2021
Lots of new, a whole lot of love & memories to last a lifetime
Where do I even begin to describe this past year? We have experienced so much change, and while no one really likes change, I think it has actually been good for us. What started out as a big move across the country, became more like an extended vacation with a new group of friends we now call family, followed by new jobs, a new house, and new adventures back home in Texas.
January
January of 2021 began with our cross-country move to sunny southern California. (Long story short, because there is a lot to the story, we were supposed to move at the beginning of 2020 but #covid, so the move was pushed to the beginning of 2021). Danny had previously lived in California with his family, but I had only visited a couple of times. I remember thinking to myself, you are definitely not in Kansas anymore Toto LOL. The thought of moving across the country from all of our friends and family was daunting, to say the least, and I was definitely dreading it. We quickly learned that this was an opportunity we needed to take advantage of, and by the end of our first week in our apartment, we had found friends thanks to our sweet fur baby Finley.
February
February brought a visit from some of our best friends, and a little exploration of the area we lived in. We quickly found restaurants and sights we loved in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, Laguna, Irvine, and more. By this time we had become friends with several other people around our age in our complex that were experiencing similar life stages/situations. Many had moved because of jobs, several had family in the area, but we were all young, and all had dogs, so you could say it was fate.
March - April
Over the next couple of months, we had other friends visit, continued to explore Southern California, Danny was in the middle of a class for his MBA, I was searching for a job, and we continued to build friendships with our neighbors.
We had experienced our first bonfire on the beach in Newport, I was helping dog sit our neighbors’ dogs which we all know I hated (JK- I am obsessed with dogs if you haven’t been here long), and we were really enjoying what life was starting to become. Admittedly, I was still struggling with being in California without our family near and with no job. But, our California friends showed up with support, weekend adventures, and more to help us establish what home was going to be like for however long we were going to stay in California.
March and April also brought celebrations and milestones including a trip back to Austin for a friend’s birthday, my mother selling my childhood home, and our third wedding anniversary (which we celebrated with movie night and PF Changs lol)
May
May brought unexpected news as we found out we would be moving back to Texas sooner than we had planned or were mentally prepared for. We had established a life, our friends had become family, and we were really beginning to fall in love with California. It was bittersweet to say the least, as it also meant we would get to be back with our family and friends back home.
We began searching for a house right when the housing market in Texas was insane, and if you have never looked for or bought a house virtually, it is no walk in the park. Needless to say, after countless facetime calls with our amazing realtor and Danny’s parents, we had narrowed down our search and were preparing to make an offer on a home!
May also brought more birthday celebrations, hiking adventures, trying new foods, and one of the best Memorial Day pool parties I have ever experienced!
June
June proved to be a big month from the beginning. We had found a home we loved, but due to appraisal issues, the deal fell through. Luckily, we found the home we have now and could not have been more thankful and excited. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and that first house was simply not meant to be ours!
We had two exciting visits this month by family and friends from Texas! One of our longstanding friends and his now fiance, and one of my cousins and her husband. We shared some of our favorite restaurant spots with them, along with walks along the beach, a trip to San Diego, and a day spent in Joshua Tree National Park.
We also explored downtown LA, hiking in Laguna Beach, and spent way too many hours by the pool (is there such a thing? lol).
July
July sadly meant our time in California was coming to a close. We closed on our new house on the 7th and spent the rest of the month prepping to move back home.
I was also in the middle of interviewing for a job (which I can say has brought me so much joy and has challenged me in more ways than I can count).
Danny was taking a break from his MBA courses to prepare for our move, and a family vacation at the end of the month.
My entire family took a trip to Hawaii to see my baby cousin who is an officer in the Navy, stationed on the island of Oahu. Needless to say, it was an amazing week and we hope to go back someday- amazing food, beautiful views, fun activities, and friendly people. I will (eventually LOL) get around to doing a blog post over our week there!
August
August was hard.
We got back from Hawaii on August 2, and left for Texas at the end of that week on Saturday morning. For those that don’t know, the drive from where we were to where we were going in Texas is 22 hours long. It is a haul. Luckily, we had made that drive a couple of times at this point, so we at least knew where to stop and where to stay. Riding in the car for that long can be tough, but the sights make it worth it!
We made it to Texas on Sunday afternoon, just in time for dinner at Danny’s parents (who live very close to us), and a trip to see our house for the first time in person! The pictures really didn’t do it justice, and we fell in love all over again with the house.
I was also in the first week and a half of my job, so I quickly threw myself into working until our life arrived on the moving van about a week after we had gotten to Texas. The rest of the month was spent adjusting to the time change, building furniture, unpacking, and trying to put our home together so we could enjoy it and actually take a breath.
September- October
The next few months are a blur at this point- but I know they were filled with amazing memories.
We loved getting the chance to watch out Sooners play football again, and were lucky enough to attend a game in person in Norman with our friend group! We had the best weekend reminiscing on our times in college and what it felt like to be back at the Palace on the Prairie.
I was spoiled for my birthday with several dinner celebrations, as well as a surprise visit from our California friends! Danny managed to keep the secret from me for a whole MONTH and I was extremely impressed he didn’t let it slip! It was one of my favorite weekends as we treated our friends to the Texas State Fair!
We were also excited to celebrate one of our favorite couples in Las Vegas for their one-year wedding anniversary. We splurged a little and treated ourselves to a long weekend, and had the best time!
Any free time we had, we were either working or doing stuff around the house. At this point, we had only met one of our neighbors, but by Halloween, we had met basically our whole section of the neighborhood!
November - December
The last two months of the year were busy of course. We were lucky to see my mother several times since she had moved to Austin back in March, and we had several wonderful nights at Danny’s parent’s house for dinner (usually accomapnied by a sports game of some sort) . These months were also filled with dinner dates with friends, more birthdays, golf trips, spa days, football games, game nights, Friendsgiving, and more.
We spent a weekend in Waco with some of our favorite people, watched our Sooners play the Baylor Bears, and ate way too much food! My love of bonfires was renewed and I was reminded that you can still get an apple watch tan in November.
Thanksgiving week was spent with Danny’s family to visit with our brother and sister-in-law and their kiddos from Washington D.C. We spent a lot of time watching the dogs wrestle, watched a lot of Monster Truck videos on Youtube TV, ran/walked the North Texas Turkey Trot, enjoyed a sibling night kid-free, and laughed way too many times to count!
I had a chance to meet clients and colleagues in person for the first time, and Danny said goodbye to a close colleague that was retiring and moving to Canada.
We spent most of December preparing to host my family for Christmas, but with people being sick, seeing other family members, moving, and more- we ended up not being all together for the first time since I can remember. It was sad, and felt completely different and not like Christmas at all, but I am thankful for the family we did get to see.
We finished the year by celebrating New Year’s Eve with a double date for dinner, lots of shots, and running around on the golf course at 1 am at my friends parents’ house. It was the chaos I didn’t know I needed to end this rollercoaster of a year.
January 2022
As I finish writing this today (January 6th), one of my dearest friends reminded me that on this day one year ago, we had our goodbye dinner right before we moved to California. It blows my mind just how much has happened in a year. We have shared so many laughs, tears, hugs, dinner dates, pool parties, birthday celebrations, tee times, movie nights, shopping trips, football games, and family get-togethers with the most wonderful people. I simply cannot put into words how lucky and blessed we are to have found the friends and family we didn’t know we needed this year. We will forever be grateful for the memories we have made both in California and Texas and we cannot thank everyone enough for their love and support.
There were so many details left out of this post, and I could have kept going on and on about trips, visits, experiences, and more. This post doesn’t quite do the year justice, but I hope it shows just how blessed and lucky we are to live this crazy, amazing life that we do.
I pray this year allows us to continue to grow as a couple, and as individuals. I pray and welcome any change that might come our way. I pray that no matter what happens, we look back on this year with grace and thanksgiving, and we remember all we have been given and have been through together. And I pray the same for you and yours.
Thank you 2021 & Happy New Year! XOXO- Natalie
