Highlights of 2020

2020 was a pretty rough year for us all. However, with all of the tough times in our lives, there always is a silver lining. Although 2020 was a year filled with wearing masks, keeping 6 feet apart from those we care about, and washing our hands, it has actually been one of my better years of life. It is, indeed, all what we make of the times and things that we are handed in life. That being said, I will be sharing some of my many highlights of 2020. Enjoy!

January 15 – Launching The Pink Chickadee & my launch party

January 23 – Cooking my Favorite Dutch Oven Ziti for the first time as a hit for my Grand Big

January 25 – Partaking in Meredith’s once every 4 Years Tradition of an Alice in Wonderland Production by faculty & staff

February 12 – Hosting my First-Ever Galentine’s “Fries Before Guys” Party

February 16 – Coordinating my 3rd Scholar’s Day Event at Meredith with two of my best friends Kaylee and Lexie

March 7-10 – Traveling to Annapolis, Maryland, Mount Vernon, Virginia, & Washington, DC with Lexie for Spring Break

March 10 – Celebrating Papa’s Birthday

March 11-15 – Visiting Tennessee (crossed a brand new state off my bucket list!) with my best friend Laurie for Spring Break

Easter – Baking my Grandma’s Bonnie Butter Cake Recipe & Turning it into a Bunny Cake

April 30 – Having a Colored Pancake Party with Papa

May 1 – I Turned 21!

Mother’s Day – Making my Mom & Old Bay-Themed Dinner & Going to a Local Nursery with her

June 20 – My First Legal Drink at a Restaurant!

June 21 – My First Vineyard Trip & Hike at Sugarloaf Mountain, Maryland

June 24 – Crossed Harpers Ferry, West Virginia Off My Bucket List!

June 30 – Recoding The Pink Chickadee!

July 1 – Vineyard Outing with my Big Sis Stephanie at The Winery at Bull Run in Centreville, Virginia

July 4 – Celebrating Independence Day at Bethany Beach, Delaware & having margaritas with my dog!

July 11-15 – Family trip with my Aunt April, Aunt Sherri, cousin Lainey, and cousin Ryan at Bethany Beach, Delaware

July 15 – Celebrating 6 months as a blogger!

August 5 – Moving back in at Meredith after 6 months at home!!!

August 7 – Being reunited with my roommate Sophie

August 8 – Having a belated 21st Birthday Celebration at Cloer Family Vineyards, Apex, North Carolina

August 17 – My Last First Day of Classes at Meredith!

September 9 – Announcing my First-Ever Newsletter for The Pink Chickadee!!!

September 19-20 – Fun weekend with my besties Alanna, Hannah, Julia, and Kaylee

September 30 – Making Butternut Squash soup and failing to cut a Butternut Squash for dinner with Alanna and Hannah

October 16 – Celebrating my friends at Meredith in the Class of 2022 as they got their class rings (Onyx)

October 17 – Celebrating my friend Caroline’s Birthday with a Trip to Divine Llama Vineyards, East Bend, North Carolina

October 23-25 – Papa came to visit me for the weekend!!!

October 31 – Dressing up as a flamingo and celebrating Halloween with Alanna and Hannah!

November 1 – Decorating for Christmas with the help of my good friend Kaylee

November 26 – Having a Non-traditional beach Thanksgiving with my Dad, Step Mom, and dog Butters

November 28 – Exploring the charming Christmas-Decorated town of Lewes, Delaware

December 5 – Celebrating my Completion of finals at The Restaurant at Lighthouse Sound, Ocean City, Maryland looking over the water and enjoying a bonfire!

December 15 – Crossing walking around the charming town of Occoquan, Virginia at Christmas

December 20 – Walking around Old Town Alexandria, Virginia with my Dad on a Father-Daughter Outing

Christmas – Cooking family recipes all day with my Mom

Life is what you make it! 2020 was pretty great, despite its many setbacks. Here’s to an even greater 2021!

XOXO – Katie <3

My Social Distanced 21st Belated Birthday Outing

A special thanks to my great friend Cassie for making my 21st Birthday sign! Love you always girl <3

It’s rare that we hear the words birthday outing and social distancing in the SAME sentence. For most of us, we think that it is practically impossible to have a birthday or celebration outing of any kind without keeping the social distancing protocols in mind. As someone who is strictly following the current social distancing protocols that still wanted to get out and have some fun with my girls, I got creative and decided to have a belated 21st Birthday outing with some of my best girls when I came back to Raleigh. By getting together with my girls for a good time while still maintaining our social distance helped us to still have a great time while being safe.

Part 1 – The Vineyard!

To begin our outing we went to none other than a vineyard aka one of my FAVORITE places to social distance!!! We went to Cloer Family Vineyards in Apex, North Carolina which is one of the few vineyards in the Raleigh area that makes their own wine there. It is also family-run, which I LOVE as someone whose always down to support local businesses. The staff at Cloer Family Vineyards were also really good about keeping up with the current social distancing standards, as each table had a sheet on it that was both green and red. A green sheet on a table meant that it was clean, while a red sheet on a table meant that it was not. In order to maintain our social distance and stay safe, we decided to enjoy our bottle of the house Chardonnay outside. As of right now, most of my activities with others are outside, as I can better keep my social distance. At the vineyard, there were only four of us including myself which was real nice to both promote social distancing and keep it intimate!

Part 2 – Dinner in Our Trunks!

As previously mentioned about 1000+ times in this post, I am very strict when it comes to social distancing. Initially, I wanted to go to a hibachi restaurant. However, after quite a bit of thinking I decided that I wanted to play it safe and order from a local sushi favorite of mine and eat it from the trunks of our cars instead. The great part about ordering takeout was that we could all order from the restaurant of our choice! For the dinner portion, I had two more friends join that were not at the vineyard outing. I still had a small group, which made it intimate and special, but also perfect for celebration during this era of social distancing.

Social distancing or not, making memories with friends and family, especially for celebration is always a blessing. When we get together with others we can make memories that can and will last a lifetime. Through having my belated 21st Birthday celebration both social distanced AND an amazing celebration, I truly had it the best of both worlds.

XOXO – Katie <3