Ah, it wouldn’t be the end of the year if we weren’t all calculating and tabulating best-of lists, and taking stock of what was in an effort to see what needs to be. Here’s my 2022 by the numbers, with some highlights and some favorites.
HIGHLIGHTS
Finally made it to Maine and had a terrific vacation there: went to Acadia National Park, Camden Hills State Park, ate at least 4 dozen oysters and half a dozen lobster rolls, and had one of the best meals of the year in Portland (see #1 above), took our bikes and rode all over, enjoyed the Portland Museum of Art, local breweries, and camped in a hobbit hut)
Taught in-person at a photo workshop (the Mountain Workshops) for the first time in 2 1/2 years
Took two in-person workshops: one for 4x5 photography, the other for bookbinding
Visited 11 states
Anna and I saw Brandi Carlile, Indigo Girls, and Allison Russell live. It was an epic show and an incredible outdoor venue.
I talked to at least a dozen high school and middle school classes (from DC, California and France) about my Confederate Monument project
Joined and attended a book club
Discovered that the owners of one of my favorite restaurants in the country (Vedge in Philly) has a second restaurant here in DC (the Fancy Radish)
Started having house guests again (including my dad who I took to see all the monuments from the Vietnam Wall Memorial, Korean and WWII to MLK, FDR, and Lincoln Monument, one of my oldest friends and her husband who I saw a bunch of great museums and ate a ton of great food with and a terrific German journalism fellow who lived with us for 6 weeks)
Found/created a pretty decent work-life balance
BY THE NUMBERS
Miles biked - 2013 (year’s not over yet) miles / Longest bike ride - 53 mi
Books read - 37
Hours listening to podcasts - 17 days 16 hours
Cups of Coffee drank - roughly 500
Clients worked for - 24 (including 10 new clients)
MOST INTERESTING PODCASTS
Articles of Interest: American Ivy
Pod Save The World + Men in Blazer’s 7-part series called World Corrupt (about the corruption in FIFA and the World Cup in Qatar)
FAVORITE BOOKS
MEMORABLE MEALS AND BEST BITES
Izakaya Minato - Portland, Maine
The Glass Onion - Charleston, SC
Shanghai You Garden - Flushing (Queens), NY
Kwei Fei - Charleston, SC
Teddy's Roti Shop - Washington, DC
THINGS THAT I BOUGHT THAT MADE ME SMILE
“Read Banned Books” sweatshirt from Bitter Southerner
Yellow Retropy 5 Adidas shoes
Apple AirPods Pro 2nd gen (why did I wait so long?!)
Suet for the birds - all of them, but specifically the blue jay, Babe
A 4’x5’ piece of sheet metal to make a magnetic wall in my office
BEST CUPS OF COFFEE
Methodical Coffee - Greenville, SC
Barista Parlor - Nashville International Airport
Tupelo River Coffee - Tupelo, Miss.
Speckled Ax - Portland, Maine
La Coop - Washington, DC
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Wishing you all the best for 2023 M. I've really enjoyed your newsletter so far.
Happy New Year, Melissa!