A Year in Review: 2019
I usually think these kinds of things are really lame. But since I don’t keep a journal, and I tend to forget about the little things, I’m going to use this as an opportunity to reflect and see what cool shit (and not so cool shit) I got into this past year. Let’s dig in:
2019 in Review
Most listened to songs in 2019: Spotify Playlist
Green: Places Work has taken me
Minneapolis, MN
Tampa, FL
Milwaukee, WI
Orlando, FL
Orange: Places I’ve lived
Minneapolis, MN
Chicago, IL
Purple: Places I’ve Traveled To
Afton, MN
Rocky Mountain National Park
Banff, Canada
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Joshua Tree National Park
JAnuary
January 3, 2019: Saw a really nice sunset in Minnesota
January 5, 2019: Went to Afton State Park. It was snowy but sunny
January 11, 2019: loved how my little apartment looked
January 12, 2019: ice-skated on a frozen lake (Lake of the Isles, MN)
January 19, 2019: This freaking website went live!!! Finally got my shit together to finish it!
January 23, 2019: Found out that Opportunity’s last words were “my battery is low and it’s getting dark” … might’ve cried
January 26, 2019: Stayed up until 6am DJing in my little studio
February
February 1, 2019: Saw another crazy beautiful sunset by Lake of the Isles. It was purple
February 13, 2019: Turned 24. Celebrated my birthday with 3 of my favorite people in the world (Ankita, Anne, & Ellen). Got drinks and really good pasta.
February 14, 2019: Took a bunch of self-portraits in a red dress
February 26, 2019: Took a very scary haunted tour of my apartment buildings. Saw an actual Boiler Room.
March
March 7, 2019: Threw a party at SmartBar
March 9-11: Went to Florida for convention. Sat around on the sand with some of my favorite people. Saw Gary Clark Jr. in concert. Took myself to the Tampa Art Museum.
March 15, 2019: Spent a lot of time in Mager’s & Quinn looking at photo books.
March 16, 2019: Got a bloody nose.
March 23, 2019: Took a free screen printing class and made a little thing.
March 30, 2019: Made a whole backdrop/set to take photos of all the clothes I’m trying to get rid of. Then took photos of myself in front of it.
April
April 2, 2019: I saw Moondog
April 7, 2019: Family came to visit in Minneapolis. I took Matt shopping at H&M, met Bill Walton, and ate cotton candy.
April 8, 2019: Watched the sunset at Lake of the Isles. Took some self-portraits in front of this deserted drive-in and I leaned on a pole and an alarm went off and I almost shit myself.
April 10, 2019: There is a lot of snow on the ground in Minneapolis
April 14, 2019: Took myself to the Minneapolis Institute of Art
April 28, 2019: Spent a lot of time in coffee shops
May:
May 4, 2019: Saw Garth Brooks at the US Bank Center with Ellen through work. Sat in the suite. Got fed grapes by Ed.
May 10, 2019: Went to the laundromat
May 11, 2019: Went to “Garage Sale Days” where over 200 people have garage sales and you just walk around and buy a bunch of shit! It was awesome!! People bring wagons and ATVs to haul all their finds.
May 12, 2019: Spring sprung in Minnesota and I loved it
May 14, 2019: Met a very smol puppy at one of my bars
May 15, 2019: Officially signed all my paperwork for my promotion to move back to Chicago and work as a CMA in the MillerCoors corporate office.
May 17, 2019: Sat in my hammock by the lake.
May 18, 2019: Went to Art a Whirl in Minneapolis
May 22, 2019: Last therapy appointment with Eleni
May 25, 2019: Back on my bullshit at Movement. And looked good too. Saw Orbital Live and it was the best set I’d ever seen in my entire life. A stranger took a video of me freaking out at the end of the show and sent it to me on Instagram.
May 26, 2019: Got to play on a $30k synth.
May 27, 2019: Still at Movement. Still looking good. Wore a sheer black dress.
June
June 4, 2019: Back in Chicago for training. Walked on the Riverwalk with KJ.
June 8, 2019: Went to Estes Park with the family.
June 10, 2019: Did the Gem Lake hike at Rocky Mountain National Park. Set up my hammock, laid around for a while, ate lunch. Met some photographers and traded instagrams. Got a bad tan line from my leggings.
June 11, 2019: Did the Dream Lake hike with Matt in RMNP. Easily one of the most beautiful places I’d ever been.
June 12, 2019: I laid in a hammock all day while Matt bouldered around the YMCA of the Rockies. I think I lost my green bear hat from Great Smoky Mountains NP this day. Took a picture in front of a red truck.
June 13, 2019: Looked at elk running across a field through binoculars. Went horseback riding. Wore all denim.
June 14, 2019: Went back to Dream Lake today. It started raining and hailing on us. Matt and I “skiied” down the trails in our boots. So steep and very slippery.
June 17, 2019: I went to Burger Jones for the first (and last) time while I lived in Minneapolis. I was eating alone. A cute boy in the corner bought my dinner for me.
June 18, 2019: Said bye to one of my favorite bar owner’s, Ed, today and he brought in a puppy to wish me farewell. Had a going away party with my favorite distributors at The Lookout.
June 21, 2019: Went to Canada alone to go on this photography trip called Socality Camp. Got on a bus and got driven to Blue Bronna Wilderness Camp where there were canvas tents, and dogs, and horses, and trees everywhere. I set my stuff up in a cabin and walked around alone.
June 22, 2019: Was outside all day. Listened to talks and live music. Sat in my hammock. Hiked up a mountain with Jax to watch the sunset over the hills. Had a dance party around a fire.
June 23, 2019: Went canoeing on Moraine Lake. Wore a yellow sweater and a felt hat and everyone wanted to take photos of me. Did a fouple (fake couple) shoot with Jacob. Pictures were too awkward so never saw the light of day. Did a weird little dance thing with finger guns when someone told me they wanted to take a photo of me.. Ben caught that on camera.
June 24, 2019: Watched the sunrise at Lake Louise. Oliver showed me that Canada has Cheez-Whiz in little packers. Bears were on the trail so instead of going to the tea house, we went to Emerald Lake. Gorgeous. Went canoeing with Jackie and Jacob. We went under the bridge and found a family of loons. We got attacked by daddy loon. He was just protecting his family, we get it. Laid in the sun with Jacob talking about life. Rode the Banff gondola. Ran into Brock and his girlfriend on top of a mountain. Was surrounded by mountains.
June 25, 2019: Last day in Banff. Had an amazing breakfast at the Banff Springs Hotel. Looked at Polaroids and said goodbye to my new friends. Got driven to Calgary. Checked into the Renaissance Inn. Walked around by myself. Went to the Calgary Central Library. It was amazing. Then ate a mac n cheese cheeseburger.
June 29, 2019: Saw Bon Iver at Summerfest and ate ice cream for dinner with Katie J.
June 30, 2019: Moved to Chicago.
July
July 1, 2019: First day of my new office job.
July 3, 2019: Threw another party at SmartBar. This time with Fit Siegel.
July 6, 2019: Saw Bonobo live with the crew. Kerri got me a wristband. I danced all day. DJ Boring closed his set with “Right Round” and it may have been the best thing I’d ever heard. KJ took me to get tacos at Allendes when I was hangry. Carly stopped through while we were there.
July 7, 2019: Sat in the sun on my porch.
July 13, 2019: Held little chickens at Jackie’s barn.
July 14, 2019: Went to the Dom’s Days Car Show.
July 19, 2019: Ate at Small Cheval with Andrew Rad.
July 21, 2019: Ellen, Anne, and Brady stayed with me this weekend. We went to Pitchfork this day. I wore a fruit skirt and took a stupid video in the photo booth. We saw Robyn and when I was leaving, I saw a group of about 30 people dancing in unison. I joined in.
July 25, 2019: Went on a Blue Moon boat cruise with a live band. KJ came with. He told me that racoons are “land otters.”
July 26, 2019: Mom and I found two guys working on a 1920s Ford car… it still worked and they showed us.
July 27, 2019: Went to the Morton Arboretum with Mom. Took pictures of black-eyes susans.
August
August 2, 2019: Went to Fox Brook Park with my mom to go metal detecting on the beach.
August 3, 2019: Went paddle-boarding on North Lake and found out Greg Koch was having a mini-concert. We grilled brats and paddled over there to listen. We ate our brats on the paddle board. Then went out to West Bend for Scott’s 4th of July party…. they had quite the fireworks display. I took some cool photos of the guys setting up.
August 11, 2019: Sat in my hammock by Lake Michigan
August 12, 2019: Decided I would start taking photos and “blogging” about my thrift store hauls.
August 15, 2019: Cried at a brewery. Gained trust. Got sang to at a karaoke bar. Tennessee Whiskey. May have fallen in love?
August 16, 2019: Saw The Steelwoods with Steveo at Fitzgerald’s.
August 22, 2019: Went on a date.
August 25, 2019: Spent the day at the Morton Arboretum. Sat in my hammock. Worked on my poetry book. Saw a Monarch caterpillar.
August 29, 2019: First time at Lambeau. Saw a Packer pre-season game with Matt, Maria, and Steveo.
August 30, 2019: Wore a crop-top windbreaker. Afters was cancelled.
September:
September 1, 2019: Unironically wore a hawaiian shirt out. Saw Soul Clap. Joe Calderone rode through the party on a scooter.
September 4, 2019: Hung out with Liam
September 5, 2019: flew to Honduras. Hiked up to the Coca-Cola sign. It was hard. We were sweaty.
September 6, 2019: Swam in our own private waterfall. Found toads smaller than my pinky nail. Saw a tiger heron. Found out what cacao looks like. Took a mirror selfie in the jungle. Found out JoJo died. Went to the Caribbean sea. Took a plastic bag out of it. The water was super warm. Took a shower outside under a coconut tree. Sat in a hammock. Ate pasta.
September 7, 2019: Hiked up a mountain. It was dense jungle and very hard. I was very sweaty. Ate granola at the top. Took a lot of photos.
September 8, 2019: Took a little boat to an island. Saw lots of birds, massive trees, and WILD MONKEYS! Heard Howler Monkeys in the wild. Laid in a hammock. Ate fresh fried chicken. Jumped off a cliff. Swam through a hole in a rock. Got stung by a jellyfish. Went snorkeling. Saw coral, and fish, and a moray eel. Decided I should live on a beach.
September 13, 2019: Slept over at your house.
September 14, 2019: Wore the same clothes as yesterday. Crashed Vanessa & Marc’s date on the architectural boat tour with Jessica.
September 22, 2019: It was 70 degrees out and I ate a Stan’s doughnut.
September 26, 2019: Flew down to Florida to present work stuff to the entire Southeast Region. They listened. and I killed it.
September 28, 2019: Went to a meme party. Someone threw away all the tops to the liquor bottles.
October
October 3, 2019: Went to the art museum with KJ.
October 5, 2019: Went to Apple Fest with Ashley. Listened to a friend’s new track. It was beautiful.
October 12, 2019: Went to the Morton Arboretum. Touched a BUNCH of plants.
October 18, 2019: Went to Jaz Peterson’s art show. They had a car in the gallery. I ate cotton candy.
October 19, 2019: Went to the pumpkin patch with Lizz and Ashley. Took very cute photos.
October 22, 2019: Presented to the entire chain organization for work and killed it. May or may not have totally insulted a program that the President of Sales created while he was in the room….
October 28, 2019: My poetry book, Catharsis, came in the mail today. I got a little teary-eyed.
October 31, 2019: Saw Hamilton. Wore a white pant suit. Took my synths back.
November
November 2, 2019: Touchdown in the desert. Camped in a BLM lot outside Joshua Tree.
November 4, 2019: Watched my first sunset at Joshua Tree.
November 6, 2019: Visited Shari Elf’s studio. Bought a bunch of stuff. Sat up top a disco spaceship thing. Talked to a guy at a music shop.
November 7, 2019: Got a little lost in the desert. Walked back to the road. Hiked to an oasis. Drove 20 miles to get ice cream at shake shack. Listened to a ranger talk about the dark sky.
November 8, 2019: Last day in the desert and someone left Cottonelle toilet paper in the pit toilet. A true blessing.
November 15, 2019: Ran around setting up Lizz’s party. Ran outside in lingerie and a towel in my hair to get Lizz’s dress. Still looked hot.
November 28, 2019: Misfit’s Thanksgiving at Jackie’s barn. One of her turkeys flew onto the coat rack and watched us eat through the window.
November 29, 2019: Hung out with Maggie, Peter Berg, Danny Reit, and Sean.
December
December 5, 2019: Made “Fuck the Boys Club” shirts at the IRL.
December 6, 2019: Went in for a trim and this lady chopped 7 inches of my hair off and made me look like Lord Farquad. I spent $11 on hot chocolate and a donut and then went to Aldo and bought 4 different hats.
December 14, 2019: Took myself to Garfield Park Conservatory… There’s not a lot of places to sit.
December 21, 2019: Did a runway show with Uncle Steve Payne.
December 25, 2019: It was 50 degrees in Wisconsin and we drove the Lebaron to family Christmas.
December 31, 2019: Spent NYE with Ben in the basement of this random person’s house listening to 80s synth pop.
2020 Goals
Buy a condo/house
Read One book every month
Make a photo book
Record a mix
Play a show out!
Get paid for my photo work
Get a promotion
Travel internationally - Spain?
Finally make a bullet journal