I’m taking inspiration from Austin Kleon’s recent Substack post of the same name. I love the idea of going through a “favorites” list except we talk about all my favorite moments of the year. I’ll be doing a separate round up of all the shows, films, music, and things that I loved in 2024 in a separate issue.
Here are some things that made my 2024:
- Attending the Superbowl with Adidas. This event was really what kicked off my decision of leaving my full-time job. I met such incredible people on this trip which really inspired me to go after my dreams.
- Being in Austin with the Notability team. I’ve LOVED working with the Notability team this year and just getting more familiar with the app in general. It’s now such a important tool in my creative process.
- Launching (then relaunching) my blogs, Coffees with Angel and Feel Good Studios. (I’m still debating whether to move back to Substack honestly. Ugh.)
- Phone calls and face times with my LDR friend Janice.
- Board game nights with my family friends.
- Lagree sessions with my friend, Jun.
- Little mini girls retreats with my friends in Squamish
- Discovering new trails with Mika
- Quitting my job (CRAZY)
- Working with dream brands like Logitech, Adidas, Herman Miller, Hubspot and many more
- Discovering a new found love (perfumes)
- Rediscovering a long-time love (reading)
- The Europe trip of a lifetime with my girlfriends
- Sitting on a patio in Milan planning life goals with friends. I can’t even explain how much of a core-memory that was.
- Attending my first Milan Fashion Week event. Terrifying but so fulfilling.
- Discovering a new found love for tea! I didn’t give up on coffee, don’t worry. I just added another caffeinated beverage to my life.
- So much self-discovery. So many new personal goals. Really trying to dig even deeper (and heal more).
- The way Mika’s paws smell like cheetos. It’s adorable.
- Mika and I’s game: blanket monster. Aka I just throw a blanket over her head and tickle her while she tries to bite my fingers. It’s the best.
- Reworking my Notion (again).
- Joining Kevin Yee’s mastermind. Really just learning about masterminds in general. What an amazing, awesome, incredible thing.
- Taking Ali Abdaal’s YouTube course. It really just validated a lot of things I already knew but taught me some new things as well. Honestly loved it.
- Lighting a candle (or incense), having a hot cup of jasmine tea, and reading a book. UGH. Heaven.
- Rediscovering cushion foundation. Like genuinely why did I ever stop using them.
- Trying to cook new cuisines. Experimenting with Mexican, Moroccan, Vietnamese, Thai, and more.
- Putting on body lotion every night.
- Sitting in a cafe alone, on nobody’s time but my own.
- Starting my podcast, Feel Good Lab!
- Interviewing Terri, because having friends on the pod is genuinely the most satisfying thing ever.
- Mika being an absolute angel when I’m sick and happily spending all day lying next to me in bed.
- Spending random sister time with my sisters.
- Deep talks with my mom. Rare but beloved.
- Reading smutty romantasy. It’ll always be my guilty pleasure.
- Sitting on the sofa, writing newsletters. I want to do more of this year.
- Watching shows and movies after dinner and not feeling guilty. This is a new one for me.
- Todos Santos with Cathleen, Jun, and Kelly. Pure joy.
- Migrating and reorganizing all of my footage onto SSD chips.
- My new morning routine: Meditate, drink lemon water, have coffee while I read, journal. Bliss.
- Terri leading me through a yoga sequence.
- Putting my fingers on piano keys again and letting muscle memory take over.
- Decanting perfumes for my friends.
- Experimenting with my style.
- Using my new Hatch sleep machine to play soundscapes while I sleep. Is this what 30 is? Playing fake rain forest sounds because it soothes you? Cause I’m into it.
- Purging my closet. Best feeling in the world.
- There’s still nothing that feels quite as satisfying as pulling the perfect espresso shot in the morning.
- Dialling in your new espresso beans in one try. Pure fluke but makes me feel like a genius.
- Cleaning the kitchen. This one’s definitely a new one for me. Oddly satisfying space to keep clean.
- Sitting outside with my coffee and nutella cornetto in Milan in the morning as I journal. A different morning routine that I love.
- Strolling through Parco Sempione.
- Wandering Milan (or any city) with no real destination in mind.
- Flea markets in Berlin.
- Cafes in Berlin.
- Okay, just Berlin in general tbh.
- Speaking my novice Italian and feeling so proud that I can understand basic conversations now.
- Listening to Italian music and realizing that you can understand parts of it.
- Starting my unwind routine at 9pm.
- Putting on skincare at night time.
- Using a natural loofah with the Bioderma body oil cleanser. Elite combination.
- Seeing your readiness score go up in the Oura app.
- Waking up and not needing any pimple stickers. RARE.
- Watching my mom walk to a small Italian bodega and communicating with the shopkeepers. SO endearing.
- Listening to an entire podcast on my drive down to the city.
- Receiving book mail. Or perfume mail.
- Attending events and actually connecting with people.
- Meeting new friends in new cities.
- That one room in the Boston Public Library. Or the courtyard. UGH. I would spend all my days there if it was in my city.
- Getting matching tattoos with friends.
- Unanimously deciding it’s time to go back to the Airbnb and order take out after a day of meandering through a new city with Janice.
- Sleeping on Cathleen’s couch like I’m her adoptive child. (She’s one of my best friends).
- Creating. Just creating.
- Solo-dates. Doing anything really.
- When my partner strokes my hair.
- Forehead kisses.
- Making random late night snacks together. Quesadillas, popcorn, tacos, pancakes.
- Summer’s Christmas Crack.
- Drinking out of my Owala bottle. I’ll never get over what a satisfying user experience it is.
- Falling in love with Vanilla scents. Who would’ve thought.
- Stretching.
- Watching Mika bury her head in the snow.
- Getting together with my family friends.
- Getting dressed up.
- When your budget is all reconciled.
- When my content calendar is planned out.
- Having back-to-back exciting partnerships.
- Completing projects.
- When my things sell on marketplace. No haggling. No meet-up issues.
- Dog-sitting aka Mika gets to have friends over.
- Being on the couch with Mika and my partner with the weighted blanket over all 3 of us.
- Finding what you’ve been looking for in vintage stores.
- Intimissimi underwear.
- Taking gaba and magnesium before bed.
- Back-bends.
- Good hair days where every piece just lays right.
- Every single email response I get from you or my podcast listeners. SO fulfilling.
- Using my journal as a scrap book and adding stickers, travel ephemera.
- Writing random lists.
- My paper republic journals. I will love this forever.
- Writing cursive using a fountain pen.
- Shoes that don’t make my feet sweaty.
- Telling people I love that I love them.
This was both harder and easier than I thought it would be. I feel like this is the ultimate gratitude practice. So if you’ve never tried writing down 100 things that made your year, I’d highly recommend it.