Iceland winter trip

November 2021 Highlights: The Highs + Lows

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November pretty much followed trend with the rest of the year: the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Is this what they meant by “the new normal?” If so, I’ll take the old normal for $500, Alex.

November was definitely our busiest month of the year travel-wise, as we spent 15 days of it away from home. And we used our passports for the first time in two years! December is going to be a lot quieter with no trips on the horizon, other than the one night we already spent in Atlanta. It’s a Christmas year at home for the kids—they alternate holidays in Charleston—and I can’t wait to spend Christmas Day with these crazies.

Fall family shoot in wheat field

If you’re still shopping for the holidays, by the way, I have a guide of best gifts I’ve given in the past, many of which made it back under the tree for people I’m giving gifts to this year! And you know art is always a great idea, so if you’re still stumped, reach out to your favorite artists on Instagram and see if they have anything to sell you or are still open for commissions.

Folek painting a graffiti mural in Tullahoma

The Highs

We went to Iceland. Against all odds, global pandemic, many flight cancellations, and my dad’s recent fall and subsequent recovery, we made it to Iceland for eight days. Though this was a vacation and not work, I’ll be blogging about every facet of it in the coming weeks (or let’s be more realistic, months). To start, I have a review on the Blue Lagoon that’s already live. This was the trip that SVV, Mom and I needed after a tough year. Forever grateful for Kari and Josh for holding down the fort here and allowing us to go on this epic adventure!

Iceland winter trip

There’s a new mural in Tullahoma! Actually two, but you only get to hear about one for now. We teamed up with Tullahoma City Schools, the school system I attended for 13 years, to install a street art-themed mural in the cafe of their new Tullahoma Virtual Academy that our pal Folek designed and painted. You can read more about it in this newspaper article—we loved every minute of this project and how it transformed this student-used space.

Tullahoma Virtual Academy mural
Tullahoma Virtual Academy mural

We were also on the TVA podcast. Ever want to hear more about my mathlete days? All the odd jobs I did that led up to this point? How about SVV’s career path? Well, you’re in luck—you can listen to our episode of Two Mikes & a Guest from last week here. You can find it in any app where you get your podcasts.

Two Mikes & a Guest podcast

We went to Memphis for Thanksgiving. While I was under the weather like whoa (more on that in Lows), it was so nice to be around my cousins Rebecca, John, Margaret, McKayla and Mason. Mom stayed home due to Dad being in a wheelchair, so it was just SVV, Katy and me, and we had a blast. And I did mask up when around everyone on Thanksgiving day. Luckily, no one else caught my plague!

Memphis Thanksgiving trip
Memphis Thanksgiving trip
Memphis Thanksgiving trip

We had a Christmas PJ weekend at my house. Katy also came down for a weekend at the Cedar House in which we drank a lot of bourbon, didn’t get out of our jams and decorated my house for the holidays with the help of Charlotte Rose. It was so much fun, and I’m grateful we’re all triple-vaxxed and can do these safe small gatherings this holiday season.

Christmas decorating
Christmas decorating
Christmas decorating

Christmas decorating

We wrote about home renovation. A lot. One of our favorite new clients this year is Angi (formerly Angi’s list), and we’re writing anywhere between three and seven home renovation guides or DIY stories per week that will be posting on the site very soon. You can follow my writer profile here.

Kitchen remodel in the Cedar House

I Did So. Many. Photo. Shoots. A huge thank you to all of you who booked a session with me these last couple months! I think I did something like 15 family, couples and headshot shoots in the month of November alone and have a few more scheduled for December. It truly has been a joy getting to photograph so many gorgeous families in a time filled with so many lows. 

Fall family photo shoot

Fall indoor photo shoot
Fall couples shoot in Huntsville
Fall family shoot
Fall family photo shoot at Lake Normandy
Fall family photo shoot at Lake Normandy

The Lows

The sickness continues. After a brutal few months, I finally got ill, too, catching Mac’s RSV right around Thanksgiving and then a stomach bug on top of that. After the kids and I finally recovered, Josh caught the bug and then my dad did, as well. To top off a less-than-stellar month, my mom caught pneumonia (she’s much better now). So we spent a lot of the month quarantining from each other once more!

Veteran Affairs is a joke. I’ve touched on this in the past, but we’ve had the worst experience ever with the VA in terms of SVV’s healthcare (or lack there of). After battling a chronic illness for more than three months that hospitalized him at one point, we’re no closer to an answer than we were in September when this all began.

One lovely, kind reader wrote me with her health experience that sounds very familiar to his, and we he asked the VA to test him for that illness, they rolled their eyes and told him to stop listening to “Internet doctors.” Wow. The gaslighting is unreal.

But I’m hoping we’re about to turn the corner as he finally found a nurse who would prescribe him an experimental treatment and he spoke to one of the gaslighting doctor’s supervisors to get transferred to another primary care doctor who hopefully will handle this whole situation better. We all know all of healthcare is a boondoggle, but the VA is a special brand of ridiculous.

I’m not going to sugar-coat things, it’s been rough having a husband who is not only feeling miserable all the time, but my business partner in our day jobs and the nonprofit. He’s worked a couple hours here and there when he’s feeling up to it, but it’s a busy time of year and I’m feeling as if I’m barely treading water.

We’re a few days into December, and it’s already been a whammy of a month, too, but I’ll save that for next time…

Share your good news from November with me, please! I could use some.

COMMENTS
  • December 10, 2021

    Sorry to hear about SVV’s difficulty with the VA. I qualify for VA medical benefits but have never used them. In my medical equipment sales career, I visited over 100 VA hospitals all over the country. There are good VA’s and not so good. My battle with the VA over a claim for cancer that was most likely caused by Agent Orang has gone on for almost 5 years. I finally got a hearing with a Judge on my appeal. The judge was great. My attorney said they are a little backed up so don’t expect a decision soon. I said what will it take, 6 months? He said more like 12 months. This for a decision on a case that was heard before Thanksgiving. I submitted 70 pages of documentation and letters from two different doctors that said that it was caused by Agent Orange. We Vietnam vets have a saying. Deny, deny until they die.

    • December 11, 2021

      Ray, thank you for your service, and I’m so sorry the VA has been even more frustrating for you! If we’re having this much trouble navigating the system, I can’t imagine how others do it as we are both fairly tech (and bureaucracy) savvy and both banging out heads against the wall over this all.

  • December 10, 2021
    John Ravi

    Hi Kristin,

    I really like it when you share your journey and experiences with us, it is always inspiring and authentic. I am glad you got out and finally used your passport after two years. I am happy that you had a vacation, I read your review of Blue Lagoon and it sounded amazing! Looking forward to going there myself. I really hope you get some positive news from your nurse. Wishing you and your family good health and happiness.

    • December 11, 2021

      Thank you so much, John! I appreciate you reading!

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