Random Superlatives of 2014

How was your New Years?  Mine was great!  Especially considering that I didn't have to work it for the first time in several years!  Bean spent the night at Grandma's with her cousins.  S and I celebrated a bit with his family and then brought a sleepy Boy home and had a quiet celebration (we actually missed the countdown: S was making nachos and I was trying to find a decent countdown on television--I miss Dick Clark...)  Anyway, it still beats the last several New Years holidays!  I spent New Years Eve cleaning up Christmas which, I think I have mentioned before, is highly cathartic for me.  S took the kids with their cousins to the aquarium.  I stayed home and cleaned in my pajamas and bawled my eyes out unapologetically when Mike Delfino was killed off of my most recent binge watching show Desperate Housewives.

Anyway.

In recent years past I have spent the quiet holiday reflecting on the past year and making goals for the next year.  I am still going to do that, just a little later than normal!  So on to my superlatives...

Favorite new restaurant: Guras Spice House.  I eat a lot of Indian food and I would have to say this is my new favorite.  And I'm lucky they are local.  One of the reasons I love where I live is because it is so far from anything, but I would recommend this place (and the drive) to anyone.

Best book read: This was a year of series reading for me.  I finished Harry Potter.  I started reading alll of my Boxcar Children books again (and there are a lot.)  I started a new suspense/thriller series about Jack Reacher.  But my favorite series was probably "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy.  These books are rather graphic, which is unusual for me to stick with something like that, but the story is so good and the good guys prevail and the bad guys definitely get what's coming to them.

Favorite vacation: We went camping and cabin-ing a lot this year.  There was Disneyland, of course.  And don't forget the week I ditched my family to go to San Fran with my friends.  But the thing that sticks out in my mind the most was the day that S and I went up to our family cabin in the dead of winter and then went tubing at Soldier Hollow.  Sure it wasn't technically a vacation, but it sure felt like one!

Favorite date: see above

Artist that I'm afraid to admit I like as much as I do: Ariana Grande.  I blame this partially on her brother Frankie's appearance on Big Brother.

Best new-to-me hairstyle: the braid.  Thank you Elsa.  I was mad when I cut my hair just 2 inches last summer and I couldn't do my braid anymore.  Thankfully my hair grows fast.

Cutest imitation of an animal: Monkey by Boy.  Rooster by Boy is a close second.  Also, just for your information he believes that both Dinosaurs and Crocodiles say 'Chomp chomp.'  I'm not about to correct him.

Most heart-breaking mommy moment: Sending Bean off to school (and knowing she was having a really hard time saying goodbye.)

Most triumphant mommy moment: A three way tie between Bean telling me she didn't need me to walk her to the playground anymore, Bean telling me that she wanted to carpool to school with her friends, and Bean telling me she no longer wanted me to wait for her at the bus stop.  I could also categorize these under "Most heart-breaking mommy moment."

Craftiest thing I did: it was not a very crafty year for me, but I did make this Easter egg wreath that I absolutely loved.

Movie I have memorized, but have only actually sat down and watched twice: Frozen

Favorite song: I wasn't sure what I was going to do this year because I really didn't have any favorites for most of the year, but then just in the last few months I've discovered two.  Cool Kids by Echo Smith (mostly because my kids love it and it's really, really cute to hear Boy try to sing along.)  And Ghost by Ella Henderson (though Bean can't understand why I listen to it now because obviously it's a Halloween song.)

Favorite New App: HAS to be Project Life by Becky Higgins.  This app is seriously going to change how I scrapbook.  While I downloaded the app last November, I just started using it for the new year.  My goal is to 'scrapbook' all of my photos from the previous week each Sunday.  This week it took me a whopping 6 minutes and the pages look adorable.  I am So.  Excited.