Between the pandemic, protests, and the dumpster fire of a political atmosphere, it’s hard to focus and find the best parts of 2020. But if there’s ever a time to persevere, if there’s EVER a good time to look for the pennies on the ground, the rainbows after the rain, it’s now!
For a person who likes to go out and try new things, go to new restaurants, and visit new places, staying inside for months on end really limited ways for me to find new favorite things. However, being at home all the time provided great opportunities for me to read new books, watch new shows, and perfect recipes without much of a disturbance in my routine!
This year’s favorites all proved to be beacons of light, happiness, and peace in a chaotic year. Those are things we need most in times like these, right?
1. Favorite Movie: Knives Out. Okay, I know this movie came out in 2019, but I hadn’t seen it until last month. I didn’t want to see it without Aaron, and he was waffling on whether or not he wanted to see it (he is particularly anti-Rian Johnson after The Last Jedi). Finally, he relented and I watched it on my own time! I’m so glad I did after everyone raved about it. There are few things I love more than a strong ensemble film, and every role was cast perfectly. The film is a whodunnit in the tradition of Agatha Christie, telling the story of a millionaire author Harlan Thrombey, who is found dead in his mansion the morning after a tension-filled birthday party. The police consider it an open-and-shut suicide, but a third party private investigator is hired anonymously to prove otherwise. The culprit could be anyone in the family, from Harlan’s eldest daughter Linda (played by a fierce Jamie Lee Curtis) to Harlan’s hospice nurse Marta (played by Ana de Armas, who is projected to be the next IT girl. As she should).
Every member of the cast is wonderful, but a special attention has been paid to Chris Evans, in the role of Hugh “Ransom” Thrombey. He is the black sheep of the family, but his white knit sweater basically broke the internet. From the cunning dialogue to the not-so-subtle political undertones, the film is a picture perfect glimpse into white privilege, family dysfunction, and how far people are willing to go to stay alive… or die trying. Ten out of ten recommend… even if you’ve been personally victimized by Rian Johnson.
2. Favorite Music: Taylor Swift. Could it be anyone else? Last week, she dropped a SECOND album! Two albums in one year! Combine that with the rerecording of her old albums and I would say Taylor WINS the year as far as music goes. If the world returns to normal in 2021, I’m sure we’ll get one album’s worth of new content, a tour, and a rerelease of her first six albums. It will be MOST glorious! Until now, this song is my favorite from the first album, folklore.
3. Favorite TV Show: Fleabag. I want to give a shout out to Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels, because I genuinely loved both of them. My passion for Star Wars borne from this pandemic has been a true blessing. That said, Fleabag made me laugh, cry, and just genuinely felt like a good thing in this year. Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the show’s auteur, skyrocketed to recognition after the groundbreaking series was released. From the narrative style and the bold personalities, this show won ALL the awards!
Fleabag doesn’t give the majority of the characters actual names. Fleabag refers to the name given to the protagonist’s character (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge), a confused, sarcastic woman who runs a themed cafe in London. She has no friends and no serious relationships with anyone, even including a bare minimum relationship with her sister Claire. Her father is emotionally distant, and prioritizes his relationship with Godmother, his passive-aggressive girlfriend and close friend to the girls’ late mother. The series depicts Fleabag struggling with all aspects of her life with an incontrovertible sense of humor. It is honest, funny, and I’ll even say charming! Olivia Coleman as Godmother is possibly one of the greatest characters I’ve seen in a series in a while. She is so perfectly horrible! It’s only about twelve episodes, on Amazon Prime, and I think everyone, especially women, should tune in to see an incredible coming-of-age series, of what happens when you don’t have it all together… and everyone knows it.
4. Favorite Podcast: Office Ladies! This was my favorite last year and it kept its place in 2020. I would listen to it on my walks, emptying the dishwasher, doing my makeup… gone were the days of listening during my commute! I regularly put reruns on in the background, and when watching it through the eyes of looking for background details, it still feels like seeing the show for the first time as the podcast goes episode-by-episode.
I think that Office Ladies will be my favorite podcast next year too, but there is potential for replacement: the other day I listened to a podcast produced by Barstool Sports named “Call Her Daddy,” a bold, dirty, “girl talk” comedy hosted by Alexandra Cooper, a BU economics graduate turned vlogger. It’s one of the top podcasts in the world! I liked the episode I listened to, so I might listen to the others to see if it’s really for me!
5. Favorite Book: “Queen’s Peril” by E.K. Johnston. Come on, Star Wars had to find itself SOMEWHERE on this list! I’ve read multiple Star Wars books this year, but this one was my favorite. The events occur simultaneously, directly before, and directly after Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It covers Padme Amidala’s ascent to the throne, the choosing of her handmaidens, and her first forays into intergalactic diplomacy.
It was so wonderful to see such a strongly written story about female friendships, and what it means to be a leader, all wrapped in a Jedi layer of magic! I think I mentioned this in my blog entry when I first read the book, but I feel inspired to write a screenplay adaptation of the novel. Can I pull it off? We’ll see in 2021!
6. Favorite Place: The pond. In the early mornings of the week (and late mornings of the weekend), I go on walks to wake myself up and get exercise. My route varies day-to-day, but I almost always wind up by this pond in an adjacent neighborhood. There’s often birds, occasionally deer, and depending on when I show up, complete silence. The stars sparkle, the moon glimmers, the sky glows pink and blue with the sunrise. It instills a feeling of peace in my heart before the chaos of the day. I haven’t been able to go anywhere serious, obviously, in the past eight months, but this one spot has made things easier this year.
7. Favorite Food: The Tonight Dough ice cream by Ben and Jerry’s. I am an ice cream lover through and through!! Ben and Jerry’s has been a staple of my diet, no matter what my lifestyle. Heck, at UVM it’s practically its own food group! Something funny happened this year, though. As the world slipped deep into a depression over the loss of normality, it seemed that two people were keeping the faith: John Krasinski, with his Youtube videos of optimistic events around the world (titled “Some Good News”), and Jimmy Fallon, who kept his late night show going with the help of his wife and kids manning the camera (and occasionally the cue cards!). It just warmed my heart to see him spreading laughs and sunshine in a world that seemed so dark.
With that in mind, on a random shopping round, I decided to deviate from my usual ice cream tendency (Ben and Jerry’s Dairy Free Milk and Cookies) and instead get The Tonight Dough. It’s chocolate and caramel ice cream, mixed with chocolate cookies, chocolate chip cookie dough, and peanut butter cookie dough. And it is DELICIOUS.
A few weeks later, I got a craving for a certain kind of ice cream. I couldn’t put my finger on it, so I decided to just make the ice cream flavor, based on what my head told me it was: chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookies and chocolate swirls. It was incredible, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t QUITE right. It wasn’t until I bought the Tonight Dough again several weeks after THAT that I realized what I’d been missing! It’s sweet to the point of indulgence, and this year, I’m not feeling guilt about enjoying anything, much less ice cream!
8. Favorite Skin Care Product: Neutrogena Body Wash and Scrub. I know, skincare addicts are clutching their pearls and tsking with a head shake! Listen, Hyram stans, any good skincare expert will tell you that it’s not a one-size-fits-all system, and what doesn’t work for some might work for others. I’m others!
I went into this year with pretty terrible acne on my chest, back and shoulders. Try as I might, it was genuinely uncomfortable! After a little bit of research and a whole lotta instinct, I bit the bullet and bought Neutrogena’s Body Wash and Body Scrub, and started alternating using both on different days. I have SEEN the results, and they are GLORIOUS! I’m so happy I was able to so quickly find a repair that does the job without breaking the bank. Regrettably, Neutrogena tests on animals in countries that require it, so it is not a cruelty-free product. I’m hoping that, similar to MAC, things change for them and they go full cruelty free!
Click here and here to purchase!
9. Favorite Make-Up Product: Magnetic eyelashes! I mentioned them in my multitude of makeup posts this year. It’s a quick and easy way to elevate ANY look. They brighten your eyes and make you look more polished and alert! Plus, unlike individual lashes or standard strip lashes, it doesn’t take a super skilled hand to apply. A nonce like me can put them on (and pull them off, in more ways than one) with ease!
Click here to purchase!
10. Favorite Moment of 2020: It shouldn’t come as a surprise that my favorite moment of the year happened pre-pandemic. On Saturday, January 11th, Aaron and I tucked into his car and drove across town to a stranger’s home to meet some of her… friends. We stepped over the safety threshold of her official “friends” room, and took a seat on the floor to chat about our surroundings. By surroundings, I mean the some seven kittens and their birth mother walking, playing, and purring around us.
Aaron and I were quickly charmed by all of them. I had my reservations about getting kittens: they were very young, and I hadn’t cared for an animal on my own ever in my life. I was terrified I wouldn’t be good at it. When we were on our way over, I told Aaron that if I didn’t feel it was right, we would leave without cats. I’d rather them not go home with me that day (and eventually find a home) than go home with me when I wasn’t ready.
They were all so, SO adorable, but one little black, white and orange kitten just kept crawling into my lap. She purred in my arms, and fell asleep on my knees. I couldn’t believe something could be so small. Her name was Prancer. While she dozed on my legs, her orange, scruffy and spunky brother Comet was figuring out ways to climb my shoulders. Aaron turned to me, saw Prancer on my lap and Comet on my shoulders. We smiled. We knew. An hour later we were introducing them to our home. We spent that day snuggling, playing, and holding them so close. I sang them to sleep, and fell asleep next to them in the process. They were Comet and Prancer. They were ours.
Of course, by the next day we had decided their new names would be Jake and Rosa, for the goofy genius and aloof cool girl from “Brooklyn Nine Nine.” In the months since, they have proven worthy of their namesakes. Jake is klutzy but high spirited. Rosa is quiet but fierce. Most of all, at their core, they are sweet and loving and perfect. I am so, so in love with both of them.
It has been such a mixed bag of the year. The bad parts were so, so awful, and the good parts were so, so wonderful. It sometimes feels hopeless, but the right attitude makes things easier. The problems don’t go away, but they feel less daunting. I’ve been so grateful to have clearer skin, good music, and cat cuddles to make this year less treacherous. I’m so happy for everything outside of the things listed here: my friends, my family, my husband, and everything in my own little blip of the world. If anything, it makes me believe that anything can happen in 2021. Heck, if 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that EVERYTHING is possible! Bring it on, universe!