Saturday, January 12, 2013

The Best of 2012

2012. What a year. I love Bill's photo filing system because it allows me to go through pictures year by year and see what happened. There were a lot of highlights and a lot of good pics. But let's begin this flashback already... 



There's no better place to start than with this 2012 highlight: Liss and Sean got engaged! To celebrate, we made them lots of sugary food, of course. 



My favorite art event of the year: the amazing outdoor light installation at Longwood Gardens this summer. Went once with Bill and once with the folks. Still is one of the coolest things I've seen in my lifetime. 



My best friend got married!!!! 


And she had an awesome party to boot! 


Speaking of parties, here's me at my birthday, turning 24. 


And here's Bill and I at our second-annual Halloween bash. This year didn't get cursed with a blizzard. 


Which meant people actually showed up - in awesome costumes, like this ingenious set by Sean, Jon, and Liss. 


Bill got a fun birthday party as well, with some of his favorite foods... 


... and favorite people.


In decorating news, we added a blackboard to our home... 


... which I now use as my artistic medium. :-) 


My parents came to visit this summer and we all went to Cape May again! (I love this picture of my dad.) 


And then we went to visit them. My dad bought a gun and Bill learned to shoot it. 



It was the year of popcorn....


I can't tell you how much popcorn I ate this year. I don't want to know. Oh, and I got a Whirleypop for Christmas so there will be more popcorn eating in 2013. 



We celebrated Leap Day with.... umm, tacos and margaritas... 




Yum. 

(Hey, at least it wasn't popcorn) 


We wrapped up my Great Indoors column with the City Paper, but not before some awesome final tours. Like my favorite... 


Speaking of City Paper, one of my contacts invited me to be part of an HGTV shoot this September... 





It was mostly long and ridiculous to "fake talk" but it was fun looking back. 


We enjoyed some fine weather and our fine backyard... 



We bought a projector for outdoor movies! 


We had the nicest Easter ever with amazing weather and relaxing activities...



Bill did his first, true adventure race (aka not a mud run. You needed a compass for this one)! 



He also finally destroyed his adventure pants... 


Luckily his mom put humpty-dumpty back together again and saved these old-faithfuls. 


I started my current job at the Anti-Violence Partnership... 


... and put on their first Exhibition of Art Therapy, one of their most successful marking events yet. 




Bill found his new love.... 


Peanut butter toast (old love) with honey and Sriracha! Crazy, but he loves it. 

We went to a couple awesome weddings -my best friend's and Bill's friend's (below). 


This one took place in the Baltimore Science Center. We dined with T-rex! 

Of course,  the wedding at Mr. Monopoly's castle also gets a shout-out: 



Bill and I went on a long and exciting, California vacation, covering Napa... 


... where we rode tandem.... 


... Yosemite... 


... where I basically ruined Bill's hike with my fear of lizards and complaining about my migraine... 



... and Catalina Island... 


...best remembered for its creation of "The Hero Hunter". 



I got to take several visits home in 2012, one of which involved me almost getting run over by a train... 



Phew! 

In other scary news, I rode a bicycle again! 

I didn't fall off once. :-) 


(And Bill got to make this beautiful video) 


In sad news, this was the last year of my favorite show, 30 Rock. Blerg. 


You'll be missed, nerds. 



In better news, my other best friend finally came to visit me! We hadn't seen each other in 2 years! She lived with us for a week and a half and was the best housemate I've ever had (besides Bill, although I think she gave Bill and I both a run for our money). 


We even got to spend a very cold, blustery and illegal night on the Jersey Shore! 


Bill and his dad got to take a woodworking class together over a weekend. 


They both built these beautiful boxes! I'm still so impressed! 



Sammy turned 21! And I made her a cake with a giant, pink paper flower on it like she was 10, haha. 


Oh, yeah, and this recently happened... 



Best picture all year... 



And that's that!!! It was a good year spent with good people. Slainte! (Oh wait, I don't have a drink in my hand.) 


I'm hoping 2013 brings even better things. I'm starting a career in real estate that I hope will both successful and enjoyable, we have a few more really close friends getting married, I'm determined to get back to my college weight, and a new McEwan will be born!!!! Sounds good already, right?