December Recap | Winter 2023

Today is a truly special day. Not only am I uploading this blog post on time for once, but it also happens to be a noteworthy date: 123123. The next time you will see a date with a repeating pattern like this will be 78 years from now. It’s amazing that my husband was able to do that math calculation in his head in less than a minute. He’s incredibly smart and knowledgeable about various facts.

I suppose I should write a blog post about setting New Year’s Resolutions. Last year, I wrote a blog post last year sharing my thoughts on this topic, which I will include here. Reflecting on it, my overall perspective remains unchanged. However, I plan to step up my game even further for 2024 by focusing on actionable, daily tasks.

Related Blog Post: What Do You Hope to Accomplish in 2023?

Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/

Lost and Found

I didn’t end up writing a blog post about this, but it was a significantly stressful thing that happened this month. I lost my Apple Watch as soon as the Christmas holidays started. I searched everywhere and tore apart the house, but couldn’t find my watch anywhere. I ended up buying a new watch, only to discover that they had introduced a new, beautiful Starlight colored aluminum that didn’t match the wristbands very well. As a result, I ended up purchasing both the Starlight and Silver SE to replace my lost Silver Apple Watch SE. The coolest wristband I was able to find is the one below ↓ as Apple has discontinued my old wristband.

Let me tell you, the “Find My” app is useless when your Apple Watch is dead. That’s why I couldn’t use the tracker. I suppose the app wasn’t lying when it suggested that it last synced somewhere in my house.

It was truly a Christmas miracle when my family found my lost Apple Watch on Christmas Day. To my surprise, it was buried in a drawer, even though I swear it wasn’t in there when I searched through it. I returned both of the watches I purchased and will be using my old Apple Watch instead. As an individual with undiagnosed ADD, I often struggle with misplacing items. However, I am working on creating systems to stay more organized and improve my ability to remember where I have placed things. Here’s a recap of how the rest of the month unfolded:

DECEMBER RECAP 2023

Career Goals:

  • Plot availability for January 2024 I plotted my availability super late, so I don’t have any shifts yet for the month of January.
  • Catch up on work emails I am mostly caught up. I have yet to read the remaining emails.
  • Complete BLS renewal I emailed a copy last night (again, super late getting around to things).
  • Complete 100 total designs for #Redbubble I currently have 91 designs in my shop which is better than I thought I would do. You can check out my #Redbubble designs here.

👉 Follow me on Redbubble: @sereneluna

☆ Prices are still $1.57 CAD if you buy any 10 from my shop! ☆

Personal Goals:

  • Publish 1-2 blog posts + monthly recap I did the minimum this month but didn’t write additional content. 
  • Frame seminar completion certificates (bonus) Since my husband doesn’t want to frame them, I will be adding them to a binder instead. However, I need more paper protector sheets.
  • Complete Application B Questions Again, it didn’t happen. We now have everything we need to complete Part B, except for answering the questions that we have been neglecting.
  • Get an eye exam I just did that yesterday!
  • Get a massage Nope, it didn’t happen this month.
  • Daily Duolingo practice 🇩🇪 I have managed to maintain my streak, but that’s pretty much the only thing I’m doing with it right now. I have dropped down in the ranks and stopped caring. However, I hope to get back into learning German in 2024.
I’m bombing the leagues right now. Epic fail.

Health Goals:

  • YMCA 2x per week minimum For the most part, I have been going to the YMCA twice a week on weekdays. However, it has become harder now that the children are not in school or daycare. I might get my 7-year old daughter a YMCA membership too.
  • Buy a new bathing suit for the pool My bathing suit is falling apart and I need a new one badly. I haven’t been to the store yet.
  • Clear out the cupboards → Finish 3+ food items I forgot that this goal was on my list this month. I think I finished some food items but we also bought a lot of new ones.
  • Make honey lemon lozenges I made them once while I had COVID and my family was sick, but I didn’t make them again after we recovered. Instead, I bought bags of Halls Vitamin C lozenges which don’t taste terrible because there’s no eucalyptus in the Vitamin C lozenges.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS ♥

December isn’t complete without holiday celebrations. In my family, we celebrate Christmas, and my husband is Catholic. This year, we attended a daytime mass on Christmas Day and had a small, quaint celebration at our house. I always strive to make Christmas magical for my daughter and baby boy. I had hoped to see the Christmas lights this year, but unfortunately, we didn’t get the chance. Additionally, I had wished that we could have done studio photos, but we decided to opt for cell phone pics instead.

Have something to share with me? Don’t hesitate to leave a comment down below ↓ At this time, I am not replying to emails because I don’t have time. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish all of my readers a blessed holiday season and a Happy New Year! May it be filled with joy, love, and success. ✨🫶

(っ◔◡◔)っ FYI: If you’re not already following me on Twitter (@serene_hilz), you can get real-time updates about my day-to-day life there. I recently made the decision to join X/Twitter and I’m excited to see what it has in store for me.

Thanks for stopping by! ♥

December Recap | Winter 2022

I know I said that I wasn’t going to make these diary-style blog posts but I am even less inclined to write anything if I am going to stick with the original plan. So out with the old plan and in with the new plan! And right on time for the New Year.

You can read my blog post about the 6 Most Annoying Types of Blogs, right here.

♡ Related Blog Post: The 6 Most Annoying Types of Blogs

Do I care if this makes me a hypocrite? Maybe. But honestly, who is keeping tabs on me and who cares?! 🤷‍♀️

░J░u░d░g░e░ ░m░e░ ░w░h░e░n░ ░y░o░u░ ░a░r░e░ ░p░e░r░f░e░c░t░.░


(っ◔◡◔)っ Serious Question: Are you familiar with the game, Never Have I ever?

1. Never have I ever written a monthly recap blog post.

I’ve never written a monthly recap before but I think now’s a good time to start. I want to write this post in order to encourage myself and hold myself accountable, but also so others can take something away from what I’m writing.

I am still a little confused about what I am doing with my Medium profile. Traffic has declined a lot but I am still gaining followers. I have currently reached 1,100 followers and it is crazy to me. Whoever is reading my articles, thank you for your support!

In case you haven’t been following me on #Twitter or #Medium, I forgive you. Seriously though, you haven’t been getting updates from me if that’s been the case.

2. Never have I ever had COVID-19 😷

December sure didn’t start out that well for me. I got sick the first week of the month and had to call in for 5 shifts. That’s a lot of work! I ended up getting laryngitis and bronchitis, which resulted in this awful cough that wouldn’t go away. I’m glad I’m finally feeling better, though, and haven’t had a coughing fit in three days now.

One would think that I had been diagnosed with the COVID-19 plague, but I still haven’t been diagnosed with COVUD-19! It annoys me when people incorrectly claim to have had COVID-19 and refuse to get tested by a medical professional. You don’t actually know IF you have it unless you take the test. Honestly, I don’t know how I haven’t gotten it yet but I have a theory that I may have caught it in the earlier days before we had to get tested. Who knows!

Now that I feel better, I will be returning to work this weekend and need to make some money to cover the expenses this month. It’s a relief that I live debt-free and don’t have to live paycheck-to-paycheck, but now I’m trying not to feel overwhelmed by the bills this month.

Other Life Updates

My daughter got her ears pierced. My husband was hesitant about it, but he quickly got over it. I took my six-year old to get her ears pierced on December 26, 2022, which is what we call Boxing Day here in Canada. My daughter’s earrings are the color of her birthstone which happens to be October.

My kids had a lot of appointments this month. With so much to do on a day-to-day basis it can be a struggle to keep track of it all. My calendar is pretty crappy and I am ready for a new one! Looking forward to some new stationary in January 2023.

I had a massage last week, for the first time in years. The last time I had a massage was 2019 before the pandemic happened. Although the massage was quite painful, I felt so much better afterwards. This weekend, I am less achy than usual. I plan on going back for another massage in the new year.

I started using the treadmill again. I was using it religiously during the summer, but then I stopped for some reason, and noticed that I have been maintaining my weight. This does not make me happy because I have 20 pounds to lose and most of it is belly fat. All I want to do is wear cute clothes and feel good about myself. And being skinny fat does not feel good. There is no denying that, and I do want to mention that “every size is beautiful” is an empty statement which does not change my reality. It’s not enough for me to tell myself that I look great when I don’t feel the same way about myself. The most important thing for me right now is getting in shape.

We did not see family this Christmas, and nobody visited us either. My mom is afraid of flying in an airplane, my dad doesn’t like to fly by himself, and my parents fear COVID-19. There is no convincing them to visit us this year as they are worried about their safety. My husband didn’t want to use his vacation days to visit family in Ontario this year because they would all be gone anyways since most of his extended family weren’t going to be there. Our Christmas was very scattered and uncoordinated. We didn’t do much at all.

My ASUS laptop is dying a slow, painful death. I need a new laptop and am at the point where I won’t even turn my laptop on. I have been having issues with my laptop for a while and know that I need a new one but am having a hard time choosing which brand. I currently have an ASUS and I am not interested in getting a MacBook. In case you missed my blog post about my experience with owning a MacBook, you can read about it here:

♡ Related Blog Post: RIP Old Friend 💀❌

My ASUS laptop got me through nursing school.

(っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ FINAL THOUGHTS ♥

I have a feeling that this will probably be the last blog post for December. I don’t typically reply to blog posts on days that I am working, and I happen to be working this weekend.

I really appreciate it when readers take the time to read my posts, and I hope that you found them interesting. I know they were pretty straightforward and uneventful, which is why I want to hear from you. What was your December like? Are you enjoying the holidays so far? Feel free to join the conversation below ↓ And if you don’t hear from me, I wish you a happy and prosperous New Year! 🎉🥂

Thanks for stopping by! ❤️