Howdy!
Goodness gracious. The last time I posted was in October? Well, let's get caught up on the highlights shall we?
- I traded in my 2012 Beetle for a 2013 Beetle convertible in October. It's almost the same car (and package, warranty, etc) except that it is a year newer, has leather interior, and is a soft-top convertible. I drove it with the top down for the first week I owned it (after which point, rain moved in to town and I was forced to leave the top up). There are times when I miss the better aesthetic of the hardtop (and the trunk space!), but come the warm weather months I will be in heaven scooting around in my little dream car.
- I spent a fantastic week at my aunt's North Carolina cabin for Thanksgiving where we had eleven adults, five children, five dogs, a cat, and a hamster. We got about an inch of snow the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and it was absolutely magical. We played lots of games, ate lots of food, drank a lot of booze, and shared a lot of love. It was exactly the Thanksgiving holiday I wanted and needed.
- I traveled to Memphis for Christmas with my family. I'd fretted and agonized over what to do for Christmas since that's such a family-oriented holiday and isn't terribly conducive for taking in "orphans". Mom's birthday gift to me was airfare to come home. My nine day visit was the absolute perfect amount of time and I got to do almost everything that I wanted to do from spending a day with my father's family to seeing my bestie Scott multiple days to seeing old friends from high school a couple of times and, of course, spending lots and lots of quality time with my family. I even participated in a 4k fun run/walk through the Starry Nights light show with my brother David and his wife Melinda on my last night in town.
- I rang in the New Year at Courtney & Kevin's with a small group of friends. We played Cards Against Humanity for hours, gabbed about steampunky/pseudo-Victorian things, and turned on the tube just in time to see the ball drop. I received a wonderful New Year's kiss.
Looking ahead, I'm ready to get the basement cleaned out and made a habitable space as it's been languishing in disrepair for far too long (four years as of last September, to be exact). After I evict all the left-behind trash down there, I shall patch the ceiling and walls, slap paint on those walls, get some carpet installed, and call it a useful room. Mom thinks I should move my craft supplies down there and make it my new craft room. I think it would make a lovely workout space. There's no reason I couldn't do both, to be honest. Oh, and a place to put the bikes that isn't the dining room (although, hauling that 50 pound loop-frame bike up and down the stairs is less than pleasant...) So many possibilities there.
I've registered for the Steampunk World's Fair in NJ in May and am pretty pumped. I'm tagging along with Court and Kevin and a couple other friends who are mostly dropping out of the SCA and are focusing on neo-Vic costuming. I do hope that other events will pop up between now and then because I've acquired a lovely wardrobe and am eager to put it to use.
That's all I can share for now as I should gently ease back into journaling, heh.