21 of My Favorite Experiences of 2021 - The Greenes Photo + Film

Last year I was inspired to take a walk down memory lane and put together a post of my 20 favorite experiences in 2020. You can see that post here. Well last year I honestly had so much fun going through photos and putting together my list that I’ve known for the last several months that I wanted to do another recap. Once again, so many of the moments that make up this list didn’t even register at the time that they were beautiful memories in the making. At times I feel so down that Will and I aren’t taking epic trips or going out as often as we did pre-pandemic, but ya’ll, I know I’ll one day look back at 2021 and know they were the “good ole days.”

1. Adopting Stevie. Hands down, the best part of 2021. Will and I are cat people. We don’t have kids (and don’t intend to), so we have become those people that eat, breathe, and live our fur-babies. In September 2020, we unexpectedly lost our sweet girl, Rory. Two days later we brought home our rambunctious, sweet, loving Gypsy. But our old gal, Mittens, just wasn’t a match for all of the energy. Several months passed by and we just knew we needed to give her a younger, playful friend. Enter Stevie. She filled a space in our home that we didn’t know was there. She has fit in perfectly with our family (if you ask anyone but Mittens). She’s playful, yet cuddly. She keeps us entertained and has been the perfect playmate for her best friend Gypsy!

Stevie taught me quite the lesson when we got her. We actually adopted her from Colonial Capital in New Bern. We drove that far because I found a pretty calico cat online that we wanted to meet. When we were at the shelter, Stevie was actually one of the last cats we met. I had my heart set on a “pretty” cat, looking past all of the ones that felt “plain.” Well, lo and behold, all of the “pretty” cats didn’t feel right. We just didn’t bond. But the head of the shelter (probably desperate to get us out of her hair), introduced us to Stevie, who had been asleep in a volunteer’s arms. I was instantly smitten and knew she had to be ours. I feel awful in hindsight that I would have overlooked her if I had just paid attention to the “pretty” cats.

We had a hard time deciding, but finally named her Stevie Nicks. Hopefully you know who Stevie Nicks is… If not, think Fleetwood Mac.

In the nature of full honesty, it hasn’t been smooth sailing since we got Stevie. We all got ringworm soon after we adopted our sweet girl. She also came with a side of feline herpes (basically just a cold). But I would have taken her home with me even if I had known she was going to make me an expert on ringworm :)

2. Getting Fully Vaccinated. I know it’s a little taboo for business owners to touch on the subject of covid, but most of ya’ll have seen us masked up at a wedding, so you can probably guess we took our vaccinations seriously. I cried pure tears of joy the day that Will got his second vaccine. I was about a month ahead of him since I’m a nurse, but he volunteered at our local vaccine clinic which meant he was vaccinated before most of his age group. And it gave me a few months of hope that we were protected. Hopefully, this time next year I’ll be writing about the joy of covid being eradicated. A girl can dream, right?!?!

3. Quick Camping Trip to Wilmington. Last February we took advantage of some mild weather and took a quick tent camping trip to Carolina Beach State Park. We hiked, visited a local brewery, and got some delicious take-out.

4. Date Night at Nino’s. I don’t really care for fancy restaurants. And I’m not sure you’d call Nino’s fancy, but the food definitely made us feel fancy. It was so good we decided to go about a month later for our anniversary!

5. Georgetown, SC. Oh my gosh, have you guys been to Georgetown? It’s close to Pawley’s Island, so I’m sure a lot of visitors go for the beach. But Georgetown is so quaint and full of charm. It reminds me of a scaled down Charleston. It was the perfect 2 night get-away.

6. Greenville, SC. Will and I have only visited Greenville, SC twice, but we absolutely love the area. It’s so close to the mountains, but also has the perfect bustling downtown area. I’m pretty sure we’ll make back to the area this year!

7. Summer Vacation - Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts + New York. If I had known when we were first planning our summer vacation that June and July would have seen such low covid numbers, we probably would have planned a more epic summer trip, but at the time we needed to make a decision, a road trip seemed like the wisest choice. And ya’ll, it was an amazing choice. We decided on the northeast area to give us a respite from those hot summer temperatures. We hired a pet sitter to check in on our girls and we set off for eight nights of tent camping. We learned that the northeast has really cool camping shelters. And while we were still just roughing it in a tent, it felt extra special and kept us from getting rained on a night or two. Win, win. There was nothing super notable about our trip, but we got to see lots of beautiful countryside, eat lots of delicious take-out (soooo many hot dog/hamburger stands!!!), and went on some pretty fun hikes.

8. Summer Vacation Cont. - Ausable Chasm. For me, the highlight of our summer trip was our time in the Adirondacks. We had a pretty epic adventure that feels random in hindsight. As we were headed down the highway towards the Adirondacks, I saw a sign on the highway for “Ausable Chasm.” Next thing I knew, we had taken the exit and were paying the nice teenage employee for the all-inclusive package. I never even looked up what that entailed, but next thing I knew I was fitted for a cheap helmet and put into the most basic climbing gear and next thing I knew, I was on quite the adventure. Can ya’ll believe Will wouldn’t do it with me? Just kidding! There are no photos of him because I was holding on for dear life and refused to pull out my phone. Literally the only reason I moved forward with this adventure was because I am super-cheap and we paid for everything up front. Luckily, the last two portions of this adventure was a raft ride down the river and a hike. Easy peasy.

9. Charcuterie Date Nights. We started off our 2021 wedding season by having charcuterie date nights every Friday night. It was our way of relaxing before wedding days. Well, we don’t do that anymore. Not to call anyone out here….. But, Will was diagnosed with high cholesterol this summer. So, yeah. No more gorging on meat and cheese.

10. Patio Furniture + Backyard Projector. This spring we sprung for a nice set of patio furniture and continued the trend we started last year of having regular TV and movie nights under the stars while watching some of our favorites on the projector. Our neighbors may find it weird, but it’s oaky…

11. Charolottesville + Surviving the Gas Shortage. Before a particularly busy weekend in May, we decided to get away for a few nights in Charlottesville. Well, little did we know, the day we left home, the south was going to turn to chaos over a gas “shortage”. We ended up cutting our trip a day short to make sure we could comfortably get home before things got too chaotic. But we sure fit in some fun adventures before cutting the trip short. Lots of good food, a few hikes, and visiting Monticello. It was also our first time staying in a cabin at a KOA.

12. Baseball. I have nothing notable to talk about in terms of the baseball games we went to this year. But we do love baseball! It’s a great way to enjoy the weather and each other! We made it back to a Durham Bulls game this summer and are kicking ourselves for not having made a better effort to see more Bulls games over the years. It’s such a fun stadium!

13. Camping on the Beach. I must be honest. This was an adventure that I’m not sure will be repeated. We had an absolute blast on this trip, but ya’ll, I went through sooooo much sunscreen. The bugs were horrific, and it was blazing hot. Like I woke up around 0630 both mornings wondering if my skin was frying from the sun coming in our tent. But it was such a fun trip. This little slice of heaven is on Cedar Island. We watched the ferries take off and return from Ocracoke. The wild horses graced us with their presence for a few minutes. And we saw the most beautiful sunset. But again, mosquitoes, UV damage, and sweating for 48 hours may not make my list again.

14. Getting a New (To Us) Car. Will drove a beat up little Corolla for over 10 years, which was definitely a record for him. By a long shot. And old “Carl” was ready to give up any day, so we finally bit the bullet and got a new one. This is Priscilla the Outback. You can ask our neighbor just how many times she’s been washed, but Will sure loves to make her shine!

15. Camping in the Smokies. ALWAYS a favorite of ours. Even though our trips to the Smokies have looked a bit different over the past two years, it is one of our absolute favorite places to be. We love the trails, the camping, and the good food!

16. Asheville in the Fall. One of our favorites. A highlight of this trip was finding this mama bear and her 3 cubs in a tree in a neighborhood. The trip was overall pretty rainy and we were there for a wedding, which meant a fair amount of work, but it was perfect!

17. Wilmington in December. This was our last getaway of the year and was a perfect little break from the hustle and bustle of Christmastime.

18. Boone. Boone will forever be one of our favorite short trips. We went twice this year (maybe 3 times… it all runs together??). We love how familiar we have gotten with the area. We’ve got our favorite restaurants, breweries, and hikes. It’s always so nice not to have to plan much. We just go!

19. Game Nights. We’ve always loved board games, but the pandemic has increased our collection. Our sweet girls like to join in as well!

20. Another New Restaurant - Coffee + Spice. If you haven’t been, goooooo!

21. Christmas at Home. This year we chose to visit with our parents on Christmas Eve so we could spend Christmas Day at home without the hustle and bustle of running here there and everywhere. And it was perfect spending the day slowly taking in the magic of Christmas. Our sweet girls sure made this Christmas one to remember!

A few honorable mentions:

• We still loved walking down to the local golf course and seeing the wildlife that calls the area home.

• Also was the night before my birthday when we splurged on crab legs. Gypsy went CRAZY. She never begs for human food, but something about the smell of those crab legs meant we had a dinner guest!