thanks for the memories, 2018!

ah, 2018.  it went by in a flash, and it was full of all sorts of good stuff.  so much so that it was nearly impossible for me to narrow down which photos to use for this year's recap...so sit back and get ready for a fun walk down memory lane, 2018-style.

we kicked off the year with some delicious cinnamon roll waffles:

and somehow, for me it was the year of the mimosa (and a few other cocktails too).

 the old lady continued her own little tradition of holding stuff up in pictures.

she celebrated her 23rd birthday much like how she spent her 13th birthday...with a magical dinner at disneyland's exclusive club 33.  let's face it, that was a present for all of us.

and in even bigger news, she moved into an apartment with her special friend...a mile and a half away from us.  heeheehee.

a visit to l.a.'s cat cafe cured her of her desire to add a cat to her household.

instead, they adopted this sweet little doggie named stevie.

and in other dog news, our mollydog was diagnosed with kidney failure in january.  while they gave her just a few months, maybe a year to live, she seems to be hanging in there with the help of twice daily meds and doggy dialysis every other day.

the bean was also busy this year, as always.  she finished up her first year of junior-level girl scouting with our troop, and when we had to disband she joined a new troop with a handful of her friends:

finished up the 4th grade and started 5th:

finally got the glasses she'd been wanting, with a very low prescription for nearsightedness.

and began phase 2 of operation orthodontia.

went on her first two multi-night trips with her class:

she finished up her first year of cheer with one dream, and surprisingly signed up for another season...even accepting an invitation to cross-compete with another squad within the team.

and of course, she headed out to texas for a week over summer for her annual "grandma camp."

since the old lady couldn't get the time off from work, the three of us went on a road trip over spring break that took us through vegas, to utah, up to south dakota and back home.

the hub and i got away for a few day dates, date nights and even a week-long trip to miami that included a cruise to cuba.

there was, of course, lots and lots of disneyland.

 we said goodbye to the "a bug's land" area at california adventure.

we even made it to a cool pop-up exhibit of vintage disneyland memorabilia that later went up for auction.

speaking of pop-up exhibits, we found ourselves at a handful of them throughout the year.  sparrow mart was really cool, with everything handmade using felt and fabric paint.

 candytopia was fun and silly.

saved by the max, where we lived out all of our bayside high dreams.

the bean and i attended a fun, colorful summertime event called "bloom" at griffith park:

n*sync's dirty pop-up, which coincided with the presentation of their star on the hollywood walk of fame.

speaking of n*sync, dailygluttony and i headed out to justin timberlake's "man of the woods" tour stop at the fabulous forum.

and i was insanely excited when JT himself liked my instagram photo when his "hindsight" book was released.

i got to spend some time with my friends.

 as did the bean.

father's day brought us up to lake arrowhead for the first time in about 8 years.

there were lots of family selfies:

 were there cookies, you ask?  well, of course there were.

there was lots of sewing too, but even more exciting was me discovering the joys of using the embroidery machine that had been gathering dust in the closet for the last two years.

the bean also picked up a new skill:  hand sewing little stuffies that she designed and painstakingly hand cut piece by piece.

she and i participated in our first craft boutique just before christmas.

the old lady and i discovered orangetheory fitness.

i took a class taught by my friend amber that absolutely kicked my ass.

and my addiction to barre classes hasn't waned at all.

 this helped me to be able to get my wedding dress zipped all the way up again:

 and also to eat our way through several 626 night markets and both OC and LA county fairs.

the bean and i were both second place winners at the LA county fair again, with our matching unicorn entries.

 we watched a couple of tv show tapings - "america's got talent" and the reboot of nickelodeon's "double dare.:

 and we made it out to the hollywood bowl a couple of times over summer.

the bean got to attend a couple of different summer camp programs.

another big highlight of 2018 was breaking ground on a pool and a whole new layout for the back yard.

we had a little work done inside too, removing both fireplaces and swapping out the window in our bedroom for a sliding glass door.

all of the work was finished just in time for the bean's 11th birthday, and we threw a house party for the first time in about six years.

a couple of days later, she survived her 11-year immunizations:

while i got...this.

we tried a couple of new places for afternoon tea - morning lavender down in OC and the new hello kitty grand cafe at the irvine spectrum.

halloween.

my parents came over to join us for thanksgiving dinner.

two days after that, the hub and two of his friends set out on a crazy challenge to hit 100,000 steps in one day by walking from the cigar lounge in la verne to the heart of old town pasadena.  just under 50 miles round trip and about 17 hours later, he rolled in at home exhausted but exhilarated to have hit his goal.  and the next morning, he dragged his butt out for our family photo shoot.  heh.

we headed out to texas for a quick weekend to help celebrate his grandfather's 80th birthday.

now it's time to take all of the christmas decorations down and get ready to ring in the new year. 2019 already!  sheesh.  i can't believe it's already here, but i'm excited to see all that it brings us.

happy new year, everyone!