Hello there ! How are you planning to spend your last day of 2021? Party your way into 2022 or stay in pajamas and catch up on your favorite movie? For a change we are going to spend it partying with friends this year 🎉.

• 

We are back from our 3 nights trip from Seaside, Oregon. Our Airbnb host tells us that before this it had only snowed in twice in this quaint little beach town. Well looks like we carried a bit of snow with us from Seattle 😁.

This week I finished listening to“The Heena Artist” by Alka Joshi, a suggestion by my dear friend Swati, what a delightful story to end my year with! What were your favorite reads this year?

• 

Apart from being “the most wonderful time of the year” as the song goes, December is also the month of retrospection for me, reflecting on the moments that defined 2021.

This year the good moments outweigh the unpleasent ones, in no particular order here are those moments….

Highlights of 2021

I picked up blogging again, 6 years later I was back to RandomyetnotRandom and I kept on going and that makes it my biggest Yay moment for this year.

Vaccinations! Just knowing that parents, family back home are safer now, being able to meet friends and extended family here without fear, tops my list of good in 2021.

• 

• 

Ms. Ginger‘s arrival had to be second most memorable moments of 2021. After years and years of saying no to finally owning a pet and then falling in love with her, I have come a long way in this personal journey of mine.❤️.

• 

Ms. V becoming a black belt., earlier this year in June Ms. V became the first black belt in our family. Earlier this month she completed her first intermediate exam 1st Gup 1st Dan, she has 4 more Gup’s to go before she moves to the second degree black belt.

• 

Ms. V moving to Pre-competitive level from Advanced level in the very first attempt in her swim classes. The look on her face when she got her swim report was priceless! As part of Pre-Comp team she will now start training on her strength and energy as needed by one to be part of swim teams.

• 

15 years of togetherness! Yes, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary this month. From a chance meeting in 2005 in Hewlett Packard to now parents of two beautiful daughters and a very naughty puppy, our journey has been nothing less than a enjoyable roller coaster ride!

• 

Mr. S’s Saturday Special breakfast. Since pandemic hit and specially this whole year of 2021 , the girls and I have woken up every Saturday to a special breakfast prepared by S 😍.

• 

• 

April Fool’s Trick on Ms. V, her expression when she bit into that sponge 😂! Thanks to Nidhi’s brilliant idea, we had one of the best April Fool’s day.

• 

• 

Goof up of the year goes to the Fake Father’s Day I still wonder how I managed to go the entire day convinced it was Father’s Day and that the rest of the world had just forgotten all about it 😜.

• 

Ms. N’s swim journey, where I had to bribe then 3.5 years old N to just get her do the head bobs, she has come a long long way from there. She can now float and breathe under water. She still has to master front kicks to move to the next level but we are in no hurry. You go Ms. N ❤️.

• 

Our first RV trip to Ocean Shores . Boy O boy the memories of that trip are still fresh in my mind, while V and I had our reservations about the cleanlines, the whole experience as such so much fun!! Ok, I may just be ready for another trip in RV 🤷‍♀️.

• 

• 

This summer saw us ticking off quite many items from our bucket list, our first ever camping trip was one of them. Trading ghost stories around the campfire and eating breakfast under the canopy of trees were some of most memorable moments of the camping trip for me.

• 

• 

A 4 day road trip to Montana with friends to Glacier National Park , where Ms. V also celebrated her 9th birthday was one of the best road trips of this summer. While we ticked off another National park, the girls got themselves another Junior Range badge!

• 

• 

Hiking and more hiking. The most fun hike was with the one with the girls -the Rattlesnake, the view at the end of hike was totally worth the sweat. Lake22 Trail hike with my girlfriends was another challenging hike of this year. This coming year I am hoping another girl Ms. Ginger will join us as we cover new hikes. ❤️

• 

• 

Our first trip to Seabrook, Washington to celebrate my birthday where I drew my first inspiration to share our travel diaries with all of you. For this reason Seabrook will always hold a special place in my heart.

• 

Our first movie date since pandemic. There was whole week last month where we explored many new restaruants and went shopping (for me 🤪) without the kids😂.

• 

And so many more moments that made 2021 a golorious year with friends and family far and near.

When I started blogging again, I wasn’t in a office anymore which had been my constant source of inspiration for earlier posts. I wasn’t sure of what I would write about , the only thing I was sure of was that I enjoy writing. And here I am 12 months later!

• 

So thank you for being part of my journey, for reaching out to me with words of encoruagment, for sharing your kind words with me, for telling me how much you enjoyed reading a particular post, for sharing your thoughts with me. THANK YOU 😇.

I am hoping the summer of 2022 would be my India travel diaries😇🤞, can’t wait to meet family.🎉And this one marks my 60th post on the blog for this year 🎉. I couldn’t have done it without you all❤️.

Wishing you all a very happy, golorious, healthy and safe 2022. Happy New Year.

Moons and years pass by and are gone forever, but a beautiful moment shimmers through life a ray of light. – Author: Franz Grillparzer