Looking back through the blog, 2016 was a pretty eventful year. I got to experience being an exhibitor at two different events, helped create and complete a successful Kickstarter campaign, went to Jamaica with a group of great friends, created some artwork, took some classes, started a monthly photo outing with my friend, acted as a wedding photographer for a day, and have a printed board game with my name on it as the Graphic Designer. That’s a lot of stuff! Now how will I top that for 2017?…

This year so far has been chaotic! I always feel like things slow down in the winter, and I just hibernate in the house, but I don’t think that’s true, since my blog post from January of last year sounds like I was pretty busy as well. Maybe that’s just what I wish I was doing, since it’s been cold and I don’t want to go outside! On the good side, the chaos has been good chaos. A lot of time has been spent with good friends, having fun.

Our friend, Mindy Mejia, recently published her second book, Everything You Want Me To Be. Nick and I have gone to some of her signing events, and it’s been so fun to hear her speak about the book and hear about her inspiration for writing it. And it was also fun to read! I think she is an excellent writer (seriously, not only because she’s my friend), and she kept me guessing until the very end who the killer was. I had my ideas, but I kept changing them as I learned more. And at the end, I was surprised. I would like to say more, but I won’t, since I don’t want to ruin it for anyone else. If you are looking for a book, and you like mysteries, I would definitely recommend this one. I like her writing style so much, that I’m having a really difficult time getting into my next book.

Nick, myself, and two of our friends, have started playing Mechs vs. Minions. It’s a cooperative programming board game that has multiple missions to complete, so you move through it in a story-like fashion. It’s been really good so far. And the game is amazing! There are a ton of miniatures, boards, and even a voice component you can use if you choose to do so. After being a part of creating a game, it’s so crazy how much is crammed into the giant box, and how inexpensive the game is for everything you get. I would definitely recommend it, if you like cooperative board games that are legacy-like. If you don’t, it’s all good. You can just admire it online and marvel at the expansive amount of miniatures!

So what are my plans for 2017? Definitely blog more. Looking back at last year, there was a stint where there weren’t any posts for a few months. And then when I did post, I just crammed everything into one post. No good. (Although this post has taken me over a week to write…) I’m also planning to do more artwork. I have an idea for 2018. But to be able to pull it off, requires more artwork in 2017. You’ll have to wait a year to hear about the plan, but in the meantime, I’ll post what I’m working on, and I’ll try to remember to get concept and in-progress shots. There will also be a few sewing and around-the-house improvement plans. And a few things that I haven’t talked about on the blog are that I’ve been learning Japanese and JavaScript (apparently I wanted to learn languages that start with a J). And in case you were wondering…yes! They are difficult. But I am retaining at least some of it, so that’s a good sign. So it should be a busy year, which will hopefully equal a good year. Yea!