KJB's Twenty-Twenty Round Up

 The day has come! 2020 has come to an end! While watching Death to 2020...

I realized all the madness that this year has had... like the Australian wildfires.... that almost took out all the koalas! Then there was the Trump impeachment trial... then 2020 truly took off with the coronavirus. Here we were thinking that 2019 was somehow bad... 2020 came along and said, "hold my beer!".

January

January saw Thomas turning 3! I began my first year of my PhD program through Indiana Wesleyan University. The loss of Kobe & his daughter, Gigi. 

Taylor Swift also gave us Miss Americana on Netflix.

February

February saw my 28th birthday and my returning to Ohio for my high school best friend's wedding on Leap Day! While in Ohio, I was able to meet my little's baby for the first time! I also started to hear mention of coronavirus that seemed far fetched to be anything too menacing... boy was I wrong!

March

In March, I was supposed to go to Vegas to see my Little get engaged and then I was going to see my mom in LA over UC Davis' Spring Break- but that's when quarantine started. March, Friday the 13th, made an end to that. A fair amount of the women moved out of the house and life as we knew it changed. 

My Little and her Fiance went to Florida instead and got engaged!

Nothing seemed too serious in March, it seemed like we were just gonna have to be at home for the initially proposed 2 weeks and then thought we would be back to normal... incorrect *David Rose voice*

The end of the month began with tons of video calling and my love of Olive & June took off!

April

April saw the series finales of Schitts Creek and Modern Family! As if this time wasn't sad enough!! We also celebrated Thomas' Gotcha Day!

The quarantine continued and shows started to shut down. I started my second set of classes.

May

My friend, Ellee got enaged this month! Mother's Day was this month so I made sure to send a ton of cards for all my friends that are mothers. Mom moved from LA to SunRiver, OR!

June

The indiscriminate spending continued... I bought so many random things this year- that was truly ridiculous! 

The women decided to end their school year with a week long dress up event! My friend's wedding was canceled. 

July

In July, we decided to get together after months apart and met up in SunRiver for the 4th of July. With Coronavirus, my first year of IWU Summer Residency was online! It was a week long experience with my cohort and the school. It made up for the cancelled Alpha Gamma Delta Convention! 

August

August saw my mom returning from SunRiver to move back to LA. Also this kickass Thomas mask!

September

September saw the start of a new school year for UC Davis and then my final term for my first year! Also the start of the #77Easy!

October

Thomas and I celebrated 3 years in Davis!

November

November saw the beginning of the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City! 

Thomas & I spent Thanksgiving alone and just vibing.

December

While the decorations and the movies were full of Christmastime joy, the holiday was a bit melancholy. Thomas and I went to LA for Christmas and then mom came up to Davis for the new year! 

Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!

xo,

KJB

KJB Lately: #77Easy

Howdy, y'all! Yesterday was the last day of November and also the last day of #77Easy! If you're wondering what that is... you're not alone. Thirty days into the challenge, I still had people in my DMs asking me what that meant. If you head over to my Instagram, and scroll to the right in my highlights, you'll come across the Tik Tok (77 Easy) that started it all.

If you can't be bothered, as I completely understand- the #77Easy came from this woman deciding to take 77 days and change up her lifestyle in a challenge format. I took it a step further and simply just made the 77 Easy, just that- 77 days of 30 minutes of ANY activity. 

It started off strong. I would go on mile long walks, and do my 100 squats and Thomas was loving his daily walks, but he started to wonder why they were so long and honestly so was I. Day 10 is supposedly when things become a habit and Day 10 of any workout is extremely difficult for me.

No joke, I struggled but I managed to keep going even if my thirty minutes of activity became less and less strenuous and more about simply moving my body, which was always the point. 

I kept track of it all via Google print off calendars! 

The updates for the 77 Days, became so much that I had to create a second highlight seen below.

Each day of activity was more difficult for me, because I truly enjoy my day to day, which involves a nap and sometimes I can't manage to squeeze in a 30 minute walk. So I adapted any long range movement could and would count for my own purposes. So the walks would range from 12-20 minutes, sometimes it was me walking laps in the backyard while Thomas played. I got back in the habit of drinking 80 oz of water a day and other days I could only do 40. 

What I learned throughout this and what I hope my friends that participated learned as well... is that our bodies are cool things and that we should treat them well and with respect and that does not mean simply just eating right and exercising, but also that we have to be able to give our bodies a break. You have to be aware of your intentions and what the outcomes realistically will be. 

When we started in September, I knew that after months of inactivity due to COVID-19, that I wanted to get up and moving but that was honestly as far as I went with goals. So I am happy to say that #77Easy was a success and perhaps, just maybe- it'll come back in the new year!

xo,

KJB

Flashback Fashion Friday: May 2020

Y'all we are really out here in wild times! Truly it's like the fucking Wild West, I swear. There have been tweets joking that 2020 is giving us what 2012 said it would, or that the writer's room is giving us season finale/ final season vibes. 

A fucking PANDEMIC! FINALLY it seems like everyone is in an uproar over police brutality and them killing Black people disproportionately. Like honestly- cops shouldn't be killing anyone, yet alone unarmed Black people! So naturally the trauma of the pandemic, the trauma of the collected suffering of Black people and news outlets sharing more stories, photos, videos of the Black Lives Matter movement plus the protests and marches that sporadically broke out into riots and looting (sparingly). I like so many Black people and further people of color, are just fucking tired. 

While the country is still trying to seek justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and the news cycle has stopped sharing the peaceful protests that don't result in property damage *insert eye roll* I can only hope that the white men and women that have suddenly found this plight worthwhile will continue to educate themselves and their loved ones. Black Lives Matter is so important, because all lives cannot matter until Black lives do. Honestly after 400 years, it's time for white people to care and carry the load. 

I bet y'all weren't expecting that now were ya... but newsflash I am Black. So here we are. 

May was truly a fucking wild time, we are only 6 months into 2020, and I say we fucking cancel the whole damn thing... but we'll see.

Here's what I wore in May:

May 1

May 3

May 4

May 5

May 6

May 7

May 8

May 10

Happy Mother's Day

May 11

May 12

It was so ridiculously chilly this day, but I was glad to get to wear one of my Pandemic lounge sets!

May 13

May 14

May 15

May 16

May 17

May 19

May 20

May 21

Mom came for the long week, yay Memorial Day- because her house closed and she had to stop on her way to see my aunt and sister in Oregon!

May 22

May 26

May 27

May 28

May 29

Working from Home (WFH as it is sometimes lovingly called), plus the heat and the BLM sadness just meant that sometimes ya girl didn't look very cute and taking a photo was the least of my worries. Plus I had two papers to write for my PhD classes. So I was a little busy. 

Everything is still pretty locked down here, thankfully! So I'm barely going out in public and when I do I have my handy wipes in my purse and I'm wearing a mask. 

Here are some helpful links for y'all:

BLM

Fight for Breonna Taylor

Anti-Racism Exercise

Micro-Aggressions

Justice for Lakeith Smith and A'Donte Washington!

Scaffolding Anti-Racism

Black History Month Library

The 1619 Project

12 Documentaries to Watch

10 Children's Books

10 Books to Read

The Moth

Just to name a few- keep going!

See ya in June!

xo,

KJB