2013 in Review (July-December)

Continuing on with a few photos from the year...

[Start with the first half of the year here.]

JULY

For Independence Day I went to New Mexico to visit with my sisters and their families! I took a ton of pictures and got some quality time with the nephieces.

And we all got quality time with electronics, too. ;)

One of the highlights was getting to practice lightning photography since there were lots of storms. I loved it!

In late July, I went back to the Seattle area. The Pacific Northwest is SO NICE in the summer, and Washington seems especially perfect with slightly cooler temps and more trees than Oregon. The above was taken at Mercer Slough Nature Park in Bellevue.

AUGUST

In August I bought a couch! I feel like I have made an overly-big deal of this, but it was something I had wanted/needed for a long time, and it felt impossible to actually manage. So it's sort of an achievement combined with a nice gift to myself. :)

Then later in the month I went to the state fair with my friends Pami and Nancy.

SEPTEMBER

I think September was somewhat quiet. Later in the month, I went to a grape stomp at Willamette Valley Vineyards. I was the photographer for my friends Pami and Angelique while they stomped their little hearts out.

This particular winery is just a couple of miles from my neighborhood and it's so beautiful! I really enjoyed my day.

OCTOBER

Best month ever!* And a busy one. I did a photo-of-the-day project for the month and posted the pictures here.

*Well, not necessarily, but my birthday month has a special place in my heart.

The first week was a big one at work. We had several events leading up to a very busy weekend, and I split the photography with my coworker. The final event was a dinner at the Oregon Garden on Saturday evening. It was really pretty and probably the most enjoyable event to photograph of all the different ones that week.

The fog rolled in and I had an exciting opportunity to photograph droplets on a spider's web. It was thrilling!

My birthday week and weekend were great. I got to see various friends and everything felt a little more special. This was my lopsided store-bought cake! Thanks to Dan for being a hand model.

NOVEMBER

In early November I traveled back to CA to stay with my parents and visit with my nieces. I loved this trip. The weather was great (notice a theme for this year--good weather!) and of course I love hanging out with my nieces.

Then at Thanksgiving I went up to the Seattle area again and also got to see Garden d'Lights in Bellevue. As I'm sure most of you remember, since I posted photos just a few weeks ago.

DECEMBER

December was pretty fun! I was feeling merry and watched several cheesy Christmas movies on Netflix. I got much of my shopping done early (for me) and felt like I enjoyed the holiday season. I even wanted a little more, when usually I'm in a hurry for it to be over.

I was super excited when we got a powdery snow that gave me half a day off work and the chance to photograph snowflakes!

We had quite a few days of low temperatures which meant lots of frost.

Then I flew to CA for Christmas. I have lots of pictures to show you later on, so here are just a few. I had a great visit. The weather was awesome (60s and sunny), I got to spend time with my friend M, I had time to relax and do Christmasy things with my parents before the actual day (sometimes I fly in on Christmas eve or day, so I don't have that opportunity), I got some great presents, and...

...we can't forget my little trip to San Francisco with my friend Dania!

Including a stop in Muir Woods. I have a ton of photos to show you. January will be a good month to catch up on pictures.

And those were the highlights of my year! If you saw my life day-to-day, you'd think it was slow and uneventful. But when you look back at all I have done, it seems a lot more exciting. :) At least to me. Anyway, it had its ups and downs but I enjoyed many parts of 2013. Here's to an awesome 2014! *clink*