2013 In Review!

I wasn't really the best at blogging this year, whoops! While it wasn't necessarily my favorite year (lots of family drama and a two-month bout of pink eye!), it definitely had plenty of happy moments worth remembering. Let's look at the highlights! It seems it was a lot of movies and parties and movie parties, as usual! I continued teaching my little toddlers (including my new favorite Sarah!), cooked new things, and tried stepping out of my comfort zone more. All in all, not terrible!

JANUARY

*We rang in the new year at a party hosted by our good friends Chris and Nicole, and had lots of fun with their photobooth app, haha.

*Saw Les Miserables, The Sound of Music, and Silver Linings Playbook

*Hosted an Amadeus movie party

*Met my amazing friend and pen pal Jess, who lives in Arizona. 

FEBRUARY

*Went to Disneyland with my mom and sister and had a blast

*Saw a really good show of Richard Jackson's work at OCMA with our friends Brendan and Sapira

*OSCARS! And I got first in the Oscar bets, correctly guessing 21 out of 24 categories. Bam!

MARCH

*My cat Wednesday returned after disappearing for a month. Ridiculous cat!

*Hosted a Godfather movie party. Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes!

*Went to the Getty museum with my roommates and their son

*Went to "The Golden Age of Illustration" art show with Craig and Dri

APRIL

 

*Saw "Legally Blonde: The Musical"

*Celebrated the city of Orange's 125th birthdayy with a big party in Old Towne Orange

*Went to our friend Chris's art show in Santa Ana

*Went to California Adventure with Craig

*Hosted a Wes Anderson art show/costume party. Some of the best costumes I saw all year!

*Went to the TCM Film Festival in Hollywood, saw Gilda and Libeled Lady and met director Allison Anders!

MAY

*Saw the musical "Parade" which was amazing

*Saw the Duke Ellington Orchestra perform in Costa Mesa

*Saw Before Midnight and Frances Ha, both of which I absolutely loved.

*Celebrated my 27th birthday by not having a party, which reminded me to have a party next time, haha.

JUNE 

*Visited the Aquarium of the Pacific and took a million pictures of fish

*Celebrated my 4 year wedding anniversary!

*Saw ET on the big screen! Love that movie!

*Hosted a Disney pajama party and had a blast

*Celebrated the downfall of DOMA and attended a celebratory wedding at the courthouse!

JULY

*Celebrated 4th of July with fireworks and good food!

*My roommates' son Jamey turned one, aww!

*Went to the OC Fair

*Found ourselves at Comic Con at the last minute. Woo!

*Saw Shrek the Musical!

AUGUST

*Went to an outdoor screening of the silent Wizard of Oz with my friends Danelle and Scott. The movie was awful but we had a good time anyway.

*Saw Blue Jasmine and The Spectacular Now which I loved.

*Drove into the hills to watch the meteor shower!!!

*Took a week off work to spend with Craig during which we went to Disneyland, went to an Edgar Wright themed art show, went to a Star Trek screening at Meltdown Comics hosted by Kumail Nanjiani and Matt Mira, spent a few days in a cabin in Big Bear, and saw John Williams at the Hollywood Bowl! So awesome.

SEPTEMBER

*My brother and his wife visited from Colorado and we celebrated his 30th birthday

*Hosted a Raiders of the Lost Ark themed pool party and it was possibly my favorite party ever.

*Saw "Funny Girl" in Fullerton

*Saw To Kill a Mockingbird on the big screen

*My niece Daniella turned one!

OCTOBER

*This is the best month ever. I watched my October movies all month and that was fine with me.

*Speaking of October movies? Watching American Werewolf in London on the full moon. The best!

*Went to the pumpkin patch with Dri and my mom

*Went to my friend Teryn's wedding

*Saw Gravity and The Shining on the big screen...old and new, both amazing.

*Hosted a Halloween party. I was a flamingo, and I won 60 bucks in the costume contest at work. Not bad!

NOVEMBER

 *Celebrated Dia de los Muertos at the art walk in Santa Ana

*Enjoyed being nerdy at both Craig's 30th birthday which was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed, and at our friends' double-birthday which was, well, nerd themed.

*Went to LACMA and saw lots and lots of super cool things.

*12 Years a Slave. Amazing.

*Went to a jazz show at my old high school, which featured my super talented friend Teryn singing (she teaches there too, how did we get so old?)

*Thanksgiving! Food!

DECEMBER

*Saw Elf, White Christmas, Christmas Vacation, and It's a Wonderful Life on the big screen, which made my cinema-lovin' heart sing!

*Saw Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano and it was INCREDIBLE.

*Went ice skating for the first time in probably 16 years, eep!

*Hosted a Home Alone Christmas party!

*Went on a boat ride to look at Christmas lights with our friend Mariah and company

*Went to Disneyland with my mom and watched lots of shows and enjoyed the lights. Have I mentioned I love Christmas lights?

*Christmas! Food! Presents! I really liked my loot this year, so excited!

*Celebrated Colin and Rachel's wedding, which was sweet and perfect!

And here are some books I read this year...!

Night Film by Marisha Pessl, The Last Nude by Ellis Avery, Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise by Sam Irvin, 100 Ideas that Changed Film by David Parkinson, Life Itself by Roger Ebert, A Little Princess and The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, and Anne of the Island by L.M. Montgomery, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and his Black and White Ball by Deborah Davis and Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris!

Movies I saw? 

WAY too many to list!

We're ringing in the new year with the newlyweds Colin and Rachel and other friends! I'll be sharing some goals I have for the upcoming year tomorrow. Here's to 2014!

Cheers!

photos by my hubby

Last night my good friends Colin and Rachel got married at one of the sweetest weddings I've ever been to. Everybody cried pretty much the whole time, and the whole thing was nerdy and cute and perfect. What a way for these two to ring in the new year!

What happened to December?

(me at my mom's on Christmas morning...presents and accordion in hand!)

OMG, this month went by crazy fast! Apologies for not updating in forever, I've just been busy busy busy. We had a new hire at work and they changed everything up in my classroom so that's been crazy. And this month I saw tons of movies, went to a Christmas mariachi show, went ice skating, threw a Home Alone Christmas party, went to Disneyland, baked tons of cookies, celebrated birthdays and Christmas, gave and received oodles of presents, and tonight my dear friends Colin and Rachel are getting married...whew! It's been a whirlwind!

Best of 2013 post coming soon, and plans for 2014! Crazy year!

Christmas Tunes!

Since it's the first work day of December, I've begun subjecting my coworkers to Christmas music. And I have a LOT of Christmas music. Here are some of my favorites!

Bing and the Andrews Sisters? This thing is gold.

Best Tracks: "Mele Kalikimaka" and "Jingle Bells"

This album is fantastic! It's multicultural, multilingual, and multifabulous.

Best Tracks: "Auld Lang Syne" and "Elohai, N'tzor"

Frank. Christmas. That's all.

Best Tracks: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and "Adeste Fideles"

This album feels appropriate for sunny southern California, where the words "white" and "Christmas" don't make sense next to each other.

Best Tracks: "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "We Three Kings of Orient Are"

Not even ashamed of this one. Okay, I am a little. It's Liberace!

Best Track: Christmas medley...you've gotta hear it!

Lounge-y and fabulous.

Best Tracks: "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Mambo" and "(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag"

See above description!

Best Tracks: "Warm December" and "Exotic Night"

A total classic for 90s girls. Remember when Mariah Carey looked like that?

Best Tracks: "All I Want For Christmas Is You" (obviously) and "O Holy Night"

Herb Alpert. Yum. For those who like their Christmas tunes with a lot of brass.

Best Tracks: "Jingle Bell Rock" and "Las Mañanitas"

Surf rock Christmas! Is there anything better than that?

Best Tracks: "Frosty the Snowman" and "Silver Bells"

If hearing this album doesn't make you want to go to a Christmas tree lot and take home a scrawny little tree, you have no heart.

Best Tracks: "O Tannenbaum" and "Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)"

The Ronettes and Darlene Love? Come on now.

Best Tracks: "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and "Frosty The Snowman"

AW look at his little reindeer face! So cute. This one is only for fans of the movie, unless you like sickeningly sweet singing reindeer, or Burl Ives.

Best Tracks: "There's Always Tomorrow" and "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas"

Oh Zooey. I do like your singing voice.

Best Tracks: "Blue Christmas" and "Christmas Day"

The Squirrel Nut Zippers take on Christmas!

Best Track: "Indian Giver" and "Sleigh Ride"...their rendition of this classic is fantastic.

This album is magical to me. We used to listen to it every Christmas morning when we came downstairs to open our presents. There's not a more beautiful thing on this earth.

Best Tracks: "The Monastery Bells" and "Silent Night, Holy Night"...and the whole thing.

Have any I should add to my collection?