1) best film:
i loved this movie so much! loosely based on a Henry James novel; this is/was one of the most heartbreaking and yet equally sweetest movies i have ever seen. it's set to a beautiful melancholy score and contains one of the finest child acting performances i have ever seen. i watch it over and over and it just makes me feel so many different things in such deep and profound ways...sorrow, joy, wonder, hope, compassion....on and on and on....2) best book (take one):
this is truly one of those books. you know the ones. the ones that long after you've finished you still find yourself thinking about it, about the characters, about the love and the trials, the unfairness of it all, and yet the beauty in it all is what remains. i already knew john green was among the most brilliant of writers and one of the most fantastic of YA authors, but this book just pushed him over the edge of greatness. it is just one of those stories that in some ways inexplicably captivates the reader. yes, it is a love story, no it does not end happily, but it's real and raw, and it makes you care. what more can you really ask for from a book?3) best restaurant:
This, this, this! This was a late in the year discovery, but oh my! Great Maple is the restaurant. Libations (just because i like the word) and seasonal plates, what more? I had my first taste of gin, an amazing thanksgiving dinner on a turkey burger, brie and a balsamic baguette, and an apple pie more akin to an apple pot pie ala mode. go! I will be returning often!
4) best shopping spot (x2):
(online) Effie's heart! Seriously such cute stuff...perfectly whimsical for a teacher kind of life and very akin to what Zooey Deschanel would wear. Winner!
(in store) Paper Source Who doesn't love perusing pretty paper? Me, that's who. I get inspired to craft, to collage, to letter write, to just be inspired. Plus it's between Whole Foods and Peets...doesn't get much better than that.
5) let's talk t.v.:
all i ask for in my mid-week television viewing is a bit of hilarity and that feeling of connection with a well-written smart and funny character because it makes me forget my troubles and feel a little less alone for a half-hour of my life every week. and while that might sound sad or unsatisfying on so many levels, this television show is anything but.
6) best live show?
over the past few years i was much better at being an avid concert goer. my claim of going to shows as a favorite past time didn't really live up to its name this year though. besides some nkotb stalking...mumford &sons back in june tops my 2013 list of live music. it was my second time seeing them and you know, i was just as enthralled and captivated by the musicianship, the voices, the passion, the poetics...all of it.
7) word for the year: transformation.
i lamented in a mid year post that i hadn't really been attentive to my word for the year. but you know what if funny about that? God works whether we are paying attention or not. He moves quietly in the thick and the folds of our lives. and i can see now, in retrospect where He was transforming my outlooks to expectant, my dreams to actions, my worries to prayers, and my sorrows to joy. not every aspect of my life transformed. i didn't turn into a new or really even better person over the course of the past year. but some important, life giving, at times crucial things changed. and that was the transformation that i needed.
8) best trip:
2013 wasn't a big travel year for me...besides the few l.a. excursions, the quick stint to vegas, and a week in portland, i spent most of time in my hometown. but of all these little journeys beyond my familiar sunny city were a blessing and so needed. i think i love portland more every time i go....something about the grey drippy skies, the endless stretches of green trees, and the waterfront. it just romances me so.
9) momentary obsession:
what remedied a week of sickness and then a week of grieving at the end of 2012...returned again in 2013. more than a momentary obsession, sometimes i just needed the fix. a saturday afternoon, or a weekday evening when i couldn't muster the energy for anymore work or people or life, or you know just because it's that good. sometimes an hour just needs to be spent with Castle :)
10) best book (take two):
this book will reside in my top ten list of best reads ever. my fitzgerald obsession now four years old has yet to wane. i just love getting my hands on the good stuff and this one is the good-est of the good of the popular literary homages being paid to this infamous couple.
11) disneyland annual passes=the best of times.
12) penny lane continues to invigorate my life with a unique and special kind of love.
13) the date. the one sole date. the first date in over a year. and it was a good one. a really good one. with someone unexpected. someone i'd never date again, and yet he gave me so much. he opened my eyes. he gave me the feelings. the someday//someone feelings...and for that, i am indebted to my one date wonder.
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