You guys know I am chronically the worst at updating this blog. I always have the best intentions, but either I don’t finish my books on time or I don’t get my reviews written on time, or I take too long with a post and by the time I finish it’s outdated and no one cares anymore. So I’m here to give you a little life update because guys, I have been BUSY!

Since my last post, I’ve been all over the country. Concerts! Musicals! Weddings! Friends! Tattoos! Friends that are like family!

I went to Indiana first to see Paige and Kate (both of the now-defunct A Conjuring of Lit), two of my very bestest friends in the whole world. We got tiny dino tattoos that we’ve been itching for, and I added some new piercings before we picked up our friend Caitlyn and took a leisurely drive down to Nashville for the Panic! At The Disco Viva Las Vengeance tour stop. If you’ve never seen Panic live, first of all, goddamn. Because they put on an incredible show. This concert in particular is divided into 3 parts–the first and the third are all of your old favorites, but the second is a complete run through of the Viva Las Vengeance album.

If you can get out to see them before the show closes in March, you shan’t regret it.

After that I went to Montana with the husband and all 5 of the doggos for two weeks. He hiked, I read in the Airbnb.

A DAY AFTER we got back, I hopped on a plane from LAX to Vermont for Alyssa’s (@withthebanned) wedding! There are so many of us that have been friends since the beginning of the Pandemic, thanks in large part to Animal Crossing and a group chat that we all joined to forge connections while we were all stuck at home for months on end. But this chat turned from an Animal Crossing discussion to a life support group SO FAST it’s hard to remember a time we didn’t all have each other.

Alyssa’s wedding, though, was the first time a lot of us got to actually meet IN PERSON! For Alyssa, someone I have been friends with for years, have cried over video chats with, have talked to for hours every day YET STILL NEVER HUGGED, I climbed onto this tiny plane, entrusted Corey the pilot the take me from Boston to Vermont, and landed safely at the smallest airport I’ve ever seen.

And then I got to meet SO! MANY! FRIENDS! Paige and Kate were there of course, and Alyssa, but also Caro, Sarah, Harker, Amy, and Ashley (fun fact I met Ashley by pounding on her hotel door and yelling “I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE!” until she got out of shower to answer the door and no I am not a handful why do you ask).

Anyway it was a gorgeous wedding, and I had the best time with my friends that I finally got to hug.

After Alyssa’s wedding, I went back with Caro to spend a week with her in her new home in CT. On the way there we stopped to go apple picking.

We forgot to look for pumpkins until Halloween and by then only pie pumpkins remained. The internet said DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CARVE, NO GOOD FOR CARVING, but things could have gone worse.

And then Caro and I had a MAGICALLY fun week of going into NYC for shopping and Broadway musicals.

We went to see Six, and Hadestown, and stopped to see all the Barbies at FAO Schwarz, and got friendship rings at Kate Spade.

We saw & Juliet while it was still in previews and finished off the week with The Lion King. All of the shows were wonderful, perfect, amazing, but & Juliet was by far the best I’ve ever seen. So funny, so fun, and hands down the best music. We spent the last two days I was there getting tattoos. The safety pin was planned, the pizza and camera ghosts were flash pieces we saw there and went back the next day for.

Then I went home! And two days later, I was back in LA for a Charlie Puth concert at a small theater downtown!

And then, just like that, we’re finally onto my latest trip! This time we’re in Savannah for Patricia’s wedding, with Paige and Kate one more time. Kate and I stole away for an afternoon to visit the cutest little used bookstore, and to, what else, get a tattoo. This one is hard to tell from the photo, but it’s the line “stars by the pocketful” from Taylor Swift’s “Snow on the Beach” and it popped into my head fully formed the second I heard the song.

It’s another backless dress with a train, and yes I do think it was appropriate for an afternoon wedding.The sparkles really give it that “daytime appeal,” don’t you think?

And after that, I have been finally, blessedly, at home again, catching up on work and rewatching The Vampire Diaries, cuddling with my grumble, cross-stitching, and being “Little Katie’d” in a moment so pure I thought I would die.

SO you guys tell me, how are all of you doing? What’s been going on with everyone? What have we been reading? Who has fun holiday plans? And most importantly, WILL I BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH POSTING MORE IN 2023??