Looking Back on 2024

As I drift through this week between Christmas and New Year's Day, when cookies can be breakfast and time doesn’t matter, I’m looking back on 2024, simultaneously thankful for everything that happened and very glad that it’s over.

This year was a lot.

I had ultrasounds, x-rays, an MRI, and a cortisone shot to pair with assorted medical maladies and other injuries to no fewer than seven parts of my body.

I built out a brand new studio and refinished old wooden drawers I’d inherited from my grandfather, and an antique ice chest I’d inherited from my husband’s step-grandfather. 

I battled two major colds, one round of Covid, three rounds of kidney stones, and chronic migraines.

I wrote an ebook.

I finally saved up enough to get a pneumatic machine to help with my hand-engraving, and started learning how to use it. I also learned how to make micromosaic jewelry and frost cookies with homemade royal icing.

I had a hose on my torch spring a leak while I was in the middle of soldering, and I had my entire website stolen and reposted on a scam website.

I successfully got that scam website taken down.

I collected the coolest antiques: a mini anvil, rotobin drawers, a section of bowling alley floor, drafting tools for precision lettering, and a porthole!

I was interviewed for the blogs of two large tool suppliers, and was a guest on two different podcasts.

I broke my 545 day Wordle streak, but hit 401 days and counting on Duolingo.

I got to make custom jewelry with beautiful antique carved citrines, and stunning lab-created emeralds. I was honored to make engagement rings and bridal sets.

I completely revamped my bookkeeping and inventory systems, coaxing my old, limping computer through months of data entry.

I got three new tattoos and built four LEGO sets. Then my husband and I finally got some shelving units to store all of the other LEGO sets we’d previously built and had tucked into various nooks and crannies all around our house.

I switched email servers, then learned how to be compliant with Google’s new requirements. I switched banks and learned a new system of money management, and started working with a new firm to prepare my taxes.

I did social media collaborations with large corporations and small businesses alike.

My husband and I went to a wedding, a funeral, four concerts, two professional sporting events, two Broadway Plays, and a drag show. We also got a new roof on our house and saw the Northern Lights. Twice!

I dyed my hair platinum blonde, then sapphire blue. 

We watched Resident Alien and rewatched My Name is Earl. I’d never seen Beverly Hills 90201, so we watched that. It was terrible. We cleansed our TV-watching palate with another old-but-new-to-us show Veronica Mars. It was great. And we got to watch something I absolutely love- the Olympics!

I worked hard to reach some important milestones in my business, and just squeaked by in the eleventh hour to hit the sales goal I’d set for myself for the year.

I wrote a new blog post for my email list every single week, and I tried to guess the “Real Fact” in my Snapple cap every single day. I even guessed some of them correctly!

This year had, in the words of one of my favorite folk singers, Stephen Kellogg, high highs and low lows.

The lows provided me with opportunities to overcome obstacles, and the highs inspired me to keep going. 

With any luck, 2025 will be even better. But even if it’s not, I know it will make me even stronger.

So here’s to making it through the past and looking ahead to the future!