So What Kind of Year Was It?: 2013 in Pictures

This post is part of the 2013 Think Kit blogging project. 

I have reached the point in the year when I typically find myself ready to assess it, sum it up and give it a label: good year. Bad year. Somewhere-in-between year. I was joking with my dad a couple days ago that 2013 was a rebuilding year–like I’m a sports team, trading talent and trying to get myself on track for an outstanding 2014. I also said to him that it surprised me how challenging 2013 was, because at the end of 2012–at about this time last year–I was saying to my dad and step mom how happy I was about the person I found myself, at age 29, to be, and how I was looking forward to pressing on as that person in 2013.

2013 opened with optimism.

As I think back on the year, certain events stand out: my son started kindergarten, and that was pretty major for me, bringing me to a moment of pause and reflection. My youngest brother got married, and since he was the last of my siblings to do so, we’ve now reached the point where our family is more or less “complete” (save for any grandkids that may/may not appear in the coming years). My father announced his pending retirement from the full-time pastoral ministry, which marks the end of an era that had a huge formative effect on who I am and how I think about things.

But what about the in-between moments? As a creative nonfiction writer, I always turn my attention toward the ordinary, banal and otherwise overlooked. Years may be recalled for the big things, but life is made in the small. And as I looked through tonight my photos of the past year, it seems my 2013 has literally been made in the making–in creating things. So, for my 2013 in photos, please enjoy a selection of the stuff that I’ve sewn, baked, painted or otherwise made this year.

Stockings for my kids.

A teddy for Margot’s Christmas.

Rice and trinket seek and find tubes for Oliver and Margot’s Christmas.

Wooden blocks for Oliver.

In 2013, I resolved to start making clothes. This was my first shirt.

Felt bags to hold favors for a baby shower.

A soft book for Eldon, the baby son of a friend.

A hot air balloon and Eiffel Tower mobile for above Margot’s bed.

I sewed this paper garland for my friend Kristy out of cards she’d received during her battle with cancer.

Made Oliver a bow tie to wear at my brother’s wedding.

Repurposed a cigar box into an adorable place for the wedding bands for my brother’s wedding ceremony.

Margot’s birthday called for the creation of delicious and adorable cupcakes.

Sewed a skirt for Miss Margot.

The second shirt I sewed myself this year.

I created this wall installation from some branches left over after some tree pruning.

A dress for Margot.

I created a faux birdcage for my flower bed by attaching two planter bases together with wire and hanging a broken glass star in the middle.

A vegan cake.

A Christmas gift for my stepmom–a practical, but cute, fabric bag.