2013 - my year in review

It’s time for my annual look back at the year that was... in this case unlucky 2013.

In general, I feel like 2013 sucked. I hate being a Negative Nellie (because it is technically still #nocomplaintsdecember) but it really did. Sure there was lots of fun with friends. But I know very few people who weren’t affected by a health issue (either their own or someone close to them) or death this year. And that kind of outweighs a fancy dinner out. I’ve also found myself in another not-conducive-to-intellectual-growth/overly-stressful work situation. And to top it off (and add some levity to my Negative Nellie-ness), Richie Sambora a) left Bon Jovi b) was kicked out of Bon Jovi c) is no longer in my favorite band since I was 12... so does it really matter what happened? Ugh.

Anyway, it’s not surprising in reviewing my optimistic outlook for 2013 -- written at the end of 2012 (pre-new job/illness/death/sadness/the end of my favorite band since I was 12) -- that very little stands out as overly positive this past year.

So I say good riddance 2013 – don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

Here's to a happy, healthy 2014 and hoping that, as Howard Jones once sang, things can only get better!

Year in Review Part 1 -- My 2012 Goals Scorecard:

1. Physical - Health / Live Healthily: Eat healthy food most of the time, but don't deprive myself. Maintain my goal weight and work out at least two-to-three times per week. 
• Half Check/Half Fail: I’ve lived most of the year within +/- 3 pounds of my goal weight. My workouts also fluctuated. I did really well this summer, even meeting a mini-goal of going to Pop Physique three times/week for an entire month and riding my bike every Sunday. But as emotional stress multiplied 10 fold in October, my workouts stopped. Too tired. Then Baking-palooza 2013 occurred. I bake good cookies. :)
2. Emotional Health / Let Go and Move On: I've spent a lot of time the last few years trying to force things to work that are more harmful to my psyche than helpful. Why? Because I like being hurt and disappointed, or getting stressed out and pissed off? No more. Life is too short. And it should be about enjoying time with the people in your life that selflessly care about you. I've learned who my true friends are, especially over the last few months, and they are where I will focus my free time in 2013. No looking back.
• Check: And no further comment...that would just stress me out/tick me off ;)
3. Happiness For Me / Travel: When meeting with my new investment adviser in November to plan my financial roadmap to retirement, I listed the following as my travel goal -- Actually take my vacation days each year, traveling somewhere domestic and relaxing at least one week per year, with a longer international trip every other year. Since I went to Italy last year, that means that 2013 will include a relaxing domestic trip -- I could visit an island other than the Big Island in Hawaii or head someplace on the mainland with good food and/or spas (like NYC, Santa Fe or New Orleans... or a place closer to home on my "places to visit" list like Carmel or Ojai).
• Fail: The only place I went this year was to New Mexico for a memorial service. But I’m itching to go somewhere relaxing… soon.... please.
4. Happiness For Others / Help Good Causes: Once again I will lead a team for "Walk MS" in April to raise funds for the National MS Society. This will be super easy since this year there will be a walk in the San Fernando Valley, about three minutes from my house (aka: where I ride my bike around the actual Lake Balboa). I also want to donate my time to a charitable organization or two. It would be great to find a charity that needs my editorial or home improvement skills so I'm also increasing my knowledge as I give. 
• Half Check/Half Fail: My Walk MS team was the #2 fundraising team at the San Fernando Valley Walk, raising more than $5000! And I placed #212 in Southern California/Nevada individual fundraising. Whoo-hoo! But that’s all I did this year. However, since this awful disease personally affects my family every day, I will take that as a proud achievement.
5. Creative Growth / Write More: Keep blogging five to 10 times per month. AND (this is the challenge) write a short story.
• Half Check/Half Fail: Seven months of the year saw 5+ blog posts. Yay! That short story… yeah, didn’t happen.
6. Intellectual Growth / Read Books: Recycle my goal to read at least one book per quarter in 2013, but this year, one MUST be a classic novel that's been sitting on my bookshelf too long.
• Fail: I read Nora Ephron’s “I Feel Bad About My Neck” early in the year, in hopes of being inspired to write and wrote down a bunch of ideas for personal essays. I also started Pride and Prejudice and made it to page 22. Then I went back to work. I did just finish the new Bridget Jones novel I got for Christmas with the other Mr. Darcy in it (sort of) though... probably because I've been feeling very Bridget lately. :p
7. Culinary Growth / Host a Dinner Party: In addition to the annual events I host for major holidays, I want to throw a dinner party where I can use my fancy drinking glasses and linens and cook an actual meal in my kitchen that is new to my limited cooking repertoire (ie: not appetizers, spaghetti or something grilled).
• Half Check/Half Fail: Does hosting afternoon tea count? I had to bake scones and brew tea not in bags. And I used my grandparent’s 70-year-old china ;)
8. General / Try New Things: Not sure how this will specifically manifest over the coming year and I'm also not going to worry about it. I just know I want to be open to new experiences whether that means trying a new food, visiting a new place or learning a new skill.
• Check: I actually did a LOT of this in early 2013 (pre-new job) – finally saw the Rose Parade floats  up close and visited the Queen Mary, went to tons of new restaurants (like Bouchon, Yamahiro, Beso, Red O, Laurel Hardware, and a Mozza – finally!). I can confidently say I checked a bunch of places off my “Adventures in my Own Backyard” list this year. Yay!

Year in Review Part 2 -- 2013 month-by-month breakdown of memories:

January:

• Saw the Rose Parade floats up close
• Massage #1 at not Burke Williams (supporting small local businesses with long lost Spafinder.com gift cards. Yay!)
• The NHL returned from a four-month lockout! Yay! The Kings raise their "Stanley Cup Champions 2012" banner (...then lose to Chicago. Boo!)
• Visited the Queen Mary

February:

• Burke Williams visit #1
• Lots of lunches and dinners – I was a networking queen this month ;)
• Poker Peeps Go To Disneyland

March:

• PaleyFest – but only one session this year, for Once Upon A Time
• Downtown Adventure Day, pre-Kings vs. Calgary
• Sunday Funday at Descanso Gardens
• Had tea and explored The Huntington Library

April:

• Saw my pseudo-niece Kiera dance in the Disneyland parade. She was awesome :)
• Walk MS at the Woodley Park. My team raised more than $5,000 for MS research. Thanks to everyone to sponsored us!
• Saw ¾ of Bon Jovi. Sad, sad, sad....

May:

• The 2013 Summer Movie Blockbuster Club kicks off its season with Iron Man 3
• Started new job full of hopes and big plans
• Burke Williams visit #2
• Summer grillin’ season kicks off!

June:

• The Kings made it to the Western Conference Finals, losing to eventual 2013 Champs Chicago. I was in the co-owner’s suite for the final home game of the season (Thanks Katharine!)
• Opening night of the Hollywood Bowl with Shawn... and Steven Tyler!

July:

• Hosted my 4th 4th of July BBQ 
• Goo Goo Dolls concert at one of the final Universal (I mean Gibson) Amphitheatre shows ever.
• My friends Daryl and James got hitched at the British Residence. Fancy!

August:

• My month of Pop Physique 3x/week! I rock(ed)
• Saw Heart and The Jason Bonham Experience at The Greek Theatre, crossing Heart off my concert bucket list. Qball and I were the youngest people there :)
• Annual John Williams show at the Bowl, with narration by Julie Andrews!

September:

• Saw Rick Springfield at The Canyon Club, took video of him performing with surprise guest Dave Grohl, my video of said performance on YouTube gets posted by RS himself (well, his social media manager). I feel like a contributing member of the digital universe again.
• Back to Pilates after a long, work-induced break. (Note: This lasted about 3 weeks)

October:

• Hockey starts at its regularly scheduled time
• Maroon 5 and Kelly Clarkson at The Bowl
• Pink at Staples Center
• Katy Perry/Sara Barilles/Elie Goulding at The Bowl
• My Grandpa Joe passed away
• My mom had surgery that lasted way too long
• Work stress. Big hopes and plans begin to fade...
• Stress, stress, stress

November:

• More work stress... a third of our staff is cut, in addition to previously mentioned hopes and big plans.
• Hosted a Stella and Dot jewelry party. Bought lots of sparkly stuff to cheer myself up.
• Finally completed my home re-fi. Woot!
• Justin Timberlake at Staples
• Thanksgiving Dinner #5 at my house for Mom, Dad, little bro Ryan and me. Meaningful things to be thankful for this year.
• Michael Buble at Staples

December:

• Back to TX/NM for Grandpa's memorial service. Sad. But good seeing family, and one of my childhood BFF's I haven't seen in person since I was 12 (Hi Denise :)
• Baking-palooza 2013
• Christmas Cocktails 2013
• Afternoon Tea on the 6th Day of Christmas with Daryl and James

merry christmas to all!

oh christmas tree... the family-made edition

On my final day of ornaments, I'm focusing on those ornaments made by members of my family, because family is what Christmas is all about. 

Enjoy the holiday with those you love... Merry Christmas! 

This beautiful bird feeder was made by my grandpa.
Since he recently passed away, this ornament means even more to me now. 

My Aunt Trudi made a ton of these cute wood ornaments when I was a kid as a gift to our family. Most of them are on my parents' tree, but I've managed to "borrow" a few for mine. Each side is a holiday/winter scene cut from cards or wrapping paper, then shellacked on a thinly sliced piece of wood, held on the tree by red ribbon. She's so crafty!

I think my Granny made this... she gave me this last year from her collection,
in addition to cute needlepoint snowman coasters :)

oh christmas tree... the newbie edition

Due to the fact that I have a heating vent pointing right at the spot where my Christmas tree goes, I had to get a fake tree this year in order to not have crispy, crunchy pine needles all over the floor a week after I put the tree up.

I wasn't sure if I'd have room for all of my ornaments on my new, permanent tree. So I didn't allow myself to buy any new ornaments this year... until I put the tree up and realized I had LOTS of room for more ornaments. Yay! 

Here are the new additions to my collection, all added since Thanksgiving :)

My first gingerbread house ornament!

Purple hummingbird

Cute burlap teddy bear

A gingerbread wreath

A purple hatted snowman -- this was a gift... I swear!

Peppermint tree

And these are all from Cracker Barrel in New Mexico -- so cute! :)

A very trendy country owl

Yes, another snowman... but this one is wearing a doggie hat!

Two angels -- the little one is actually from Le Target.

The bigger one came from Cracker Barrel though.

Dancing elf

oh christmas tree... the snowman army edition

If there is one theme that is easily evident on my Christmas trees, it is snowmen. 

I have a LOT of snowmen. 

This is an arial shot of some of them last Christmas after I unpacked them:

I've added more snowmen since then. I really need to stop. But they're so cute! 

Here are some closeups of some of the really cute ones. Don't ask me where these came from... most of their stories are a blur. All I know is that they keep multiplying....

oh christmas tree ... the cupcakes and cocktails edition

It's Saturday, so today's ornament collection shall focus on two of my favorite things to share with friends on fun nights out -- cocktails and cupcakes!

A group of my gal pals and I used to actually go out to dinner for each other's birthdays and share cupcakes for dessert after every meal. (The restaurants we took our own boxes of Sprinkles, Martino's and Big Sugar cupcakes to LOVED us! ;). I'm pretty sure at least one of the ornaments below (if not more!) came from that fun group.

Cheers!

New twinsy (almost) cupcake ornaments I just bought on Monday at a cute gift shop packed with ornaments near my office -- Ivy Glen Gift Shop

I think this is from a Club Cupcaker :)

This one might be from Club Cupcake too.
It's a Cakespy cupcake. 

I only have two alcoholic beverage glasses on the tree... hmmm.

oh christmas tree... the around the world edition

Day 2 of my ornament collection is all about my ornaments from all over the world, courtesy of my or my friends' travels. Enjoy!

The Venetian mask was a gift from my friend Cwennen's trip to Italy last year, while the Happy Christmas ornament came from my friend Daryl's weeks of working in London last year. 

This beautiful painted ornament is from my visit to the Accademia Museum in Florence, Italy,
home of Michelangelo's David.

Near Ghiradelli Square at the San Francisco Wharf, close to the cable car turn-about, there is a little couple that makes these cute, hand-painted ornaments. These are from my first two trips to San Fran.

A ceramic, spinning windmill from Solvang.

My friend Katharine brought me this cuckoo clock
after she finally made it to Vienna.

From my 2nd trip to - and 1st trip to the very top of -
Multnomah Falls @ The Columbia River Gorge

This delicate carved ornament is from my parents'
Alaskan cruise a few years ago.

Sanddollar from Cannon Beach, OR (aka where they
filmed "The Goonies")

Seashell Angel from Catalina

             

Hawaiian Rudolph, from Trip #2 to the Big Island.

A whimsical penguin, from a 4th of July family reunion in Ouray, Colorado ... in ...wait for it... 2004 :)

oh christmas tree... the hockey edition

My friend Diana is posting an ornament a day this month on Instagram for the 25 days leading up to Christmas. (That will equal about 1/100th of the ornaments on her tree -- ha!)

I like that idea, but not enough to do it everyday for 25 days. ;) So I'm officially kicking off my own abbreviated version of showing off my tree -- six themed days of ornaments, showcasing the collections that have manifested throughout my Christmas tree over the years.

Tonight, in honor of the Los Angeles Kings' 4-1 victory over the San Jose Sucks.... I mean Sharks... here are most* of my hockey-themed ornaments:

 

Hockey-playing S'mores Snowman! 

Autographed Rob Blake Kings Ornament

Scary Wayne Gretzky Hallmark Ornament from
the year he was an evil Ranger.

One of the most important ornaments on my tree...
It's been placed front and center the last two Christmases : )

*Note: I have a bunch more hockey ornaments on my parents' tree, but my mom won't let me take them from the "Family Ornament Collection" to my own. Maybe I'll take pics of those this weekend :)