My Best 9 of 2019 (+ Recap of Highs and Lows)

2019 was truly one made up of light and shadow.

– We’ve been supporting family through major health issues, and caring for caretakers has its joys and heartbreaks.

– After seven years in the classroom, I transitioned out of teaching high school English, which was a bittersweet career change. I miss talking about books with my incredible students, but I’m still working in education and the first few months of the new job have provided great growth opportunities.

– Husband finished his MBA! He also received a promotion at work, and it’s been really exciting taking next steps in our careers.

– We visited another one of the seven natural wonders of the world, the Grand Canyon, and it was absolutely breathtaking and totally worth a trip in your lifetime!

– I got to work with a few of my favorite brands like Room & Board on redecorating our dining room, Delta Air Lines, and Hello Kitty. I’m always honored and humbled from these partnerships with brands I’ve adored and supported for years — thank YOU for making them happen by reading and following my blog.

– I halted production of my web series Sweet & Power, a comedy-drama of four Asian-American best friends navigating their 20s. It was hard to sustain writing, producing, and acting in a 10-minute episode every month while teaching full-time and blogging part-time, especially with having to take care of family. Thank you to everyone who supported us — I’d love to pick it up again in the future! In the meantime, I’ve been writing a historical fiction to keep active creatively.

We’ve got a few travels lined up in 2020, namely Japan in the spring to see cherry blossoms, and Paris for my 20th anniversary with my best friend. I’ve also been wanting to live abroad in the summer for a month, like in London and Amsterdam, so we’ll see if I figure that out. Here’s to the new year!