Continuation from Jan – June.
“A pebble that we picked up last July”
A few days after we got back in July it was admission day at SDSU! She was so occupied with checking everything, getting her classes, and it was such a fun day. I met such nice parents and had fun conversations and wow, I can’t believe college arrived.
I continued to have (more than) monthly Bestie dinner dates.
I have to comment on my weight here. I kept off 30lbs for over a year. I’m the lowest I probably ever have been in this photo. I’m currently 3-5lbs higher right now – which I actually am chipping away to get back to this weight because I felt really strong. It’s amazing what 5lbs more does on my frame now.
I want to be more intentional about my weight workouts this year. I’ve been slowly going up in weights and need to buy 15lbs weights, and probably 20lbs as well. We have bigger ones that go up to 50 but they are HUGE that J uses and I don’t like holding them.
Anyway. Narcissistic much, but back to my love for the besties! My 3h dinners with them are some of my favorite moments.
The hours spent are required medicine for my soul.
I loved hanging out for hours at a few parks this year with Ang.
Or going to rock concerts where her cute hubby performs.
I had to post this photo of Bobby and I because I felt SO important being invited to the “big kids table” on this night. We had a new president and there were about 10 of us at the dinner and I was invited and that felt so good.
Also I love this picture of us. This definitely looks like my drunk/happy face but I’m fairly certain I had not had ANYTHING to drink at that point and I know I only had one glass that night because I was being “responsible Kristi”!
Spending beach time with my Mama is always the best too.
Stealing the Laguna Beach house rental from John who decided not to use it was so perfect. I literally spent a week there with Sam and then a night with friends. And also a few nights alone. That trip was amazing. This house was lovely and it was more lovely to just be alone and watch this view for hours on end.
Angie and I took such a lovely hike during this week that I remember well. I also remember calling Nicole during it and us talking to her on speaker when she was having an emotional moment. Love being able to support my besties knowing they support me so well.
I took time to hop down to San Clemente to visit Lindsay and the girls when they were here. They are such bright lights and fun to hang out with. I was happy to see them in New York in December too.
And just to remind myself when I read this back in 10 years, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses.
“August sipped away like a bottle of wine”
But August had such a high of watching my baby SHINE as the leading role in Little Mermaid. She was in two shows and we got to watch her have so much fun – and that was so lovely. I was distracted and anxious during the first one but took a deep breath and enjoyed that last show immensely. She sparkled and shined and was perfect.
I love this picture of Sam in the mirror. Her leading lady mirror – that she had to fight for space on – but she still got it!
I don’t even want to post the photo of Bartelby at the vet’s and how we put him to sleep the next night. That is another photo that I just don’t like the reminders of.
At some point we saw Peter Pan at Segerstrom because the kids friend from theater (Nolan!) was in the leading role! Do I have a picture of that night? No. Oh well. He was seriously impressive learning how to “fly” in that role.
But what we did finally have was G’s 16th bday party at the roller skating rink!! How fun was that? So many people came and it was lovely to see them all having fun.
And I can’t forget G’s beautiful relationship with D the entire year. They hit their one year anniversary in October and are still going strong. So adorable.
And we move into the last days of summer where we celebrated Sam before she left. I love this photo because my Mom is so amazing at all the decorations and fun things she does. Sam’s face on a mermaid and stuck into a cake. Hahaha, that was the best.
I don’t need to talk any more about how we dropped Sam off for college since I already spent hours on that post.
But I did cheer myself up with movies and more Ang time. This photo cracks me up because we had SUCH a nice time talking for 15m before the movie started. We saw the movie – and I can not remember what we saw – but I remember wanting to see it so bad!
And after, we said we wanted to go chat for another 30m. And I was adamant about going to sit down somewhere and get some sparkling water because I didn’t want to drink.
I sat down and was like NOPE, I need champagne. Like a good friend, she joined me.
“Time turns flames to embers, you’ll have new Septembers”
September came and with it my 20 year anniversary of marriage. We went to Morton’s and drank a very old bottle of Domaine Druhin Laurene which we had been saving for the right moment.
We also got to see G’s first show of the year (his JUNIOR year!) which was Chicago. Wow, was it great. There were some powerhouse girls in the cast and they did awesome. G also did amazing, he was the judge and in the ensemble and his dancing was phenomenal. I had never seen Chicago before so that was a treat!
We saw him several times but I’m just posting one family photo here.
Side note, I went to dinner with Mom and her best friend Bonnie (pictured next to me) and her husband came to dinner (not the show). It was literally such an enjoyable dinner. I’ve commented that to my Mom several times since then. Bonnie and her husband are such interesting people and great conversationalists.
I wish I could go to more dinners with people and have those fun moments.
Sam came home after a month. Ahh, I had such a good car ride with her. I drove down (1.5h) and listened to really good podcasts (Mel Robbins – college episode!! Totally cried 3x on the way down) and then got a great gossip session all the way home.
And got to see this when we took Sam to deliver dinner to G that night.
We went and had dinner with the parents, which was lovely. We watched Chicago again.
And then September quickly fell into October!
“Like the colors in Autumn so bright, just before they lose it all”
Parent weekend at SDSU was so much fun! The game was fun. Dinner with my Mom was fun. Taking the trolley was fun.
So great to see Sam in her element. She has met so many people and all the names she’s mentioned – over 50 at least! Totally expanded her world.
What was so much fun was my huge work trip of the last 5 years, I finally got to go to Zurich!
I have also embracing my self-care game this year, so this selfie cracked me up. I must have gotten this mask around St Patrick’s day? I dunno but I took i with me and thought it was fun while I relaxed in the evening. The face and eye masks I’ve been doing this year have been very soothing.
But I met two of my team members for the first time! So amazing. It was great to be in person and it was GREAT to eat FONDUE in Switzerland!
I went on two fantastic hikes, did an hour long presentation in front of 20 people, had so many meetings, great dinners, a fantastic spa visit…
In February I mentioned having 3 bosses during the year. I had been having challenges with my second boss and he moved on from my company in November but seeing him in person during this trip was fascinating. It wasn’t the first time I met him but it solidified my issues with him. I’m will say that I was satisfied with how I negotiated the entire process this year. I stood up for myself. I gave feedback. A LOT of feedback. He acknowledged that I gave him feedback. And while I advocated for me and my team, I did so in a fair way and gave him quite a few chances.
I also almost forgot! I rocked my engagement scores this year. The first year of having 5+ people reporting to me and I got a 96 (out of 100) engagement score and 100 manager effectiveness score. I am so proud of that. The validation it gave me was lovely but more than that, all the open and honest feedback I get from my team when we have our 1:1s and group meetings is nicer. It’s so much fun and makes me happy.
As for my current boss, I hope to work with him longer but the end of the year was definitely looking up – even with interesting changes ahead.
Back to the trip… I loved this hike with Brian and Anisha. They are two kind and lovely souls and can both talk about so many topics that we never get bored.
I flew home and had the quickest turnaround for total work drama but the same week, we saw Imagine Dragons!! The lights on my face aren’t the best here for a good photo but I love the image of the Hollywood Bowl in the background. Going with Ang was so fun too. We had a 4th ticket but G’s girlfriend couldn’t come and he didn’t want to bring any friends so he got lots of girlie time with us!
G literally knew the words to EVERY single song and we had so much fun dancing the whole evening.
That entire week I was facilitating a Kaizen for work. I freaked out about it for a solid 24 hours and only found out about 2 weeks before. Someone told me that the universe picked me somehow and I believe that.
I’m sure I helped in a few small ways but it was very educational for me and I met so many people. I was very lucky to be involved in this and got access to different people across the company.
The next week, I had my first leadership conference with the company! That was exciting and even better to be “invited” to.
It was really fun, and again, I got to chat with people I don’t have a lot of opportunity to talk with on a day-to-day basis. I had two really good conversations that I still remember and learned quite a bit from it.
Selfie time… I need new work blouses for my blazers… note to self.
I was so tempted to add two photos of my children’s Halloween costumes here but it’s already so long. But I’m sad I didn’t get to hear “all the gossip” and see “all the cute costumes” of my kids and their friends. I did, however, go down to my sister’s house to see Danny, the cute Policeman! Her whole neighborhood was decked out and that was a really nice night. Good weather too and not too cold to walk around. I can just imagine what Christmas looks like there! We saw it during the day but not at night.
“I recall late November holding my breath… “
November 1st was so… interesting, I had the best event planned after asking G MULTIPLE times whether he was going to perform in his ComedySportz match and he assured he would not be because he was missing practice and it’s not allowed. And Sam was coming home Saturday so I was all set to attend this AMAZING singalong collective.
What happened? Sam was actually was so sneaky, she came home one day early and got someone to pick her up for the train station.
Dude. And then Griffin played the match! The director put him in – total penis privilege. And then all my people who went didn’t record anything for me and he said it was one of his funniest ones ever. Ahh well.
But I got HOURS with my bestie and we sang Sia and I can’t wait to sing again. There is one coming up in January that has our name on it. I have so many videos of this moment and will hold it in my heart. I might need to frame this picture or add it to my bestie collage.
And since Sam was home for the weekend, I went with her to vote! She was so proud and excited!
Let’s not talk about the outcome of the vote. I was depressed for weeks and insisted we decorate for Christmas early.
I did get in a sweet brunch with the gals though. It was Heather’s bday and there were supposed to be 8 of us but they all cancelled so we got a nice time with the three of us. I love the quieter moments where I can listen and connect more. I sometimes feel I talk to much with this group.
As I was going through all my photos this selfie made me laugh so it’s included.
This is summing up my year, I guess?
Because it went right into the hospital with Sam! Nothing like a few good hours spent in the ER section of the hospital playing Uno. And this was some ridiculous Uno game too.
At the same time, G was doing his two-weekend leadership event. Wow, was it drama but I was so proud of him for stepping up and helping others. Along with leading the Q-corp!
We had Sam back early for Thanksgiving so we decorated early!
As mentioned… I needed it!
Had an early Thanksgiving dinner…
And jumped on a plane to New York! It was so much fun. I loved walking the Brooklyn bridge, talking with the different family members we were with, and watching so many shows.
We got to meet sweet baby Navy James (not pictured!) but have some solid family time too.
The weather was great – if a bit cold – and I really love walking around Central Park.
“Looking at it now, last December…”
We got back home in December and hung on to Sam for a few more days to celebrate her 19th birthday! Sam was not feeling well at this point and went back on antibiotics. But she valiantly went back to school to kick the rest of her finals to the curb.
Selfie tangent!
Ahh, these AI memes are hysterical. I took a selfie and put it into this thing and… well. I think I’m vibing with 1910’s the most! Although 1930’s Kristi looks like she’s having a lot of fun. The last three decades are scary.
Then, we had the annual Williams Family gathering. It feels crazier these last few years. Lots of babies. Lots of older’ish kids. Lots of madness. Lots of tired mamas. Not as much connection. I think we need another girls trip which I promptly declared for Jerra’s 70th in 2026. We said Sedona (or rather I said that) because a few others were saying Majorca but I think we would have to consider everyone’s budget! But dang, that would also be fun.
Then three days later, Sam was back in the hospital having emergency surgery, 5 days in the hospital, no sleep, and an ileostomy.
Man, she embraced that surgery with a smile on her face. Brave, brave girl.
Watching her come out of the anesthesia was hard. She was so frail. And it was so silly that we had to get transfered to that building across the way in an ambulance (literally 20 feet away) but it was an adventure.
Sigh. Life is hard.
But yayyy, Sammie is walking! She had such a freaking good attitude about all of this. Stubborn resilience and determination. I think it was such a shock to her how weak she was after surgery. While we could SAY that it was because of the surgery, she was so weak, she had to wait to see because it was all new.
She wanted us to get her a walker at home but I put my foot down. It’s two weeks later now and she’s doing so great.
At the same time, G was going through tech for Christmas Carol. He was so great at it! I was able to see the 2pm Saturday show and it was so sweet and heart-warming.
Our family walks looked different for a few weeks though!
But when we got back home, the dinner table looked the same…
But it was nice to all read together.
Our two Christmas gatherings were lovely.
I brought my tripod, as I do.
The kids humored me with taking pictures with their Santa gifts. Sam really does adore being home for holidays. She has said multiple times that she could NEVER imagine being away and loves coming downstairs to see all her gifts. I told her never say never! She is attached to her traditions.
She was well enough to go out and start exploring so we hit shopping at the Spectrum. G came along and I made them play game with me! I WON in Mario Kart! And… shoot I forget what this game was named but they were impressed at my skills.
Have to end the year with a cotton candy sky.
Life is hard and beautiful.
What did I learn or take from all this…? Hmm… That’s for the next post!
