Wednesday, January 7, 2015

the best of: 2014

it's a week into 2015 and, honestly, i'm still in denial about it.

brain. cannot. compute.

maybe because for the last week of 2014 i was reeling with a nasty nauseating cold/flu/nightmare from hell thing. but also maybe because this year has been chock full of such vivid memories, i really can't believe it's been a year since some of them happened. like, usually a year is a mess of hazy recollections i can't really keep sorted. but this has been a perfectly wonderful, entirely unforgettable year filled with high highs and not too many low lows.

#winning.

and i might be late to the game, but i really like doing these year-in-review posts. one, because i'm a horribly good bragger and two, i love talking about myself (see: one).

hence the blogging. in general. you know.

so here we have a look back at the very best 2014 had to offer. and maybe it's not strictly just the best, more just general word vomit of all the great things that happened this year. because that's  how i do. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

january
my brother travis got married. which means i got miss abbey as a sister. FOREVER. if that's not cause for celebration, i don't know what is. i mean, just look at the love!

look at how she completes the family! (minus laura, who couldn't be there because #priorities but was there in spirit and that's almost the same thing.)

but even beyond the sentimentality of the whole thing, their wedding was beautiful and fun and full of dancing and family and food. aka my happy place.

february
probably the singularly most important moment of my life.....i got a job (an emotional achievement you can read more about here and here). and it's got me all like #seriouslysoblessed because i can't believe 1) i'm a grownup 2) i work in new york city 3) i got a dream job that is even better than i dreamed it.  i work with authors i admire so, you know, i can get pics of nick offerman. because we're just close like that. and i go to fab parties and say things like "no wine, thanks. i'll just have a coke." with a subtle hair toss thrown in. and i have cool grownup things like coworkers and friends. exhibit a:
(please note this picture wasn't take in february. this was after i made friends at work. and that takes time. but i wanted a visual. so, i'll allow it.)

also, ash came to visit thus solidifying her status as THE BEST. thanks, ash! we celebrated my new found employment with lots of pizza and donuts and too much train riding. (imho.) still, we took epic photos showing off our photogenicness. exhibit b:

march
this is usually a joke of a month. (i dare you to find somebody who likes it). but it was actually pretty fun. there was pi day and dessert haunts and like-kids-in-a-toy-store and all that. but mostly i went to my first concert in forever and it was amazing. i liked grouplove before (hence, you know, buying the tickets in the first place) but i'm obsessed with them now. it was such a good show. even with that sickly sweet, sweaty smell of pot. just...so much pot.

april
i went with a bunch of friends to see the cherry blossoms. and it lived up to the hype.
i loved it. being in a car, singing songs, eating fruit snacks, taking too many pictures, posing with the blossoms. it was a good weekend. you can read about some fun times there here. oh, dc. you with your wide streets and short buildings and long crosswalk time. i really do love you. 

may
IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!! and as i am a narcissist (see: this post), i made sure it was chock full of fun happenings. i.e., hanging out with nick offerman, having a donut-making party, and going to the hamptons. because aint nobody fresher than my clique.

june
summer came a little late, but the heat and the sunshine finally came, so a bunch of us made the trek down to coney island. because, you know, it's not summer until you have some cotton candy and ride the teacups. at least according to me, and that's all that matters here.

also some friends and i rallied some twenty-some friends to go to a yankees game. and it was so fun. the sun was shining - like, really shining - and the grass was green - probably because it was fake - and it was just so american.i've never been happier.*
*at a baseball game

july
i had this brilliant idea to leave the city for the fourth. because i'm a basic beezy. originally we planned on boston, but weather didn't cooperate and so plans changed to philly. and philly...was the worst, as previously discussed. like, the worst. but also unforgettable. but mostly the pits. but i still love the memories. but they're literally the worst.
still, america + friends + funnel cake - purse stealing / weepy mess * broken elevator + so many lols + jumping photos = a "good" time.

i dunno. i'm still not sold on the adjective.

also memorable and meaningful, kate moved in. this picture was the beginning of the end. or the beginning. or whatever.
just look at that. she could never resist that.

august
two words: taylor swift.
she had stiff competition, what, with my little sister coming home (!!) and coming to see me (!!!). but...i mean...it was taylor swift. and we danced together. and i fixed her dress tag. and we partied in her kitchen. and i held her cat. and it was just the most surreal day of my life. and so random and unforgettable and unbelievably happy. i mean, just look at this. pure, giddy, unadulterated joy. that's what that is.


but laura was such a doll, too. and in the words of taylor swift, i had the best day with you [all the days you were here].

september
so i don't know if you heard, but i went to malta. and i died. it was amazing. even with the jet lag and the sunburn and the sad excuse for public transportation, i was constantly in awe. i'm going to say this once - and i might completely take it back later - but if given the opportunity to go back to london or malta...i'd probably choose malta.

that felt like such a betrayal.

but i mean it! it was so unique, so different, so cool, so beautiful, so awe inspiring, so strange and fresh and strangely ugly/beautiful and new and unforgettable. and istanbul was also amazing. just as an fyi.

october
fall in new york might be my favorite. it's just so much fun. and october was so much fun. a bunch of us went to sleepy hollow, just cuz. we saw foster the people at the coolest venue i've ever been to. we threw an unbelievably unforgettable halloween party that was just too perfect to even try and capture in photos. i got to dress up as dr. sattler (as in jp) so i was very much in my happy place. and it was a dance party. that got shut down for being too loud. so, bucket list = uh, check.

but the best moment of october had to be taylor swift's gma concert at times square. and not because of taylor. in fact, it was pretty awful. gma/new york sucks at organizing events. like, legitimately.

we were in line around 5 am - and the concert wasn't until 9 - and we were pumped and killing it at sneaking closer and closer. but it was cold and we were tired and these horrible people were holding up stupid signs blocking the view. and we finally got to the front of one barrier only to realize there was still a road open. so people just passing by at a not-ungodly morning hour had better views than us. the fury. and then the photographers blocked our view. the volume was way too low. and taylor only sang three songs. but still. it was so fun. we were way too energetic and happy for how awful it was. but that's just how we do. cuz the concert's gonna suck suck suck and the sound is gonna be down down down down, but i'm just gonna shake shake shake shake shake - shake it off! shake it off!

(that song will never not bring a smile to my face).(some people might not agree).

november
i went and saw american authors and they were great. they're cheesy, sure, and not especially unique. but, man, can they put on a good show. it was so good. so good! they are ridiculously good live. and that confetti! and the final surge to the stage! it was delirious.
but it was not the best moment of november. no, nay, never. november will forever be remembered as the birth of the west village hero.

i'll spare you the details. expect to say once upon a time, a few ordinary people went to a 1940s themed dance. and though they looked like this...
it would be much more that changed. for on our walk to the old fashioned soda shop hidden away in the west village, a hero was born. no, discovered. and the rest of us would never be the same. Rachel Barlow, mvp.

december
tbh november was more christmasey than december. december was stressful for the most part, and somehow exhausting. but i did get a christmas bonus (#grownupstatus!) and i did have some fun times haunting trees and seeing ballets and building gingerbread temples and meeting santa and, oh yeah, jimmy fallon was awesome.

but nothing beats going home. sure, i got sick. like, deathly ill. and christmas was kind of the worst in that regard. but i was home. home with my puppies and my family and my cafe rio and my carpet. and all was right in the world.

there was heads up, blindfolded pictionary, movies, lunch dates, dinner dates, dance parties. but nothing beats the momentous and important introduction of the selfie stick.

it was family time and so it was perfect. i love these guys. every single one of them. people say we look alike (i don't see the resemblance) but the important thing is we aren't alike. we're just a bunch of unique snowflakes rocking at this whole life thing in various different ways. and though i'm trying to convince them the east coast is where it's at (no luck yet. them and their mountains.), i am excited for all the memories we have yet to make together. cuz i love them, dang it. i mean, come on. just look at them.

how can you even fight that loving feeling?

boyers are the best. i'm sorry, it's just true.

so, 2014 did a pretty good job at outshining even the greatness of 2013. i have never been happier. and i can't believe all the life this year packed in. i mean, long live that look on your face #amiright
and, though it's weird to say and i still forget to write it, i can't wait to see what 2015 has in store.

fingers crossed it's hoverboards.

3 comments:

  1. loved reading this blog Shelby!! What a fun year with so many adventures! So happy i got the chance to meet you in the month of Taylor Swift!!!!

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  2. I hate us for not trying to meet up over Christmas. What the eff.

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  3. Um. I'm coming to visit. Perhaps so some of your coolness can rub off. But more so that I can raid your wardrobe. Or, you know, you could show me the best places to shop. Because you are smokin'

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