okay, okay - i know i'm super behind on blogging. i'm sorry! it's been busy around here, and the holidays came and went in a big blur, and you know how it goes. in any case, i didn't want to skip my yearly recap post and so it's incredibly late, but better than never...right?
i can at least rejoice in the fact that 2023 has already gotten off to a much better start than 2022 did, because this time around i didn't get one of these:
and in the meantime, the bean and i were prepping for something super important - the old lady's bridal shower. we'd booked a private room at fleming's restaurant in rancho cucamonga, and i was just glad that we got through our covid extravaganza well before the big day. it all came together without any hitches despite the fact that the old lady and her wedding party had literally flown back from the bachelorette weekend in vegas that very morning.
the bean was also working through their final (for real!) cheer season. competitions were all over the place this year - phoenix, san jose, vegas, palm springs, disney world. we found ourselves on a southwest airplane quite a few times during the first quarter of 2022, and while it was lots of fun, i think we were both pretty happy when it was finally over and done with.
the rest of the preparations for the old lady and old man's hawaiian wedding went fairly smoothly - there were a few hiccups with communication between them and most of their vendors, but everything worked out. we put together fun welcome bags for all of the guests, gathering things like homemade furikake chex mix, pineapple scented hand sanitizer, lotion and lip balms, hand poured soap from a small shop on o'ahu, packs of advil, face masks. we created embroidered patches to slip into the front pockets of the totes, and then packed everything up and shipped it to the resort so that we didn't have to shove it all into our suitcases.
the final fittings for her two gorgeous dresses happened just a few days before we boarded the plane to hawaii.
and before we knew it, it was go time. the hub had splurged for this once-in-a-lifetime trip and bought us tickets in first class.
the next few days were full of pre-wedding festivities - a welcome cocktail party at the resort, wedding rehearsal, rehearsal dinner.
the wedding day itself was just perfect and amazing and full of memories that will last forever.
the bean and i headed off to disney world for a cheer competition just a couple of weeks later. we did our best to soak it all in since it was the last time we'd get to take this trip together. we hit all four parks and rode everything we wanted to, and enjoyed every last minute.
of course, there was lots of disneyland back at home throughout the year.
speaking of disneyland, i got to celebrate my birthday at club 33 this year:
the l.a. county fair finally resumed this year - moving from its usual time slot in early september to may, which is much nicer weather-wise - and i happily snagged second place with a fun set of cookies.
and speaking of the bean, this was their final year at the school they'd been attending since preschool. although the traditional 8th grade trip to the dominican republic didn't happen, they did get to do the washington d.c. trip. through an essay contest in one of their classes, the bean had also scored one of the four spots to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier. it was a whirlwind, week-long trip that took them from DC to boston to plymouth rock, and they had a blast making memories with their classmates.
when it was time to get ready for graduation, the bean learned that they'd been named one of the seven valedictorians and had a week to prepare a speech that had to be proofread and approved before it would be delivered during the ceremony. they did a phenomenal job, injecting the right amount of humor and sarcasm and respect and ending with a blast of confetti that had been hidden underneath the graduation gown. we were so proud.
the bean's BTS love rivals that of her sister's for the jonas brothers back in the day. they even managed to find a BTS pop-up in hawaii while we were there for the wedding, and had brought the BTS-themed instant camera i'd found on ebay.
and when they announced four concert dates in vegas that just so happened to coincide with the bean's spring break - well, we set off on a road trip, of course. my friend lilcee is also part of BTS army, and so she brought her family out to vegas and came to one of the shows with us.
after the last show, we said goodbye to lilcee & co. and headed off on a road trip that took us to northern california - lake tahoe to point arena to san francisco and cambria before making our way back home.
the old lady and i really got into bridgerton, attending the bridgerton experience at the biltmore hotel in downtown l.a. and then going back with the bean on mother's day for a bridgerton-themed tea.
the newlyweds adopted a new puppy, a sweet pit bull mix named june.
we spent lots of time with friends throughout the year.
besides BTS, i got to attend a few other concerts - duran duran, twice, the backstreet boys, the chicks.
i even went to two different dodger games this year!
we celebrated milestones with friends and family - graduations, a wedding, first day of high school, a quinceañera.
our big summer trip this year was to cabo san lucas. the newlyweds actually headed down to the same spot a week later for their delayed honeymoon, so it was kind of a family trip to mexico...but not.
birthdays were celebrated.
we visited local tourist attractions, just for fun.
this was the year that i bid a sad farewell to my pretty pink mixer, and welcomed a new one to the household.
i really enjoyed using the different texture and loved the taste, but with butter prices shooting up significantly i had to go back to the glaze that i've used for years. that's not a bad thing, i suppose.
and also speaking of cookies, 2022 saw my biggest order EVER...and to make it even more awesome, they were for DISNEYLAND. they were distributed to cast members to celebrate the return of fantasmic! and the new lion king stage show. there were 43 dozen cookies here...the entire kitchen and dining room was filled with them.
i managed to work on a few knitting and crocheting projects. there were actually a few more than what you see here, but there were things that didn't turn out too well and - well, yeah.
also this year my friend weezermonkey created saturday breakfast club - fun weekly chunks of time when we get together with a group of local friends for laughs and grub.
the old lady snagged a new job...at the happiest place on earth. she started off in the custodial department, but when she heard that there were a ton of openings as a full time cast member she applied and received a transfer to the front gates. so next time you go to disneyland, you may see a familiar face scanning your ticket at the turnstiles.
this year saw me finally give in to the lure of incredibly ugly but amazingly comfortable footwear.
thanksgiving this year was pretty quiet, spent with just our family plus one of the bean's friends from school who we hosted for the break. but we also got to host a friendsgiving dinner, which was super fun (so much so that i didn't even take a lot of pictures!).
the hub and i managed to squeeze in a quick trip to vegas to celebrate wan-niversary 17.0, which was really fun aside from the fact that i finally had to give up the twirl. stupid menopause, man. the dress refused to zip up. so sad.
we busted out the matching family pajamas and spent christmas eve with my family:
and enjoyed christmas morning together as a family, just like always.
that's a wrap on 2022, folks. bring on 2023!
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