2013 IN REVIEW: PART THREE

Tuesday 4 March 2014Tuesday 4 March 2014 kristy2013, Devin, family, year in reviewLeave a comment

FALL & WINTER

This fall Devin finally moved to New York, and he even moved in with me (hey, thanks!). After resigning ourselves to living in a studio, we found a tiny one-bedroom on a tree-lined street just in time. I discovered that Devin is really good at decorating, or as he calls it, ‘maximizing vertical space’.

On Halloween, I dressed up as the very scary Phyllis Schlafly and we decorated little cookies at work. In November, Marika and Tasha sent us to see Drake because they’re ‘the f*cking best’ (sorry, Drake reference). I didn’t think I could like Drake any more, but then I heard him sing a cappella—and his stage banter!!!! He is funny without being mean, which is the ultimate comedic achievement in my book. Devin mused that Drake should make more political music because he seems like a cool guy (he really does), but we both bet he’ll keep singing about wimyn and money in a ‘more is better’ way for the foreseeable future. Oh well. We’ll just keep pretending he has rad politics and all his lyrics are in code.

My mom and my friend Issy came to visit around Thanksgiving. It was fun. And cold. Pro-tip: don’t go to MoMA P.S. 1 until after the Mike Kelley exhibit closes. In the words of my mom, it’s ‘creepy’. We all agreed. Pro-tip: do go see the new musical about Carole King. To quote myself, it’s the best!

After Thanksgiving, it was Christmastime, fa la la. My favorite Christmas gift is always my family, but this year it got a little bigger because Devin was there, too. This was the longest time we’ve spent together in Mexico, and I loved sharing the everyday things I do when I’m home, like walking around the big park and grocery shopping at Alsuper, formerly Futurama. We got to spend a lot of time with my our (!) niece Victoria who learned to call Devin ‘Tío Bibin’. I always think I’ve hit my maximum capacity for love until I hang out with her. The older she gets, the more I love her. And not without reason. On New Year’s Eve, she told me she kisses me because loves me. On New Year’s Day, we were playing on a swing set, but we had to leave. We asked her to come get in the car, and she said, ‘I can’t.’

‘Why not?’, I asked.

‘Someone is pooping’, she responded.

‘Who is pooping?’

‘Me.’

Polite but never dishonest. The world should aspire to be more like you, Vic.

2013 IN REVIEW: PART TWO

Saturday 22 February 2014Tuesday 4 March 2014 kristy2013, Devin, family, Mexico, Portland, wedding, year in review1 Comment

SUMMER

I arrived in Portland three days before the wedding and was reunited with Devin, friends, and my family who battled the harsh bureaucracy of that cruel border just to say ‘I love you’ in person. That sounds melodramatic, but my little cousins’ visas weren’t delivered until a day after their flight left. The grown-ups in my family came together and bought them new (last-minute, very expensive) tickets. Then, they had to figure out how to get them to the airport and convince the authorities that they had permission to fly without their parents. I should mention that this was their first time traveling by themselves. Just to say ‘I love you’ in person.

The day before the wedding, we took thirty of our friends and family to a little island where we picked berries and flowers for the party. We picked so many, in fact, that we set a record on the farm for most berries picked, and Devin’s parents had to figure out how to get them to their house in Wisconsin so they wouldn’t go to waste!

Devin and I got married on a sunny day. He looked sooo good. Neither of us really remembers the feminist ceremony we planned for months. We do remember the flowers lovingly arranged by our cousins and friends, the surprise ice cream we received in the park while playing lawn games, and dancing to the sounds of seventeen musicians with my cousin Caren on vocals.

After celebrating from noon to midnight, we stayed at a hotel that I’m pretty sure I imagined and willed into being. The building’s architectural details have been preserved for a hundred years; it was decorated with Old Hollywood film stills; and when we asked for ketchup the next morning, they sent us a whole bowl.

We took a train along the Pacific Coast, basking in the beauty of the scenery, white-tablecloth dinners, and a freshly-made bed every night. This would have been a great honeymoon, but we were even luckier, spending a week at a veritable oasis in the Sonora Desert. Though I’m from Northern Mexico, I’d never been to a beach in my region, and it was incredible to swim in the ocean and emerge in a place so similar to my hometown. Devin and I spent our days swimming and snorkeling. We ate fresh fruit with chamoy in a hollowed coconut. At night we danced and learned about Puerto Peñasco from friends we made who live there. On our last day, they led us on an epic scavenger hunt to get souvenirs for our families and eat all my favorite snacks one last time before heading back to the States for a tornaboda on Devin’s family farm!

Where Devin’s from they’re into potlucks, so we asked everyone to bring a pie. In all, our friends brought 20 different pies! I tried in vain to taste them all; Devin succeeded.

We ended the night, and our summer, with a big bonfire and camping on a cold night in our cozy new sleeping bag for two.

2013 in Review: Part One

Sunday 5 January 2014Sunday 5 January 2014 kristy2013, Devin, New York, Tasha, Vanessa, year in reviewLeave a comment

In 2013, I took very few pictures and wrote even less, but it was such a great year that I decided to do a year-in-review post anyway. Once I got started, I realized I had a lot to say about it, so I decided to break it up into three posts. This is the first.

I’d love to hear about your highlights from 2013 and see your end-of-year blog posts if you have any!

WINTER & SPRING

This is the view from where I work. Every time I see it, I pause and think of opening credits to any of the thousands of movies set in New York.

Snow day!

At the beginning of the year, I got my first full-time job in an office with a view of the whole city and moved in with my childhood friend Marissa. We hadn’t really hung out since doing our First Communion in 1998! Reconnecting with her has been really rad. My life and paychecks were finally stable enough to join a Community-Supported Agriculture program, start going to the YMCA, and grocery shop without looking at prices (as much). New York had its first big snow since I moved here! I felt absolutely rich.

I fell in love with Brooklyn in the spring, taking pictures of all the flowers, exploring fancy neighborhoods and noticing little distinctions, like the statues of Jesus in Boerum Hill and the large francophone population in Cobble Hill. At a fancy event, I saw Gloria Steinem in real life, and she let me take a picture with her!

I started trying on dresses for my wedding with help from Tasha who was the best fashion consultant and friend, schlepping all over and giving me sound advice. When I was on the brink of spending all the money Devin and I had on a big organza number from the ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ store, she reminded me to ‘say nice to the price’, and just like that shopping was fun again. I’d always dreamt of getting married in blue, but all the blue gowns in the city looked like something Cinderella’s step-sisters would wear so the search continued.

My cousin Vanessa threw me a tea party wedding shower, and Devin graduated from with a Master’s in Environmental Something-or-Other ; ) In his program, it’s a tradition to decorate your graduation cap, and he decorated it with a bird’s-eye view of his family farm complete with a replica of their tractor. He also put a gavel on it because he studied environmental laws and policies.