And just like that, 2024 has come to an end. And I’m not even going to sugarcoat it…. This year was great at points, but overall I will say that it was freaking HARD. I had assumed that after a year of wedding planning in 2023, 2024 would be a breeze. I was going to have more time to focus on my business, to explore North Carolina, to relax… that was the plan.
And while those things did happen, and we made some wonderful memories (which I will most certainly get into soon), 2024 did not go how I intended. At all.
Business Lessons
The first 8 months of the year were pretty rough in terms of business. I was in the pool in Aruba on a family vacation in February when I got an email on my watch that I was losing my biggest client (they ended their collaboration program altogether). That client was a HUGE piece of my income goals for 2024, so I was scrambling to figure out what to do.
Then in March, Google had some huge algorithm updates that basically tanked my business. My website traffic was down by over 60%, which meant that my income was too.
It was at this moment that I realized how much of my self worth I had been placing in my business’s performance. I adore blogging and The Foreign Fork, and so much of my life is centered around bringing you recipes from around the world. But when I suddenly had my first taste of an entrepreneurship downfall, I realized just how much my business’s status controls my mood. Not good.
I spent the next 6 months crying (so much crying). I felt like a failure. Everything I had worked for for the last 5 years felt like it had been taken away from me. All of that hard work and education and passion and countless hours…. And with the snap of Google’s fingers, there was nothing to show for it. And no explanation as to why my website had tanked or how I could fix it!
I was being hard on myself about wasting my time building a business, about not contributing equally to our finances, about feeling like I was behind everyone else. I even started researching jobs in case I had to go back into corporate!
News flash: This is part of entrepreneurship. As the daughter, niece, grandchild, cousin, and friend of MANY successful entrepreneurs, this is just how it goes. And I should have been more gentle with myself about living through this season of life. But in those 6 months, it felt like the hardest thing I have ever lived through. Luckily for me, I married the best man in the world and he was gentle enough with me for the both of us, giving me tons of pep talks about how he knew I would figure it out.
And I did.
In the end, this downturn was probably a blessing. It showed me the vulnerability of my business, which had been so heavily reliant on search algorithms, something entirely out of my control. While my Google traffic was tanking, I used that time to build other income streams for myself. I built another blog, The Domestic Spoon (!!!), started a sales course called Sealed Deal School, became a contributor for some larger news organizations, found a ton more sponsored work, took over the Blogging Elevated Elite Business Retreat, and basically gave myself a LOT more diversity so that I wouldn’t be so susceptible to downturns in the future.
And then, when all of that work was done, google updated their algorithm again. And my website shot right back up to where it has always been. It took 6 months of waiting and working and improving and crying, but eventually everything came back, and my business was stronger than ever.
I did not achieve my income goals for the year, but I DID actually reach my highest income in my business’s history. If you had told me that was in my future while I was crying on the floor of my kitchen in April, I would not have believed it to be possible. And in the end, I guess I’m grateful. My business is stronger than ever and I learned some huge life lessons along the way. And started seeing a therapist haha.
Health Woes
In September my business was thriving again and I had about two wonderful months where everything felt right in the world. I was back to my old self!!
But near the end of October, I hit the hardest obstacle of my life. I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, a lifelong neurodegenerative disease with no cure.
I wrote a full article where you can read about My Diagnosis Story, so I will spare you the details of recapping everything in this article again. But around the time my symptoms started, the tears started again, stronger than ever. I cried more this year than the rest of my life combined.
However, just yesterday on December 30, 2024, I got my very first treatment for MS, and the doctors seem pretty optimistic that it will keep my disease under control. Maybe one day I will be grateful for MS. Maybe it will teach me things about myself or life or the world that I need to know. I am open to those lessons. But right now, I am just trying to get through this season.
I am battling with a lot of anxiety about what my life will look like 5, 10, 20, 45 years in the future. I want my legs and my voice and my eyes and my hands and my brain to be MINE. I want to know that nothing will take them away from me. And unfortunately, I do not have that certainty anymore. It’s really, REALLY scary.
Luckily, I have a community of people that love me a lot. They talk to me about MS so I don’t feel alone, they make me laugh, distract me, give me pep talks, and check in on me. And while it doesn’t make it suck any less, it makes living through this a tiny bit easier. And for that I am grateful!
Okay, if it’s not clear by now, 2024 was rough. But in the middle of the rough there were a lot of great moments too! I wanted to be honest in telling you about my year, which includes walking you through the lowlights as well. But I’m ready to talk about the good stuff! So without further ado, here are my top 10 Moments of 2024 (in chronological order)
10. Finding My Joy in Wilmington
I had started out 2024 feeling pretty down (as aforementioned) so I took myself on a solo trip to Wilmington, North Carolina to try to find my joy and my motivation again. It was February, so it was cold out but in the most perfect way. The sun was shining in blue skies, and I took myself out to eat salad and shrimp in front of the water.
I read books on manifestation, uncovered my life goals that had been hidden for a while, and watched the sunrise on the beach, wrapped up in blankets. I also got to visit Airlie Gardens, which was absolutely gorgeous, and walk the labyrinth there. It gave me a chance to meditate, and think about what I wanted out of my career and my life.
This weekend was SO healing for the soul, and I felt good knowing that I was nurturing myself. In fact, I want to do a trip like this every year! I always forget how much I thrive on solo travel, but it truly heals me every time.
Unfortunately, my trip got extended by two whole days because I got the worst food poisoning of my LIFE and couldn’t check out of the hotel for days… We’ll ignore that part, and focus on the good first half of the trip haha.
9. Aruba with the Bianchinis
My parents have a timeshare in Aruba, my dad’s ultimate happy place. In February of this year, my parents invited my mom’s entire family to Aruba with us to enjoy a week in paradise. Almost everyone got to go, and we spent the week soaking up the sun, catching iguanas, swimming, snorkeling, laughing, and drinking.
My favorite moment of the entire trip was when Matt drank too many “Mulmers” (gin + lemonade) and then spent the evening crying happy tears about how much he loves me hahaha. He tried to lie and say that his eyes were red from the pool chlorine, but everyone caught on right away. My cousins wouldn’t let him live it down 😉
I played What’s Your Favorite with Stella every night at dinner, formed many an inside joke with the cousins, and generally just enjoyed our time in the sun. I love every minute I get to spend with my Bianchini family, and I’m so grateful to my parents for giving us this opportunity to spend our time together <3
8. Seeing Julia Child’s Kitchen, Easter coffee + bagels, and Afghan food in Washington DC
In our marriage counseling sessions pre-wedding last year, our pastor gave us some homework: She assigned us 4 “marriage overnight” sessions in our first year of being married, where we book a hotel somewhere we want to explore, just the two of us. On these marriage retreats we are supposed to make fun memories together in a new place, enjoy one on one time together, and, most importantly, discuss our marriage on a quarterly basis. What are we excelling in? Where can we improve? How can we be the best partners to one another?
As a truly Type A woman, I was overjoyed. You gave me homework?? And my homework is to travel?! I am going to ACE this test.
We started out our marriage overnight assignment with a trip to Washington DC. We have always wanted to visit, and now that we live in NC, it was only a 5 hour drive! Instead of going home to Michigan for Easter, we opted for this trip instead. And we both agree that it was our favorite marriage trip of the year.
We started off with a visit to a delicious Afghan restaurant, where we got to try my favorite cuisine in a restaurant setting! That night we went to a comedy show and a bookstore, the perfect little date night! For the rest of the weekend, we walked along the national mall, saw Julia Child’s Kitchen in the Smithsonian (I cried), visited the Aerospace museum, watched a kite festival, did a tasting menu at a great Peruvian restaurant, saw the gorgeous cherry blossoms, and watched Night at the Museum.
My favorite part of the weekend was on Easter morning. We got coffee and bagel sandwiches from Call Your Mother’s Bagels and then walked through Georgetown. The sun was out, tulips were sprouting, church bells were ringing, and our food was so yummy. The buildings were so cute, the parks were beautiful, kids were searching for Easter eggs… It was just the perfect calm morning, being together. And we got to learn from an ex-CIA agent afterwards during our spy tour 😉
We both agree that this is our favorite city we have visited and we would love to live there!
7. Battleship North Carolina with Matt’s Parents
After the chaos of 2023 (27 flights + 13 road trips) Matt and I decided that 2024 would be the year of having our loved ones come to visit us in NC. We had a calmer year ahead of us, and we knew that we wanted to spend it showing our favorite people our wonderful state!
Our first visit started off with Matt’s parents coming into town for his birthday in April. They were with us for a full week, and we spent that time giving them a little sampling of North Carolina. We took them to the coast, showed them Charlotte, had some home days, and drove them into the mountains! At the end of the trip, we each compared our favorite elements of the vacation, and each one of us enjoyed something different (that’s a great sign of a successful trip to me!).
My personal favorite part was showing Matt + his parents the love of Wilmington that I had discovered a few months prior. We went to the beach, where his dad swam in the freezing cold Atlantic! We had some great food, walked the water, and took them to Airlie gardens. A group favorite was visiting the USS North Carolina, a battleship that now lives in Wilmington. It was so cool to walk through it with the family, and we all really enjoyed the World War II history and seeing the machine guns, living quarters, etc.
Towards the end of our visit, a storm hit and it started downpouring. We said it was just the 4D experience of what it would feel like if this ship was really sailing through the water 😉
We loved showing Matt’s parents around and making such fun memories with them!
6. White Water Rafting + The Biltmore with My Parents
The next month, it was my parents’ turn to visit us in NC! They were able to come for four days, which I tried to pack full of fun North Carolina memories.
On their first full day in town, we were just going to spend a few hours relaxing by the pool. At the very last minute, we decided to visit the White Water Center for a walk. They had a few more spots open for white water rafting that day, and we were able to snag one! Gosh, it was so much fun. Our guide said that our raft ride was one of the craziest ones he’s ever had, complete with a full 360, getting stuck on a rock, and almost tipping over. We were screaming and laughing so hard!
A few days later, we took my parents to tour the Biltmore in Asheville. My dad had learned about it a bit and was so excited to see the house. He spent the entire experience with the audio tour tucked between his ear and his shoulder, phone in hand taking pictures of everything. It was adorable. We showed them the gorgeous mountains, had a great meal, and laughed a lot. It was so fun showing my parents around and I can’t wait for them to come back 😉
5. Finding Sand Dollars in Charleston
Our second marriage overnight of the year took us to Charleston, South Carolina. I have been wanting to go for ages, and now that we had some free time, we quickly put it on the list! Our first full day in Charleston was spent at the beach. It was hot outside, and the water was the absolute perfect temperature. Matt and I spent the day going back and forth between reading our kindles on the beach and taking dips in the water.
It was sand dollar season, and with each trip that we took into the water, our toes happened to find sand dollars buried in the sand beneath our feet. We loved uncovering them, finding tiny crabs walking on them, and then throwing them back in the ocean. We made some really important life decisions while floating in that water, and I am grateful for time together to build our life.
After the beach, we headed to The Wreck for an incredible seafood dinner, and then watched the sun set over the marsh. It was such a perfect day!
4. Giving the Speech at Lindsey’s wedding + Visiting Rocky Mountain National Park
I was a maid of honor in Lindsey’s wedding this year, which took me to Colorado twice! Once for her skiing bachelorette in January (we won’t talk about what happened with my poor Owala when I was stranded in blizzard traffic). The second time was in the summer to watch her and Carson get married on a gorgeous mountain top <3
I had been so excited to give the speech at her wedding, and, of course, cried through it. It was so special to get to tell everyone why I love her and our friendship so much! Plus we spent the rest of the night dancing with my best college friends, which is something that I can always use more of.
The next day, Matt and I scored lottery tickets to Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park! We had one day to make the most of it, and we hiked the Three Lakes Loop to Nymph Lake, Dream Lake, and Emerald Lake. It was GORGEOUS and Matt and I loved getting to cross a new national park off of our list! We spent the day exploring and then drove straight to the airport, where we took a red eye right back to the cottage for the rest of July. It was the perfect little weekend if I do say so myself.
3. Sugarloaf Mountain Sunset in Brazil
A few weeks later we found ourselves on the trip I had been looking forward to for a year… We were in Rio de Janeiro! My cousin Michael was getting married in Brazil, so some of my aunts, uncles, and cousins all got to go celebrate together.
We had a week in Rio filled with GORGEOUS sites, incredible food, and tons of giggles. The beach was gorgeous, our cooking class was a blast, the jungle was stunning, and we got to spend so much time with our family. One of my favorite parts was the catamaran trip we took as a family, including lots of grilled meats, jumping from the boat into the water, and a rousing rendition of Lose Yourself by Eminem, sung by all of the American cousins while the Brazilian side of the family video taped us haha.
But my absolute favorite part of the trip was watching the sunset from the top of Sugarloaf Mountain with my cousins, Matt, and my mom. The view was stunning, and it gave me some time to focus on how wonderful the world is and how lucky I am to get to make memories like these with my loved ones. Life is good.
2. Getting Drunk in Savannah, GA
In between my MS symptoms starting and my official diagnosis, I was freaking out. I needed to keep myself busy so I didn’t dissolve into a ball of anxiety waiting for the news. So Matt and I decided to do our final marriage overnight in Savannah, Georgia while we waited.
I hardly ever drink. I’m not morally opposed to it or anything, it’s just that most of the time, it doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t ever enjoy the taste, and because of that it feels like… what’s the point?
Well on our second day in Savannah, we went to the American Prohibition Museum. We thought the museum was incredible, and learned so many fun facts that we have loved sharing since. But the trip to the museum ended with a visit to a “secret” speakeasy, and a free drink ticket.
Normally, I would give my drink to Matt to finish, but I actually really liked it! And once I had finished my drink (my first completed cocktail in over a year), we were giggling and it sounded like a lot of fun to keep going!
We did a mini bar crawl around Savannah, laughing the whole time. At one point we stopped in the Paris Market (a gorgeous store) and I went to the bathroom and came back with Paul Blart Mall Cop pulled up on my phone Netflix, which Matt thought was hysterical. We were supposed to eat a fancy meal that night, but cancelled our reservations to eat Asian noodles instead, which we both agreed was a great move.
I am entirely against using alcohol as a way to cope with hard things, but this didn’t feel like that. This felt like allowing myself to let go for a minute. Instead of worrying like I had for the last month, we took a minute to breathe, laugh, dream, and live in the moment. It felt really, really nice.
And probably won’t happen again for another year, especially after that hangover the next day 😉
1. Starting MS Treatment
If I have to live with this disease, I am going to take every opportunity to point out to myself that I really am lucky. I am lucky to have been born in the 90s, when MS was just starting to get research funding. I am lucky to have been diagnosed after 2017, when B Cell Therapy was FDA approved and became (as my neurologist called it) a “game changer in MS treatment”.
I am lucky to have great insurance that approved (as my other neurologist called it) that “Miracle Drug”. And I am lucky I was able to start it just over 2 months after being diagnosed, before my symptoms got out of control.
I am lucky to have a family that flies and drives to my doctors appointments because they love me, and forces me to look at the bright side even when I don’t want to, and calls the MS Board of North Carolina to get me resources.
I am lucky to have a husband that spends every day telling me that I am strong and capable and that not a single thing in the world can keep me from living a beautiful life.
If I have to live through this, I am living in the best time in human history to do so, surrounded by the best support system I could ask for.
Two things can be true: It sucks. And also… I am lucky <3
Honorable Mentions
This year was the year of visitors! We had 8 groups of friends/family visit and each one was so special. They are mixed into my honorable mentions as well as some other great memories from the year!
- Lindsey’s bachelorette party in Colorado
- Getting lost in the snowy NC mountains with Bri & Maskin
- Monster Truck Jam with Elizabeth & Kenny
- Hiking Chimney Rock & drinking at the Faerie meadery with Allie
- The Whitewater Center + an Asheville adventure with Allison
- Scarowinds with Kayla
- The corn maze + Renaissance festival with Elizabeth
- Nick’s match day
- Bianchini family reunion on the Fourth of July
- Our anniversary celebration in Raleigh
- Anna’s bachelorette in Joshua Tree
- Blogging Elevated Elite Business Retreat in Utah
- Justin Timberlake with Emma
- Anna & Sam’s wedding
- Winter “break” where I spent two weeks doing puzzles, reading, and watching movies
2024 had some wonderful memories that I will always cherish. And as someone that loves a new year, I am also so excited to move onto the next chapter.
I have spent my life chasing, chasing, chasing. 4.0 every semester, be the best sales person in the country, start a business from scratch and build it to 6 figures while never sacrificing your adventurous life. All of those things are wonderful, but I have always done them at the expense of everything else. Don’t relax. Sleep is for the weak. If you miss this goal, you’re a failure. It’s embarrassing to write, but I’m committed to remaining truthful.
I have an INCREDIBLE life right now because I knew when to push. I knew when it was time to sacrifice, to work 100 hour weeks, to tell myself I needed more, more, more. But the time for that is not 2025. The relentlessness, the goal setting, the constant ambition has served me well. And let’s be honest, it’ll never really leave me. But I want this next year to be different.
I’ve thought a lot about how I want 2025 to feel and I think I’ve finally decided on the word: Soft.
Self care, finding success outside of hustle culture, nurturing my mental health, sleeping more, doing puzzles, taking pilates + dance classes, checking off more bucket list items, baking croissants, relaxing… Work is stable (for now, and from what I’ve learned this year, it’s never going to be 100% stable).
So it’s time for me to prioritize my life outside of work. It’s going to be really, really hard. But my health, both mental and physical, depends on it! 2025 is the year of the Soft Life (with goals mixed in… what can I say? I’m still me). <3 Let’s see how it goes!
jav says
I’ve been following your blog for quite some time now, and I’m continually impressed by the quality of your content. Your ability to blend information with entertainment is truly commendable.
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Thank you so much, that means a lot to me!