Happy New Year’s Eve! Whether you’re painting the town red or cuddling up with those you love and watching the ball drop on TV {I’ll be doing the latter!} I hope you give 2013 a stellar send-off tonight. Have fun and be safe!

Here are some of my highlights from the past year:

• Attended the Key West Literary Seminar in Key West, Florida, where I spent a week learning from amazing writers, made some fabulous new friends, and met one of my literary idols — Judy Blume!

• Submitted my thesis and graduated from Purdue with my M.F.A. in Fiction Writing! What made it even more special was that my parents, grandparents, and Holly traveled to West Lafayette for my thesis reading.

• I turned 26 and for my birthday I started a kindness chain… definitely a tradition I plan to continue in the years to come!

• I was honored to be a bridesmaid in my beautiful cousin Amanda’s wedding to the man of her dreams, Justin. 

• Taught my sixth annual Summer Writing Camp and my first-ever College & Scholarship Applications Seminar to great success! I love working with these amazing young writers!

• I bought my first new car, a Prius C that I named Charley!

• In August I moved to northern California to begin my Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. I am loving this year of living with my grandparents and have learned so much from them already!

• I spent a week visiting Holly in Nashville, where we went to the T.Swift concert and I had a celebrity encounter at Starbucks!

• Reconnected with my friend Dana, one of the sweetest people I know {and her adorable dog Heidi, a.k.a. Mr. Mur-dog’s girlfriend!}

• Erica came to visit and we spent a wonderful day exploring San Francisco … and got photobombed by a baby at Ghiradelli! This just might be my favorite photo of 2013.

• My friend Celine visited, too! We carved pumpkins, roasted pumpkin seeds, talk-talk-talked, and watched our other college roommate Jess shine onstage in The Producers. 

• I went to the USC Homecoming Football Game with my family and was reunited with my dear friend Ben, who lives in NYC now. We cheered our underdog Trojans on to a thrilling victory over Stanford!

• Spent a week in Mexico with my mom’s side of the family and had an absolute blast.

• Celebrated the holiday season with my favorite traditions: donating new books to the Boys & Girls Club through my annual Holiday Book Drive; taking cards and cookies to the nursing home in honor of my dear friend Jewell; watching It’s a Wonderful Life on TV; baking my favorite seasonal treats; and soaking up time with my family and friends.

This year I also:
– celebrated my 10-year anniversary of climbing Mt. Whitney
– tried zumba for the first time
– began attending church regularly
– de-cluttered & simplified my possessions
– completed my Year of Kindness challenge
– celebrated the release of my dad’s new book Wooden & Me
– met up in person with my blogger friend Sarah @ The Pajama Chef and bumped into Julie @ Peanut Butter Fingers in the middle of San Francisco
– went to a hot-air balloon festival
– read 71 books
– joined Foodie Pen-Pals @ The Lean Green Bean
– got on board the smoothie train
– and tried my hand at some new craft projects and recipes!

What an incredible year it has been. Tomorrow I’ll share my goals and dreams for 2014… but for now, it’s your turn!

Questions of the day:

• What are your highlights from 2013?
• What new things did you try this past year?