2013: An "Ace" Odyssey

It feels like just yesterday I was waiting to see what 2013 would bring me, and it has brought with it a lot of changes to my life, as well as a lot of neat opportunities and events! Starting off on a bright note, New Year's Eve ended with a Pink Floyd cover band playing the song, "Eclipse", with gigantic balloons raining down upon the crowds. What better way to have begun the year? Here are some of the highlights from it!

---> I started dating/got engaged to a wonderful guy!



Long story short, Cameron is someone that I have known for years but never had an actual conversation with until my birthday back in 2012. When we finally did talk, it turned out that we had tons of things in common, and our senses of humor meshed really well. We could talk for hours about anything (still can, we ended up staying up until 2 in the morning...), and after a few months of growing to be close friends, we realized that we would make make a pretty smashing couple. So, on Valentine's Day of this year, we made things official. Then, on my birthday of this 2013, he asked me to marry him, exactly a year after we started talking. I'm too too excited! We joke about dressing like Belle and the Beast from the Disney version of Beauty & The Beast... but I'm not actually joking, bwhahaha!

---> My family moved to a new house/Cameron moved in with us!



After living in a cute ranch style duplex for two years, we got the news from our landlords that they wanted to move their wheelchair bound family member into our apartment (since it's very wheelchair accessible). They were nice about it and gave us three months to find a new place to live. I was honestly very stressed out about the entire process, but it ended up working out because we moved into a place that I very much love! Cameron even got to move in with us, which made life a lot more wonderful. (I live with my sister, her husband, my daughter, and now Cameron.) We also have a lot more room which is nice for our family size, plus we all don't have to pay much in rent since it's split four ways. All in all, it's great. I hope we can live here for a long time.

---> My daughter turned 3!



It's difficult to fathom that three years passed by so quickly. I can look at her and see the newborn baby that she once was. Now, Lilah is a very vivacious and loving little girl. I remember being so excited when she spoke her very first word back before she was a year old (it was "doggy"), and now she just talks and talks and talks! Her vocabulary has expanded exponentially this year, and she is even more fun to play with now, especially since she can understand concepts that she couldn't before. Though she definitely has a bossy streak, I think she has a wonderful personality and I can't wait to see what kind of person she will continue to become.

---> I learned how to watercolor!



Back in January, I started taking a Beginning Watercolor class at UAA. My drawing teacher taught the class, which is one of the reasons why I wanted to take it. Not only is he an excellent teacher, but he is a damn amazing watercolor artist, and if you have the time I highly recommend checking out his portfolio at his website! When I first started the class, I was really sure that I was going to fail immediately. I had hardly watercolored at all in my life, and seeing all the amazing things that the Intermediate Watercolor students could do made me doubt myself. However, as the class progressed, I ended up gaining more confidence and I felt like my skill level also improved! I ended up falling in love with watercolor so much that I signed up for the Intermediate class in this coming Spring semester!

---> I met Joe Rogan and Candy Chang!


Blurry picture courtesy of my old crappy phone camera.

I've been a fan of Joe Rogan's stand-up comedy for some time now, as well as an avid listener of his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. When I found out that he was coming to Anchorage, I bought tickets immediately! The show was great, and Rogan was hilarious. There were a lot of drunk hecklers, and he handled them very well with some good humor. After the show, Rogan stayed after for over an hour for a meet and greet, in which everyone was able to say hi and take pictures if they wish. He was very nice and definitely gets points for being willing to meet everyone who came! I also got to meet Candy Chang, who is the woman behind the Before I Die community experiment that spread worldwide. I wrote about meeting her in this blog post from November.

---> I was in the Student Spotlight!



I wrote about being featured in the Student Spotlight section of the UAA website back in November (read about it here), but I never wrote about the responses I received. I didn't think that many people actually saw it, but I started to get comments from teachers and people in my classes, telling me that they had seen it. I am kind of awkward when it comes to getting that kind of attention, but I handled it better as time wore on. I am very happy that I had such an awesome opportunity, all thanks to Kathleen!

---> I started this blog!



I used to blog a lot more back when I was a teenager, but I kind of lost my motivation for it (as well as the internet) for a few years. When we moved in with my sister and her husband, I had the internet again! It took a while before I finally got the inspiration again, and it was all due to some of my favorite bloggers. It's also a kind of catharsis for my mind, especially when I was going through so much stress this semester of classes. I also missed the process of documenting my life and all of the projects that I will/did embark on. I really hope to keep making the most out of this blog, and that next year will brings lots of great memories and experiences for me to share. Thank you to everyone that has supported this blog! I love the sense of connection that occurs within the blogosphere, and I look forward to reading what everyone else will do in 2014!

Comments

  1. It always blows my mind and you (and Katie) are moms, because I think of you as being my age! Anyway, this was one of the few recap posts that I actually really enjoyed--because I found out some stuff I didn't know about you and your fellow and all the moving stuff--and also just because you're so likable and genuine. I'm really glad that you decided to get back into blogging and that we've connected!

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    1. I am glad too, Sonya! I am very happy that I started this blog and that I have a way to connect with the people whose blogs that I love to read. What with various other networking sites that emphasize the quick and to the point interactions (which is totally legit), it's nice to take a step back and actually learn more about a person, rather than through little 'tweets' or facebook posts.

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    2. For sure! I think it's good for my fractured attention span, too, haha.

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