Happy Holidays 2021
Dear Friends and Family,
We hope you are all healthy and as happy as can be as we move into year two of the pandemic. How the hell did we get here? I mean really, wasn’t it April just last month? Does anyone else feel like nothing happened but also time went by in a blink of an eye? At least that is how it felt for us.
Last year we wrote a pretty sobered reflection on how we faired in 2020. We knew that once the clock hit midnight on Jan 1, 2021 that suddenly all our problems weren’t going to be washed away by the new year. We knew that 2021 would be more of the same, and largely we were right, but things did get a little better for us.
We know there’s much that didn’t get better for so many others. For many, it meant continued anxiety over whether or not they would be bringing covid home to their families. It meant parents losing sleep at night wrestling with their conflicting feelings about their children’s health and returning to in classroom learning versus allowing their children to fall behind even further when they were learning over zoom. It meant another year of isolation for those with pre-existing health issues that couldn’t be near loved ones. It meant a lot of beloved businesses closing from being unable to recover from two years of volatile openings and shut downs. It meant ever widening rifts between family members with opposing views on things like mask mandates and getting vaccinated. And even more so, my heart has broken over and over with more stories of anti-asian hate crimes surging in places so close to home, as well as the countless angering examples of injustice pervading throughout our country.
As this has weighed heavy on our hearts, we have done our best to be supportive and compassionate humans and live our life with gratitude for our good health and all the opportunities we’ve had this year. Even though 2021 has been hard, we wanted to share some of the positive things that we experienced.
Winter
Joshua Tree
We mentioned in last year’s post that we’d be heading to Joshua Tree for Christmas with the pups. We stayed in a little guest house in Twenty-nine Palms and had a great time together.
Jeremy tries new recipes
Jeremy got two cookbooks for Christmas last year, one was a Dungeons & Dragons cookbook, and the other was an intro into Japanese food. We spent the whole year trying out new recipes. Yaki Udon has become one of our favorites.
Spring
We spent much of our spring working a lot. Jeremy worked on a few woodworking projects for friends and Loretta largely spent time working on her book about Japan. We went on a few hikes and took a few day trips, but largely stayed home.
Hiking with the pups in north bay
Jeremy’s wood working
Jeremy was commissioned to convert a sprinter van into an RV.
Jeremy spent a few months in his spare time helping a friend convert a work van into a camper van. He re-built a bed, created cabinets, counter tops, and a small toilet closet. This was a great opportunity for Jeremy to learn and practice before we buy our own van.
And then another van request…
Another client asked Jeremy to outfit their work van with shelves. By the end of that, he needed a break from vans.
Jeremy also made a beautiful desk for a friend
Another friend hired Jeremy to make a bamboo stove cover
Loretta’s birthday
As always, I wanted to go somewhere coastal for my birthday so this year we went to Cambria.
We hiked the Valencia Peak trail which overlooked the ocean and then treated ourselves to a lovely seafood dinner. Unfortunately, Loretta rolled her ankle really bad the following day, so they spent all Sunday lounging and drinking before returning home.
Community Art walk
Last year, we wowed people with our diverse artworks ranging from Loretta’s donut paintings, to our travel photos, and Jeremy’s woodworking.
This year Loretta showcased three examples of the augmented reality art that she is creating for her new book about Japan. You can download an app and point the camera at the art and it will come alive. The three giant pieces were a huge hit with all the neighbors.
Summer
After we got the vaccine in may, Jeremy’s work picked up. We started feeling more comfortable attending a few social gatherings, including a friends birthday and a wedding. We tip toed our way into more and more social gatherings.
Attending a wedding and a dear friend’s birthday
In July, we hiked an old favorite, Mori Point.
Jeremy’s Birthday
This year the fires were pretty bad in northern California and central Oregon. We decided to head to the Oregon coast and camp for the weekend.
It was an unconventional camping trip as we couldn’t have a fire, so we ended up going into town and enjoying food at local breweries.
Fall
Interactive art museums
Loretta and Jeremy attended a few interactive art museums throughout the year. Some were duds (Van Gogh museum)
Teamlab Continuity (above)
NocturneX, San Francisco
Circuleight, Harpa Concert Hall
Halloween
We added onto our traditional exterior decorations with a dropping bat and a jumping spider.
Loretta visits mom in Newport Beach
It had been nearly 2 years since Loretta had seen her mom, so they met up in New Port Beach for a special weekend.
Traveling to Iceland
We started planning our winter trip to Iceland the moment we got our vaccinations. We went for 9 days in the beginning of December.
We visited only the southern part of the country, driving from Reykjavik to Vik to Hofn, and then back. We also did one day up in the Snæfellsnes peninsula where we toured a lava cave. The highlight of the trip had to be the ice cave tour we did on Vatnajökull Glacier. We saw so many beautiful waterfalls, we ate good food, and we soaked twice in geothermal baths. Overall it was a great trip. See more photos
What’s next?
Next year Loretta hopes to finish her book about Japan and launch the kickstarter video, so stay tuned. You can follow Loretta on Instagram for updates on the book.
Jeremy’s student loans should be paid off by March (WOOHOO!) and we’ll have so much more freedom to do the things we want to do, including possibly finally buying that van we talked about and converting it into an RV. He also has some unfinished wood working projects that he hopes to complete in between film work.
We look forward to seeing our dear friend Matt Garcia marry his fiancé, Sadiya on the east coast. We may try to make a road trip out of it if we can.
Our hope is that we can plan a visit to see our friends in Sweden sometime in the summer and round out our Scandinavian adventure in Finland and Denmark.
Happy Holidays!
For our Jewish friends and family, we hope you had a wonderful Hanukkah and sorry we couldn’t attend the festivities this year. For the Christian friends and family, we wish you a Merry Christmas. And to everyone, may you have a happy new year! May your 2022 be safe, happy, and healthy.
Love you all,
Jeremy, Loretta, Zero, and Darby
