G'bye 2013! You were wonderful! <3

Well, today's the very last day of 2013 and I'll be sad to see this year go, really! It's been an amazing, busy year chock full of conventions, travel, video games, fun and love. Now it's time to take down the 2013 calendar and put up one for 2014, but not before I go back through its pages and revisit some of the amazing things that happened this year!

January
January is usually a pretty empty month, but Moose and I celebrate our anniversary on the 26th so at least that's something lovely to look forward to! We had a lovely meal at Zues, a Greek restaurant in Plymouth. There was also a heck of a lot of snow, and dad's annual golf society meal.

February
As a sort of Anniversary/Valentines gift, I got Moose and I concert tickets to see the Kaiser Chiefs in Exeter, so we had a lovely romantic night away together for that! I also sold at Exeter Expo and spent a couple of nights with my rad friends at Center Parcs for Laura's birthday!

March
Turns out, this would be the last Cardiff Comic Con, which is such a shame because it was an amazing event at a hotel with a pool and spa, sigh! I loved ending a busy day selling art with a relaxing session at the spa. More conventions should be held at spa hotels, clearly!

April
For Luke's birthday, we saw the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band in Bath! I also attended Plymouth Comic Expo and took part in my very first League of Legends tournament with Moose and his university society members! (We came fourth too, which really wasn't all that bad!)

May
May was a busy month! May's always a busy month! I crammed in three conventions, and they're all pretty big ones! Bristol Comic Expo was the first, followed by the biggie, London MCM Expo (or Comic Con as it's re-branding itself now!) and then Confuzzled, my first ever Furry con! That was an amazing experience and I am heartbroken I can't attend next year (due to a clash with MCM). Seriously, Confuzzled was the friendliest con ever.

June
As usual, June was a nice lazy month centered around DC's Birthday Bash! We had, games, movies (both cheesy and great!) and loads and loads of food. Nom.

July
Birthday month! And I was sure to make this birthday a long one! I went to Marwell Zoo with my parents and Moose, then Moose and I went to Weymouth for a day at the beach and aquarium exploring, and then we had a weekend at my friend Sarah's house for a BBQ, movies, a trip to Bristol Zoo and gaming. And then, later in July, I went off to London to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour with my buddies Laura and Jess. Nice month :)

August
Headed up to London for Moose's birthday, where I arranged a day of nerding about London with his friends. I also went to Bristol to see Equestria Girls on the big screen with a theatre full of Bronies, attended the very last Ayacon, which breaks my heart because it was my favourite convention, and sold art again at BUCK, the UK Brony convention.

September
Oh boy! September! The month I didn't think could possibly come fast enough! Our friend Kingsley was spending a few months in New York training for his new job and Moose and I were offered the chance to stay with him and visit NYC! It was absolutely breathtaking! Everything I dreamed New York would be, and more! I'm desperate to go back because we had the most wonderful time and didn't even touch the tip of the iceberg. I went straight from PonyCon to New York, then came home a week later and went straight to DevCon, a small Plymouth convention I'd booked a table at. Nothing like burning the candle at both ends, huh?

October
October's usually a month I focus entirely on MCM Expo (which was ruined by my being really ill anyway, boo!) but this one was the exception! Danny Elfman, lead singer of Oingo Boingo, a band I've been obsessed with since I was 14, was coming to London to perform songs from the Nightmare Before Christmas! The concert was at the Royal Albert Hall, which was a beautiful venue I'd never visited before, and the experience completely destroyed me! I became a blubbering teenager again the moment he walked out on stage. Afterwards, I bumped into Steve Bartek (lead guitar of Boingo) outside, and dragged him back to meet my parents. Absolutely one of the greatest moments of my life.

November
November started relatively quiet but ended up pretty danged busy! I was invited to attend Armadacon, a small oldschool science fiction convention in Plymouth, and had a blast! I absolutely love older conventions, they have such a different feel to them than anime cons or conventions focused on modern (internet) nerd culture. I went up to London to see TMBG, a band I make a point of seeing every time they visit the UK, and then that following Saturday I went to Bristol with Moose, Mum and Luke to see Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary episode on the big screen! Later that week, Sarah, Luke and I saw Paul Michael Glaser (the original Starsky of 'And Hutch' fame!) in 'The Fiddler on the Roof' in Bath.

December
And here we are, the Christmas month! I'm writing this up on the very last day of December, the very last day of 2013. I had several Christmas meals, saw the Hobbit, arranged the oddest little festive meal ever (turkey dinosaurs, anyone?) and sold art at Exeter Expo. Today I'm off to Bristol, to game and nerd out with my friends before watching the fireworks over the city.

In short, 2013 was busy, expensive and awesome, and I just can't wait to see what 2014 brings!

<3