2013 Year In Review

There were so many great moments in 2013, it was hard to pick out what to include in my annual Year-In-Review post.  What a great year!  It was full of time with friends and family, good food, crafting, concerts, movies, books, running, traveling, and cute Noodle moments.  I've done a Year-In-Review post every year since 2002, with the exception of 2012.  I didn't do it last year and I missed it!

Before I get to the actual verbiage, here’s a video I created with the best moments of 2013.

 

 

ALL ABOUT US:

• Went to Carnitas Snack Shack for the first time, on a very cold January night
• For Todd's birthday, his desk at work got decorated, I gave him the Modernist Cuisine at Home book, and we celebrated with dinner at Amaya
• My childhood favorite team the SF 49ers went to the Super Bowl and lost
• I finally got an iPhone
• Todd built himself a new computer
• Todd got some nice Klipsch speakers
• Went to Stone Brewery for the first time
• My birthday dinner at Indigo Grill
• Bites San Diego North Park walking food tour
• Bookstore date night
• Todd became a Mensa member
• Todd ran the Xterra Black Mountain 15k
• We had Umami Burger for the first time
• We made mason jar salads
• Todd finished digitizing his CD collection and organized them into boxes
• We had an amazing dinner at Addison Grand Del Mar to celebrate Todd's new job
• I met up with Donna Jannuzzi at Starbucks
• We discovered Lourdes Mexican's chicken soup
• We had dinner @ Karl Strauss to celebrate our anniversary, and picked up our new dresser (gift to ourselves) at West Elm
• Todd left his job and began a new adventure at a new job
• We repainted our bedroom and got a new bed frame, new king mattress, and new dresser
• I started doing Weight Watchers online
• We bought a big TV for the workout room
• Todd's work had Gin Blossoms at their amphitheater for a concert
• Noodle celebrated his 3rd birthday
• We went to the San Diego Velodrome for the first time
• Todd started the Red Pants Club at work
• We had dinner at Monello - my first splurge meal after a month on Weight Watchers
• Bernardo Winery for afternoon jazz on the patio
• Grill Fest & Weezer concert at Del Mar Fairgrounds... sort of
• Bookstore date night #2
• Todd was MC at Bark For Life
• Todd's company's summer picnic
• We discovered plumcots
• Happy hour at Donovan's, followed by Padres vs Giants game at Petco Park
• Dinner @ URBN followed by dessert at Heaven Sent
• Todd went to Conjecture 2013
• We went to Bates Nut Farm to pick pumpkins
• Todd ran the Lake Hodges 15k
• We carved a Scooby Doo pumpkin
• We dressed up as Fred & Velma for Halloween
• We made Team Dumpling t-shirts for Tough Mudder
• Todd did the Tough Mudder again.  This time with Shannon and Mike.
• Breakfast at Stratford Cafe & Pacifica Breeze
• Todd got an iPad Air
• Ohio State beat Michigan
• Bought an Eye-Fi card for vacation
• Christmas lunch at Pacifica Del Mar
• NYE at home with homemade roman burgers & baked french fries

 

FAMILY & FRIENDS:

• Went to a Peruvian restaurant for the first time, with Dejah & Roby
• Lunch with old work friends at Mimi’s Café
• Club M with Roby for live salsa music
• Dad came to visit and brought a bunch of old photo albums for me
• Amy came to visit and did the Tough Mudder with Todd.  We also ate at Pt Loma Seafoods, En Fuego, Phil's, and Dumpling Inn.  Amy & Todd went to the Museum of Man.  We all went to the Torrey Pines Gliderport.
• Went to church with Monika & David and had dinner at Tender Greens afterwards
• Cassi moved to Washington.  We ate a goodbye dinner with them at Santouka.
• Went to visit Sally & the kids at her house.
• Dinner at Pizzeria Bruno with the Food Club.
• Meera & I finished Chelsea's Run in Balboa Park
• Had our combined birthday celebration with friends at China Max
• Dinner with Pete & Cass @ Fresco
• I attended Sally's belated baby shower
• Breakfast with Meera at Original Pancake House
• Dejah & Roby came over for dinner & 80's movie night
• Birthday lunch with the girls from work at Chef Chins
• Lunch with Pearl at Tofu House
• Went to AJ & Meera's house for the NFL draft party
• Pearl came over for dinner & scrapbooking
• Went to dinner at Monello with Minnie
• Brought Dumpling Inn takeout and visited Sally & the twins
• BBQ at AJ & Meera's.  We brought homemade Ninja cookies.
• Went to Bencotto with Dejah & Roby
• Todd's parents came to visit.  We hiked Lake Poway and went to Stone Brewery for Father's Day.  Todd's dad said it was the best Father's Day ever.
• Met up with Linda Barber at CKU
• Joyce & Alex and the kids came to visit.  We went to the beach a couple of times and had good Mexican food.
• Went up to LA to have dad's birthday lunch at Joe's Crab Shack, with Shelly, and Alex & Joyce and the boys too.  Andrew had crab for the first time ever!
• Wine tasting at Addison with Dejah & Roby, where we thought we saw Michael Douglass!
• Went to AJ & Meera's house.  Todd cooked sweet & sour pineapple chicken with noodles.
• Lunch at Dumpling Inn with Dejah & Roby, followed by a first time trip to Kelly Papers
• Went to the Friday night races at the Velodrome with Cat & Mick
• Video crafting dates with Peppermint
• Dinner at Rappongi with Uncle Sol & Aunt Rose
• Lunch with Monika & David at URBN in North Park
• Phil's BBQ takeout dinner at AJ & Meera's
• VA Tech football game at Anne & Gilbert's new place
• Dinner with Ben & Sandie at Tender Greens
• Buckeyes vs Badgers football party + dinner at our house
• Todd made chili and we took it to AJ & Meera's house.  Met Baby Raidan for the first time.
• Dinner with Dan at Urban Solace.
• Went to Julie's house for dinner and Todd's old work friends reunion
• Brunch with Pearl at Snooze
• Dinner at Sea & Smoke with Roby & Dejah
• Thanksgiving lunch with Dad & Shelly at Bali Hai

 

ENTERTAINMENT:

• Went to El Zarape for dinner + House of Blues for Pentatonix in concert
• Watched 21 Jump Street the movie on DVD
• Went to OC to see Paris Combo in concert
• Saw Iron Man 3
• Saw Star Trek Into Darkness four times, twice in the theater.  Once at Cinepolis with reclining seats!
• Joe Robinson concert at Brick By Brick
• Went to San Diego Symphony's Summer Pop concert at the Embarcadero with Anne & Gilbert, and Victoria & Greg.  Bee Gees tribute band!
• La Jolla Concert By the Sea with Sally, her mom, and the twins.
• Watched Perception on TNT.  Good show!
• Ira Liss Big Band Jazz at Bernardo Winery
• Dnner at Burger Lounge, followed by Earth Wind & Fire concert at SD Civic Theater!
• Philip Phillips & John Mayer concert
• Saw Thor The Dark World movie
• Saw Catching Fire, Frozen, and Hobbit Smaug movies

 

TRIPS:

• Drove to San Francisco to celebrate AJ's birthday. Got to go to AT&T Park for the first time, went to Alcatraz, and had Ghirardelli ice cream sundaes.
• June week of staycation included lunch at Hotel Del Coronado, buying new bedroom furniture, dinner at Buona Forchetta, & nighttime zoo.
• Flew to Ohio for the Buckeye football game with Todd's family
• Todd went to San Francisco for Dreamforce
• We went to Oahu & Maui for nine days

 

CRAFTING:

• Evalicious design team
• Lily Bee design team
• A few months stint back on the Digi Dares
• Rigged a video camera and made a few tutorial videos
• Made lots of progress on my crochet afghan
• Finished 21 12x12 paper layouts
• Finished 19 digital layouts
• Finished 17 Project Life pages
• Love Notes mini album
• My Favorite Things mini album for Write Click Scrapbook
• Attended CHA for the first time and met many online scrapbooking friends
• Went to IKEA with Pearl and got two Raskog carts
• Organized 900 photos that my dad gave me and had them scanned
• Mended a hole in my cardigan with reverse applique
• Wrote weeklong hybrid scrapbooking series at WCS
• Went to String Art Workshop
• Went to a crop at Ever After
• Cropped at our house with Pearl & Donna, so fun!
• Tried out watercolor with stencils for the first time
• Tried out letterpress for the first time
• Book Binding Workshop at Pigment
• Made our Christmas photo cards & handmade cards
• Calligraphy class at Paper Tales
• Got published in CK magazine

 

There was a lot of Noodle cuteness.

I read 13 books.

I exercised for 119 hours and 15 minutes.

I ran & walked 242 miles.

 

What a year!  Excited for 2014 and all that it brings!