Creating this list has been my dorky birthday tradition for years. I started back in my 20s (I think age 27…) on a group blog that’s now defunct, so I can’t even find my original list. But last year on my 36th birthday, I was ZONKED after my first ever book tour. My brain was like, “I cannot make words. I can only lie in the hammock.” So, that’s what I did instead of compiling a 36 Things list.
This year, I have more energy for a list, and I’ll start my list with those two things:
I learned . . . I love to read in my hammock.
My hammock was a birthday gift last year, and I have soooo enjoyed it. I’ve wanted one for a long time, but we don’t have good hammock tying trees. My husband solved this by getting me a stand. I really did hang out in it a LOT on my birthday last year, and everyone was very gracious about letting it take up a huge amount of space in our family room. But being outside with it is my favorite:
I learned . . . how to go on a book tour.
Last October, Manzanar National Historic Site invited me to come out and talk about Within These Lines. Manzanar is kind of hard to get to if you have to fly in. From Las Vegas, you drive across Death Valley to get there, or you can fly into Los Angeles and deal with L.A. traffic. Either way, you’re looking at about 4 hours of drive time after you pick up your rental car. (We didn’t put our concentration camps in places that were easy to access. Go figure!)
I ended up giving my talk 6 times in four days, including at the historic site, schools all over the county, and one of the library branches. The county bought copies for every student in the classes where I spoke, so afterward, kids would get in a long line and I would sign books. There were about 400 books total that were bought for students. Isn’t it awesome that the county did that?
I learned . . . it really sucks when you misspell somebody’s name in their book.
I had never done that before, and then I messed up the names of two boys at one school. UGH! I laid awake and thought about it for days afterward. I sometimes still think about it! When I got home, I pulled out my Within These Lines bookplates, personalized and signed them, then mailed them to their principal. Doesn’t make up for the error, but it eased my conscience a bit.
I learned . . . how to SUP!
We made it out to Lake Tahoe, California this year and rented stand up paddleboards for the first time. That was really fun! The waves on Lake Tahoe make it a workout to stay upright, and falling into that cold lake is no fun! (Yes, I know from experience!)
I learned . . . what crumpets are and how to make them.
My parents are getting very hard to buy for, so in recent years we’ve gone with “experience” gifts. Picking out “experiences” in 2020 was a little trickier than years past! For my mom’s birthday in the summer, McKenna and I landed on having a tea party. We said we would watch a Jane Austen movie and bring over tea and crumpets. I had no idea what a crumpet was, but I knew I could figure it out. (Here’s the recipe I used on my best friend’ recommendation. Oddly, she made crumpets for the first time just a week or so before me.)
They’re griddle cakes, and you need special rings to make them (thank you Amazon Prime for coming to my rescue when I realized that just a couple days before our party!) They’re yeasty, not sweet, so you put honey or jam on them. I thought they were good but not worth the effort very often. McKenna ate about 6, though!
I learned . . . why everyone was so obsessed with Hamilton.
Thanks Disney+! (And good friends who had Disney+ and invited us over when it released!) I thought there was no way Hamilton could live up to all the hype, but WOW. This has been our family’s soundtrack in the latter half of 2020. Eli, my five-year-old, is going to be King George for Halloween.
I learned . . . how fun it is to take my kids to a concert!
The soundtrack of the first half of 2020 was The Elements by TobyMac. We went to his concert in early March, and it was such a late night, especially for Toby’s biggest fan in our family, Eli. The concert date was March 8th, and I had only a vague idea of how serious this Covid-19 thing was. How strange that the pandemic felt very far away at that time, yet it was only a few days later that we learned our kids were done with school until the fall. That concert was not only amazing in itself, but it being our last hurrah at a normal event makes it even more special.
I learned . . . I like to track my time.
Want to know what I was doing January 17th at 3:30pm? Or June 10th at 11pm? Give me a second to pull out my time tracking spreadsheet and tell you. (1/17: Moving laundry and playing with Eli and 6/10: In bed, but not asleep yet.)
Tracking my time was something I learned from Laura Vanderkam, who hosts the Before Breakfast podcast in addition to being the author of several books about time management. I make notes in a spreadsheet about how I spend each 30 minute chunk of my day. Something I love about this practice is how intentional it makes me with what I choose to do. I know that I don’t want to write down “Mindlessly scrolled social media” for my half hour, so keeping in mind the story I want to be able to tell about my time log helps guide better choices.
I’ve tried to track my time several times before and always fell off the wagon, but this year I’ve been faithful since the first week of January. (And what a BIZARRE year to start tracking my time!)
I learned . . . to make a list of 100 dreams.
This is another Laura Vanderkam thing. (She’s a mom of five whose job is funky like mine, so I find her time management advice very applicable!) Her advice is to make a list of 100 things you’d like to do or accomplish so when you have free time, you’ve already given thought to things you’d like to do. I’m not at 100 yet, but I found the list very helpful. It actually helped me identify these next three items:
I learned . . . how to ride a bike. (Again.)
“Have a bike” was on my list, and when my husband learned this, he was so excited and gave me one for our anniversary. We ordered mine before all the crazy bike shortages happened. (I also learned nice bikes don’t come with pedals, but my husband already knew that and had me covered!)
I learned . . . I want an Airstream.
Also on my list was to “someday own an Airstream.” I like camping, but I don’t like getting up to pee in the middle of the night and having to walk to a community bathroom. We have friends in California who live in an Airstream, and I was super charmed by their way of life when we visited them. We’ll have ours next month! (Yes, there are 5 of us. We’re pretty sure littlest one can sleep on the floor.)
I learned . . . I can teach a kid to read.
Also on my 100 Dreams list was to teach Eli to read. I tried to teach Connor when he was 4, but we kept getting interrupted by epilepsy, bless his heart. When everything shut down in March, I was like, “Okay. I guess now is a good time to try with Eli?” It’s felt like a slog at times, but we’re nearly done with this book and he’s doing fantastic!
I learned . . . Taco Tuesday is a wonderful routine.
One summer night we were with my in-laws for dinner. We were having tacos, and Connor said to me, “Mom, don’t you like tacos?” I said, “I love tacos.” He said, “Then why don’t we do Taco Tuesday?”
He had a point.
So every Tuesday, we do some kind of taco. (Except for the Tuesdays that I totally forget.) There are enough ways to mix up tacos that I don’t get bored, and I love having one meal figured out every week.
I discovered . . . the movie Knives Out.
I was weirdly early with this discovery since I hardly ever go to the theater. Back when Knives Out released, Ben and I happened to have a date night and saw it in the theater. I went into the theater with basically no expectations, and absolutely loved it. (I need more Whodunnits in my life!) We then bought it when it came out and have watched it three more times. (Last I checked, it’s free on Amazon Prime. There’s some language and dead bodies, but not much else.)
I discovered . . . Chasing Vines by Beth Moore.
I love Beth Moore and have since the first study of hers that I did back when I was 21. To use her own language, I think she’s just precious. I hope I age half as well as she does.
Anyway, I pre-ordered Chasing Vines because YES, I WANT TO LIVE AN ABUNDANT, FRUITFUL life. I underlined a ton, I cried, I read passages aloud to my husband (who shares my adoration of Beth) and then bugged my friend, Jill, until she read the book too. Even before all the Covid Crazy, her chapter on manure and fruitfulness slayed me.
I discovered . . . Dream Big by Bob Goff.
Another book I read and loved was an early birthday gift from my best friend, Roseanna, Dream Big by Bob Goff. I read several chapters during our annual writing retreat, and then finished it on my way home. Really great stuff and it aligned so well with some of the work I’d already been doing this year. Which brings me too…
I learned . . . my core values, my vision for the next 90 days/1 year/3 years, and much more.
I took a life design class through my church called Younique. I signed up for it before I had ever heard of Covid-19, and then ended up doing almost the entire program over Zoom because of restrictions. While I’ve always known things like, “I want to be a published author, I want to have kids, I want to travel,” I’m at a turning point in my life. Our youngest will start kindergarten in 2021, and I wanted to spend some time evaluating where I’ve been and dreaming about the future so that I could feel (semi) confident that I was spending my time well. (“Intentional stewardship” is one of my four core values, so this desire was very consistent with how I’m wired!)
I learned . . . being a Swim Mom is tough work!
At this point, my Swim Mom life of 3 evening practices a week, swim meets on weekends, and mandatory parent volunteer hours seems really far away, but it was a huge part of my late 2019 and early 2020. There are lots of things I don’t miss about McKenna being on swim team (like driving to the pool at 6 a.m. on a Sunday) but I do miss this view.
I learned . . . I still love writing contemporary YA fiction.
I love writing historicals too, but I’ve been writing more contemporary YAs recently and really enjoy it. That’s what I worked on primarily this year, including on my writing retreat this fall:
I discovered . . . To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before.
I devoured this contemporary YA novel. The Netflix movie is cute, but the book is better (obviously) and surprisingly clean. The others in the series have more language and mature topics, but not the first one.
I learned . . . I need morning quiet time.
One of my greatest discoveries this year was that I had been missing my morning time with God. In April, about a month into our new-normal, Ben was getting up for runs before starting a long day of Zoom meetings on our couch. I decided that instead of sleeping in late, I would get up when he did and renew my routine of quiet time. One of the best choices I made this year!
I learned . . . I still don’t sew.
I’ve never been good at sewing, and in 2015 when I tried to make McKenna a mermaid costume for Halloween (in addition to caring for my two week old baby) I packed up my sewing machine and was like, “That’s it for me.”
But we needed masks. I have fabric. Everybody on social media was making them and saying they were easy. I invested hours, failed three different times, and then learned I could buy them at Target for mere dollars.
I learned . . people are allergic to sesame seeds. (Including Eli!)
Eli had his first ER visit when he was 14 months old after eating his first cashew. That’s how we learned he’s deathly allergic to cashews, pistachios, and macadamia nuts.
Fortunately we didn’t have any ER visits with this allergy discovery, and I’ll spare you all the boring details, but after a string of itchy, hive-covered events we suspected Eli was allergic to something in hummus. Apparently it’s the sesame seeds. I didn’t even know that was an allergen! He doesn’t like hummus, so that’s no big loss to him, and we just try to skip restaurants that have sesame seeds on their hamburger buns.
I discovered . . . Austin Kleon’s books.
If you’re a creative, I predict you will love these unique books! Steal Like An Artist was my favorite. These books are full of wisdom and art.
I discovered . . . Fredericksburg, Texas.
Right before everything shut down, I flew to Texas to speak at the Day of Remembrance celebration at the National Museum of the Pacific War. I talked about the evacuation and camp experience for Japanese Americans, and I also taught a class on writing historical fiction. One of the highlights for me was getting to watch The Registry before it aired on PBS. The museum looks incredible, so I want to go back and spend more time there. I had never been in Texas’s hill country, and it was beautiful!
I learned . . . keeping chocolate covered pretzels in my office is a bit dangerous.
They started carrying these at Costco this year, and YUM. Great on ice cream, great by themselves. I often have a bag stashed in my office because otherwise my kids eat them all.
I learned . . . I love walking my kids to school.
We live really close to our kids’ elementary school. Even when McKenna and Connor were in 6th and 3rd grade earlier in the year, I still walked them to school, and then waited on the other side of the crosswalk to walk them home. While I would’ve always told you that walking time felt important to me, it wasn’t until our school year abruptly ended that I realized I love that time. I mourned when I lost it, and I felt such a lightness in my heart when walks to school resumed earlier this month.
I learned . . . I read more during a pandemic. Weird!
Not that big of a surprise! The last two years, I’ve read 40 books. This year, I read 50.
I learned . . . I love science fiction
Well, The Expanse series anyway. I have loved all four seasons of the TV show (Amazon Prime) and I read all 8 of the books. I’m desperate for book 9 to release. It’s really, really rare for me to read a full series but these have really captured me. (Note: These are definitely for adults. Lots of language and mature themes.)
I learned . . . I really love my toast tongs.
Yes, this is a weird one. These bamboo toast tongs were in my stocking a few years ago, but I didn’t immediately recognize how useful I would find them. But this year when we traveled and stayed in rental houses with toasters that didn’t completely pop up, I had one of those moments of, “Wait, there are no toast tongs here? How can people live without toast tongs?”
I learned . . . how to teach live classes on Zoom.
The One Year Adventure Novel Summer Workshop, an event that I have I had the joy of teaching at for many years, invited me to be a part of the online workshop. I felt very nervous about teaching hundreds of young writers through my screen. I missed being in-person with the writers, but felt more connected to them than I anticipated. I look like I work in a call center when I’m teaching online. (Pardon the clothespin. It’s an OYANer thing.)
I learned . . . how to play Spades.
Back in April, we started playing Spades online with a married couple that we’re friends with. I’m not a big game player, but I really enjoyed learning how to play and being able to do something fun with our friends. Don’t ask me to track the score, though. I still don’t understand how to add it all up.
I discovered . . . the Throughline podcast.
Throughline from NPR is my favorite podcast discovery of 2020. This podcast goes into the history and stories behind the headlines of today. Why we have the electoral collage, the history of the post office, and so forth. Really fascinating stuff!
I learned . . . I can use my panini press (or waffle iron) to make hash browns.
I love hash browns, but it’s so hard to make them crispy and flip them without making a mess of it all. I learned that the panini press (or a waffle iron can work too!) is perfect because they cook on both sides. (Why is food photography SO difficult? They’re delicious even though this picture isn’t flattering.)
I learned . . . about the word capitonym.
A capitonym is a word that changes meaning depending on if its capitalized. Did you we had a word for that? I sure didn’t.
I learned . . . I enjoy having an electric kettle.
An electric kettle was one of those kitchen appliances I always shrugged off, but now that I have one, I absolutely love it! I like being able to easily heat water to a specific temperature depending on what type of tea I’m having. (This isn’t the exact model I have, but it’s similar.)
I learned . . . women used to lose their citizenship if they married a non-U.S. citizen.
Had you heard of this before? I was shocked when I listened to a podcast about it. I want to write a book about this because it absolutely fascinates me, I just don’t know what the story would be yet. Here’s an article with more details.
This isn’t part of my “official” list, but one of the happiest things I learned this year was the strength and resilience of our family as we pushed our way through obstacles all year long. There’s nobody else I’d rather be stuck at home with than these four!
