recapping the craziness that was 2017

well, here we are again.  these end-of-the-year recaps seem to come faster and faster as the years go by, and every year i tell myself "you need to do a monthly recap and save it to make it easy to assemble at the end of the year."  but do i do it?  nooooooo.

it's okay though, because it makes me go back through the blog and take a fun walk down memory lane to see all the stuff we did over the last twelve months.  i'm sure you won't be surprised to know that i found lots and lots of disneyland, where we kicked off 2017:

we take castle pictures on the regular:

 sometimes it's where we have playdates with friends:

take lots and lots of selfies:

and of course, i got to celebrate my birthday there - along with a quick overnight with the old lady at the grand californian hotel.

there were lots of birthday candles for me to blow out.

we rode the tower of terror during the last weekend it was open:

and then stood in a ridiculous line for it again a few months later when it reopened as the guardians of the galaxy.

but it wasn't all disneyland this year.  we still had passes to universal studios for half of the year, which we used a handful of times:

 the bean spent lots of time with friends this year.

 and her cousins:

finished the third grade and rolled right into fourth:

cheer pretty much ruled our lives in 2017, first with the school squad and then the super intense competition squad she signed up with in the spring.

she participated in all sorts of stuff at school, like the talent show where she dressed as elvis and played "love me tender" on the ukulele:

earned an A on her egg drop project:

this was crazy hair day:

 earned awards galore.

our house was not immune to the slime craze that still continues to this very moment.

and she got to tour not just one, but two animation studios.

the hub and i managed to get away for a good number of day dates and date nights.

 i got to spend time with friends throughout the year.

 got into all sorts of shenanigans with my co-leader:

the cookies are still a thing.

and these won me second place at the fair this year:

i got a major upgrade on my sewing equipment thanks to a booth at the fair:

and i did lots and lots of sewing. in fact, i managed to surpass my goal of sewing 100 items in 2017 by about 20 pieces.

summer brought us a week in hawaii:

 brother wan's wedding took us to vegas:

a late summer heat wave gave us an excuse to head out to huntington beach for a weekend.

 we had just a few celebrity encounters this year.

there was lots of quality family bonding time.

the running mojo is pretty much gone, guys.  the races were down to just a handful this year.

but there was other exercise sprinkled in there, like 3x/week barre classes and a few hikes here and there.

we attended a handful of art installations, including the museum of ice cream, the currently-closed "happy place," kusama's infinity mirrors, a local anti-bullying/bigotry/bias exhibit and paley center's celebration of 25 years of cartoon network.

i ate a lot of fun foods at places like the 626 night market and the fair, plus the world's best poke and some incredible macadamia nut pancakes in hawaii:

oh, and i got an espresso machine!  starbucks has seen a lot less of me lately.

a few other notable moments for the bean included going from brownies to junior level girl scouts, attending 3-day apple camp on moviemaking, her annual summer trip to grandma camp in texas, meeting weezermonkey's new baby boy, indoor skydiving and having her braces taken off.

i tried to visit oprah and elvis' palm springs honeymoon hideaway.

we spent a little time with my family.

and sadly, we said goodbye to a beloved aunt.

the end of the year brought halloween fun and christmas right on its heels, with thanksgiving wedged in somewhere between them.

whew.  what a year!  as crazy as the world was throughout 2017, i've got wonderful family and friends all around me.  life is good.

happy new year, one and all!  hope we all have a fantastic 2018!