theinbetweenismine

just a girl living the expat life

Archives for December 2020

A year in review: 2020

filed under: my so-called life, recap, review

How do you sum up this godforsaken year?

Well, let me say first: this has by no means been the hardest year of my life. I’ve personally had more challenging years, but it’s hard to ignore the fact of what we’ve all been through collectively in 2020.

I’m writing this from a place of immense privilege and I know it. I really didn’t have much to complain about this year. I am a homebody by nature and going into lockdown and isolation hasn’t cramped my style as it has for other, more extroverted people. I transitioned nearly seamlessly to a WFH life (and actually like it!), I kept up a good running routine, I was mostly fine with not seeing people (except for my family’s canceled visit this summer), and Jon and I have been content with being around each other all the time. Even if we occasionally lamented the fact that we couldn’t go out to dinner or get away for the weekend, we both agreed that we were making the best of a shitty situation and things could be a lot worse.
 
The only things that matter at the end of this crazy year are that we both remained healthy, I kept my job (and income), we were able to pay our bills and feed ourselves, we could go for runs and walks, and had a private outdoor space to enjoy. We’ve been luckier than so many.
 
I contemplated if I wanted to recap this year as I have previous years, but for the sake of consistency and the mere fact that 2020 happened, as much as we would like to just wish it away, here’s my recap of this weird year. 

JANUARY

In January, as always, we welcomed the new year with coffee and a New Year’s pretzel. I posted my list of things I wanted to do in 2020. Surprisingly, while many plans ended up being derailed, I accomplished almost all of them. The highlight of January was a women’s retreat in Tahoe with a full day of skiing over MLK weekend. I had hoped to get back on the slope last winter, but alas, that ended up not happening.

FEBRUARY

In February, I picked my word for the year. I am not sure I really lived up to it. I attended an “author’s workshop” at work, which I should have taken years ago (given the time I’ve been working at my current workplace). I met Kathrin, a fellow German living in the Bay Area, for the first time in person and also saw Ute, a fellow German living in CT, again after many years. I abandoned my bullet journal and found a new favorite planner. I started half marathon training.

MARCH

In March, I talked about why voting is so important. I celebrated my birthday, just before the whole world shut down. The new motto became “flatten the curve!“. It took me a little while to get my blogging footing back, and I started a series – blogging through the Covid-19 crisis – to document my own experience of the Covid-shutdown, not knowing that we were in for a long, wild ride. 

APRIL

In April, I started to sew masks. Like so many of us. My gym shut down and I started running in the early mornings before work. It was the only thing I knew how to do. I baked zucchini bread. I settled into my work from home routine. My friend Tanja was supposed to come visit and run the American River Parkway Half Marathon with me at the end of the month. Of course, that didn’t happen. Instead, we ran the race virtually, each in our own neighborhoods, and even though it was unexpected, I finally got my (unofficial) sub-2 hour PR in the half marathon this year. Who could have seen that coming?

MAY

I started baking bread with a sourdough starter that I received from a friend in late April. It’s been the most cliché and the best ‘new’ hobby that has come from this pandemic. I have baked every weekend since. We got our outdoor space ready for the summer and Jon and I celebrated our 14th anniversary.

George Floyd died at the hand of police in Minneapolis and racial tensions flared up big time.

JUNE

In June, I celebrated Global Running Day and ran for a good cause. I tried to confront being uncomfortable, educate myself, share resources, and stand in solidarity with the black community. I know there is tons more work to do.  I shared some running lessons during Corona times and also posted another update of my blogging through the Covid-19 crisis series.

JULY

In July, I had some thoughts on Independence Day. I made our own variation of a Classic Niçoise Salad. I talked about how I fit a workout into a busy day, and how I got my sister to run a half marathon (We were supposed to run the half marathon together in San Francisco this summer, but that didn’t happen and I am so proud of her that she still continued her training and ran the distance!). We spent many summer evenings barbecuing in the backyard. 

AUGUST 

In August, I kept up with my early morning runs and witnessed many beautiful sunrises along the river. I also shared my strength training routine. I wrote another blogging through the Covid-19 crisis update. I got my (road) bike fixed up and went on a bike ride, followed the presidential debates, and send snail mail just because.

SEPTEMBER 

In September, I bought a spin bike. Probably the best pandemic purchase of the year. It arrived just before the California wildfires caused major smoke plumes and locked us into our homes for weeks. I had officially worked from home for six months. I shared all the things I baked in quarantine. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and I wondered what else 2020 was going to throw at us. I posted the recipe for quick 4-ingredient Almond Butter Oat Cookies. 

OCTOBER

In October, I talked about the importance of rest days. I urged people to vote in the presidential election. We celebrated Jon’s birthday, and I ordered Stumptown coffee for him. I wrote another Covid-19 update.

NOVEMBER

In November, I participated in NaBloPoMo for the 14th year! I blogged my way through the last few days of the election.  It was finally confirmed that we elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It’s most likely been the highlight of this year and gives hope to so many of us. I became an ambassador for MudLOVE and am thrilled to support such an awesome small business. For Thanksgiving, we stayed home, I ran a virtual Turkey Trot with Tanja in the morning and then prepared a turkey chicken with all the trimmings just for the two of us. That weekend, I also baked my family’s Spritz Cookies to start the holiday season off on the right foot. 

DECEMBER

In December, I bought a bigger and nicer Christmas tree. I was set on making this holiday season great, Covid be damned, and for whatever reason, that tree made me so very happy. I also shared a holiday wish & gift list (because those are always fun!) and sent out a bunch of Christmas New Year’s cards. 

Shortly before Christmas, Covid-19 hit closer to home than I ever wanted it to. Someone in my family tested positive, after being so vigilant for months. I understand this is bad news if your family lives around the corner, but emotionally it’s on a different level when you’re 6000 miles away. I definitely freaked out there for a second, because you never know how this virus is going to affect someone, and I am only willing to share this now because nobody else contracted the virus (thank god) and the person, who had it, never developed symptoms. We got so very lucky.

But I want to warn you that however ‘safe’ you feel and however cautious you think you are, do better. There are still no guarantees that you won’t catch it (we all have to take some risks, however small they might be) and this will only get better if we’re are all willing to make sacrifices, to stay home as much as possible, and to mask up when we’re in public.

I told you about how we spent our Christmas this year and also summed up my ten best pandemic purchases.

And now we’re ringing in a new year, safely from the comfort of our own couch, hoping that 2021 will shape up to be a much kinder year for us all. 

RECAPS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS:

2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.

Making the best of Christmas 2020

filed under: holidays, movies

Christmas was hard this year. For everyone. 2020 has been a hard year.

Jon and I have spent many Christmases alone and I can relate to everyone’s sadness and frustration over not being able to celebrate with family this year. Let me just tell you, the best thing to do to combat this year’s Christmas blues is to still try and make it as cozy and nice as possible.

Because of Trump’s executive order, I had the 24th off. I would have taken it off otherwise anyway because I facetime with my family in the late morning on Christmas Eve. Usually, they’re all gathered at my sister’s house for Christmas Eve, but in true 2020-Coronavirus-fashion, everybody was tuning in from their own couches this year. It must have been harder for my family to not be together on Christmas Eve than it was for me and Jon to just see everybody over FaceTime, but I am just so thankful that technology makes it possible to check in with everyone virtually these days. It did make us all feel a little bit closer.

In the afternoon, I set our table and prepared our dinner. I always make a point to plan a nice meal, print a menu card, and decorate our table, even if it’s just the two of us. It puts me into a good mood and I simply love doing it. People have previously commented on the fact that I always go through so much trouble (no trouble at all, really) to set the table nicely for Christmas Eve Dinner and that I always cook something nice and even print a menu. I admit that it obviously doesn’t make up for the fact that we can’t see family, but having a nice meal and putting in some effort surely helps make the holidays a little bit nicer. We’ve also come to embrace the quietness of cozying up at home for a couple of days.

This year, we made a bacon-wrapped pork roast with homemade bread dumplings and red cabbage. For dessert, I tried a crust-less apple-cheesecake recipe that my Mom sent me. Everything was delicious and we really enjoyed our meal together.

We opened a few gifts on Christmas Eve but also saved a few for Christmas Day (combining both German and American traditions). Later in the evening, we watched “A child’s Christmas in Wales“, one of Jon’s favorite holiday movies.

We slept in a little bit on Christmas Day. I made a big pot of coffee, then talked to my uncle (in Germany) for a bit, and watched a German Mini-Christmas-Series on Netflix in the afternoon. It was nice to watch something in  German for a change. Christmas Day also always includes a “Christmas plate of cookies” and a big pot of tea.

In the evening, we had leftovers for dinner and watched ‘It’s a wonderful life‘ because there’s no Christmas around here without George Bailey. This movie always puts me in such a good mood.

As I mentioned before, December 26 is an official ‘second Christmas holiday’ in Germany, so I still tend to treat this day as a holiday (even if people start taking down the tree around here on the 26th. Our’s stays up at least until January, 6th). I spent most of the day in my lounge pants, I  talked to a family friend on Skype in the morning and went for a run in the afternoon. It was just so nice outside!

I didn’t get around to watching all the Christmas movies that I wanted to watch this year (oh well, I guess there is still time and who says that I can’t watch Christmas movies in January, right?), but one movie I definitely wanted to see before the holidays were over was  “Jingle Jangle” on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it yet, I urge you to make time to see it. It’s delightful. 

And as always,  the holiday cards that I received over the last few weeks put a huge smile on my face. Thanks so much to everyone who sent out cards this year. It’s been so nice to hear from all of you. If our card hasn’t arrived yet, I am assuming it’s in USPS limbo. Be patient and I hope you can still enjoy it when it arrives!

Tell me, how was your Christmas? Were you able to embrace a quiet Christmas this year?

10 best purchases of 2020

filed under: good things, shopping

I saw a couple of posts from other bloggers, highlighting some of their favorite purchases from this crazy year and because sharing is caring, I thought I’d also let you know about things that I bought this year that I don’t regret buying. 

1. A desk chair – when it became clear that I’d be working from home for the foreseeable future, not anticipating in my wildest dreams how long it would actually last, I bought a proper desk chair for my corner desk. This one actually looks quite pretty (most desk chairs are rather ugly in my opinion) and it’s probably saved me from developing major back issues this year.

2. 25 lbs bags of rye flour –  At the beginning of the quarantine, when things were scarce on the shelves and I had just resorted to baking bread again, I decided to order online and it seemed like a good idea to buy in bulk (especially as rye flour is harder to come by at the store anyway). Now we’re set up for auto-delivery and we just received our third shipment since April.

3. A small area rug – I don’t have a separate office (unfortunately) and work from the corner of our living room. We have hardwood floors that don’t really appreciate a desk chair with wheels, so I had to find a small area rug that would fit into the corner under the desk. At least it’s pretty.

4. A long-sleeve running shirt with thumbholes – if you know me, you know that I love long sleeve shirts with thumbholes (which are harder to find than you’d think), so this purchase made me happier than it probably should have.

5. New running shoes – I’ve been running more in 2020 and every runner knows that buying a new pair of running kicks is always a bitter-sweet moment. It’s sad to retire an old pair of shoes that you’ve grown fond of, but it’s also always exciting to break in a new pair. And so the cycle goes.

6. A new microwave – I wouldn’t usually get excited about an appliance, but since I use the microwave every day and this one is so pretty (and matches my Kitchenaid mixer), it’s been one of the top ten purchases of 2020. 

7. A spin bike Sunny SF B-1805 – I’d been taking spin classes at the gym for about a year when the pandemic hit. I ramped up my running schedule over the summer months when I lost access to my gym, but I was dreading the beginning of the darker season because I knew I wouldn’t be able to run outdoors as much. Hence the purchase of a spin bike; probably my favorite purchase of this year. It’s been great to be able to ride any time and take classes (via the Peloton app) with friends. 

8. An HR monitor  – because I need all the stats. LOL (Since my spin bike is bare-bones and I use a cadence sensor to record my rides via my Garmin watch, the HR monitor was one extra piece of equipment to record stats in the Peloton app.)

9. A metal food grinder + cookie attachment – I previously mentioned that after years of ‘thinking about it’, I finally bought this attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer so that I could make my family’s spritz cookies for Christmas. Usually, my Mom would send me some in her Christmas package, but since that wasn’t possible this year, I had to finally invest in the equipment and make my own. I am so glad I did.

10. Our Christmas tree – I told you the story of our Christmas tree a couple of days ago and it’s really been one of the best purchases of this godforsaken year. It has brought me so much joy. Jon can attest that I’ve been commenting on the tree every single day since we got it. I don’t know what it is about a fake tree with lights and ornaments, but it’s been truly lifting my mood this holiday season.

Share one of your favorite pandemic purchases in the comments (or write your own post, if you have more than one!).

Have yourself a merry little Christmas tree

filed under: good things, holidays

Before Christmas is over (well, it officially is, I guess, but I tend to keep the Christmas magic around for a little longer than most people. And since in Germany, we keep our trees up until January, 6th (Epiphany)), I thought I’ll quickly tell you the story of this year’s Christmas tree. 

I’ve lamented over the years that we never had a nice Christmas tree. We didn’t bother getting one during the years when we traveled for Christmas, and when we ended up staying home for the holidays for the first time in 2014, we lived in a small apartment and didn’t really have space for a Christmas tree. However, that year,  I insisted that we get at least a small (fake) tree to put on the sideboard. Oh, I loved this tree with a passion. 

The next year, when we stayed put for the holidays, I got out that small (fake) tree again and told myself that “it’ll do” since it is just one Christmas, and next year, we’ll be traveling again. I didn’t know that 2014 was going to be the first year in a row of years that we wouldn’t – for one reason or another – be able to spend Christmas with our families. 

Fast forward to this year, when it became clear that the pandemic would last much longer than anticipated and that we would once again not be able to travel for the holidays. I decided that this was the time to invest in a tree a little bit bigger and a little bit nicer for the holiday season. 

Of course, in real San fashion, I couldn’t make a decision about what kind of tree I wanted and I wanted to shop around a bit, and when I finally made up my mind (that I wanted that 4.5 ft-tall balsam fir tree from Target) three weeks before Christmas, the tree was sold out everywhere. Go figure. 

However, there was one tree left on display at our local Target. When I had inquired about this tree the week before, I was told by one of the Target team members that they wouldn’t be selling the display trees, at least not before the end of the holiday season. At that time, I still had hoped to find it (or another acceptable tree) at a different Target/store. I went to two other Targets and checked out trees at two other stores, but no luck. By then, I was really set on this tree from Target. 

So, two weeks before Christmas, I went back to my local Target with a mission. I was determined – if the tree was still on display –  to talk someone into selling me that damn tree. It didn’t really make sense to me that they’d keep a tree displayed in the store they had run out of stock off and of which they wouldn’t get any more deliveries. What’s the point of having a tree on display that they wouldn’t be able to sell anymore anyway? 

I saw the same young woman that had previously told me that they wouldn’t be seeling the display trees, but since I had noticed that the display area had been reduced since the last time I was there two weeks earlier (so, were they selling them after all?), I decided to approach a different Target team member with my inquiry. I found a very nice, helpful young man who’s initial response was that he “didn’t think they would sell the display trees”, but who was willing to let me show him the tree that I wanted and take it up the chain to ask about their policy. 

When he realized that there were no more boxes of that particular tree, he talked to a colleague through his hand-held radio, and when he agreed that he could probably sell me the display tree if there weren’t any boxes available anymore, the young man went straight to work to unplug the string lights and load the tree into my cart.

He asked me twice if I was okay with him putting the tree in my cart like this (yes!) and buying it without a box (yes, yes!) and if I was going to be able to get it to and into my car (three times yes!) and I just thanked him profusely for letting me buy the tree and quickly made my way to the checkout before anybody else could stop me.

Tbh, I had been ready to argue my way up to the manager and to plead with them and threaten that they were going to ruin my Christmas if they didn’t let me buy this tree (lol), but it didn’t even have to come to that. I was just so elated!

I was smiling from ear to ear when I walked out to the parking lot.

This tree is everything I wanted and it reminds me so much of the “Nordmann firs” we would have for Christmas at my parents’ house growing up. 

We used to have a real tree every year and my parents would get it a few days before Christmas (traditionally, in Germany, we don’t decorate the tree until the morning of Christmas Eve) and while I’d love to have a real tree one of these days, I am perfectly happy with this fake tree for the foreseeable future (and also with decorating it early). 

I don’t know why Christmas trees make me so happy, and even though we’ve spent many Christmases alone by now, it really made a big difference to have a bigger, nicer tree in our home during this weird holiday season. 

How do you feel about your Christmas tree?

Currently | December

filed under: currently, holidays

CREATING | a little bit of holiday season homeland-nostalgia by getting out our candle holder that my sister bought for me at the Cologne Christmas Market many years ago. 

KEEPING UP | with running (and cycling), because it’s truly been keeping me sane these last few months. 

LOVING | the blue skies this time of year. It’s been a fairly dry winter so far and since it’s not been raining, we’ve been blessed with beautiful blue skies.

ENJOYING | the 2nd Christmas holiday. Because it’s a holiday in Germany and everyone should get not one, but two holidays for Christmas.

READING | has been a bit on the back burner this month, but I am so excited that I found Barack Obama’s book “A promised land” under the tree and I can’t wait to dive in. 

ADORING | our Christmas tree. We used to have this tiny, little (very obviously fake) tree for the last few years and I always wanted something a little bit bigger and a little bit nicer. This year, I finally invested in a bigger tree and I cannot tell you how happy it makes me. 

SENDING | Christmas New Year’s cards. It’s been a weird year to send cards and packages for Christmas. I opted to order most things online, but am still not sure if things made it to their recipients on time. I hope you’ll enjoy something from me in the mail, whenever it arrives.   

EATING | German spritz cookies. They really made the holiday season extra special for me this year.

DRINKING | coffee, and tea –  all day, every day. 

WATCHING | holiday movies. We watched “It’s a wonderful life” last night and I also found a German holiday mini-series on Netflix that I am halfway through. It’s nice to watch something in German for a change!

THANKFUL | that I was able to take the days “between the years” off. The last couple of weeks before Christmas turned out to be very stressful at work and I put in some serious overtime to meet a deadline and I am just relieved to have 10 days off before I have to open my work laptop again. 

HOPING | that you were able to make the best of this weird holiday season and that you found something to smile about.

What’s going on with you currently?