…you were made for lovin me! I’ve always enjoyed naming my posts by whatever song I happen to have in my head at that moment in time. This picture was taken in December, my pink hair was a little fresher then. I’m letting it fade naturally back to something resembling blonde, currently, and I’m amazed at how many compliments I still get. Today one of my patients noticed that my pale-pink eyeshadow perfectly matched the color of my hair, and complimented me. Still got it! Ha ha ha ahhhhhhhh.

On my birthday, my mother watched both boys overnight so Josh and I could “party”. By “party” we went to the park for a walk by ourselves (WoW!), and then went out to a restaurant we hadn’t tried before.

Here’s that dude. I am blanking on the name of the restaurant. I’m also blanking on what I ordered, because it wasn’t very good.

The only plus-side to the meal was that it came served in the take-out container, which made taking home leftovers a breeze! Not that I wanted to eat them! Ha!

Forever 39, thanks to these glitter numbers. Just like Patsy Stone.

For my birthday at home dinner, I requested bacon carbonara and carrot cake for dessert, which were also my requests when I turned 30. I wore a dress that I had sewn several years ago but never completed the straps! They were meant to be sequined.

It’s a fanciful layered Empire-waist dress, with faux fur trim. Although looking at these pictures I think I may have had it on backwards. Whoops!

Swirl!

It’s wild how fast 2023 went. 2023 was a great year. I started the year off by FINALLY ridding myself of an extremely toxic person from my life. I was the last in a long line of people who had gotten sick of this person’s bullshit. “I realized,” one of their ex-friends told me, “That no one is mean to me anymore! No one says terrible things to me!” Um, YEAH. I’m listening to a podcast called “Something was wrong”, about various women getting involved with sociopaths, and it’s fascinating how so many of the characteristics are similar among the creeps. Well. No more creeps for me!

Josh bought me this book and I learned about Hygge, which is basically the Danish art of being COZY. Think: fireplace, snuggly blanket, good book, cookies and tea. A movement I can really support! I gave the same book to Brenna for Christmas, along with a white wine-scented candle, warm socks, and chocolate chip cookies.

I LOVED our Christmas tree this year. I don’t know what type of tree it is, but the branches were sturdy and it dropped hardly any needles at all. As of this writing on January 18th, it’s still up, and has lost barely any needles. And it smells so good! I love a real tree.

What else was cool about 2023? I made quite a bit of art. I did an art show. We painted our bathroom coral (seen above). We went to Hawaii, we went to San Diego, we went to Palm Springs. We went to the cabin!

I’m basically married to Jemaine Clement (HOT). I bobbed my hair and dyed it pink. My “baby” (who just turned 4) finally got potty trained.

I got a dog! Beautiful Rosie and her shiny shiny coat. She likes to cuddle with me at night.

I bought myself a beautiful deep red velvet wraparound dress for the holidays. I paid to have two of my grandmother’s necklaces re-strung (it cost me over 300 dollars! What a racket!).

I re-painted the green hearse painting for my mother, that she lost in the divorce. Apparently I forgot to take a picture of the final painting, but this is what it looked like in progress.

Glammed up for Christmas Eve, which we spent at GG’s of course. I really enjoyed the “White Elephant” gift I opened this year–two candles scented like mint and cucumber and a set of pastel Sharpie markers. Post-Hygge I am now a candle person.

I sold the Metallic Mandala! To a real sweetheart who loves Mandalas and fluid art. I was happy to see this one go to a good home. I even gave her a discount, because that’s the kind of gal I am.

So yes! Goodbye 2023, you were fun! Looking forward to more dog walks, camping, and being out in NATURE for 2024.