Thank you, Stephany from stephanywrites.com for the inspiration!

1) What did you do in 2024 that you’ve never done before? 

Visited Paris

Visited Italy

Took the kids camping

Visited Lancaster Co., PA

Milked a cow

Tried aperol spritz

2) Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes. I made a new Russian friend at jiu jitsu and she had her second baby a few months ago.

3) Did anyone close to you die?

My kitty Athena passed in September.

4) What places did you visit?

NYC, Dutch county, PA, upstate New York, Paris, Naples, Amalfi coast and the surrounding towns, many small towns in Calabria, Italy.

5) What would you like to have in 2025 that you didn’t have in 2024?

Motivation to exercise. Self-discipline with technology, patience with kids, energy to experience more things. More appreciation for the little things. More mindfulness. More time in nature. More solo time. More quality time with people I love. More dates with T. More exploration with the kids.

6) What dates from 2024 will be etched in your memory forever?

September 14th- RIP Athena

November 6th – election results

Week of March 27th- our trip to Paris

May 2- the drumming performance in MPAC

August 2 – the Path of Gods solo hike along the Amalfi coast

Any day in Calabria August 5th to August 13th

December 29-30 One -on-one trip to NYC with L

7) What was your biggest achievement this year?

Being a parent, a partner, a teacher; solo parenting, working full time, keeping everyone healthy and fed, providing great experiences to my kids – all of that while trying to do “self-care.”

8) What was your biggest challenge?

Solo parenting: trying and sometime failing to keep my cool.

9) Did you suffer from illness or injury?

Do brutal luteal phases count?… And yes, stomach bugs, common colds, bronchitis. Also, some symptoms of peri-menopause, i.e. night sweats and headaches.

10) What was the best thing you bought?

My unlimited monthly yoga studio membership. Plane tickets. Small real gold hoop earrings that I wear every day.

11) Where did most of your money go?

Bills. Kids activities and before/after care. Travel.

12) What did you get really, really excited about?

All of the trips, both big and small.

13) What authors did you discover in 2024?

Yaa Gyasi (Transcendent Kingdom)

Helen Phillips (The Need)

Leila Slimani (The Country of Others)

Gary Janetti (Do You Mind if I Cancel?)

14) What do you wish you had done more of? 

Exercise, being analog, spending time in nature, walking, learning, being present, being REALLY present

15) What do you wish you had done less of?

Less phone use, less yelling, less cynicism, less negativity, less worrying. Less comparing myself to others.

16) How did you spend Christmas?

Quietly. Winter break: day 4, Christmas Eve and Winter break: day 5, Christmas Day

17) What was your favorite TV show?

Baby Reindeer – a show about co-dependency and obsession.

18) What did you want and get?

I wanted real small gold hoop earrings and I bought them for myself in November. I wanted a Tom Ford perfume and I bought that, too.

Wanted to break six figures, and I finally reached that step on the teaching contract in May of 2024.

19) What did you want and not get?

Kids that listen to me? A house that stays clean?… My former weight?

20) What was your favorite film of 2024?

Society of the Snow. A film about a rugby team whose plane crashes in the Andes.

21) What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 43 at the beginning of May. For my birthday, I went to see the drumming performance at MPAC. The weekend after T and I went out to dinner to one of our favorite restaurants in Warren. The kids gave me cake and flowers ;D

22) What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Immeasurably?… I don’t even know. More physical activity and more time outside. Like, every day.

23) Who kept you sane?

T, of course! Love you honey. Now, did you turn off the light in the den?

24) What are five things you are grateful for this year?

Just five… Let me select something simple… Water you can drink out of the tap. Early mornings. Yoga. Sleep. My blog.

25) Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2024.

I have people pleasing tendencies but in 2024, after that situation with a parent, I said “no more.” I stopped keeping my work email on my phone, not checking it on the weekends and after hours. It’s okay to say no sometimes even if people may not like it.

26) What would you rate your level of happiness on a scale of 1-10 this year?

Probably an 8?…

27) If you could change one thing that happened this year, what would it be?

Change?… Honestly, whatever happened, needed to happen.

28) How have you changed over this past year?

I have done really well with my people-pleasing tendencies. So, one can say, that I reduced my people pleasing tendencies by a lot. I feel more confident saying no, especially at work.

Also, I have another full year of blogging under my belt, and I feel more comfortable with writing my thoughts and putting them out into the world, without many hangups. Lastly, after years of struggling to find things to call “hobbies” I now can confidently say I do have hobbies: yoga, reading, and writing.

29) How did this year surprise you? 

Surprises… I don’t really do surprises. But , I surprised myself with confronting my people-pleasing tendencies.

30) Show us one of your favorite photos from the year.

I went through so many pictures… Then I picked this one: it was taken in Calabria, by the hotel pool, and there was nobody in the pool, just R and L (she is in the background), and it was already evening, the sun was slowly setting, and it was just.so.calm. I remember swallows that live in the holes they make in the Capo Vaticano cliffs were flying back and forth because that’s what they always do but only at dusk.

Would love if you could answer one or a couple of survey questions in the comments OR on your own blog.