, another milestone vacation happened in May as we piled into a Jeep Cherokee and began an epic road trip to Myrtle Beach. Like Panama, this trip was long overdue as the three of us had been friends since 2007 and our trio, forever coined as Hydra, had never experienced a getaway together. With 1/3 of Hydra marrying that fall, it was a celebration of many things, but most importantly, friendship. Through all the hills and valleys, BNL and Billy Joel’s greatest hits albums, and 80s music alike on repeat, we had a super fun journey that week. Apart from late afternoons at the beach, we played a round or two of golf (both actual and mini), took in a wine tour, visited the pier and sky wheel, and truly indulged in some phenomenal food. On a side note, we also partook in a heartbreaking playoff loss by the Toronto Raptors, but watching the game on Cinco de Mayo was memorable for sure. That trip created so many memories that we all will hold onto for years to come, most definitely!
Upon returning home from Myrtle, I kicked off Summer with another great concert as well as going to see the theatrical production of Chicago. In June, I turned 30 and since celebrating my birthday is always special to me, it was no surprise that a milestone like 30 would be any different. I was blessed with being able to throw a carnival themed party with all my friends and family present. Life’s a Circus was such a fitting theme for everything that happened to me in my 20s but in the best way. I’m always looking for fun, adventure, good eats and games, so I couldn’t have selected a better theme to sum up my life!
Before long, it was July and prior to the wedding of our Best Couple Friends Ever, there was another birthday or two to celebrate, as well as a baby shower for dear friends of ours who were expecting their first child later on in the year. As I’ve explained in other blog posts, this year was a very special one when it came to weddings. July was the first of three weddings to which I would have the honour in attending; two of which I was blessed to be part of the wedding party and partake in all the behind-the-scenes moments of love and joy as the couples became wed. Our friends Mark and Lyndsay were married on the 21st of July and my husband and I were the Best Man and Matron of Honour. The love we have for those two people cannot be put into words, and that was truly one of the best days of my life as we got to celebrate them in such a wonderful way. You could not ask for two better souls and humans to end up together, and for such an amazing tightly bonded group of friends to celebrate their love as a couple.
There was a two-week break before the next wedding, and it included another birthday celebration as well as a trip to Ottawa where we got to do an escape room in the Difenbunker Museum and visit some iconic landmarks within the city. On August 4th, we celebrated the wedding day of another one of my best friends, on what was another beautiful day and cherished moment. Again, it was a day filled with joy, love and happiness as my best friend wed his beautiful bride. Closing out the summer with a Blue Jays game and a girls’ day at the beach, as well as some family BBQs, it was time to prepare for the closing quarter of 2018.
In September, my husband and I became a 3x Aunt and Uncle as our nephew Oscar was born. With the last preparations for the Annual Client Appreciation Party completed for work, I was able to focus all of my attention on my upcoming Best Woman duties, as the last of the 2018 weddings would soon be taking place. It was time to revisit North Bay for what would be the best reason, as our friends were going to get married! If you’ve been following my blog, you know there was a special post dedicated to this wedding and the importance it held to me as a milestone mark in the friendship I have with the groom. Apart from North Bay being nostalgic for so many reasons, a new mark was about to be left on the city and in our hearts forever. There were so many iconic places to fit in our schedule with so little time, but we did what we could: a hike to the falls, a meal or two at Burger World, a campus tour, and one last Thursday evening at Cecil’s. With the last of the wedding details out of the way and the rehearsal dinner over, we spent late Friday night doing what we do best; sharing stories, hopes, laughs, filming vlogs that are way too long for anyone else’s interest, and celebrating the groom. The day of the wedding was a great one, with the highlight being the time we got to spend getting the groom ready and just being our trio in the simplest and best way possible; and the rest of the day was filled with just as many laughs and filled with just as much love!
With four very important people in my life now all married, how was the rest of 2018 going to shape up? Autumn traditions continued, like the Lucia Faria Team Client Appreciation Party, our Annual Halloween bash, and exploring more beautiful parks. There was also a bridal shower for a dear friend who would get married at the beginning of 2019, as well as more great birthdays for our nephews! We would once again host our family for Christmas, and continue the tradition of Friendship Christmas for the 4th year in a row. 2018 was filled with immense amounts of love, joy and celebrations. It was a year that planted deeper roots in existing relationships and deepened my understanding of my place in the hearts of those whom I care for deeply. With so many people in my life going through milestones of their own, 2018 was a year of profound growth and emotion. While it was surely one of the best years of the decade, 2018 was quite emotional for me, but in an overall positive way. I was truly invested in the happiness and love of others more so than ever before, and it was quite exhilarating.
2019
This is it! The last year of the decade. It’s funny how at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t at all emphasizing the fact that this would be the last year of an iconic decade. So much happened between 2010 to 2019 that it was baffling to think that if any year was going to truly send off the decade, that 2019 would be it. If writing this 2010s sendoff has shown me anything, its the truth in the notion that it is the little moments that make life amazing. My 2010s look so different in the eyes of others, and while I may have looked back on a year at its end and thought “damn, I’m glad that’s over” I can truly say that no year was simply 365 days of limbo before getting to a “better” path or part of my life. Each and every experience shaped me in a different way, and without sounding super cliche, they were all necessary and as unfortunate as some events may be, they were bound to happen eventually. Without further ado, let’s recap 2019.
In January, I got to celebrate the winter wedding of a long-time friend, and truly it was a beautiful day filled with excitement and joy. Weeks before her wedding, we attended a classy bachelorette party in her honour and also celebrated a few friends’ birthdays. After a busy 2018 year of weddings, it was still an honour to have a small part in her special day by reading at her mass. The whole day was loads of fun and a great celebration all around. A few days later, my bestie and I would be southbound once again for another incredible Disney World vacation! For the first time, we would be staying on Disney property at Coronado Springs. I won’t go into much detail about this trip because I actually blogged about each day in their own separate posts, so look for that on my homepage! To sum it up, it was magical and wonderful, despite the temperature dropping and me coming down with a brutal sinus infection by the end of the trip. Regardless, it was a great way to kick off 2019.
My husband and I took a couples spa day at Scandinavian Spa in Collingwood, and I enjoyed my first ever relaxation massage. There were more birthday celebrations, board game afternoons and evenings, as well as more creative afternoons at the cafe. 2019 was surely the year of golf, as I hit the links numerous times with my friend KJ, with a few pars here and there to celebrate! Avengers Assembled for the End Game, and some of us mourned the death of Thanos while others applauded. There were also some housewarming get-togethers as well as a girls’ day at the spa. My nephew had his First Communion and the Raptors were making history with a clinch of the East and were in the NBA finals. If it feels like I am lacking some details with some of these events it’s only because I have blogged a few of these moments in further details in previous entries, so look back if you’re interested…
To celebrate turning 31, I played laser tag with some friends and enjoyed a great meal, and I also went treetop trekking with my best friend and had dinner with my family! Days later, the Toronto Raptors would become NBA champions and I cried so much that day, you’d have thought that I was an NBA champion. Summer 2019 brought on more epic films, as Toy Story 4 hit theatres. I continued to work on my golf swing, with many awesome days out on the green and took time to slow down and enjoy the little things like beach days with friends. Summer also brought about another career change as I quit my tutoring and mentoring job and would soon get the opportunity to start a career with Georgian College. It wouldn’t really be summer without a road trip or two, as well as some exploring of our provincial parks. My best friend got her first apartment, and we were able to help her move in, and later celebrate with a little apartment warming party. The first half of the year brought upon a lot of greatness, yet with calmness because time didn’t feel like it was flying by and this was a nice feeling.
Autumn brought us another fantastic Client Appreciation Party for the Lucia Faria Real Estate Team, as well as a lovely ladies’ weekend at the spa in Collingwood. Our fifth Annual Halloween Party was a blast, as usual, and I got to visit North Bay again to take in some Grand Slam Curling with a good friend. The year was winding down, but there was still fun to be had. A few more birthday celebrations thrown into the mix, more board game nights, as well as revisiting some escape room adventures. In November, my husband and I were hit by a car one evening by someone who failed to come to a stop at the stop sign. While our car was written off, we walked away from the incident with minor injuries, but I would spend the remaining months of 2019 in physiotherapy with a hairline fracture in my tailbone and a torn muscle in my neck and shoulder area. All things considered, we were very lucky, but would begin shopping for a new vehicle once we felt up to it. In the meantime, I was really enjoying my time at Georgian and continued to split my days between the campus, the Lucia Faria Team, and my SweetLegs side business.
Here we are, at the end of 2019 and what a decade it has been. Our nephews turned 8 years old, Hobbes turned 4, and we bought a brand new vehicle. The last of the Star Wars movies came out this year, Star Wars IX: The Rise of Skywalker, and I partook in a Dr. Seuss experience in the city. Another wonderful Friendship Christmas took place, and the last day of the decade is here! It’s fitting that I write the last few sentences of this blog as there are mere hours remaining of such an incredibly memorable decade. I’ve never been the type to make resolutions, but my wish for 2020 and the decade ahead is that it is full of lessons, experiences and adventures that are both new and old so that I can continue to value them and the people involved. As 2020 approaches, my husband and I celebrate not only 5 years married, but also 15 years of togetherness. Through all of these moments mentioned in this blog, I have been truly blessed to share them all with him and knowing that he will always be there alongside me. And lastly, thank you to everyone reading this blog, but also to all those who have been part of my life this decade, and beyond. My heart is full, as is my head with beautiful, wonderful, magical, inspiring, amazing memories, moments and milestones. See you on, the other side!
Five Feet High Thoughts 