Two of my long-time friends got married, and I was a bridesmaid in one, which meant some of the best times ever with some of the coolest people I know. The Sister and I went to our first Comic Con in San Diego, and it was everything we didn't dare hope it would be (better to go in with no expectations & just enjoy). I finally met and got to geek out with an online fangirl friend; I met more online friends IRL this year too; and I found and made friends with lots of new people. I did a 5K of my own free will, though really it was just because it was the Color Run and I just wanted to be covered in colored powder.
So yeah, lots happened, and here's the recap!
JANUARY
Instead of making New Year's resolutions, I made a One Word Resolution to be PRESENT.
I reviewed an e-ARC of Elsie Chapman's debut DUALED and finally got include blog/Twitter friend Lydia Kang's book cover in a Waiting on Wednesday post!
The Sister & I got sucked into Downton Abbey, and I helped throw a gorgeous (if I do say so myself) Tuscany-themed bridal shower for one of my best friends!
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| [Photo: Gennia] |
FEBRUARY
Alz showed off her skills in both jewelry-making/soldering and book title poetry writing, while I revealed my (not-so-secret) origin story: how I got my nickname Krispy.
Plot twist, I willingly did a 5K run. Not so surprisingly, it was the Color Run & I did it for colors. [Photos from Gennia]
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The Bad B*tches Bachelorette Weekend happened, and it was straight-up magical. Fireside board games and snow in the red-rock desert.
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| [Photo: Gennia] |
The blog got a clean new look courtesy of the sweet and super-talented Caroline Richmond.
MARCH
We (re)discovered Theo James & finally had a new album from Justin Timberlake.
I met Mindee Arnett, with whom I later had a Dream Thieves ARC-sharing pact, and got a signed copy of her debut The Nightmare Affair.
Alz did a fascinating analysis of YA Dystopian first lines.
Then, we + the sister had a magical weekend in Palm Springs, where we imitated dinosaurs and attended our good friend's fabulous wedding. It was probably one of the most fun things of 2013 and/or ever. I mean, confetti cannons, c'mon!
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| [Photo: Docuvitae] |
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Loki celebrated his first birthday!
APRIL
April was National Poetry Month, and by some stroke of fate Lydia Kang & April Tucholke start tweeting poems based on medical terms. I joined in, and eventually we started #twtpoem for our Twitter poetry. Our first prompt was "atropine."
Loki & Sadie had play dates & they were nuts.
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| [Photo: Sister] |
Another childhood friend of Alz and mine had her wedding in April. We weren't part of the bridal party, so it was a lot more relaxing. It was a lovely ceremony and fun party!
(And shhh, Cake Club was accidentally formed.)
MAY
Alz dazzled us with more hand-made crafts, while I began my collection of "galaxy"-themed clothing.
We saw a bunch of movies; Lydia sent us a bunch of cool Control swag; and I finally met IRL a fellow fangirl, lady geek whom I've been chatting with for a year - Nicole!
We also hit up the Arrested Development Netflix tour stops and then finally watched the new season!
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Double good news: the Sister and I found out that we were in fact going to Comic Con! And Mindee Arnett was a doll and promised to share her The Dream Thieves ARC.
Sis, cousin, and I saw Imagine Dragons.
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| [Photo: Sister] |
JUNE
We presented to you the (still unsolved) mystery of Loki's disappearing poo.
The Sister hooked me up with a free pass to the Capital Cities show at the El Rey, and I signed up to do Ready.Set.Write!
We watched a bunch of movies & I got my signed copy of Neil Gaiman's THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE.
Oh, and we made an impulsive, late night decision to buy tickets to see Coriolanus in London (which is happening in less than a month!!) because of REASONS, ahem.
Loki swam to keep cool.
JULY
Thanks to Mindee Arnett and the ARC she sent me, I got to read THE DREAM THIEVES months in advance!
Geeked out (& roped the Sis in too) over 4th of July with my US Revolutionary History gear; I got my "unicorn" (purple, pink, red) hair; Loki maybe killed a bird, but he's not sayin'.
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| Knowing this, I'm sure NO ONE is surprised I LOVE the show Sleepy Hollow. |
Then, we had the geekiest weekend of our lives at SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON!!! (And I got to meet Twitter friend Lauren.)
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Hugh Dancy! And Loki (Tom Hiddleston)!!
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Here's a post with all the SDCC recaps (scroll to the bottom).
Ended the month with a Justin Timberlake & Jay-Z concert at the Rose Bowl.
AUGUST
Girl's trip to Las Vegas! Of course, we were silly. We imitated One Direction (who were also in town that weekend, so our hotel was overrun with teenie boppers [do we still use that term? clearly, I am old now]) and took a pic with a Backstreet Boys poster.
Discovered a most delicious food place in J-Town with the Sis and Alz. Also, was lent an ARC of Lydia Kang's debut CONTROL from April Tucholke!
Celebrated my birthday in various ways: a post from Alz, seeing The Neighborhood, eating a hamburger-shaped birthday cake, receiving bedazzled e-cards of Tom Hiddleston from a bestie.
Also of note, N*SYNC briefly reunited (whut), Ready.Set.Write! ended, and I got really into poetry again.
SEPTEMBER
Alz wrote another interesting post, a brief analysis of the color spectrum of her read books and her reading habits, and I reviewed Stephanie Kuehn's debut CHARM & STRANGE.
Also, she and the Sister did another craft project: this epic Loki dog jacket (for Loki).
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| [Photo: Sister] |
This was also her birthday month. We went to a kids science museum to see dinosaurs and to Lego joust!
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| [Photo: Sister] |
But the best concert we saw this month (maybe all year) was THE BACKSTREET BOYS at the Gibson Amphitheater! Went with my besties/ fellow fangirls. Best time ever! I wish this happened every year.
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| [Photo: Gennia] |
OCTOBER
Family trip to the San Diego Safari Park ended up with us making friends with giraffes and rhinos!
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| My pic is in the SD Zoo magazine for Jan 2014! |
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| [Photo: Cat York] |
You mean, Nerdvember? The Sister & I did a challenge to incorporate geekiness into our every-day wardrobe. I think we did pretty well.
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Also, there was NaNoWriMo, the release of the THOR: THE DARK WORLD & the sister wrote a Buzzfeed article about it.
We got to see the THE BOOK THIEF and CATCHING FIRE movies early because the Sister was super lucky and won advanced screening tickets to both.
Alz shared the Button Quail Murder mystery, and it was also her birthday month!
Our other friend celebrated her birthday too with karaoke and Disneyland....where we met Thor.
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| [Photo: Sister] |
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| [Photo: Sister] |
There was, of course, Thanksgiving and a Michael Bublé concert too.
DECEMBER
Our post-Thanksgiving sales purchases arrived (Blackmilk and ShadowplayNYC) and Loki got a stuffed dragon toy that we named Benedict Cumbersmaug.
The Sister and I built a book tree.
Alz and I participated in the always-fun YA SUPERLATIVES BLOGFEST before we took a blogging break for the holidays.
We baked cookies and played board games with friends. The Sister and I spent a day off with our mom, and we went to an art gallery and photobombed Sauron.
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Even Loki(s) got into the Christmas spirit!
(And we had the last Cake Club meeting of the year.)
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| [Photo: Gennia] |
So that was 2013! What a year!
Q4U: What are some of your fondest memories of 2013?
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5 comments:
Wow! What an amazing year. (And so high energy--I got tired just looking at the pictures. ;)
I loved seeing all the photos. Thanks for sharing.
Looks like you had an amazing year!
I am totally making a book Christmas tree this year ^_^
oooh what an awesome year! thanks for putting it together to share with is. looks like you've had a ton of fun! :D
Geesh, 2013 looks like one heck of a party. I wish I was your traveling friend.
That book tree is the coolest idea ever!
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