Last year for the holiday season a friend of mine was coordinating some fun activities. After one particularly enjoyable night with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus I decided that I hadn’t been taking enough advantage of the city. Thus was born one of my New Year’s intentions, to do an activity a month. Something slightly above and beyond the normal activities I was already doing e.g. a trip to the museum. And while the year started out strong, soon quarantine hit. And though the activities took some modifications e.g. virtual! overall the activities have been one of the things I most looked forward to, and yes particularly those getting me out of my sequestering. I thought I’d share a few highlights.
- Philanthropy – While doing something philanthropic wasn’t a mandate it was one of the things that had been on my list for a while and what better way to enjoy a stroll on the beach than beach cleanup, this made the list for potential repeats, as did giving blood which tapped into more of the giving than the fun.
- Day/Weekend Trips – Ok so these have been off the agenda for a while but both Santa Cruz and the wine country are close enough for great outings, some food, some wine tasting, and perhaps a spa, good early year activities.
- Violins of Hope – This was a lovely outing and I hope to introduce real live outings again in the future, live music is just unlike experiencing from afar.
- Picnics and Croquet – Meeting friends in the park took on new meaning as a lifeline to interaction, and it turns out croquet is a perfect social distancing activity, and fun.
- Animals – What better things to raise your spirits than visiting with animals and this year included GOAT my Valentine a holiday paired with City Grazing goats, KitTea cafe which brought in some kittens to play with when they had to close the café part, and a visit to the SF Zoo.
- Virtual activities – Now I wouldn’t have normally counted these but when things first locked down in particular but also moving forward many things moved online including Pop Up Magazine, author speaking, lectures (I attended one on happiness during Covid), and even my book club moved online (we can’t be stopped) and all-in-all offer a great way to take part of things, even those outside of the SF area that I might not normally be able to see.
And of course there were the activities I did whilst on my staycation. Quite the success so I’m going to roll this intention over into next year and hope to nurture it in upcoming months. This month we’re looking to visit the Whimsical Wonderland of Lights in Golden Gate Park. Would love to hear any ideas for future outings in the comments.
