a year in review

my mom always sends out these "newsletter" things with her holiday cards. apparently a lot of people do it. while i think it's weird, i can see the merit in the idea. it basically lets everyone you care about (and hopefully care about you) that you may not keep in regular contact with what you have been up to lately. it works for my family because we are spread out all over the country ~ the main hub of it all around the winnipeg area but also aunts, uncles, and cousins in vancouver and edmonton, a few more stragglers in other parts of ontario, manitoba, alberta, saskatchewan, and even the states. (not to mention, friends... ALL over the place, of course.) people come in and out of your life for various lengths of time but these letters are a good way to answer the question "i wonder what's new with so-and-so".
that said, i think it's incredibly dorky. but i'll do it anyway. because, overall, it's been a good year.

2013 started off with me in my last semester of ECE (early childhood education) at sheridan college. in my very first semester, i had heard of an opportunity to go to hong kong to do my third work placement (more in-depth story here, if you're interested) so i basically busted my ass to maintain my 4.0 gpa. i went through a fairly intensive interview process to be selected as one of the 8 diploma program students to go at the end of 2012. (i should have done a post for last year too. it was awesome! ;) anyway...)
i finished up classes in early april, then spent 2 weeks preparing for the month-long trip to china.
hong kong was exciting, a ton of fun, scary at times, very difficult at others, and perhaps even life-alternating. one day, i plan to actually update the hong kong blog i made and then you can read all about it, if you are so inclined.
a few days after returning, we had our graduation ceremony. in general, i found college to be pretty easy, academically. but some aspects were really hard ~ going to classes everyday, doing my homework, staying on top of things, handing assignments in on time. i tend to give up on things and never stick to anything for very long. graduation for me signified that i had actually done it. i had completed something. probably for the first time in my life. (little known fact, i TECHNICALLY didn't even really "finish" high school.) and not only had i finished the program, i did it with high honours. i was sort of proud of myself.

a few other great memories were made during the first half if the year. i saw weezer in concert (again) in detroit and met 3 of the 4 members (and their fanboy/historian/buddy karl) after the show, got their autographs on a setlist, and chatted with them a bit. that was awesome! i got to see both green day and muse in concert for the first (hopefully not only) time. AND, huge highlight, hubby accompanied me to see both marcus foster and bobby long play (different times) in toronto. at that point, i had only been a fan of both of them for less than a year. i had never seen either of them live before but listened to their music pretty much all day every day. after that, i only needed to add seeing sam bradley in person to that list...

with summer, came my "relaxing" time (which has continued until the present, even though it was only supposed to be a few weeks).
a few noteworthy things happened ~ there was a fun date-day with hubby at the zoo, my friend jodi, who i hadn't seen since fancamp, came to visit, and i somewhat stalked the set of a movie my favourite actor was filming in toronto. (can't wait to own it on dvd and squeal and be able to say i was standing right outside when that scene comes on.)

one typically boring day at the very end of july, my friend brina and i were discussing the upcoming san diego and LA shows bobby long was about the do, still on his extensive tour i had caught the beginning of. we were saying how great it would be to be able to see him together one day. she pointed out that i wasn't doing anything and i did still have a bit of money left... then she just happened to hint that it had been floating around the internet that sam bradley was in town and would probably be at the LA show too... there was a lull in the conversation and she finally said "you're looking up flight info right now, aren't you?" indeed i was. i made a very short visit to san deigo (through buffalo and vegas... craziness ensued. both ways. including an unexpected night over in vegas on the way home in which i had to wash my clothes with shampoo in a hotel room sink and dry them over a lamp.) i got to stay with brina, who i also hadn't seen since fancamp, for a few days and catch both bobby's shows ...and, yes, i did meet sam bradley. ('another guy' was in attendance, but i didn't meet him. i didn't even want to. not that night, anyway.) 
i can't quite go into detail about meeting sam, but it was SO MUCH MORE than i ever expected. we talked for a few minutes, even mentioned my tattoo. but the best part was being with brina the whole time, because without her imparting her musical knowledge to me, i wouldn't even know who sam was. and witnessing that in person... amazing! (i won't embarrass brina further than that.)

september was busy! hubby and i went to san francisco/oakland, with a 2-day stop in monterrey, for his cousin, noelle's wedding, which was lovely. it was so great to be able to spend that time with his family. i wish we had been able to go back again in october for noelle's sister, vanessa's wedding too!
from sf, i flew directly (sans hub) to portland, oregon, to meet up with my twigirls for our forks adventure. i had just seen brina the month before, and jodi in june, but miranda and deena, not since fancamp, and kristin, not ever! it was long overdue. and adventure, it definitely was. forks was everything i wanted it to be ~ time with my friends, twifangirling, reuniting with other people i hadn't seen since LA, like jenn m and tracy (hi!), finally getting an actual picture with erik (even though it sucks just as bad as the only one from LA, just that he and jack showed up was great), and perhaps the best part ~ redeeming myself by being able to hold my alcohol this time... unlike some. :) 
no, the best part was meeting stephenie meyer. to meet the creator of my obsession IN the holy land... indescribable. and i almost missed it. but thanks to my PE (pocket edward, for those who don't know), she actually called me back over to take a picture with her. 
i also got to meet some more great friends who i wouldn't want to be without in my life now. tami, jenn b, angie ~ ily! < 3  
i was very sad to have to go home again and i wish every day that i lived closer to all these wonderful people. 

i realize, this has turned very bloggy, instead of newslettery. i tend to start being cryptic and speaking only directly to certain people when talking about twilight-related stuff. i figure most people aren't interested.
if you stopped reading out of boredom, you can come back now. :P

the rest of the year has been quiet. i just finished level 1 of a wilton cake decorating class with my friend, geena, and we are about to start level 2. that's been really fun and something somewhat creative to keep me from going insane.
i'm unemployed, broke, and bored ~ but hopefully that will all change very soon. i have many more fun "adventures" planned for 2014! 

i should also mention, 2013 held the births of two new nephews for me! my sister's son, saul, in february, and my brother's son, ben, in november. congratulations!

this is a collage i made for day 29 of the fmsphotoaday december challenge ~ "best bit of 2013".
it hits pretty much everything i mentioned, so i thought i'd add it.

p.s. i forgot to mention that i also got 2 new tattoos this year. yay. (both have their own blog posts ~ here and here.)