True to form, I'm more than two weeks late with my yearly recap post (take comfort in the fact that some things never really change), but I was bound and determined to finish this damn post, so let's get to it.
• I marched for equality with some of my best friends and thousands of other people in Austin and millions more across the world.
• I hung out with Tom Hanks while he signed 1100 books at the Texas Book Festival. He was absolutely lovely and exactly what you imagine him to be. We share an inside joke about tacos and he called me "Mags," so we're best friends now.
• After years of putting it off, I took the GRE (twice) and applied for graduate school. It's still a work in progress, but dammit at least I finally started.
• For my birthday, my best friends and I spent a weekend exploring New Orleans. I'm hoping to go back at some point this year because we barely scratched the surface of that super cool city.
• In October, I watched the Astros win the World Series with my BFF and ultimate Astros' fan Christina and dressed up as Lizzie McGuire for Halloween.
• I stood next to Hillary Clinton for three and a half hours while she signed books and gave people high fives. At one point, someone said the words "Maggie, we have to go upstairs to get briefed by Secret Service" to me. It was a weird day.
• My high school friend Mary visited from Portland with her two little girls, Whimsy and Glory. We babysat one afternoon and took them for their first ever sno cones. They were big fans.
• We hosted the third annual Friendsgiving and everyone really liked my mashed potatoes.
• Melany and I met a few of my favorite bloggers in New York City (#bfgtnyc) where we explored, ate a ton of good food, got very little sleep, and walked so many miles.
I know I said this last year, but I'm hopeful for 2018. Yes, in ways 2017 was both better and worse than 2016, but I think it was mostly better. For me, at least. The first few weeks of the new year have been really good to me, and I'm hopeful the trend will continue.
-Maggie
The year before last was a really tough year for me personally, so I went into 2017 with a "something's gotta give" sort of mentality and, well, it was... something. Somehow, things in 2017 were both better and worse than 2016. I'm not going to expound on the worse things because, honestly, I'm tired of thinking about them (and I'm sure you're tired of hearing about them, too).
So here are the better things, the bright spots from my 2017, in no particular order and in bullet points and pictures because you deserve a break.
• I marched for equality with some of my best friends and thousands of other people in Austin and millions more across the world.
• I caught a couple of plays at the Austin Playhouse and saw four musicals—Mamma Mia!, Kinky Boots (on Broadway with Brendon Urie!), Fun Home, and Rent. All of them made me want to cry.
• My roommates and I moved out of our apartment and into a very cute house.
• I finally watched Parks & Rec and discovered I am the worst combination of Leslie Knope and Chris Traeger. (Melany, my faithful friend: "I wouldn't say the worst combination... Both of them are passionate people and can be... a lot sometimes, but Leslie went on to be president!")
• Natalie, Dillon, and I spent a super fun week in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. (#ohsayVANyouSEA), which was my first time outside of the U.S. I loved Vancouver and hope to go back sooner rather than later.
• My book club moved to BookPeople, read eleven new books, and consumed a lot of cheese and wine.
• There were a ton of great BookPeople events that I either worked and attended, including but not limited to Zadie Smith, Joy Wilson (a.k.a. Joy the Baker), Lemony Snicket, Samantha Irby, John Darnielle, and Chelsea Clinton (again).
• My friend Rachel invited me to see John Mulaney in San Antonio, and I laughed so hard my head hurt.
• I finally watched Parks & Rec and discovered I am the worst combination of Leslie Knope and Chris Traeger. (Melany, my faithful friend: "I wouldn't say the worst combination... Both of them are passionate people and can be... a lot sometimes, but Leslie went on to be president!")
• Natalie, Dillon, and I spent a super fun week in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. (#ohsayVANyouSEA), which was my first time outside of the U.S. I loved Vancouver and hope to go back sooner rather than later.
• My book club moved to BookPeople, read eleven new books, and consumed a lot of cheese and wine.
• There were a ton of great BookPeople events that I either worked and attended, including but not limited to Zadie Smith, Joy Wilson (a.k.a. Joy the Baker), Lemony Snicket, Samantha Irby, John Darnielle, and Chelsea Clinton (again).
• My friend Rachel invited me to see John Mulaney in San Antonio, and I laughed so hard my head hurt.
• I hung out with Tom Hanks while he signed 1100 books at the Texas Book Festival. He was absolutely lovely and exactly what you imagine him to be. We share an inside joke about tacos and he called me "Mags," so we're best friends now.
• After years of putting it off, I took the GRE (twice) and applied for graduate school. It's still a work in progress, but dammit at least I finally started.
• For my birthday, my best friends and I spent a weekend exploring New Orleans. I'm hoping to go back at some point this year because we barely scratched the surface of that super cool city.
• In October, I watched the Astros win the World Series with my BFF and ultimate Astros' fan Christina and dressed up as Lizzie McGuire for Halloween.
• I stood next to Hillary Clinton for three and a half hours while she signed books and gave people high fives. At one point, someone said the words "Maggie, we have to go upstairs to get briefed by Secret Service" to me. It was a weird day.
• My high school friend Mary visited from Portland with her two little girls, Whimsy and Glory. We babysat one afternoon and took them for their first ever sno cones. They were big fans.
• We hosted the third annual Friendsgiving and everyone really liked my mashed potatoes.
• My roommates and I went to a trampoline park for Kyle's 30th birthday where I hurt my knee and almost drowned in a foam pit.
• Melany and I met a few of my favorite bloggers in New York City (#bfgtnyc) where we explored, ate a ton of good food, got very little sleep, and walked so many miles.
• I got to see a few of my favorite bands again, including Quiet Company (of course), Two Door Cinema Club, and Les Hay Babies. I wore my red cowboy boots for the first time (thanks, Emmy) to the Les Hay Babies show and three different people asked if I was in the band.
• I downloaded Tinder only to almost immediately delete it again, like, five different times—but the sixth time I downloaded it, I met a very surprising boy. (Hi, Dylan.) He's so sweet, thoughtful, and silly, and has me feeling both terrified and excited... but definitely more excited.
• I drank some bourbon and sang karaoke for the first time by myself at the BookPeople holiday party. ("Aaron's Party (Come Get It)" by Aaron Carter, in case you were wondering.)
• Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent with my mom and siblings (and Uncle Kim for Thanksgiving) in Albany where I watched a lot of movies and pretty much didn't ever leave my house or change out of my pajamas.
• Thanksgiving and Christmas were spent with my mom and siblings (and Uncle Kim for Thanksgiving) in Albany where I watched a lot of movies and pretty much didn't ever leave my house or change out of my pajamas.
• Also, it SNOWED TWICE in AUSTIN a few weeks ago. SNOW! IN AUSTIN! (Also, Austin was cancelled today due to an ice storm (which is why I'm home now and able to finally finish this post), so this winter has been a little crazy as a whole.)
I know I said this last year, but I'm hopeful for 2018. Yes, in ways 2017 was both better and worse than 2016, but I think it was mostly better. For me, at least. The first few weeks of the new year have been really good to me, and I'm hopeful the trend will continue.
-Maggie
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