Honestly, just surviving until December of this year is enough of an accomplishment. So if that’s all you did this year, then you are awesome! 2020 has been an absolute beast where nothing has gone to plan. But sometimes you need to acknowledge lots of little wins, instead of a few big ones. I got this idea from Leonie Dawson and I think it’s a great way to celebrate the good things that happened in 2020, instead of focusing on the bad! In no order what-so-ever, here are 100 things I did and/or enjoyed in 2020.
- Blogged three times a week consistently for several months.
- Completed a series of Birthstone-based Horse drawings.
- Dyed my hair blue again. I love having blue hair!
- Helped animals in need in Australia during the bushfires (can you believe that was this year? It feels like an eternity ago!)
- Started learning more about SEO. I still suck at it, but I think I’m getting better.
- Bought an inflatable unicorn costume and wore it to the barn. The horses didn’t accept me into their herd. 🙁
- Finally had one of my art pieces displayed in the window at The Foundry!
- Though I only got to do one in-person market this year instead of the six I’d had as my goal, I felt like my table display was the best it has ever been. I’m really starting to learn how to make my products look good and catch the eyes of passers-by!
- Put together a free coloring and activity pages bundle for download during the quarantine.
- Created a few customizable items for my Etsy store, including a printable stall chart that is now being used at a horse rescue to ensure their horses are being fed and cared for properly.
- Supported a friend’s Kickstarter for some super-awesome plushies. I love seeing all the amazing things she makes and to support other small businesses!
- Went on a trail ride (Well, a road ride) on Easter morning. The ponies were amazing and no one died!
- Cantered my horse through the snow, something I have never done before!
- Watched The Boys on Amazon Prime Video. One of the best (and craziest) series I’ve seen in a long, long time!
- Updated my logo and tagline to something more fitting for my business and that is also catchy and easy to remember.
- Did NOT go out and panic-buy toilet paper and cleaning supplies. Partly because we didn’t have the money to at the time, but mostly because we only need as much as we can use and hoarding resources takes away from our neighbors who also need supplies.
- Became a professional blogger! Not with this blog, though – I blog for Graphixly.com and get paid for it!
- We trained our horses a few simple tricks, including “Touch” and how to give kisses. It’s the best thing we’ve ever taught them to do!
- Designed a custom Daily Task Manager notepad that I’ve used to keep many of my days working as an artist and writer in order.
- Helped bring Scrunchies back in style by making ones with my horse art on them!
- Painted canvases to hang around our apartment during quarantine and beautify our walls. And also to dampen some of the echoes in our apartment because my husband set up his office in our dining area and his voice can be heard in our bedroom when I go to bed before he does, but the paintings help!
- Created a drawing using only free art supplies from Wish. Filmed it and put the video on YouTube.
- Dealt with a mystery ailment with my best friend’s horse in July. Despite the frustration at not knowing what was wrong, and that it happened on the hottest days of the year, we managed to pull through it and got Raven feeling better!
- Added dinosaurs to my map drawing repertoire. So far I have three dino species available – Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stegosaurus, and Triceratops.
- Started pinning on Pinterest!
- Spent a beautiful weekend in June up at a mountain cabin with my parents. We had a blast and the scenery was amazing!
- Bought my very first corset. It’s beautiful and is the BEST back brace I have ever owned. When I have bad back pain, I lace up the corset and I can function. It’s like magic!
- Pretty much got over my fear of getting in the saddle. Though I love riding, getting from the mounting block into the saddle has always been a struggle for me. Most of my falls have happened when a horse decides to walk away from me as I’m getting on, so it’s caused a lot of anxiety. But this year I’ve been really working at it and now 99% of the time I can get on the mounting block and just get on without any problems.
- Began offering Print At Home versions of my map drawings through Etsy so customers can print them at sizes I don’t offer normally.
- Got my Birthstone Horses printed as a set of notecards
- Spent all of June blogging every day about a horse breed in my Horses of the World series.
- Started selling my art at another local store.
- Made timelapse videos of several drawings and put them on YouTube.
- Went for another road ride on Thanksgiving morning. It was so much fun and the ponies were great, despite that there was shooting going on in the distance!
- Created some art cards! I love making art cards but I never manage to sell any. At least I like making them though!
- Have you seen “I Am Not Okay With This” on Netflix? It’s so good! I hate that it’s not getting a second season, because it really deserves one.
- Blogged about 16 of my favorite barn hacks.
- Drew a “Please Clean Your Hooves” sticker that I think is hilarious!
- Discovered a ton of new YouTubers who I love to watch and I wish the absolute best for.
- Made a series of horse designs based on poisonous plants.
- Made a series of horse designs based on medicinal plants.
- Began learning Japanese through Duolingo. I’m having so much fun learning a new language!
- Started offering lanyards in addition to my handmade key fobs.
- Went to the Horse World Expo (before Quarantine started!) and had a great day with my best friend. Blogged about it later!
- Figured out how to make fizzy tablets to clean our grooming brushes, thanks to science!
- Started watching Umbrella Academy on Netflix. I haven’t finished season 2 yet but I LOVE IT!
- Reorganized my colored pencils into beautiful rainbow order in a nice case. It makes me happy every time I use them to see them nicely organized!
- Played with watercolors for a few fun pieces.
- Wrote a fun blog about the time I got poison ivy in my ear and on my eyelid.
- Had my December Birthstone Horse featured in the “Everything Equine” group on RedBubble.
- Spent my birthday selling art at The Foundry Art Market in Chambersburg, PA.
- Taught myself basic bookbinding techniques and made a few custom notebooks and sketchbooks!
- Learned how to give my horse a body clip and hopefully make it NOT look terrible. I’m getting better at it!
- Started selling t-shirts on Amazon.
- Added cats to my map drawing series! Two domestic breeds and two wild breeds (Tigers) so far!
- Made a beautiful memorial keychain and pendant for a friend who lost a beloved pet.
- Bought unicorn slippers and a unicorn hoodie, because life is too short to not have things you love in it!
- Got out and decorated our Christmas tree for the first time in years. I’ve really enjoyed having it up. It makes me happy because this is the first year in a long time that I’ve been in the holiday spirit.
- Redecorated my computer desk with an awesome backlit rainbow LED keyboard and mouse and a new mousepad and wrist rest that have a galaxy pattern on them. It’s much easier to sit down and work if my desk makes me happy!
- As a joke, decorated the barn for Halloween. Now I think we’re going to decorate for every major holiday because we love it so much.
- Supported my favorite band, Icon For Hire, through their Kickstarter. Can’t wait to hear the new album!
- Had a photoshoot with a professional photographer, my best friend, and our horses.
- Taught myself how to work with resin. Some of my projects have even turned out decently! The learning curve is insane though!
- Finally got Glory a grazing muzzle so she can go enjoy grass without getting sick. She and Raven have both been a lot happier with access to the fields!
- Played Spyro Reignited Trilogy on the Nintendo Switch. I loved Spyro as a kid but never got very far in the first game. Playing Reignited has gotten me interested in video games again!
- Got to see (and help with) my husband opening his own small business that is starting to thrive!
- Had several summer nights where we set up a projector in my best friend’s back yard and watched movies outside.
- Rode the horses bitless! They did great with it!
- Added 5 horse breeds to the Horses of the World series.
- Made face masks for myself and my friends when the pandemic started and we couldn’t find masks anywhere.
- Did an inventory of every print and other piece of stock that I have for my art business.
- Ran a successful webinar for Graphixly with my favorite time-saving tips for working in Clip Studio Paint.
- Spent several days helping my best friend completely repaint her kitchen. It was a lot of work but we put on true crime podcasts and had a ton of fun with it!
- Bought my first pair of custom half chaps from Millbrook Leathers. I love them, though I think I may have lost some weight in the time it took me to get them, or they’re just shaped in a way that my calves aren’t shaped because they’re a bit big in the back. I plan to take them to a cobbler once the weather warms up and see if they can take them in a bit.
- Started doing my business accounting monthly so that it’s manageable.
- Upgraded my handmade Christmas ornaments so that they’re coated with resin, making them more durable and a lot nicer looking!
- Hosted a small and safe Thanksgiving. Our first time hosting the holiday and it was great!
- Provided amazing customer service to my customers when there were issues with orders.
- Started caring more about my health and trying to get regular activity while also cutting back on sugar and junk food.
- Closed down my shop for a vacation at Christmas. Spent the time cleaning, and setting goals for the new year.
- Made my own dressage cones for out in the riding arena. Because buying them is EXPENSIVE.
- Developed an appreciation for groundwork with my horse! We’ve been lunging before most rides and though it’s an activity I used to hate doing, now I have a better understanding of the benefits of lunging and groundwork before riding.
- Doubled the traffic on my Etsy from what it was last year.
- Got a new bed frame. It was in good shape, but I didn’t like how dark the wood was. So we repainted it and now it is absolutely gorgeous.
- Closed down my Patreon account. Though I love the idea of Patreon, I wasn’t making enough to keep up with continuing to do work for it. Though I miss it at times, it is nice to not have to worry about missing sending out rewards and content!
- Went for a road ride on Christmas morning. We only rode for 30 minutes because the road was washed out down at the bridge, but it was still a great time. Very cold though!
- Gave my husband a Christmas gift that he didn’t guess before he got it! He is really good at guessing what his gifts are, so this is always an accomplishment.
- Began working on a book that will teach artists how to make multiple streams of income with their work. The book is still in draft format but I’m excited to get it finished!
- Watched “The Old Guard” on Netflix. That is an amazing movie and I love it! If you like immortal badasses, give it a watch!
- Blogged about Equestrian Small Businesses that I think are amazing and deserving of support.
- Learned how to watch movies in a group through Movies Anywhere so I can still have movie nights with friends even if we can’t be in the same room together.
- Got a YouTube Premium account. I can watch videos with no ads, have videos keep playing even if I navigate away from the app or lock my phone screen, download videos for offline viewing, and use YouTube music. I get a LOT of use out of my subscription!
- While walking a dog, saw someone had mushrooms growing in their front yard. They put a cut-out of Mario on the mushrooms and it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen!
- Had a picnic lunch with the horses on a warm, sunny summer day.
- Had snow showers on Christmas Day! The snow didn’t stick, but that’s okay. It snowed a little bit at least.
- Had some absolutely amazing rides on my horse. We have grown so much together as a team and learned how to communicate with each other so much better. It’s wonderful to see how far we’ve come!
- Filmed a tutorial of how to make a custom notepad using any paper you want and regular glue. You can watch the video here if you’re curious!
- Bought new paddock boots, because my old Ariat’s finally gave up the ghost after hundreds of hours in the saddle.
- Cleaned and reorganized my entire studio/office in preparation for the new year.
- Survived the first nine months of a pandemic, and so far I have not lost anyone to the illness that is affecting so many lives right now.
What is one thing that you accomplished or just really enjoyed about this year, no matter how small? Please let me know in the comments! This year has been horrible, but we can celebrate any tiny wins we’ve had anyway. I’m looking forward to next year!
