as 2021 is coming to a close I'm reflecting on the year and going was it better than 2020
debatable but one thing that I can say for certain is there were a lot of little things that brought
me joy this year and yes I am bringing this video back because I did it last year it was
a lot of fun so I just wanted to tell you about some of the little things that brought me joy
through a year that had a lot of ups and also a lot of downs and they were just
things that are kind of inconsequential don't really matter that much but put a
smile on my face every now and again and that made 2021 just a little bit better
let's start with entertainment because there was a lot of entertainment this year
starting off with love island UK is back on the list baby because I love that trash tv it's so
good if you've never seen love island UK you gotta watch it I think I'm currently watching season
five with my friend George and the reason why love island brought me so much joy is not only
because of how good garbage tv it is but also every week I think this entire year except when
we like miss a few days my friend George and I have talk time where we talk for a little bit
and then we watch an episode or tubeless love island and it's like the highlight of my week
and I love it so love island has been the vehicle for a lot of joy not just because of the tv so
20 years late I know I know calm down I watched all of the lord of the rings movies this year
my friend Melanie's 30th birthday was this year and what she wanted all of us to do like our group
of friends is to watch the lord of the rings with her so we watched all six movies because they're
in halves and but there's three movies but the parts and then the extend editions and we watched
it all it took us a couple weeks to watch it it wasn't a one day marathon and thank god it wasn't
but I have to say I've been missing out and I know I have I've always wanted to watch them but that's
a lot of film to watch by yourself so it's great watching with friends but I fell in love with the
franchise and I just love it so much and there's just so many good gems in there and I love like
fantasy type of things like harry potter and all that nonsense in like star wars and star trek and
obviously this is not the same thing but this is my vibe and I very much enjoyed it so if you it's
literally the 20th anniversary year this year if you've never seen lord of the rings and you like
fantasy type of things you will love this like it just yeah there's just so many heartwarming things
there's so many it's just such a good I loved it thanks Melanie for having me finally watch lord
of the rings so Disney came out with a ton of hits this year we had Luca Raya and the last dragon and
Cruella oh my gosh okay I didn't think I was going to like Cruella because I'm not like a villains
type of girl like I'm not that type of Disney fan that's just like villains
ooh like not me Cruella the story that they made as her origin story was so good
like I thought of the drive-ins fantastic then Luca throw my heart into pieces that's fine
really loved Luca Raya the last dragon was just like that is my I i love the
the lore and the mythicality around the story of the last dragon and then also like Raya is
such a badass in the journey that you go on and it was just like this adventure like ah
okay in the heights was amazing I just love movie musicals because it reminds me why I love doing
what I love doing I started watching Ted Lasso I watched like the first I think three episodes or
so on my flight from the us to UK because it felt very like fitting and poetic and I love
Jason Sudeikis so much there's anything you need to know about me I'm in love with that man so
I was already on board for the show and it's just absolutely up my alley the chase is something
that my mom and I would watch like every week we would go get like dinner or lunch or something
like that and then watch an episode of the chase the us version if you like jeopardy and you like
game shows like that like trivia game shows you will love the chase and then the last thing on
my entertainment list I've been telling everybody and their mother and I am not this type of person
I'm not this like you need to see this movie type of person but if you have not watched free guy
I think it's in my top five movies of like all time it's with Ryan Reynolds and what I love
about this movie is that it took every opportunity that they could with the story and the universe
and the possibilities it was like nobody said no to a good idea I don't know how to explain
it but I just like thinking about the concept of this movie that I don't want to ruin for you so
like go watch the trailer and then go see it but like it just once again it reminds me why it not
reminds me but it invigorates it reinvigorates the feeling in my heart of why I love doing what I do
and I want to be in a movie like that because free guy is funny it is creative it is heartwarming it
makes you think about like the world even though it's mainly based in like the world of like video
games I'll give you that much but this movie is just yeah it's unparalleled you need to see it you
need to see it okay music we've got five albums that all came out in 2021 that was not planned
space man by nick Jonas Montero Lil Nas X OK Orchestra by AJR Stranger by Yayah and this is not
a joke I think my second or third most listened to album this year is the Unofficial Wii Sports
Soundtrack by Gabriel Gundacker I'm not gonna say anything else I'm just gonna just go listen to it
okay books because I'm a book beech now and I have a book category oh
look at me I got so many books I mean I've had so many books but I've actually read two books this
year yeah that's right I can read I'm smart I'm literate so the first book that I read this year
I picked up not knowing the people who it was about and this is stay sexy and don't get murdered
by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark who are the hosts of the my favorite murder podcast I had
never listened to this podcast but I have many people who have recommended it to me
and I just like I don't know why I just wasn't interested also the first 30 minutes of all their
podcasts are them like kind of just like chat and stuff and if you don't know the people it's
like hard to get into a podcast so anyway then I went to the beach over the summer and I like
reading at the beach and I forgot all my books at home so I went to target and then I saw this
and I was like that sounds like an interesting title and I opened it and there's a chapter in
here called oh yeah you're in a cult call your dad which is apparently a thing from the podcast
and so I was like yoink I'm gonna read this this sounds interesting and then I realized it was
from the my favorite murdered gals and it's a dual memoir from the creators of the number one hit
podcast my favorite murder I really enjoyed this I read like half of it at the beach which that's a
lot for me as a person who hasn't finished a book since like 2018 but like I don't read but now I
read so that's cool I i know I had book category or I talked about a book in last year's this video
but now we've got a category because I'm a reader now I own a kindle not to brag I read this whole
book and then started listening to the podcast or I got like almost all the way through it and
then started listening to the podcast they tell stories they're very funny people I mean like
Karen's a literal stand-up and then Georgia is like a comedian like type of person but she's not
like a stand-up comic but anyway it's really easy to get through I don't know how to say it but just
like I really enjoyed this book so if you like comedy things but also a little bit more on the
I don't wanna say edgy but like it's a true crime podcast where they do kind of comedy and
and whatnot and like that is how they speak in the book so yeah just really liked it this was
the first book I finished this year and I was very happy to finish it then I finished this
like two weeks ago I read this in a month I read a book that I didn't have to read for school in a
month because I'm so wicked smart I'm so proud of myself and this one is The Anthropocene Reviewed
by John Green no I have never read a John Green book I am not a John Green gal I'm a John Green
vlogbrothers Nerdfighteria gal but I'm not like a fall in her stars our stars Looking for Alaska,
Turtles All the Way Down type of gal, so I wanted to read this because I knew it was more of a
memoir type book if you can see a theme here I like reading about real people in their lives but
in the way of talking about oh here we go essays on a human-centered planet which it's
like personal essays about the world and just random things I loved this book because once
again easy to read don't feel like I'm like racking my brain to wrap my mind around these
things but he talks about really big concepts and just like crazy stuff it's really palatable
also it's nice and condensed in chapters that don't relate to each other they kind of do but
like if you want to just read the chapter you can read a chapter and then be done and not feel like
you're in the middle of a story but at the same time it's a page turner so I'm a book beech
okay games so yes Animal Crossing is still on my list I check in every day I check I need to check
in today I get my carrots I get my pumpkins I shake down my trees and then I'm on my merry
way that's honestly all I really do is just like harvest fruit and vegetables and sell them but
it makes me happy the new york times crossword she's still on my list of things I'd like to do
I'm sitting on the tube and I'll do myself a little crossword many and once again I like to
feel smart and I've just felt so smart this year I've read books I've done crosswords I've learned
languages wow um okay on the list of things on the games list of things these two games here have
completely taken over my life and I haven't played them in months and that's really sad because my
mom and I played these like multiple times a week sometimes upwards of 10 times a week sometimes
every day we would play both games but these games they're card games called skip bow and phase 10. I
literally bought an extra copy or version whatever bought extras and brought it with me to the UK so
I could play it with people because these are just such fun card games to play with anybody you can
play with like I think up to ten people okay it says two to six but they're just like it says on
here addictively simple simply addictive and that applies to both of them this is a rummy type card
game with an exciting twist and it's just like a feels very akin to like solitaire but exciting I
don't know how to really explain it but if you're looking for easy to play feels very similar to uno
this from the same people who made uno is Skip Bo it is just a fun game that you can kind of set up
they don't take terribly too long especially if you're playing with two people phase 10 is
a game that you can like stop in between rounds there's an app that helps you keep score which
I definitely recommend downloading for phase 10 skip oh there's no scores that really keep I miss
playing with these with my mom and I don't want to get sad so I'm not going to talk about that
anymore okay now to wrap this up this is just like the little things category so there's not enough
for any category I'm going to start with another thing that my mom and I do together and that is
puzzles I just got this puzzle I was not planning like when I was thinking about making this video I
was like I like having things I can show on camera and I don't have a puzzle here and then I went to
the only Disney store and I think of all of the UK yesterday and they had this puzzle on sale
and look how beautiful it is I'm so excited to do it but my mom and I did like if you watched
our Christmas card video I think we did like 15 puzzles this year probably more than that
I love doing puzzles it's relaxing in the last like couple of months before I left for the UK
we were going through like a puzzle every couple of days and it's just nice to just sit there and
like maybe you don't even talk but it's a good way to spend time with a person puzzles I like
them I'm gonna do that one it's a thousand pieces I'm a little nervous okay things that are also
back on the list I don't know if you can see my little wishables collection but uh don't worry the
addiction to these little plushy stuffed animals has not gone away it's not gone away not gone away
it's only gotten worse so um I did make sure to bring wishables with me I have a whole shelf up
here I'll show you right now on camera insert clip and I've got a whole bunch right here and
literally the last time my mom sent me a package she sent me wishables that I ordered that I had
sent to the house because they won't ship to the UK and you take the tags off look how cute they
are they're for the 50th anniversary of Disney world their cute little outfits I just love them
i love these stupid things so much I hate how much I love them this next one is a little bit
more of an update from last year but yes I'm still knitting like crazy and honestly I think
I started knitting even more this year I have finished a blanket two two blankets and a shawl
thing and I think a scarf I can't remember but I actually finished projects in 2021 how amazing I'm
working on another one this is my grad school one that I'm just look like it's it's kind of funky
it's kind of fun but um yeah I've been knitting more unlike what I said in my last year's video
no 2021 was not the year to start doing things that aren't squares and rectangles as you can see
still into squares and rectangles that's all I can do that's probably all I'll ever be able to do but
you know what I've come to accept it at this point okay so I'm still on my duolingo stuff I've been
on and off while I've been here but for Christmas I bought myself a year-long subscription to
duolingo plus so now I have to do it hopefully in next year's video I will still be saying that
I'm liking doing duolingo I am learning more I listen to this listen to this I went to holland
this year because I had a layover when I came to the UK I was able to talk dutch to dutch people
because of duolingo I've never been more proud than to say I'm sorry I don't speak dutch do you
speak english in dutch come on that moment aside from being in holland and like not trying to have
like a breakdown because of how happy I was that that was a highlight of this year
this is not about highlights of the year but that was something something little that brought me joy
you want to know something little and stupid and inconsequential that makes me so happy a half
drinking soda I don't know if you can see this can you see the ice oh that is so condensation-y can
you see the ice cubes that are in here do you see how they're perfect little globes they're little
balls I got two ice trays from TK Max which is like TJ Max except it has a k instead of a j
that are like I think they're called scotch rocks but these little ice cube ball silicone things and
when I tell you I saw it and I i the first time I had an ice cube ball in my drink and this little
set of four I was just so happy it's so much ice but in a ball and then it just it's just different
I love these ice cube balls it's the little things it's like also this glittery straw you
know but that's not on the list it's the ice cube balls get yourself a fun ice cube tray
once again you'll think me later you know what's also great especially when you live in a place
that's really cold an electric heating blanket I've had one before it used to be on my bed but
and then I came here and I i desperately needed one and um helps me sleep at night but also just
keeps you cozy trying to cuddle up with a good book with a good book put a warm warm
already warm blanket on yourself that could stay warm for up to nine hours it has a timer on it
there's different levels heating blankets love my heating blanket you know one of my favorite little
things from this year because I was going on a lot of walks in 2020 and I did a lot of walks in 2021
I haven't done any honestly I haven't like just walked around my neighborhood since being here
because I have to walk all the time to just get anywhere so I'm already walking a lot but in the
like I would say it started when I moved all my stuff back from southern california that's
where my bike was locked up and I got a new seat for it I got like a handlebar razor thing
and I love going on bike rides I've been wanting to get a bike since I've been here and that is
my goal for January is to acquire a bike so I can go on bike rides because I love going on the bike
rides and there were these really cool bike trails by the river by my house in california which was
just awesome but still going on a bike is like a way to get exercise it's lower impact you feel
the wind in your hair you're going fast you can see more things like bikes are so much fun dude
so if you have a bike take it out for a spin go dust it off but and you don't need to go far you
don't need to do anything crazy I started doing things crazy but you can just go on like a little
a little a bike stroll and it's just so delightful and I miss that so 2022 more bike rides for me
in these UK streets another little thing that's like it's a little thing but it's not that big of
a deal but it's like whatever it's me I've gotten so much joy from photography again I did my first
sessions that I've done since like the pandemic started in 2021 and it was just so fun to get back
out there and taking pictures of people because I just love taking pictures of people and then
I really tried to get myself out there and like going on reasons to take pictures of not just like
oh I have a session with somebody but like taking pictures of the zoo or like going on walks or like
taking my camera more places I've been having so much fun editing photos I just found so much joy
again in photography and I think it's because I kind of had to take a break from it for so
long because of like personal life stuff and like world stuff and it's like when you're locked away
at home it's hard to be inspired but I really had just such an awesome time with my camera
and taking pictures yeah photography bought a lot of joy this year okay well my camera's gonna run
out of footage so I need to end this video that is all the little things that brought me joy in 2021
and I hope that there were things that brought you joy this year whether they be big or small
it's about finding the joy in the little things honestly because that's what gets you through
day by day you can't do big things every day but you can have just the little things that make you
happy like putting ice cube balls in your soda just like the little things that get you through
and I think it's fun to like reflect on that and celebrate that because you can add to your
arsenal of things that will make you smile like little stuffed animals on your shelves or picking
pumpkins in a virtual world who knows but I hope that you had a wonderful 2021 and that there was
more light than there was dark but in the darkness I hope you found little things to bring you light
okay we're gonna try to do this fast because I'm running out of time on my memory card oh
my god okay um before I go thank you so much to my patrons these are all the top to your patrons on
my patreon if you want to support me like they do you can go to patreon.com/annelies , these
are the top to your patrons but I have patrons all the way from one dollar to 10
thank you so much to these wonderful people beautiful people so generous and thank you to all
my patrons of past present and future subscribe to my channel if you're new like this video if you
liked it um okay I've got like 30 seconds let's see oh my youtube channel was also one of the
things that brought me so much joy this year even though the last couple months have been hard to
post on youtube because of being here and living with six other people and being in grad school and
that stuff I still love my youtube channel it is one of the most important things I have in
my life and I'm so grateful to everybody who has watched my channel over 2021 so thank you so much
otherwise that is it for me stay beautiful have a marvelous day I'll see you all in the next one bye