Doc Hop

It’s the last day of the 2024, and 2025 will start my first full year in California. I am running toward it with open arms and a full heart! I am so grateful for what the past year has brought me. In fact, I could not be happier.

In the week or so since the end of the semester, I’ve submitted fall grades and completed my course prep for the spring semester. I’m teaching mostly the same courses, but my news writing class will be swapped out for a course on news literacy. I taught a similar course at AU, so the prep was not too terrible. I was also able to help complete work on a research paper with a good friend and former classmate, which we submitted for publication last week as well. 🤞 That said, I have been a complete lazy bones since Christmas!

Theodore Gray’s first birthday was on Dec. 20, and even though I’ll be visiting in just a couple of weeks, I had to send a care package to celebrate my favorite baby (AND his INCREDIBLE moms who brought him into this world!) As his favorite aunt, I got him an interactive Dr. Seuss birthday book and all sorts of colorful socks to keep those little tootsies warm! Theodore — if you ever see this, I sure hope you know how happy we were to have a one-year old this holiday! We are all so incredibly grateful for every single spin you take around the sun!

I’m taking a red eye from LAX to Cleveland on Jan. 8, and “excited” is an absolute understatement. I’ve been packed for five days! Gifts and all (which I totally expect TSA to make me unwrap at the security check). Most are still meant to be a surprise, but I did get Theo a green balance bike for Christmas. I sent that ahead, but I am super excited to wheel it out once I get there! I love reading, I love biking, and I love Theodore, so it’s really lovely to be able to share my heart with him in a way that means so much to me.

I always miss my mom around the holidays, especially Christmas. Even with limited resources, she always made them so special for me growing up. It is definitely easier to miss her in California than it was from Georgia, but celebrating away from friends and family never feels like much of a celebration at all. I tried to stay positive, but my heart was a bit heavy all day.

I tried to make the most of what is always a hard-felt holiday by spoiling Lemon and the boys a bit more than usual. I tried to treat myself as well.

I spent Christmas Eve prepping a butternut squash and spinach lasagna, which I threw in the oven on Christmas. I usually just make the same sort of stuff that I have for Thanksgiving, but I wanted to switch it up this year. It was okay, but it was definitely much better as leftovers on day two. Then I put my AMC stubs pass to use, with a late night showing of A Complete Unknown — the new Bob Dylan bio-flick starring the incredible Timothée Chalamet. It was an incredible film, bested only by its soundtrack.

On Christmas morning I saw A24’s Babygirl, which was even sexier than I expected and totally up my ally. Lemon got a stuffed “sugar cookie” shaped like a Christmas tree that she couldn’t care less about and a knee-cap, which drove her absolutely wild all day. The boys never pay attention to anything I get them, but they received a three-tiered interactive track tower with spinning balls to bat around. They haven’t touched it, but luckily it was only $8. I gifted myself a learner deck of tarot cards, with key words and meanings “built in.” I’m trying to adopt some new hobbies this year; I’ve always been interested in tarot, so this seems like a good place to start. And again — only $8.

And speaking of new years resolutions — I don’t really have any beyond the goals that I set for myself at the start of the academic year. I want to be a better teacher and a more accomplished researcher. I want to make friends and build a community in Long Beach. Meet a loose woman. I have a friend who chooses a word to focus on throughout the new year rather than a set resolution that’s easy to break, and I’ve always liked that. I’ve been trying to think of what my word would be this year, but all I can come up with this “extracurricular.” To be continued, I guess.

Since Christmas I’ve largely been reading and relaxing. I checked out Nosferatu and binge watched Squid Games season 2. I’ve been on a Jane Austen kick. In the past week alone I’ve read Persuasion and Mansfield Park, and I’m currently in the middle of Sense and Sensibility.

I don’t have any plans for New Year’s Eve, but I know that I will be awake for the ball drop, because that’s at 9 p.m. Pacific time. 🤣 All of my East Coast friends and fam will have to let me know what 2025 is like so I know what to expect and who to kiss when I get there!