A Year in Review

Before Covid-19, I was 30% homebody and 70% hobnobber. Most nights you would find me out and about, nothing too crazy, just that I love exploring both familiar and new places while also introducing friends to places they have yet to visit and experience.

I’ve tried to take full advantage of the “additional” time at home. Since my love of travel is on temporary hiatus, I’ve actually opted to walk Google Maps on my VR headset. Sure, it’s not even close to being there (no pun intended) but it’s really interesting walking the streets of foreign cities to gain some insight on the diverse culture and architecture.

I’ve also become more proactive in supporting our local farmers. On the weekends I tend to visit a few local Farmer’s Markets. This has lead to more time in the kitchen prepping & plating food for culinary photo shoots. Even more importantly, it has resulted in some great eats and a half star uptick on my personal culinary attributes rating!

2020 has been a significant year for humanity at large, and for me personally as well. At the beginning of the pandemic both my wife and I changed jobs, which while a stressful thing to do in the middle of a pandemic, has significantly improved our lives and our outlooks to 2021 and beyond.

Instead of our usual mass gatherings of friends, we have opted for smaller scale socialization, including several day trips, and 2 camping trips to the Pisgah National Forest. This year has really reignited my love of the outdoors, and in 2021 I hope to get out to the mountains even more.

Additionally, my wife and I have used the extra time we save from commuting to better our health. Through exercise & diet I've managed to lose 10lbs over the course of the year, reaching the best shape I've been in since high school!

In addition to my full time role at Atypic, I work part time for a fitness studio in the Charlotte area. I have a huge passion for health and fitness and I have been involved with the Charlotte fitness community for nearly four years. I love building relationships with clients and being surrounded by like minded individuals who share a passion for health/fitness. After only 6 months of being open, we had just settled in our groove when Covid hit and I was furloughed from the studio. We closed down for 6 months and I missed it everyday. Luckily, upon reopening I was offered my job back and now I've been immersing myself in the community and people I went months without.

I've always been a reader, but it often ebbs and flows on how often or much I read. With more time spent at home, I dove into another world full of characters and stories from traumatic pasts leading to love, dark mysteries, and edge of my seat cliff hangers. Next year I'm shooting for 15 books!

This year gave me the time I needed to reflect and grow myself. In January 2020, I had goals and outlooks for this year that I was ready to make happen. But I quickly learned that everything happens for a reason. The pandemic gave me the time and space to heal some of my inner most challenges and bruises, taught me what I truly value and need in life, and showed me that sometimes you have to slow down and enjoy what's in front of you.

I had a unique experience in 2020, welcoming my first-born during the first week of North Carolina's "stay at home" ordinance. With a newborn, we'd have likely been homebound anyway, and we'd come to terms well ahead of a global pandemic that our social lives would take a major hit.

Dorothy Jane has consumed our world in the best way possible. Unknowingly she can brighten a bad day and distract you from all the bad news and craziness in the world.

The novelty and coziness of staying locked-down as a new family of three does wear off from time to time and we definitely miss being around friends and my Atypic family. I know that Luis cannot wait to get his hands on Dot!

I am thankful that Atypic is an environment whose culture is not confined to its four walls, and we've done our best as a team to maintain office camaraderie and team morale. I've taken my fervor for trivia to Zoom (Google Meet, technically) and have channeled my inner Trebek (RIP) by hosting multiple trivia happy hours for the A-Team.

I miss being together, and miss seeing everyone in person, but I value health and safety above all.

This year, after a long and arduous search, I was finally able to move into a house with quite a few of my friends. Our neighborhood is super nice, we don't have to worry about noisy neighbors right next to us, and this house is much more affordable than my old two bedroom apartment! With such a large space, I was finally able to decorate my room and the common areas like I've always wanted. Since all of us are staying home most of the time, we've been able to watch a ton of movies, play games, and cook meals together as a family. I'm extremely thankful that I was able to move here with four very good friends and one very cute cat.

With the onset of the pandemic back in April, I was just transitioning from my first designer role to one here at Atypic. Before I left, I was grateful to have created my first brand identity ever as a designer – and it will forever freeze in stone the bittersweet memories I have of my first job out of college, as well as the imposter syndrome I was battling and the triumph of overcoming it to create something I was proud of.

With that being said, ever since I started at Atypic, I couldn’t be more proud at the amount of professional growth. If you told me back in January that I'd be creating a second brand, learning a brand new program, managing social media and working on various web projects, I’d call you crazy! I truly am SO absolutely grateful for this team believing in me enough to take me in, teach me and trust me.

As the year has progressed, and with nowhere to go, I went into my mind. I spent (and still am spending) my free time in self-reflection: what daily habits are holding you back, how are you speaking to and about yourself, who are you sharing your energy with, what are you fears / insecurities / pains that need to addressed, broken down and mended. I’ve always considered myself resilient, but this year I’ve evolved into something much greater: unbreakable, courageous and unapologetically myself.

Thanks, 2020, for reminding me that life is just too precious to be anything but happy, and should be spent loving others and loving yourself.

This year has been enlightening for me. Most of my life I have been content with staying home alone when I wasn't in the office. After months of working from home by myself, all I can think about are all the things I want to go do after the vaccine. I hope to have at least one adventure a month once it's safe to do so.

This has been a year of letting go of control, exhibiting extreme patience (not always successfully) and stealing hundreds of kisses from the sweetest little humans imaginable.

My oldest started kindergarten (virtually) which was a hard pill to swallow as I selfishly hoped for her to have an in-person experience as she entered elementary school. Overall it's been manageable and the joy she shows when she has been able to get on the bus and go into the classroom a few days a week has been worth all the dropped zoom calls, arguments over homework and never-ending reminders to pay attention.

My baby sister got married on 2/14/20 right before the stay at home orders were put in place and right before we all really grasped what our new reality was going to entail. My dad flew down to Charlotte to assist my husband and I with getting our eight-week old twins and two big girls up to Michigan. On a perfectly crisp and snow-covered day, we got to be together as a family to celebrate her special day.

We welcomed Quinn and Colette in December which is basically when our quarantine began since getting four kids dressed and out the door is a heroic feat in and of itself. We have spent lots of time together as a family and it's been chaotic, loud, frustrating, joyful, happy, loud, overwhelming, special and...did I mention loud? I wouldn't change it for the world and sometimes slowing down and spending time together is life's best medicine.

I got my first cat a few years ago, but over the past year I've been wanting to get a young kitten, not only to enjoy while in quarantine, but so my cat could have a companion. Seeing my new little kitten grow up over the past six months has been so rewarding and I love watching my two babies play and love on each other - even if its at 2am while I'm trying to sleep.

My boyfriend and I were doing long distance for nearly a year while I was in Charlotte and he was in Wilmington. In March, he was able to move here, and unfortunately a week later, the state went into shutdown. Fortunately, however, we were able to keep each other company during that time and got to spend so much needed quality time together. Even though it's been difficult, I wouldn't change a thing.

I am a coffee ADDICT and I know this might seem silly, but this espresso machine changed my life. Because of my location, working from home was dangerous because $5 lattes are less than a five minute walk away. Getting an espresso machine and milk frother has not only saved me money, but has become a part of my morning routine that helps me dial into work.

2020 was eventful, to say the least. Reflecting on this past year brought three things to mind.

Music is obviously one of the biggest parts of my life, so being in isolation for most of the year had me discovering artists and genres that I never thought I’d enjoy! Being able to still be a part of the overall guitar/music community through live streams has helped me immensely throughout this year.

I realized how much I took the Charlotte community for granted. I miss going to shows, supporting live music & the local artists that make it great! 2021 will hopefully be a year full of live music!

I learned to enjoy the simple things. Whether its being out in nature or taking a drive just to get some air, I realized that happiness for me ultimately comes from the simple things!

Prior to the pandemic I was fortunate enough to travel to the Bahamas and enjoy some beach time. We were able to experience the culture and enjoy the crystal blue water. After the pandemic hit, I was still lucky enough to continue doing something I love; hiking. It allowed me to still get out of the house, enjoy the fresh air, and explore new mountains. I also got to watch my best friend get married this year, despite the hurdles she had to overcome.

I'm looking forward to a fresh year with my Atypic team. This year has brought us challenges, but our strong foundation allowed us to overcome them together. We're continuing to adapt and remain strong and I'm looking forward to another year of collaboration and pushing boundaries.

The year 2020 has been full of challenges and forced changes.

One might read that statement as negative, but without struggle and adversity through the many challenges life throws our way, would we be growing and learning both personally and professionally? I kept asking myself throughout this year what was I to learn from this experience. What good can be found in what feels like so much bad? If we remove the hate, remove the pandemic, remove the election, remove the normal ways of connecting with those you love, what do you get? My answer to that is you get a different perspective on life and how you look at the day-to-day connections with those around you. Without the hate, pandemic, election, etc., this perspective might not be possible and so we must take time to reflect and see how these challenges have truly changed us. The biggest changes this year for me have shown me what to be truly grateful for and have given me a better lens to recognize where I might have taken things for granted before 2020.

So in leaving this year on a positive note I thought it best to show...

The Things I am Grateful For:

• A wonderful wife that is a best friend, a great mother, a logistics genius and a constant positive motivator in my life to push me to places I might not go alone.
• Two truly awesome boys that couldn't be more different yet both are equally funny, adaptable, smart, caring, and have a unique personality that is backed with huge amounts of joy & love in their hearts.
• An incredible work family that is full of intelligent and passionate individuals that respect each other and have fun every day; the culture at Atypic has allowed us to adapt seamlessly to this year's changes and I couldn't be more proud of our team.
• An unwavering group of friends & family that are authentic and always there to lean on or know to reach out when they need to lean on you.
• Stability in business and health I know there are plenty of people and businesses around us that have had extreme challenges this year covering a wide range of obstacles that are both short and long-term. I am not blind to those difficulties and I plan to challenge myself further in 2021 to be more compassionate and giving to those in need.

I believe we will all look back on this year and realize it was a time in our lives that we learned the most about ourselves and those closest to us. It may not have been full of sunshine and rainbows but has been an experience that educates us to change our outlook moving forward and to bring positivity, joy, and love to our everyday connections.

As I reflect on this past year, I can't help but feel grateful for all of the new experiences, life lessons, and curve balls that 2020 has thrown me. This year I experienced a lot of firsts, but 3 things stand out the most.

Love. I got to welcome my beautiful niece Riley into the world and learned how much love comes with being an Aunt.

Loss. I lost a dear friend in a military plane crash, and experienced the overwhelming pain of loss for the first time. I now have a very special guardian angel to watch over me.

Companionship. I decided it was time to become a dog mom. I rescued Ollie, a sweet black Labrador Retriever puppy – aka my new best friend!

This year gave me the opportunity to live in the present. Prior to 2020, I could tell you our vacations for the next two years and personal objectives and goals for the next 1,5 and 10 years. 2020 has forced me to live in the now and be grateful for the things that are most important - family, friends and health.