Happy New Year friends!! My oh my, what a year! To say 2020 was rough for a lot of us, is a complete understatement. Never did I imagine a year like this but I am happy to say we got through it! I am definitely hoping for brighter days ahead in 2021. Every year I like to recap my year and share if I met my goals for the previous year. It was a challenging year, but I am happy to say we tried to keep things positive around here.
First of all, my heart goes out to anyone who has endured or dealt with great loss during this time. This was an unimaginable year as we were glued to our tv’s and we had to completely shift our lives around. We spent more time at home and had to put plans on hold. This recap is just my highlight reel of the year. I know I don’t share this, but I also had my moments of feeling defeated, sadness, anger, and a constant worry of the unknown. So please keep that in mind.
As a Navajo woman, I think it’s important to always see the positive in things and it’s a teaching that my mom has instilled within me. No matter the circumstance, you should try to find the positive. One of the biggest positives of this past year was SLOWING DOWN!! I just read last year’s recap, you can read it here and it was jammed back! I honestly don’t know how I did all of that.
I’ve always been a go, go, go type person and I love traveling. So that has been my lifestyle for the last few years. This past year, I spent more time at home and learned to appreciate just being content at home here in Arizona. I’ve always considered New Mexico my home and would visit monthly to visit my family. But it was the first time Arizona felt like home and I had time to make my home feel cozier.
Like everyone else, I spent more time cooking and baking at home. One of my goals this past year was to use more Indigenous ingredients and we sure did! With more time on my hand to be in the kitchen I was able to connect with Indigenous owned food companies. My favorite two Indigenous food finds this year was Seka Hills Olive Oil and Ziibimijwang maple sugar. I’ve used these frequently in my kitchen this past year. I shared this post here about a Native Foods Box that highlights indigenous food makers. You can read it here.
Another goal I had was to create more videos and we did create a YouTube channel showcasing lifestyle and food content. You can subscribe here if you haven’t. I really enjoy this new outlet as I am a visual person and video allowed for this. We also incorporated more videos on Instagram and Facebook with Tik Tok, Instagram Reels, and Instagram Stories. I am excited to venture into the video more this year.
The most popular recipes this past year were Fancy Blue Corn Cookies, Fancy Navajo Magic Bread, and Fancy Blue Corn Cupcakes. Since a lot of us were cooking at home more often, these simple and easy recipes were comfort foods to many. I loved seeing everyone’s creations and it made me feel connected to all of you. My goal was to create more recipes and we had 14 new recipes this year! Fancy Navajo Maple Pumpkin Cookies was my personal favorite.
Fancy Blue Corn Cookies 
Fancy Blue Corn Cupcakes 
Fancy Navajo Magic Bread
My last goal was to work with more businesses and creatives which we were thankfully able to do this past year. We continued our partnership with Fry’s Food Stores on multiple campaigns throughout the year. I was able to partner with Press Coffee and they hosted a coffee meetup with a some of my favorite Native Women Businesses Owners/Creatives right before the pandemic hit. You can read about that here. I also worked with Jersey Mike’s which is a sandwich company I have loved for years. Unfortunately, the campaign was released right when stay at home orders were starting.
We also collaborated with some of my favorite brands like Sabra Hummus, Jot coffee, Original Nathan’s Franks, and Whataburger to name a few. Supporting Native Businesses was even more important this year and I was happy to work with Geo’s Bags and Blacksheep Originals. I am extremely thankful for these wonderful partnerships.
One of the biggest highlights of this past year was being nominated for Phoenix Magazine’s Great 48! It was such an honor to be among a wonderful list of people doing amazing things in the valley. If you want to read about that, head to the article here.
It was one interesting year and I am so thankful for all of you. This past year we grew to 16k Instagram and 13.8K Facebook friends! That’s over 29.8K Fancy Navajo Friends!! . I really do appreciate all of your comments, DM’s, and likes. Thank you for taking time out of your lives to be part of mine. I am looking forward to a new year and hopeful for things to get better in 2021!!
This year I am going to keep my goals to myself but rather share some upcoming plans for the new year. One thing I enjoyed this past year was doing virtual food demonstrations and we even did a virtual meetup in December. It felt great to connect with others again, even if it was virtually.
What I love most is teaching others to cook and bake and this will be an extension of my website and serve as a more personal experience. This year, we will be venturing into this area more! I hope you are excited and we hope to have an online class open just in time for Valentine’s Day. So, stay tuned for that!
We will also continue to focus on more recipes and lifestyle topics throughout the year. So make sure to follow me on Instagram for the most up to date information. I am more active on Instagram than any other platform, so if you don’t want to miss anything make sure to follow me there. Until then, wishing you a wonderful and prosperous year!!
If you aren’t already, make sure to follow me on my social media channels:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheFancyNavajoblog/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCKCtfv3DmUxWezPiUyp8nw
Blog: https://thefancynavajo.com/
Did you catch my last blog post about 5 American Indian Foods you should try? Then head to this post here. https://thefancynavajo.com/2020/10/09/american-indian-foods-native-food-connection-food-box-bringing-made-produced-foods-to-your-table/
