100 things that made my year (2024)
A list of good things in 2024:
Rubell Museum visit with Val; seeing Amoaka Boafo’s work
Celebrating 25th wedding anniversary in Greece. Walking to a local restaurant as the sunset with Joe. The bar crawl all over Athens with strangers. The family owned restaurant with red checkered table cloths we loved eating at. The couples who danced in the middle of the street. The day we got my ring.
Solo tripping in Norway, Lofoten Islands stealing my heart. Saunas and jumping in the lakes/fjords in Norway. That fisherman soup in Svolvaer. Driving in Norway. Sketching by the river in Bergen. Endless fjords.
Solitude Art Series being sold out within an hour after announcing sale
Reading Middlemarch by George Elliot
My weekly Sunday oil painting class with Bill; my friends in class, the laughs and sharing movie recommendations while painting, the music playlist that always seems to fit the mood, walking around to see everyone’s progress, show and tell at the end of class, walking into class and being greeted warmly by classmates
All my finished paintings. My sketchbooks
Discovering oil pastels and good color pencils
Cheering on Chase this football season
Getting back to my journaling habit
When my home studio is clean. When my home studio is in the messy throes of a new piece
Artwork strewn around the house
The multiple deep heart to hearts I had with the girls this year
Kwamena’s graduation from Dentist school, Aunt Linda’s heartfelt speech, being together and proud of Kwamena, Krista’s graduation; seeing Uncle Jack, watching how Aunt Linda loves through cooking for others; Fashula’s wedding, being with Ian; watching Ian in his garden, watching Ian dance with Fashula, dancing with Nana Kofi, seeing again how Aunt Linda shows up for people through cooking
My Polaroids at family gatherings
Baking the most perfect French shortbread cookie; my baking cookbooks; baking regularly; that raspberry and blueberry scone I made for the first time
Sitting in a park in DC painting and running when the sprinklers suddenly came on
Paris exhibit at National Gallery of Art; the multiple people in line with me reading books instead of scrolling on their phones
Adhering to my social media time limits; being slightly woozy when I get on IG and I am overwhelmed by reels and short videos. I can no longer stomach it and love that for me
Fridays getting lost in the National Gallery of Art
Going to Analog social event; our conversation, Shae’s artful way of facilitating a conversation
Being comfortable decentering old friendships and putting myself out there to make new friends
Coaching leaders at Adobe
Reading the Art Spirit by Robert Henri
Writing on Substack; 3.5k subscribers in record time; overwhelming positive response to my art
Researching Art history and now find myself being able to identify artistic styles and historic artists
Freeing myself from online shopping; significantly reduced online purchases and Amazon spending is quickly going down
Joe’s steadiness and calmness
Missy’s unconditional love and friendship
Hearing Alex giggle
Approaching conflicts and challenges with a nuanced view and able to see my role and pivot accordingly
Listening to Bon Iver on repeat
All of Kendrick Lamar’s album
Drifting to sleep while Joe and Chase talk in the living room
Volunteering as team mom for Chase’s football team
Reconnecting with Isaac
Pilates
Keeping up with this blog; this December marked year two of the blog. Glad I stuck with it
Dropping annual reading goals and obsessively tracking my reads (I read 22 books this year, tho)
Fully embracing mood reading
Making annual family yearbooks
Sketching in cafes, drawing the people around me
Sticking to my low spend new year resolution. Barely bought any new clothes
The films that had me engrossed- Past Lives, Shogun, the Six Triple Eight, Maestro, Babygirl, One Day, Ripley, Baby Reindeer, Saltburn, Beautiful Boy, Griselda, Unorthodox, A Body That Works
Morning walks with no phone, no music or podcasts
The nuance and brilliance of Ezra Klein’s podcast; a refuge to help dissect the 2024 election
Zadie Smith’s poignant words on getting older, friendships and loneliness
Seeing my art exhibited at a public space
Everyone knowing me and my food preferences at Foode; sitting outside to read and eat alone on Fridays during the summer
Reading physical magazines; having magazine subscriptions arrive in snail mail
Sending postcards while traveling
London fog at Agora Cafe
How all my clothes are interchangeable and works perfectly well together
Phosephene as my one stop shop for most of my vintage/thrifted finds
Rachel gifting me a pochade box to use for painting outdoors just cause.
All my vintage finds this year: vases, lamp, clothes, jewelry
Matisse and Picasso’s exhibits at the National Gallery of Art; adopting a habit of going to see just one exhibit at the museum and leaving so I spend ample time with just one artist rather than overwhelm myself with multiple
Going to bed with a heavy heart, waking up refreshed and renewed in the morning
Seeing Krista Tippett and Jason Reynolds live
Walking around Georgetown University’s campus at dusk in the fall
How present I was with this fall season paying close attention to the changing leaves; observing them with wonder and reverence
Painting fall leaves at the river in downtown; the strangers that stopped by to compliment my art even though I didn’t want them to look
Going to an art show with the girls; randomly running into Ellen at the show
Always reading the room well and pivoting
The smell of lavender-like laundry detergent/softener in the air in the evening while walking around the neighborhood
Cutting my hair back to my signature cut after trying to grow it for six months
Linen sheets from Piglet Bedding in the UK
All the art books I bought at museums, bookstores and thrifted; flipping through them in the mornings with a cup of tea
Lake Anna with the fam. Eating cherries by the lake, fireworks, Chase fishing, girls kayaking, the fish Alex caught and the laughter that ensued, the dinner Joe made, the wine, the board games, the art I made at the cabin, it being the Fourth of July at the lake, the sunset on the lake
Corn, tomatoes, donuts, flowers and local wine from the farmers market
Weekend getaways to DC; yoga at DuPont Circle, bagels, walking to museums, Yours Truly Hotel, Cafe Riggs
The hot salsa at Oyamel in DC
Dinner with Ericka; lunch with Mabel; random sweet voice notes from Nana and Mabel
The beautiful exploration and conversation about grieving a parent that I had with a friend
Pottery class with Bri at Union Market
The Harlem Renaissance Exhibit in Nashville, TN of all places.
Listening to Chase and his friends argue about sports stats on our long drive to Nashville, TN. Them making tik tok dance videos in the McDonald’s parking lot on our rest breaks
Wandering around Goodwood in DC
My Invisalign decision (most days)
Marvis toothpaste
Violette FR red lipstick
The Street by Ann Petry
Writing notes in my Commonplace Journal
Thanksgiving ping pong game with the family; playing football in the park with the family and all the belly laughs
Buying Art from local artists; going to support local artists on their solo exhibits
Sandi Hester’s YouTube
Embracing the slowness and coziness of the holidays; buying absolutely no new holiday decor, Alex putting up her own Christmas tree and going shopping for holiday decor
Welcoming winter without a hint of nostalgia for summer; seeing winter as a opportunity to go inward, breathe deeply rather than doom and gloom
Chase’s smile when he looked through his Christmas gift book I made him
Low key Christmas shopping
Missy and I getting Eric the same exact book for Christmas without knowing
My Christmas gifts from Joe, the girls and Clarissa
Walking around DC taking photos with my new camera; my photo shots of two men ice skating and laughing so hard together
Chase getting his learner’s permit
Seeing Dylan off as he joins the Air Force
The Gordon Parks exhibit at the National Gallery of Art; the Mohammed Ali photos and Langston’s.
Being in no rush to take down the Christmas tree; sketching the tree in color pencils before taking it down
Mom being happy to host so many family members over the Christmas holiday
That picture of mom and Phil in front of her house, she’s grinning from ear to ear; Phil spending Christmas Day with mom so she wouldn’t be alone
New Year’s Eve shenanigans with Joe; the core memory we made that night. The inside jokes.
