My 2016 in lists and stats. I won't explain further than that because this post is going to be super long anyway.
Books - I'm starting with this category because 2016 has been a year of books for me. I have always been a reader, but after getting pretty burnt out on reading during my high school and college years (as I think many people do) my love for reading has resurged more and more every year since I've graduated.
Book source: the library - Anyone who knows me online is probably aware of my obsession with the library. I was a junior librarian in middle school and in 2016 the public library became a huge part of my weekly routine.
Nonfiction book: Shrill by Lindy West - This book is hilarious, hopeful and gave me so much to think about. Please read this.
Fiction book: The Powerbook by Jeanette Winterson - Jeanette Winterson is a genius. I read 3 of her books this year, but this was the one that I stayed up all night to finish in one sitting. The prose and story are gorgeous and she does an incredible job of capturing emotion. This is actually considered to be not one of her best, so I'm looking forward to seeing what I think of her more popular works.
Graphic Novel: The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg - A late post-Christmas addition. Hands down the best graphic novel I have ever read. A story about storytelling with feminism, romance, and humor thrown in. Enchanting artwork. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
Honorable Mentions: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers - A delightful story with delightful characters and lots of meaning. Sci-fi for people who love sci-fi and for people who don't.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I have issues with this book and even more issues with the series (regarding gender and sexuality issues, as well as writing that can be super repetitive), but the world of this book/series is so immersive in a way that not many books have been since I was a child.
Total books read: 53
Total pages read: 19,364
Podcasts - I'm obsessed. I listen to quite a few regularly. These are the ones that I binge listened to this year (even if I may have listened before 2016)
Art For Your Ear - Interviews with artists by the Jealous Curator. Always inspires.
The Ladycast - Inspires me to be a more badass lady
Call Your Girlfriend - Their tagline is "for long distance besties everywhere" and its true. I saw them live twice this year, both with spectacular lady friends of mine.
Gilmore Guys - The podcast that I laugh at the most. And its about Gilmore Girls. Saw them live in Boston in June and it was hilarious.
Hot Chicks With Superpowers - Shoutout to my own podcast, started this year. Listen to me and two wonderful friends chat about every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in order, complete with feminism, 90s fashion, and tangents (and I did the artwork).
TV - Like books, I consumed a lot of TV this year. I don't even have a movies category because I'm all about TV. None of these series started in 2016 and I didn't watch them all for this first time in 2016, but I loved them this year.
Supergirl - A happy, uplifiting joy of a show. With so many well-written, nuanced female characters. And season 2 is only getting better.
Elementary - I'm not really a huge fan of detective shows or procedurals in general, but for some reason I find Elementary extremely enjoyable, comforting, funny, and interesting. The characters are incredibly fleshed out and acted so well. And Joan Watson's style is so on point.
Honorable Mentions: The Flash - Mostly for sentimental reasons of watching and commenting with my DC roommate, Hannah, but I'm just a sucker for all of the DC shows.
Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life - Entirely for anticipation reasons.
Music
Hamilton Soundtrack - That's it. The end. I don't listen to music much anymore (I realize how weird that is), but when I do listen to music it will be the Hamilton soundtrack and I will listen to it over and over and never get tired.
Fashion Things
Clothing: Bando I Did My Best Sweatshirt
Accessory: All of the pins (you can get mine here)
Phone case: Bando glitter bomb
Food Things
Tacos - Luckily, the year of the taco is also the year I moved to LA and right down the block from a taco stand.
Grape Tomatoes
La Croix - I realize everyone else is also obsessed, but truly the best drink to grab from the fridge and take back to my desk while working on a project. My fave flavors are peach pear and cran rasberry.
Art Stuff
Medium: Watercolor and Collage
Class: Jessica Swift's Pattern Camp - I learned so much in just two days. Pattern Camp completely changed my pattern making game and gave me quite a few Illustrator tips and tricks that I use outside of pattern making as well. I highly recommend signing up for the next round if you want to make patterns.
Digital Tool: Illustrator - Totally upped my digital art game
Cool Stuff I Made: geometric collages, watercolor paintings (often of bras), lots of patterns, enamel pins, letterpress prints, little art books, jewel collages, a few acrylic paintings.
Cool Places My Art Was: Urbanic wrapping paper, Print Source, the A Creative DC Newsletter, Obvi We're The Ladies, under people's christmas trees
Museum I Visited: The Broad
Art that I Bought: This screenprinted poster by Lisa Congdon. It is super neon in real life and looks so good in a white frame.
Travel
Portugal, Spain, and Morocco
Cross-country road trip from DC to LA
Several trips to Boston to visit the fam
Memorable Things That Happened This Year (that I haven't mentioned in the past categories)
- Snowzilla a.k.a. a huge blizzard in D.C. that kept us snowed in for so many days
- completed the 100 day project 100 Days of Watercolor Without Reference
- moved to LA
- opened my Etsy shop
- turned 24
- attended weekly trivia at the Fox and Hounds
- my sister Chloe visited and we went to Disneyland
- went to tons of physical therapy and chiropractor appointments
- started Reclaim the Rhetoric with Taylor
- voted for Hillary Clinton (and cried a lot)
Thanks for hanging out with me this year and for your support of my work! Onward to 2017!