How I Celebrated My Second Quarantine Birthday! 🥳

Happy 4/20! aka Devony’s Birthday 😂 

I’m not quite sure how it happened, but over the years my birthday had become something of a BIG deal. Which sounds unbelievably silly and out of touch to be saying right now…but let me explain. 

Back in the college days, I was within walking distance of a ton of the people I love. It was easy to throw together parties or surprises for each other whenever the mood struck. This became much harder to achieve once we all graduated, and took more pointed effort.

For whatever reason, no matter what else was going on, my birthday would end up being the one day (or couple of days) a year that everyone would take time off and get together to do something fun. Be it driving down to spend a weekend at a casino in at Atlantic City or hitting an indoor waterpark resort in the Poconos (two of my favorite memories)- “Devony’s Birthday” somehow became synonymous with everyone showing up and going ALL OUT. 

Quarantine Birthdays are decidedly different…

Obviously, last year’s birthday was a quiet one. The first quiet one in recent memory. I spent it at home with my mom and little sister, and I was genuinely happy about it to be frank.

I knew staying home and seeing no one was something small I could do to hold space for the chaos of the world.  Nothing felt safe in April 2020, so it was a cathartic time to be home and appreciate my family. And watching the sunset over the lake with an energy drink in hand was not a bad way to spend it!

This year, the day actually felt more somber for whatever reason.  Maybe because the pandemic is slowly coming to (what we hope is) the end? Yet, it still feels like a completely different world we are returning to. 

I feel different. I feel very far away from the giggly, super bouncy version of myself that I was. Far from the version of myself that would be taking over casinos to gamble until 5 AM or dancing on bars to see how many free drinks she and her friends could score. And VERY far from the Devony who wanted to ride every indoor waterslide and didn’t bat an eye at sitting in a hot tub with a dozen strangers. 😂

It’s a sobering thought that I don’t know if I’ll be that person again, or when…or even if I want to? 

What comes next?

The other crazy thing contributing to this mindset is that I am moving in less than a week!  Leaving behind the best apartment I’ve had since moving to New York three years ago and, more importantly, the best roommates a girl could ask for.  This birthday is really the end of one chapter and the beginning of another!

Change is good though. Change creates new opportunities and new adventures, which is how we grow. So, to combat all these weird emotions on my day of birth: I exercised first thing in the morning, ran around all day, danced a lot, worked a ton, and have some really exciting updates to share with ya’ll!

#1: Photoshoot with @CapturedbyTymel 😎 

The fates, and our schedules, finally aligned and I was able to meet up with one of my favorite photographers in the city for my birthday! Ty has been a friend of mine since I first moved here, and any opportunity to shoot together usually results in some of my favorite pictures of the year.

Luckily, Ty and I were both fully vaccinated and able to get together for a few hours to shoot in Central Park. The weather could not have been more perfect and I felt an overwhelming amount of gratitude to have such a positive person to work with on this project.

Ty is based in NYC and I could not recommend booking a session with him enough! He truly does it all, commercial work/special events/lifestyle shoots/etc. and can be reached via his website or Instagram.

Click here to check out more work by my friend Captured by Tymel!

#2: Oh yeah, it’s a Food Crawl 🔥 

I don’t know if you know this about me, but I LOVE food crawls. I love to walk around in nice weather. I love to peruse menus (I’m real weird). And I love to get small amounts of all sorts of various foods to try (or one item per place)! I mean honestly, what’s not to love?

So, as a present to myself, I give you- Devony’s Self-Guided, Birthday/Moveout Food Crawl of Manhattan! (There’s probably a shorter name I could call this. 🤔)

In any case- it was another sober, distanced bday for me this year and I had a blast walking around and grabbing random takeout from all over the city!  Since I was picking things up to bring back to my apartment, this was a project stretched out over a few glorious days. See if I got any of your favs! 😇

Here’s a little teaser of the Food Crawl post coming later this week… 😏

#3: Baby’s First Business Trip!

I’ve already teased this a bit on my Instagram, but DiMattiaNeverQuits is almost three months old now and it’s about time for her first official business trip! I haven’t yet announced where it will be (trust me, it’s good), but I will be traveling with another amazing photographer friend of mine and I could not be more excited!

When I initially conceived of this blog, the intent was for it to be focused on travel. Currently, that’s an element I haven’t been able to partake in as often as I usually do for obvious reasons.  BUT, now that I am fully vaccinated (and my roommates, my partner, my family, and my photographer are also fully vaxxed), I feel a bit better about slowly easing back into traveling.

How are we planning this trip?

I know we are all ready to reset. I know it’s been a long and grueling year for all of us, and I am committed to finding new ways to live the life I want to be living. But be that as it may, the safety and health of the general public still HAS to come first. We are not out of the woods yet, and every one of us needs to do our part to prevent further lives being lost.

Keeping that commitment to safety and distancing will be at the forefront of these travel posts, and has already been taken into account throughout our excessive planning. Down to which airline I will be flying, PPE that will be brought along, which resorts/restaurants to visit that will have outdoor dining or take-out options, etc. We are not taking this lightly (as my 11 page itinerary can attest 😅).

One of the key elements I plan to document on this trip is how we have attempted to navigate all these factors post-pandemic.  Keeping ourselves and everyone else healthy is priority #1, and I am happy to answer any specific questions people have as we go!

TLDR; I made it another year around the sun. I am immensely grateful for the life I have and the people in it. I can’t wait to share with you all what adventures come next. 💕

Love and socially distanced hugs,

Dev

Share in the comments!

How did you spend your quarantine birthday this year?