January:

2017 started off slow. Scott gave a presentation on color blindness for user
interfaces at a tech conference
called CodeMash at the
Kalahari Indoor Waterpark in
Sandusky, OH, and I went
along to give him moral support
;). When we returned, we went
to the birthday party of our
friend Carolyn, then I was off
to Windsor with my mom for a
4 day casino trip. Somewhere in
there my mom and I attended a
concert at EMU featuring my
nephew playing the saxophone and Scott and I attended a postcard writing
activist session at our friend Sarah’s. We ended the month by visiting with our
friend Juergen who was in from New York.
February:
By February our calendar started to get a little fuller when we started Pandemic
Legacy with our friends Mike
and Michelle. We also attended
a delicious honey tasting at
Zingerman’s with pals Gabe
and Jess and last hockey at the
Joe with friends Kelly and Phil.
Next was a trip out to Chicago
for Capricon, a science fiction,
fantasy, media, and fandom
convention where I was on a
few panels and did some author
networking. I also put out a
paperback version of my self-published novelette, Miles from Manistique. We closed
out the month with our annual heart-shaped pizza and board games night.
March:
March saw us hanging out with friends and family alike, but mainly ramping up
for our 10 year anniversary trip to
New Zealand! We left on March 24th
and spent some time with Leif and
Leland in San Francisco on our
journey west hiking, mud-bathing,
and enjoying Napa Valley. Sterling
Vineyards is amazing!
April:
We spent most of April in New Zealand visiting friends, feeling nostalgic, and
seeing some new sights.
Highlights include bungy
jumping off the Auckland bridge
tandem, touring Hobbiton,
hiking the Tongariro Alpine
Crossing, seeing Wellington and
the Weta studios, an exclusive
behind-the-scenes look at NZ
parliament, weathering 2
cyclones (one on a ferry from the
North Island to the South
Island), an epic journey back to the place we were married, and going back to
Christchurch (post earthquakes). It was an amazing experience that I hope to
replicate in another 10 years with the love of my life! Penguicon closed out April
(where I may or may not have forgotten to book us a hotel room).
May:
In May was another Windsor trip with my mom and my nephew’s graduation
from high school. We also visited Scott’s newest
niece and nephew at his parent’s farm, and got
new bees this month to replace winter losses.
June:
In June there was canoeing, golf, friends and family, bees, and I made kombucha
(fermented tea) for the first time. I also bade
farewell to my friends and coworkers at Barnes
and Noble to start a new adventure as a full-time
writer.
July:
In July, I celebrated my 40th birthday and my incredible husband conspired with
our fantastic friends to spend a
week at a huge house in Sutton’s
Bay (near Traverse City). It was so
much fun and set a very high bar
for Scott’s 40th next year. But that
was only the beginning of this
fantastic month. We also
celebrated the 1st Annual
PondCon at the farm with
swimming, boating, grilling,
delicious food, and board games of
course. We also got to see Toad the Wet Sprocket a second time in Kalamazoo! I
got to spend time with my niece and nephew as well. We then closed out the
month with a record-setting escape the room time at Erebus Escape in Pontiac.
August:
In August I had a sleep study to check out some sleep health issues I’d been
having, and I
attended an author
panel at Barnes and
Noble (my old job).
There was also the
solar eclipse, golfing
with my family,
BSCon, helping with
the Duelist fencing
tournament, and
seeing Bruce
Campbell live at the
Michigan Theatre.
Additionally, we
harvested our first honey from the Flow Hive!
September:
In September we went to the first U of M home football game with Becky and BJ
and had a lovely time…in the ER (long story).
I gave a talk about the Flow Hive to my bee
class, did a charity golf outing with my mom
and sister, enjoyed a girl’s weekend Up
North, and we went to Scott’s 20 year high
school reunion. Oh, and I almost forgot, we
drove 4 hours round-trip down to Lima, OH
and adopted 2 kittens, Fred and George
(Weasley).
October:
Highlights of October included watching the U of M vs MSU football game at my
cousin Carrie’s annual chili cook off,
my being a part of the world-record-
setting gathering of Rosie the Riveters
in Ypsilanti, MI, another wonderful
EMU concert featuring my nephew,
Logan, another Windsor trip with my
mom (this time with an upgraded
room!), attending the EMU vs Western
MI football game with my mom to see
Logan in the marching band (my
mom’s first college football game), going to a cider mill with my hubby and
spending over 1.5 hours in the corn maze, celebrating my dad’s 76th birthday, and
hosting a harrowing Halloween party where my “Escape the Basement” game
nearly set off the smoke detectors.
November:
November is NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), so I was busy typing
out 50,000 words of a YA, sci-fi novel, but in between
chapters, I attended the Michigan Bee Association
Fall Conference in Kalamazoo with my awesome
mother-in-law/beekeeper buddy, Marty, and my
fantastic sister-in-law, Kate, who is also a beekeeper.
We had a wonderful time and learned so much, then
went back to the farm and put our bees to bed for the
winter. I also headed down to Florida to visit my
vacationing folks once again (and discovered at the
Circus Museum that my mom used to ride horses
roman!), had one Thanksgiving there, and then
headed back up to Michigan for 2nd Thanksgiving and Black Friday, board game
fun with Scott’s family. We also had another super fun craft night at friend
Sarah’s and this time made “plague candles” which smelled of myrrh, cloves, and
other scents “guaranteed to probably protect you from plague.”
December:
In the home stretch of this very full year, we went to an Ypsilanti Symphony
Orchestra concert where our friend Erin was principle
cello, attended a net neutrality protest rally in the snow,
and helped with the Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeeper’s
Annual Holiday Gala, Mead Tasting, and Silent
Auction. I then was able to go out to dinner with my
friend Kim’s family at a Hungarian restaurant
downriver where we were joined by a lovely Hungarian exchange student, Laura,
and my former high school Spanish teacher, Mrs.
Rosentreter (who is actually Hungarian!). Then we
began our Christmas gauntlet, spending the 17th with
Scott’s brother Dan’s family near Ruby, MI, taking my
niece and nephew to see the Transiberian Orchestra on
the 23rd, having our Us-mas the morning of the 24th,
heading to the Favre farm for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, driving in
sometimes white-out snow to the Haeger’s for Christmas Day, and shooting down
to Petersburg, MI for the Banyash family (my mom’s family) Christmas on the
30th. In between I was able to visit with my good friend
and former science teacher Ms. Schiebner, we picked
up and transported from Yale, MI 800lbs of beef from
a cow we split with our friends Gabe and Jess and Kim
and Scott, I took my nieces and nephews to Dave and
Busters for one of their Christmas presents, and we
hosted a MSU Holiday Bowl party with friends Kelly, Phil, Kim, and Mary.
December ended with the same procedure as every year at the Emerson’s awesome
New Year’s Eve party.
I’m so grateful for this wonderful year spent with friends and family and cannot
wait to see what 2018 has in store!  Wishing everyone a truly Happy New Year!