The Daily Pixel photo project- A year in review

I did it. Well, mostly anyway. The “it” in question? Taking a photo every day for a year. By my crackulations, I missed seven snaps in 2012 (1/17, 2/1, 3/27, 4/21, 7/4, 9/1 and 12/23 for those of you keeping score). Between you and me, I’m shocked the “miss” number was so low. Granted, there are a lot of crap, 11 p.m.-I-forgot-to-take-a-picture-today-Goliath-hold-still photos, but man… 51 weeks of a year recorded. Pretty cool.

The year kicked off with Death Star pancakes and ended with buttermilk biscuits, with lots of life in between. Here are a zillion links for proof…

Ah, January. The halcyon days when I actually did daily pixels instead of big batches of snaps.

Early morning flight to Arizona. The school year started way too early for my taste what with the university cutting several weeks off of Christmas break. Waa, I know. The best part of January in my estimation? Going to Disneyland with my mom and sisters!

Arizona State University. The nerd highlight of January? Defending my dissertation proposal and becoming “ABD” which means “All but dissertation” in grad school lingo.

February involved lots of travel for me, including the first of two trips to Albuquerque in 2012 and a really stinky airplane seatmate.

One of my favorite February posts? The case for cooking.

After ditch digging for hours last August, I can’t tell you how excited I was that my little trees survived the winter. Pictured is one of two chanticleer pear trees.

Life has taken me strange places since experiencing an emergency landing on Southwest Flight 812. In addition to appearing on Good Morning America and the Discovery Channel, I flew to Germany to “reenact” the flight. Pictured is a castle on the Rhine. Next time I fly to Europe, I’m staying for more than two days, dammit!

April showers bring May flowers. And snails. Ewwww. I found this fella slurping up my leg while working on my front yard revamp. That experience got me thinking about my “Number one rule of gardening.”

A procrastinator’s dream fortune.

This Spring I was slightly obsessed with hummingbirds, namely the ones who visited the Back 40. Check out my favorite hummingbird stalking snaps.

The best and worst birthday gift I’ve ever received? A Cuisinart ice cream maker, thank you sister Emily! The temptation for creamy, dreamy sweetness runs strong with me and I find myself thinking of icy concoctions often. My favorites this year? The no-cook strawberry pictured above, blueberry, and plain-old vanilla.

Soooo, I started the front yard garden project in March and finally finished it in June. What can I say? Life in grad school is busy. (Before, during and after snaps here.)

The year’s travel highlight? Visiting Alaska, my 42nd state! We did some land adventures on the Kenai Peninsula for a couple days (see here, here and here) before catching a Princess cruise ship and journeying to Glacier Bay (pictured), Skagway, Juneau and Ketchikan. I saw bears(!), flew in a helicopter, walked on two glaciers and turned 30. Pretty damn cool.

July featured a boatload of flying- for research, for fun and for this beautiful wedding! Congratulations again Max and Geeta!

The flying for fun mentioned above included my second trip to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin where Mr. T flew in a 40-ship formation! To see more airplane pictures and learn about KOSH, click here, here or here, or visit the Hopscotch Honeymoon archives here.

After a couple cool summers, Sacramento sizzled this year, so much so that I wondered if I’d accidentally brought Cactus Land home with me!

August felt up and down. Dissertation data collection reached a high point (yay!) and I spent quality time with fam and friends. But we also had to say goodbye to some good people including Bud Goodall. Still haven’t quite made sense of that yet.

Yep, that’s Mr. T leading a 16-ship formation of West Coast Ravens in the California Capital Airshow. I felt SO proud to watch the guys fly in the same show as the Thunderbirds!

Birthday sushi! September is a month of birthdays for our family.

The sizzling summer continued into October and we found ourselves wearing shorts to an early Fall picnic. Weird.

Despite the triple digits, I busted out the Fall decor. And yes, I, too, caught owl fever. October posts I liked most included this one about advanced directives/dying with dignity (super cheerful, yeah?) and some political confessions.

November is always a nutty month thanks to holidays and the annual gathering of the National Communication Association. This year’s conference took place in Orlando which to me (a Florida-hater) meant only one thing: Harry Potter World! I visited the park by my lonesome and had a simply magical time. Photos? Of course. Click here.

November highlights included participating in National Novel Writing Month (as a dissertation-writing rebel!) and getting a monster head cold after not following my own rules for healthful flying (see here).

Incorporated a little more color in the Christmas decor this year. And spent a ridiculous amount of time hot gluing beads in Christmas tree formations, thank you Pinterest.

The highlights of December? Hanging out with loved ones, of course.