Christmas/New Year’s Letter 2018

Wishing a Happy New Year to all!

January:

2018 Started slow with some car troubles, key lime pie, and the local convention Confusion Through the Looking Glass.








February:

February got much busier spending time with friends playing board games, starting to make things out of my Christmas present book “Beeswax Alchelmy”, and having a girl’s night out. But the real excitement was going to Las Vegas with my mom!











March:

In March I got to spend some time with my niece at her robotics competition, I started an online bee class, we spent some time with friends, we attended Scott’s work “holiday” party, and then finished off the month at SheepCon (a food and board game festival with family at my inlaw’s farm.









April:

In April I helped give a presentation to my bee club on the Flow Hive and we had one of the creators SKYPE in to answer questions. Scott shaved his beard. We celebrated our 11th anniversary (steel) with Mythbusters and Scythe. We attended a special saxophone concert where my nephew had a solo. Then I took another casino trip with my mom, but this time only to Indiana. My mother-in-law and I then woke our bees from their winter nap. This busy month ended with my cousin’s baby shower and a dinner in Ann Arbor with Scott’s parents.










May:

May was busy with bees and installing the Flow Hive in our bee club apiary. There was also the local SciFi/Fantasy Convention Penguicon, which is one of our favorites. Then I spent some time with my family for spring birthdays and then again when my niece graduated from high school.










June:

In June Scott and I ran our first and only 5k of the year…in the rain. Then I skipped over the Illinois with Scott’s family to work on the fixer-upper his sister and her husband had just bought. Next was visiting with friends from California and then fixing our bathroom tub. The bee club also had a pretty unsuccessful last-minute bake sale.












July:

This month I celebrated summer birthdays (including mine!) with my family, received an honorable mention for a short story, and then we traveled down to Kentucky to experience the Bourbon Trail for Scott’s birthday.











August:

The Bourbon Trail went into the first week of August. When we returned in was mayhem and swarming in the apiary I share with my mother-in-law. Then we celebrated Scott’s birthday a second time with friends. Later I got to see my favorite band (Toad the Wet Sprocket) again! This month we also got a new “smart” bed to help keep track of our sleep. Then it was off to a Harry Potter themed Escape the Room adventure with my family before heading back up to the farm for another get together, PondCon.













September:

PondCon lasted until September. Then we celebrated our friend’s 40th birthday with a sash and a smash cake. I was busy in the beeyard again, but we managed to make it to an amazing talk by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, the incredible woman responsible for saving Flint from the lead poisoning its water. Next was another unexpected get together at the farm deemed HurriCon, when Scott’s brother’s family evacuated from South Carolina to avoid a hurricane. We were so lucky that the whole family could come and see them! Then I went to a friend’s baby’s birthday party and to a charity golf outing with my mom and cousin. The month concluded with a hiking trip Up North in the Porcupine Mountains.




October:

In October I got to attend an Eastern Michigan football game and see my nephew play in the marching band. Scott and I also got to go to the cider mill on just about the perfect fall day. Next was a haunted hayride with my family and then the Michigan vs Michigan State game at a friend’s house. The month closed out with our Halloween Party complete with new game, Zombie! I also got some exciting news this month and signed a 3 book contract!








November:

Coming to the close of the year, my mother-in-law and I put the bees to bed for the winter, then I got to go to another much chillier EMU football game. We got our first big snow of the season, then I got to have 2 Thanksgivings, one with my family and one with Scott’s. Things didn’t go quite as planned at the end of the month, but I managed my 50,000 words to win NaNoWriMo again this year!













December:

In December we worked the bee club’s annual gala fundraiser, I attended another saxophone concert where my nephew had a solo, and things were just generally crazy-busy with the Christmas tree not getting up until 10 days before Christmas and Christmas shopping not getting done until the week before Christmas. We then had a whirlwind 10 days of Christmas split between friends and family. I’d like to say I’m looking forward to some down time in January, but the 1st draft of my second contract book is due February 1st, so looks like another busy year ahead.