Auld Lang Syne, the 2013 Edition

2012 was an emotional clusterfuck, but it brought me some serious Character Building moments, not to mention YOU, my beloved book blogging friends.

I love not camping.

My friend Jasmin chooses words every year to focus her ambitions, and I've been joining her in this endeavor since 2009. She's a very skilled knitter (and mother and friend), so usually our words have to do with our mutual textile obsession and are then expanded into the rest of our lives. 2012's emotional rollercoaster meant that I hadn't knitted for almost a year, so for 2013 I had just one word: Heal. I've done a lot of that, as well as a lot of growing. Now, in 2014, I'm ready for some new words, and those are: 

Do What Scares You. 

For textiles, this means tackling the projects I've avoided - sweaters because I'm afraid they won't fit, finishing big projects because what if they turn out awful? (they're never awful), trading/selling the stashed yarn I no longer have a taste for, and learning to spin with more regularity, intention, and control. 

In life, this means being bolder about my choices.

But it's still 2013 for 12 more hours! Did I do awesome stuff this year? Yes. I went to some swanky parties, moved into what promises to be an awesome living situation, traveled a bunch, got much better at my job, and lived pretty excellently. Is it time for a photo montage? I THINK SO. 

My mom and I honored her mother's passing appropriately.

Megs and I hung out TWICE! (Alice and KAO and I hung out too, but there are no pictures of us?!?)

My brothers and I (plus Heather!) visited my Grandma Alicia twice as well.

I spent quality Tweedle Hunting time withe the Best Nieces

And then there were the BOOKISH things! The formation of the GIF Admiration Society, two utterly delightful Minithons that led up to Dewey's 24-hour Readathon in October, and innumerable hilarious discussions about books, authors, shipping, and Life-in-General via gChat. ANOTHER MONTAGE:

Long live the Potteralong.

I kissed a handsome man.

Rainbow Rowell is adorable.

AND:

Let's do this, 2014.

Things I Learned while on a Juice Fast

For those of you not in The Know, Alice and I decided to go on a juice fast for 3 days last week and have been whining about it on Twitter for... well, let's just say we pre-gamed by complaining. A lot.

All of you, that is. I already did.

1) Chewing food is a privilege and I will treasure it henceforth.

2) Grease 2 is my go-to quoting movie. At least thrice in those 3 days, I have likened a Serious Conversational Subject to this paragon of film-making camp.

Well THIS needs to change.

3) There are plenty of puns and double entendres to be made about juicing.

My friends have done their best to make them all, multiple times. The advantage to drinking only juice for 3 days is that the jokes just get funnier.

4) Juice fasting can tear friendships apart. We never used to argue (about food) on the Twitter, but now we do - or did. It was mostly being lovingly told to STFU.

5) My digestive system clearly rides the short bus to work. People everywhere (and by "everywhere" I mean "on the internet," duh) said that when they went on juice fasts, their intestines rose up in revolt - so I was prepared to be thankful that my desk is close to the ladies room, and that the ratio of ladies restrooms to ladies in my office is 1:1. But no! MY intestines are pleased with this new direction and would like to continue along it, thankyouverymuch. Fabulous.

6) Pulling the meat off of a rotisserie chicken on the last day of a juice fast requires an ASTONISHING amount of willpower. That posole had better be worth it!  (ETA: It was. Recipe here.)

Grapes of Wrath RAL - part Not Really

So you know how last week I was a mere nine chapters behind and I thought that was okay because I intended to catch up in time for THIS week?

Yeeeeaaaaa, that didn't happen. And please ignore that it's Wednesday and not the Laura-sanctioned TUESDAY designated for GoW RAL posts.

Instead, I moved into an apartment of my own and will now attempt to distract you from the paucity of my reading with pictures!

Day 0! Observe how clean and tidy everything is!

Day 1: Moving makes me feel like a hoarder.

Day 2: What you don't see is the giant stacks of boxes in the corners.

And today I got internet (as you may have noticed) like a Real Grown-Up. And have enough room in my kitchen to make actual dinner, which will end up being an apple, some sausage, stoned wheat thins, and wine. I might cook some macaroni and cheese if I'm feeling adventurous. (This getting fed at work thing has put a huge damper on my desire to cook.)

But wait! I do have gifs for you, and a personal story (tm).

 During the move, I parked my car in a neighbor's parking spot so we could unload the moving van directly into my house. And there it sat until yesterday afternoon because it refused to start.

And then the AAA guy listened to it and said it was probably a starter problem, which is something I can afford to fix even though I moved, so maybe things are okay? So he towed it to a mechanic whom my apartment manager recommended. I called this morning and again the afternoon: nothing except the threat of a blown head gasket, which will cost more than the car is worth to fix, not to mention more dollars than I currently have access to. AND THEN I looked said mechanic up on Yelp and he's fairly well-known for dickish mechanic behavior, so I might have to have AAA tow my car to another mechanic down the road.

See, I didn't need to do the reading to experience the Human Condition.

Bravo, 2012. YOU WIN AGAIN.