Year in Review: 2020......The year no one expected.

2020.

What can I say about this year? I think that we can all agree that this year was NOT what we thought it was going to be. I didn't think I would be so happy to get to the end of a year more than I have this year.  As I'm writing this, that one part of the Friends theme song is playing in my head  where it goes, " So no one told you life was gonna be this way........ When it hasn't been your day, your week, your month or even your year". I never realised how much I would relate to this song until this year. 

 

At the end of 2019, everyone was so excited for the New Year. We were all looking forward to a new decade, a fresh start. As we said Goodbye to 2019 and said Hello to 2020, little did we know what was down the line. Looking back I NEVER would have thought anything like this would happen. Let's take at look at what happened in 2020. (Btw, this ALL happened in ONE YEAR)

JANUARY/FEBRUARY

When this year started I was very hopeful because 2019 wasn't my favourite year. I lost my job that summer, I had to deal with really bad roommates and my anxiety was really bad. Now looking back, I realise that 2019 wasn't so bad after all haha. I was thinking that 2020 would be a great year considering it was a new decade. Little did I know what this year had in store.

As many of you know , I lost my friend  Justin nearly 4 years ago and sometimes it feels like it just happened. As I think about the last 4 years, I feel like I have gotten to a place of real acceptance. He 's still  the first thing I think about when I wake up, and one of the last things I think about before I go to sleep at night. We are also coming up on the 3rd anniversary of my dear friend Heather P's death. That girl was literally the light of God and I thank my lucky stars everyday that I had the honour of being her friend. Heather was a great example of what it is to be Christ-like. She was all about service. She wanted to help anyone she could, in any way she could. I miss her everyday, but I know that she is with Heavenly Father doing even more service. 

Believe it or not I actually had some fun this year! I know crazy right!? I never thought I would say that January and February were the best months of the year but weirdly they were. I went to a few parties. I even took a trip up to Sundance to celebrate a friend's Birthday. Take a look!

Zoe's Birthday in Sundance

The girls and I @ Wingers for Sharon's Birthday!!

Marcus, Nikki, Stephen, me and  Mikayla 

Sundance 2020

Nikki's 60's Birthday Party

Nikki's 60's Birthday Party

On January 26th, the world lost an amazing icon. Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gigi along with 7 other people died in a horrible helicopter crash. Now Bryant was an amazing Basketball star who had an amazing shooting career. He played for the LA Lakers for 20 years as their shooting guard. He was a friend, amazing father and an excellent mentor and role model to everyone around. Personally I was never that big of a Basketball fan but I was gutted when I found out that he had passed away. Even more so that his daughter Gigi had died as well . I honestly feel like the world stopped for a moment when everyone found out. My friend Jillie has a brother who was named after him and she told me when he found out, that he was devastated. Her whole family was shocked. Two weeks before he passed, he was going to leave Nike and start his own shoe company,  Mamba. When he passed away I thought to myself, " this is the worst thing to happen this year." BOY was I wrong because little did I know that was just the beginning of what was to come. 

As if that wasn't heart-wrenching , Australia basically burst into flames. The fires started in late September 2019 and lasted through mid January. It ravaged more than 46 million acres as of March 2020, killed 34 people, burnt 3,500 homes and 3 Billion animals were either killed or missing. It made sad to hear about the animals because now Koalas are now on the endangered species list. 

MARCH

You know usually March is my favourite month out of the whole year. But this year it was a little different. Actually it was WAY different. Back in I think late February, We got word of a new virus called Corona Virus or COVID-19. I didnt really think it was anything to really worry about because viruses happen all the time. When I was in high school, H1N1 was around and it wasn't really that bad because life still went on as normal. However, in early March, COVID hit the US bad and on the 13th the whole country went into lock-down. In my 27 years on this planet I have never had to go into lock-down. I never thought that I would have to work from home and let me tell you, it was weird. Working and not seeing my co-workers every day and having to talk with them over Teams on Microsoft. I guess March wasn't ALL bad, I did have a little party to celebrate my 27th Birthday. It was most definitely different than last year's party, but it was still fun with the small group of friends I had.On my actual Birthday 4 days later, I spent it on my own watching a movie. It was fun though. I even made a cake for myself!! I'm glad I had it then because as I said after that, we went into lock down. By the end of March COVID cases were 89 and it only got worse from there. Here's a couple pictures from my Birthday Party. 

Late Spring/Early Summer

By the end of April , cases had already gotten to 3 million worldwide and almost a 100,000  had died. Usually I would go to concert, movies or friends would have parties but with lock down and the world basically shut down, not much really happened. I know. Not really what we were thinking was going to happen. I had one concert that I was wanting to go to which was the Palaye Royale up in Salt Lake City. But like with everything this year it was cancelled. 

However, it's not like it was quiet around the world, with the death of George Floyd which happened May 25th, it led to the BLM protests which started in early June . People were protesting because of the way that George Floyd was killed. The cops who killed him, forcefully pressed their knee on his neck, blocking off his airway. Most of the protests were peaceful, but there were some that intensified and became violent. My sister's friend lives in Brooklyn, NY and she told me that they were down in Manhattan where the bulk of the NY protests were. I wished that I had been in NY during this time because I would have liked to have been a part of the protests.  

Black Lives Matter Protests NYC

NYC

May

In late May, I did my first photo shoot since we went into lock down. As always I shot with my good friend Jillie and we had a lot of fun. This was also the first shoot where I did a few outfit changes. We went up to Salt Lake City to the Greenhouse which was surrounded by a beautiful park and got some good shots. One of my favourite shots is when I wore my floral dress and was amongst the flowers. It felt like I was in a dream. Another one of my favourite shots was when we shot next to this Ferris Wheel they had there. It gave a very vintage look to it. Then there was when I wore my Harry Styles Covid T-shirt and a mask which I thought was highly appropriate considering we are in a Pandemic. Unfortunately, that was my only shoot this year. I was supposed to do one this past Fall but I went into quarantine right before I was meant to have one. Hopefully in 2021, I will be able to do some more shoots. Which I will OBVIOUSLY be showing you.

Late Summer/Early Fall

Everyone thought that COVID-19 would've been over by the summer but that obviously wasn't the case. As many of you know, COVID cases were almost at 3.9 million and 142,000  deaths. With the rise in COVID cases around the world, the debate between people who wear masks and anti-maskers was at an all-time high. I don't believe that there's  people in this country who don't think its important to wear a mask during a GLOBAL PANDEMIC! It saddens me that people are so selfish and all they care about is themselves that they choose NOT to wear a mask. But that's there problem not mine. In late July (23rd), One Direction turned 10 YEARS OLD!!! It's crazy that they were formed in 2010. I am so proud! I'm also proud of all of them on the solo albums. Yes, it majorly bums me out that they have been solo longer than they were performing together , but I STILL have hope that they will reunite!! When they do, you can bet that I will be front row. I don't care where I have to travel to or how much I have to spend! 

One Direction 2010( X-Factor)

         One Direction 2015 ( AMA'S)

In August,  I did something I never thought I would do again for a very long time. I moved. Yes I know I said that I wouldn't until I got married but I got a feeling that should so I did. I mean that's part of it. The other part is that I wanted to be on my own again and more adult. Don't get me wrong I LOVED living at my old house I did, I just felt I was really ready to be on my own again and not have to rely on someone else. When I told April(old landlord) that I wanted to move again, she was shocked and so was I tbh. But when I explained why , she understood and then a week later ( I think), she told me that they were going to sell their house. That shocked me because I never thought that they would sell the house. As the weeks went by and I got closer to being done packing , it hit me that I was no longer going to be able to come back to visit the house. When I finally moved in to my new apartment, I was so excited because after many years of living in apartments, I FINALLY got the Master Bedroom!! I even have my own bathroom!! Let me tell you, having my own bathroom is one of the best things because I no longer need to wait take a shower or anything. I went back to the old house one last time to pick up a package that got sent there. I tool one final walk through of the downstairs which was mine. I played the song " Farewell to the Old me" by: Dar Williams because that song talks about saying goodbye the old you and that's what I was doing. I was saying goodbye to the person I was whilst I was living there. I lived in that house on/off for 4 years from 2016-2020 and I really grew up there. A lot of memories were made in that house. While I was living there I lost both Justin and Heather P. , I I had 3 jobs and so much more. When I was in my old room, I kind of broke down which I never thought would happen. The reason I cried was because that house meant so much to me. I really grew up there. I went from 23-27 which is a lot of growing up. I hope the people that live there now really appreciate that house because I loved that house so much. 

In early September, I hit my 1st year at Vivint!! I know I'm so proud of myself. I was really nervous in the weeks leading up to it because I have an irrational fear of something going wrong. But I feel like now i've kind of broken that and I can now relax a little. Not too much cause I don't want to get complacent. I went from one department to my current one and I have to say that my anxiety has gone down significantly which is soo amazing. I feel like I've finally gotten to a good place with my job so I just work on  bettering myself. My friend Neesha's Bridal Shower was also during this month and it was amazing and I'm so happy that she has found her person. 

October was a VERY interesting month to say the least haha. I was working in office  again after going back in June when things changed in the middle in the month.  I had spent time with a friends of mine and then she got word that her mom had tested positive for COVID and that after getting tested she was positive. To put it lightly, I wasn't very happy. I might have said a few choice words when I found out because with her testing positive, that meant that I had to quarantine. I was not happy to quarantine and work from home. Especially after I said that I never wanted to work from home again. I was very nervous to tell my roommates but they were actually pretty chill about it. So I cried for nothing. The first 2 days of quarantine was fine and then after the 5th day, I started going a little cuckoo bananas. I was very lonely cause I couldn't go and see anyone and even more so I couldn't even leave the house. Which was very different form the last time I worked from home because back in April, I could still leave the house and go for a walk. Which leads me to my next point.

In the last 9 months my mental state has gone through the roof. When we first went into lock down in March I honestly thought that isolation wouldn't last very long. If anything I thought it would have lasted 2 or 3 months max. But here we are 9 months later, and we still on stay at home order and wearing masks and social distance. Around the end of April to mid May was probably the hardest for me because that was when we were in the thick of the virus. I of course was chatting with my friends on Facebook, Skype and Zoom but it wasn't the same. I'm on physical touch and not seeing friends or giving /getting hugs was wearing on me. During this time I never felt more close to the Lord because I couldn't spend any time with anyone else so I would talk to him and it really got me through this year. Thankfully. 

November 

2020 was obviously Election year and this one was the biggest one in a VERY long time because there were a lot of people who wanted Trump out of office, including myself.( for reason I will not say because I don't want to piss off people) On the other side people wanted Biden/Harris elected into office.(including me) This will sound crazy but, up until Election Day, I was not registered because I'm not that into politics but after 4 years I thought to myself that it might be a good idea to vote so I could voice my opinion without people ripping my head off. So on Election Day I finally voted. It only took me 9 years for me to vote but I'm very happy I did. Knowing the results took a lot longer than I thought but on November 7th it was announced that Joe Biden was the projected winner aka President Elect!! Saying that I was happy was an understatement. I was ecstatic, joyful. I even cried happy tears. The streets of New York City and cities across America who voted for Biden were just as happy as I was. That whole day, my FYP on Tik Tok was flooded with videos of people happy, singing , dancing in the streets overflowing with joy. It was a nice thing to see. It made me very happy to exhale after so long. I feel like now that we have a new president and this is just my opinion so please keep your comments to yourself or I will delete them, that we will be able to heal finally. 

Winter 2020

 As we got to the end of the year , I started to get excited because I was so ready for the year to end . I honestly cannot believe how fast this month went. April and May took forever to get through and December took literally 5 minutes. But I'm so happy that it's finally over and we can move on to a New Year. Christmas was not so different from last year because my family is on the other side of the country so I wasn't able to see them. I did however speak to a couple of my friends over video chat so that was good.  But it was different in the sense that I could go and stay with anyone else due to COVID restrictions. Speaking of COVID, it drives me crazy seeing "influencers" on Tik Tok not caring about what is going on in the world, thinking that it's ok to still travel and have parties. I get that they are young and they want to have fun but, this is not the time or place to be careless. Especially, when there are people dying every ten minutes and the hospitals are over capacity. I heard that the number of people dying every day is equivalent to a 9/11 happening every day! Honestly, how many more people have to die for people to realise that this is serious and they need to wear masks. Hopefully in the New Year, people will finally understand how bad this virus really is. 

As we bring this year to a close and look back at everything that happened, there is one thing that I am happy about. The fact that I survived. There were times where I didn't think I would mentally.  Yes this year didn't go the way anyone thought it would but I feel like this was the year that really taught us. It taught us that love, friends and family is more important than ever because life is short. I hope that with having the vaccine, that we can MAYBE have some sense of normalcy in 2021.

So as I say every year...Goodbye 2020.....Hello 2021!!!

Cheers,

Tasha Siera

Here are some things that happened in the Entertainment Industry and the world:

Celebrities that died in 2020:

                       -Kobe and Gigi Bryant      

-Naya Rivera

-Kelly Preston

-Charlie Daniels

-Nick Cordero

-Mary Pat Gleason

-Chris Trousdale

- Fred Willard

-Jerry Stiller

-Little Richard

-Roy Horn

-Kenny Rogers

-Lyle Waggoner

-Lorenzo Brino

-James Lipton

-Kirk Douglas

-Neil Pert

-Regis Philbin

-Alex Trebek

-Chadwick Boseman

-Eddie Van Halen

-Ruth Bader Ginsberg

-Sean Connery

-Caroline Fack

-Tuck Tucker( Spongebob) 

Movies that came out in 2020:

-Birds of Prey

-Onward

-Hamilton(Disney +)

-The Kissing Booth 2

-Mulan ( Disney +)

-The Devil All The Time

-After We Collided

Albums that dropped in 2020:

-Selena Gomez(Rare)

-Louis Tomlinson( Walls)

-Mandy Moore ( Silver Landings)

-Niall Horan ( Heartbreak Weather)

-5 Seconds of Summer (CALM)

-The 1975( Notes on A Conditional Form)

-Taylor Swift( Evermore & Folklore)

-Machine Gun Kelly ( Tickets to my Downfall)

-Ariana Grande ( Positions)

-Shawn Mendes ( Wonder)

Music:

-Harry Styles dropped 4 videos from his 2nd album Fine Line: ( Golden, Falling, Adore You & Watermelon Sugar)

-MGK dropped 5 videos from his new album Tickets to my Downfall( Bloody Valentine, My Ex's best friend, Concert for Aliens,Drunk Face,  & Forget me too)

-Niall Horan dropped 3 videos from his 2nd album Heartbreak Weather( Black & White, Heartbreak Weather, and No Judgement)

Celebritiy Babies born in 2020:

-Josephine June King( Candice Accola King)

-Mint ( Romee Strijd)

-Evangeline Jo( Jinger and Jermey Vuolo)

-Sage Jill ( Lindsay Arnold)

-Magnolia Belle ( Emily Manyard Johnson)

-Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid ( name TBA)

April 2020 I joined Tik Tok: Quarantine made me do it I swear haha

By the end of 2020 there over 19 MILLION Corona cases and over 344,000 deaths 

Also, on Christmas Day, there was a bombing in Nashville 

I think it's safe to say: 2020......What the F*** was that?