I am eager to share a year-end wrap up post, but first I have to tell you about December! It was quite a month — I spent most of it in Los Angeles working on A Christmas Story Live, then I went to Denver for a few days to visit my uncle, and then flew home to Connecticut to celebrate Christmas with family, see a show in NYC, and spend the last few days of the month on Cape Cod.

I won’t say much about A Christmas Story Live since I already wrote about it in this post — but working on it was a highlight of the year for me.

A major benefit to being in Los Angeles for work is getting to hang out with friends! The majority of my social life is in LA so I soak up every chance to see friends there.

Elena showed me and Rian her favorite KBBQ spot — Hae Jang Chon Korean BBQ Restaurant in Koreatown. It was my first time eating Korean BBQ! After we went to a boba place nearby. Great night.

Loved meeting Eva for lunch and deep conversation. Had a delicious Italian dinner at Barone’s in the Valley with Michael, Laura, and Tracy.

Walking around Silver Lake with Grace is one of my favorite things to do in LA — and water is back in the reservoir! Afterwards we got lunch at LA MILL, which is always a treat.

Loved making a gingerbread house with Kelley and Adele:

And I got to meet my friends Brenda & Joe’s baby! She is a delight:

Of course I logged plenty of time at my favorite coffee shop, Priscilla’s:

Toluca Lake hung these glittery ornaments along Riverside, featuring their town symbol the swan:

I spent five days in Denver just before Christmas visiting my uncle — I will write a full post about that very soon. Loved getting to catch up with friends there, especially Molly!

I landed in Connecticut in the wee hours of Christmas Eve morning (my flight got in at 3:30am… four hours late) and had a wonderful holiday with my parents, sister, and the dogs. I went to my childhood church for a few hours on Christmas day to volunteer at the community meal served there.

I’ll have a full post on Christmas soon but in the meantime, here are the highlights:

Oh my gosh, I have to share with you a few photos of my sister’s dog, Oscar — the one on the left below is his annual Christmas card photo, and the one on the right is just a typical pose. He is the best.

The day after Christmas I went into New York City to visit the Whitney Museum and see a play. By the time I got to the museum’s rooftop, the sun had just set:

Artist Laura Owens has a featured exhibit; this was one tiny part:

The exhibit that really captured my attention is called An Incomplete History of Protest — it features powerful art, paintings, installations, and photographs all made in the pursuit of protest. Really moving stuff.

The last exhibit I saw featured work by Jimmy Durham:

After a quick meal of avo toast, I saw an excellent and much buzzed about new play called School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play by Jocelyn Bioh. Totally lived up to the hype.

The next day I drove out to Cape Cod to meet my family for six days of games, puzzles, and avoiding the freezing temps outside.

Here’s a few of the games we played — Codenames (SO GOOD), Be a Broadway Star (can’t believe my family agreed to play this with me!), and a Golden Girls version of CLUE (random but fun).

Mom and Dad did a puzzle. And one night for dinner Mom whipped up homemade clam chowder that was both extremely tasty and the perfect warm meal for a cold night.

For Christmas, my sister got us an escape room game (our third this year) at Riddle in Mashpee. We played a room called “1920’s Paris: A Moveable Mystery” that has a 14% success rate. We came so close but did not finish in time. We needed maybe three extra minutes. So close! But still a fun experience; that room was very well designed.

Photos from Mashpee Commons, an outdoor mall near the escape room:

We got together with friends Diane & Clay for dinner — so nice to see everyone!

Cuddle time with Oscar:

On New Years Eve, my sister and I walked around downtown Chatham for an hour or so in the cold. We came across a local author named John Hutchinson selling his children books.

John has two books — one is Bertie’s Adventure at the Beach and the second is Bertie and the Lost Treasure of Skull Island; both are for children ages 8-12 (the second one is much longer). Check them out if you know any young readers who might enjoy a nature story set on the beach in Cape Cod!

For New Years Eve, we had some family over for a murder mystery night. This is the second year in a row we’ve done this and it is incredibly fun. I’ll do a whole post on it soon, but in the meantime here are our character photos:

And a group shot taken shortly after midnight:

And just like that, 2018 has arrived.

Here are my top nine Instagram photos from this past year:

More posts to come, but in the meantime that was what my December looked like. Very grateful for all the friends and family I got to spend time with this past month! XO!