"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." - Seneca

Another year has just flown by. It's true what they say, the older you get the fast time flies. What up with that?!

And what a year 2016 was.

Most of you who are around my age understand the real impact of all the celebrities that were lost because they were who we grew up with, who helped mark important childhood milestones. Also, the election... I'm not going to elaborate on that just because I just don't have the energy.

So on to more positive things.

I became an aunt! One of my best friend's Nina, and my cousin had baby boys and they are both as cute as can be! I still remember meeting Nina over 20 years ago in our freshman year of college and when my cousin was in diapers!

Last year was filled with several domestic vacations. Tahoe for snowboarding, San Francisco, Boston, Manhattan, Philadelphia, Denver, Seattle, Santa Barbara... I was all over the country this year and I got to catch up with a lot of people that I haven't seen in quite some time. I'm grateful that the friendships remain strong, even if we are no longer living in the same area.

Manhattan

I ran my first 10K and was able to run the whole way through, so yay! for crossing one thing off my bucket list! It doesn't matter that I am around the middle of the pack, and that this year, I'll have to click a different box for age (egads!), this is the longest distance I've ever run and am happy about that.

I haven't been snowboarding in several years. Basically since 2009 and it was the first time I went to Tahoe. What a beautiful place! Before this year, I had only been snowboarding is Mammoth, so it was exciting to try another location, even though I'm super rusty!

Tahoe

I went to a conference and visited Philadelphia for the first time. There was an amazing Malaysian place there that was so good, that we went there twice in 2 days! We tried a few Philly cheesesteaks too, and enjoyed roaming around the city. My friend and I walked over 10 miles in the first day while we waited to check into our hotel. My fitbit counted over 30K steps!

I got to spend the 4th of July weekend in Manhattan. It was rainy but I got to try Shake Shack for the first time. Although it was good, I can't say I remember anything more than it being an expensive tasty burger. I still have to say that American Ale in Santa Barbara is still my favorite burger place. Speaking of which, I went back in October and it was as good as I remember... (tear...).

I took about 3 weeks off of work in December and went to Boston and Seattle. I'm glad that I used to live in cold because I layered and was totally prepared. They are such lovely cities and I'm glad that I got to visit some family and really good friends. So far I've been able to make an annual trip to Boston and I hope that I can keep doing that!

City of Brotherly Love

One of the nice things about being done with school is that I can read for leisure. A few friends and I have a "lazy book club" where we read 3 to 4 books a year and video chat to catch up and talk about the book.

Here's my short list of books for 2016:

1. All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr
2. Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
3. Battle Royale - Koushun Takami
4. In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
5. Hogwarts Houses Divided - Inverarity
6. The Girl with all the Gifts - M. R. Carey
7. The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

I read City of Thieves again, which was on my list in 2012, I think. I forgot what the book was about but remembered pretty quickly. David Benioff is the author and when I saw that he was involved with Game of Thrones, I knew that they would make an amazing show. I have seen each season 4 times... at least. I know, crazy. But it's amazing what you notice when you watch it again. I always see something that I didn't see before.

2017 will be a good year. I am going to be moving to San Diego relatively soon. Not soon enough but hopefully within a month or so!! I left in July 2009 and it's taken almost 8 full years to get back. But it will be good to be home.

"Sometimes you gotta create what you want to be a part of." - Geri Weitzman

So I've neglected this blog for a while. My bad!

I kinda feel like I don't want to post something unless there is something behind it. But then I realized something... that's too much pressure!

I have 4 drafts that I never finished that are just sitting there. Maybe I will post a few of those this year, maybe not. I guess we'll see.

In the meantime, this will be my "year in review" post, even though it's a bit late. (oops!)

Eldurairaj Union 

So 2015... yeah... as far as work goes, it is another one of those epic years of change. This year will not be any different but it's too early to digress on that topic.

As far as personal growth, it was another big one. I decided to really focus on my creative side. THAT blog got lots of love last year. I embarked on a year long #HumpDayHaiku journey that I'm proud to say I completed. And even though the writing of the haikus didn't improve my writing ability (though I'm beyond an expert of counting syllables on my fingers), the drawings that went with them definitely improved. I started out drawing stick figur-ish robots to many other things. I have to say, I found it challenging to find 52 really good themes, and I accepted that not every haiku would be better than the last.

Here are the ones I liked the best, even though others may have disagreed:

Top Left: I was inspired by the pictures of Pluto and have always loved staring at the evening sky trying to find constellations or planets.

Top Right: One of my friends took a picture of a bunch of windmills. I thought it looked cool and there you go. :)

Bottom Left: Baby elephants! 'Nuff said!

Bottom Right: Ninjas, nunchucks and ninja stars; need I say more?

 Top Left: I saw a graphic T with a whale on it and loved it. Whales are very calming, despite their massive size.

Top Right: Jase is big on lighthouses and he pulled me right along with him. I'm still looking for the one in OC. Hope it's not a myth!

Bottom Left: This is my girly side coming out. Unicorns and rainbows!

Bottom Right: This was inspired by an actual art exhibit where 1000 teddy bears were painted on canvases of all sizes. Philipp Jordan is the German artist's name. His paintings were much more vibrant than my drawing, but I still liked what I drew.

Top Left: The ocean was inspired by a drawing an instagrammer (whose profile was taken down) who actually drew a dress from a very similar pattern. I loved it and thought it would look amazing as water. This one may be my all-time favorite.

Top Right: What can I say? I love the rain. ;)

Bottom Left: I haven't been snowboarding in a long time, but it's one sport that I love. Especially when I learned how to connect my turns. (And got all the necessary padding that makes me look like I've gained 30 lbs. but shoot... at least I'm protected!)

Bottom Right: An instagrammer (anasteem) has so many amazing pictures of her daughter with heart shaped balloons. I thought it was beautiful and so I made an attempt to draw it.

Not bad, right? 12 of 52?

I also read a decent amount over the last year. The number of books may not seem like it but shoot, the number of pages show a slightly different story (3000+).

And in no particular order:
1. The Giver - Louis Lowry
2. The Martian - Andy Weir
3. Wind/Pinball: Two Novels - Haruki Murakami
4. Dance with Dragons (A Song of Fire and Ice, Book 5) - now I know you were waiting for this one if you have ever looked at my previous years' book lists!
5. Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan
6. Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson

Dessert Cooking Class

I didn't go abroad but I got to see a bunch of friends. Visiting San Francisco for fun and to take pictures, Seattle to have a mini cousin reunion, DC for my good friends' wedding, Boston to see old grad school friends, local trips to SB and SD...How lucky am I to have so many people to visit? ... Very!

I am grateful to always realize when I have good people around me. It doesn't happen everywhere, and I do my best to appreciate and enjoy it as much as I can. After all, the only constant is change, right?

We'll see what this year brings!

The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones. - John Wooden

And in my world, "new" is a book that I haven't read yet!

Last Christmas I got a Kindle Paperwhite. It truly is a wonderful invention. I admit, I had a hard time converting, especially since, at times, just the weight of a book is comforting (unless it's a textbook!).

I didn't read as much as I wanted to, but I still got over a dozen. Not too bad, considering one was 800+ pages. :) Thank goodness for goodreads for helping me keep this all straight!

1. The Honest Trust About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone - Especially Ourselves - Dan Ariely
2. The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides
3. Beyond Illusions: A Novel - Duong Thu Huong
4. The Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
5. Catching Fire - Suzanne Collins
6. Mockingjay - Suzanne Collins
7. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Other's Don't - Jim Collins
8. One Day - David Nicholls
9. Ru - Kim Thuy
10. Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
11. The Elephant Vanishes - Haruki Murakami
12. Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn
13. Wonder - R.J. Palacio
14. A Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
15. Bossypants - Tina Fey

If you compare to last year, you'll see I have some repeat authors (#2 and #11)

I think I slowed down a little because I started dabbling in my own creative writing. I've gotten a little behind on that because I started a food blog.

Why did I start all these side projects? The question really is, "why not?!"

Book worm nerd alert!

I've neglected this blog for a good part of half a year now. I have a few "drafts" that probably won't get published, but I've been a little "busy", I guess.

Being a part of the real world (post grad school) has given me a chance to start reading for leisure again. I've always been a reader, and honestly, wished something like "goodreads" was available when I was younger, so I could have kept track of all the books I've devoured over the years.

I'll have to settle on hoping that I kept track this year and didn't miss one. So... what's the tally for 2012? A whopping 24 books! (Thank you Santa Barbara Public Library...)

Just in case inquiring minds want to know what the list contains (in no particular order):
1. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
2. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
3. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
4. Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay
5. Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay
6. Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay
7. Double Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
8. City of Thieves by David Benioff
9. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
10. What the Other Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
11. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
12. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
13. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
14. Gap Creek by Robert Morgan
15. Heartbreaking work of Staggering Genius by David Eggers
16. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
17. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
18. Rant by Chuck Palaniuk
19. Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julia Powell
20. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James (and let the judging begin!) - almost didn't include this one, but what the heck!
21. Savages by Don Winslow
22. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
23. In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami (no relation to Haruki as far as I know...)
24.  Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

And there you have it. Aside from the Dexter series, I'd say it's a nice mix. Most of these books were recommendations from my virtual book club in Boston and some were me piggybacking off of Jase's books, others were recommendations of other friends, and some were flat out my picks.

The library is a great place to get ideas of what to read, but I definitely miss the brick and mortar stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble (the closest one to me is about 30 miles south... big surprise!) There will never be anything like browsing through displays of books and finding those eye catching covers. Hopefully BN won't also disappear!!

For 2013, I've already finished 4 books, (no, 2 of the books aren't the rest of the Fifty Shades series... although 1 is... haha), but that list won't be revealed for a while.