The end is nigh for 2013 and pretty soon a lot of us are going to find it difficult to start dating documents with 2014 — and just when many were getting the hang of 2013!

I didn’t accomplish all of the things I had hoped to this year. The really big thing I wanted to achieve was to move out of Stockton, yet I’m still here. I did apply to a job all the way in Portland, OR in January and actually got a couple of interviews, but I lived too far and it was just for a small position anyway. At the time, Tim and I were trying to think of possible places to move together. Since neither of us had much luck finding jobs in the Pacific North-West, we decided to save our money throughout the year and looked into moving to Southern California to possibly pursue jobs that pertained to our creative interests . He ended up moving to a town just a wee bit further in April, but we kept our plans… until we broke up a couple weeks ago. The parting of ways felt like it came out of nowhere, and even though it was a mutual decision, it was definitely not one that was easy for me to come to terms with as we had all these plans. We were to supposed to have a future together. Tim and I met five years ago and started off as friends. Soon I found myself being able to confide in him with many things and just felt so at ease being myself around him more than any of my other friends or family members. He was such a big part of my life and his presence is all over this blog of mine, as many of you know. A good portion of the outfit pictures taken were done by him in his mom’s backyard. I wrote about many of the little adventures we went on over the past two years too. Distance and busy schedules just weren’t very kind on us. I won’t go into details of our split as I’d like to respect Tim’s privacy.

I also lost my Papang (grandpa) as he passed away the day after we threw his 96th birthday party during the summer.  Two very important men in my life just gone in an instant.

2013 has been a chaotic carousel ride with its many epic highs and rock-bottom lows.

I need to remind myself that I  did get to do and experience some really amazing things this year. Like I said, this year had some epic highs! I met Neil Gaiman which was incredibly wonderful and inspirational, I FINALLY met Daisy Duck at Disneyland which has basically been my dream since the age of 5 (or maybe even 3 or 4, I don’t know), I stood in the same vicinity as Matt Smith at a Doctor Who fan meet-up at Comic-Con AND he looked in my general direction since I was standing next to someone in an insanely fabulous TARDIS costume. What else? Le Fancy Geek has gotten a little bit more recognition and I was able to collaborate with LeSportsac, a brand I’ve been a fan of for ages, by doing a few reviews and giveaways, and also Firmoo. I was invited to partake in Blogger Night at Old Navy and got to help style a couple of folks. I also revamped my Etsy store by changing its name to Le Fancy Geek Boutique so it goes with the blog and started working with bezel pendants. I even did a few shows this year! You may have read about a couple of them recently (Rio Linda Craft Faire and Stockton-Con’s Mini Holiday Con, and Sac-Con earlier this year), and I wasn’t completely successful in terms of moving product, but the point is that I tried. I also managed to pick up a second job at a bookstore which is something I’ve always wanted to do. Now that I’m doing it, it’s really not as glamourous as I thought it would be, but still. A gig is a gig is a gig is a gig.

I’m feeling a bit lost as I’m unsure about what direction to move in with this upcoming year, but I’m going to focus on me since I’m no longer attached to a we.

I want to read more. I want to write more. I want to create more.

Perhaps 2014 will be the year I actually do things rather than say “I want to –insert random goal here-“

My little ponies, I truly hope you all find happiness in 2014 and fulfill any goals you wish to achieve. 2014  also happens to be the year of the horse! Get it… little ponies… year of the horse…? Okay, I’m going to shut up now.

Cheers,
Nina