Feels great to be home! Who would have thought we’d spend most of 2020 up at the cottage. Being home has a different vibe and feels a bit more like normal life, despite the fact we can’t really go anywhere because of lockdown. I’ve been playing around with my iPad pro a bit more. I’ve dreamed of making fabric, more art, and creating. It’s such a great little tool! I mostly use Procreate App with the Apple Pencil. What does 2021 have in store for me? According to my 12 most used emojis (this is social science haha), it’s looking like 2021 will have: Happiness, praise (clapping), love (red heart + pink heart to me means friends & family), star (success), more cute hearts, a crown, laughter, high fives, art/creativity, brains/nerding out, silliness, home, kindness, and rock on (hopefully this means some partying with people!).

I’ve had this suit from The Drake General Store for ages and finally decided to wear it. ? A onesie makes great winter wear, cute, cozy, and warm. FYI The Drake has a great habanero hot sauce you can order online or with your takeout order. Highly recommend! I like to add it to pasta, stir-fry, or just about anything deep-fried. In other news, my latest round of scrunchies are white organza! The fabric is from a sheer curtain I ordered on Amazon ages ago but was the wrong size. This one turned out so good, she pretty! I can’t wait to gift a few of these to friends as a surprise by mail. I’m quite behind on sending out anything Christmas-related (as planned) but maybe Valentine’s Day is a better time to send love anyway. ? This was the moon last night over the cottage, the last full moon of 2020. I stared at its beauty, then closed my eyes, and took a few deep breaths. Before going inside, I made six wishes and gave a howl like the wild woman I am, as a way to say: ‘BYE 2020 I AM READY FOR NEW!’

Drove back up to the cottage today to spend the last week of 2020 in the woods. It’s SO snowy! The roads were pretty crazy once we got out of the city as we drove through the snow storm. Sean did a bit of shovelling as I collected wood for the fire. I’m gonna bo back to eating less meat after indulging a bit over the holidays. I’ve also ate more chocolate and candy in the last few days than the entire year. Felt good tho, I earned a good binge. One of my fav things to make is a simple chickpea curry in the Instant Pot. While soaking the chickpeas, I sauté onions & garlic with olive oil, then add spices to activate them. I add in some broth and chickpeas without the shells. I like to throw in tomatoes, potatoes, or cauliflower depending on what’s in the fridge. I set the timer for 12 minutes and once done, I add in chopped spinach. It is so incredibly good, especially on cold winter days.

I have been searching for Marmite for weeks, months! We used to be able to get it at Loblaws or Sobey’s but I haven’t found it. I grew up eating Marmite on toast, Marmite sandwiches, or a kiwi pizza (Marmite on toast w/ cheese!). I love it, always makes me think of mum. Sean and I drove back up to the cottage today and stopped at the 400 Market where there’s a British shop. I left Sean to walk around on his own and when I found him, he was there and bought all the Marmite she had! I’m so happy! Marmite for life! I had a really great call w/ the CEO of Funday Agency today and I am SO EXCITED about the project I’ll be working on for the next 8 weeks (and beyond!). At the start of this year, I wasn’t sure where my career was going and now, at the end of 2020, it’s looking BRIGHT. We’ll be up at the cottage for a few days before going back at the end of the week. I’m excited to set up the treadmill we picked up yesterday from Sean’s a parents!

I spent hours this weekend sewing at the kitchen table making big floofy scrunchies. Each one is 100% unique and handmade with recycled fabric from my personal wardrobe. I had planned to donate items at the start of the year, then lockdown happened. Instead of buying new fabric, I decided to make them into new things. Since I didn’t buy new fabric, I could work my way through learning to sew again after 20 years, without worrying about fucking up. At the start of quarantine I shared my theme of ‘use what you got‘, I think that’s really carried through the rest of the year. Each tag on my floofy scrunchies says ‘Handmade by Casie w/ recycled fabric.‘ and has a little background story on the original item. Today picked up some clear plastic packaging and thread (and glitter thread!) from Dollerama and I can’t wait to put everything together. Put my wreath up on the front of the cottage. First time making one since I was a kid! In other news… Use What You Got pt. 1 was Day 34!