Time for a look back at all of the significant outfits I wore in 2023! I only included looks with purpose, so my super casual grocery shopping outfits, for example, won’t be seen here. But it was a busy year, with a decent amount of travel and special events, so I had a lot of reasons to “dress up,” including a few days with multiple outfits. You’ll see my favorite brands well-represented…Miss Candyfloss and Rare Dirndl for clothes, and Splendette and Erstwilder for accessories. There are also a few “cute casual” outfits sprinkled throughout on days I didn’t feel like wearing a dress or it wasn’t appropriate for the occasion. And there are also a few rare “Sartorial Saturday” looks that I photographed just for fun (like my Daisy Duck Disney Bound), that I didn’t wear anywhere in particular…but most are outfits that really went somewhere!
It was a lot of fun to put this gallery together, and it also helped me keep track of what I’ve been wearing…I think I wore everything in my wardrobe at least once during the course of the year, and you can definitely tell what my favorite pieces are, because they’re on repeat!
It’s hard to believe another year has come and gone. 2023 wasn’t quite as spectacular as 2022 (I’m not sure we’ll ever top that year!), but it was a fun, busy, interesting year just the same!
January was its normal, quiet self, after all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I took a moment to think about what I was looking forward to in 2023. We had a nice dinner to start the new year right. I had fun “rocking the dots” to celebrate Minnie Mouse and Polka Dot Day.
In February, the entire city of St. Louis began earnestly anticipating the inaugural season of our St. Louis City soccer team. We finally got to return to the Orchid Show at the Missouri Botanical Garden for the first time since before the pandemic. We had our traditional family Mardi Gras celebration. We did something different for our favorite made-up holiday of Bobunk (which we happened to celebrate on Kirby Day), and got gyros for dinner. I was beyond excited to learn that the new Miss Candyfloss collection, “Lilibeth,” was designed in honor of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
March is always a fun and busy month, and this year was no exception. We were very excited to see our tiny daffodils blooming. I returned to cooking “Disney Dinners,” which is always fun (not to mention delicious!). We got to see the TARDIS at the St. Louis Science Center. We celebrated MAR10 Day and St. Patrick’s Day. Turkey turned twenty, and Chickadee turned 11. We had a fun day of food inspired by Final Fantasy XIV. Moose won the “Mighty Maroon” award at his high school. We celebrated the beginning of another season of Cardinals baseball (if only we had known how the season would go, we wouldn’t have been so excited).
The highlight of April was definitely Easter. We enjoyed visiting the Missouri Botanical Garden to see what flowers were in bloom there. We also took a lot of field trips…mostly places that were outdoors so we could enjoy the lovely weather, but also to the Missouri History Museum so we could see the new soccer exhibit. Turkey won the math department “Student of the Year” award at his college.
June was a month of travel. Turkey, Bunny, and I had a fabulous time at Disney California Adventure and Disneyland, but we didn’t enjoy the cancelled and delayed flights (not to mention surprise overnight stay in Minneapolis) as much. We took a family trip, first to Cincinnati, where we saw the adorable baby hippo, Fritz, and some little blue penguins, and then to Toledo, where we checked out Klinger’s favorite spots that he mentioned on M*A*S*H, including Tony Packo’s and the Mudhens. We also took a tour of a an old canal, and got to ride a mule-drawn boat! I celebrated my birthday. An adorable mourning dove squab named Gaz took up residence on our porch. We celebrated 626 Stitch Day with a bunch of recipes from Lilo and Stitch: The Official Cookbook.
July was a bit quieter after all of the excitement of May and June. At the beginning of the month, Turkey and Bunny had their wisdom teeth removed, which was quite an experience. Ryan had surgery on his arm, which was also an experience. Bunny turned 19. Chickadee and I saw the Planters Nutmobile in St. Louis. We celebrated “Dole Whip Day,” which is a most delicious occasion!
August was a very emotional month all around. We dropped Bunny off for college, which was a huge adjustment for all of us. Moose started his senior year of high school, and final year of marching band, which was also emotional. I started my 16th year of homeschooling with the realization that Ladybug, now a junior, will only have one more “first day of school” with me…more emotions. Inspired by the Disney radio station on the satellite radio, I came up with a list of my favorite Disney songs…imagine my surprise when, almost four months later, I was actually chosen for the “Be Our Guest 4 the Day” segment (stay tuned…). We had a fun time at our church’s family game night.
In September, Moose was recognized at Senior Night at one of the high school football games. He also marched in the town Labor Day parade, and I continued our Labor Day tradition of chili…but this time, with a twist. We got to visit Bunny at Parents and Family Weekend at her college…we were all so happy to see her again! We went to St. Charles Oktoberfest for the first time, and I was really impressed with it. I welcomed a new neighbor to my Animal Crossing island.
And that brings us to December. We started a new Lego project for Advent and attended the Boar’s Head Festival. In a lot of ways, though, we were just holding our breath until Bunny came home for Christmas break…and that’s when the real fun began, starting with our (delayed) celebration of Nikolaustag featuring stockings, decorating the tree, wassail, Döner Kebab, and a gingerbread dessert. We went to our two favorite Christmas events…Garden Glow and Christmas Traditions. And of course we enjoyed our traditional, multi-day Christmas celebration, but a little low-key this year, because I managed to injure my back right before the holiday.
This has been another fun and exciting year, and I’m already looking forward to several things in 2024!
I know I said yesterday that I was sharing my last “Top Five” photos list of the year, but those were photos I took…today I’m sharing my favorite dirndl looks that I wore this year, which are photos take of me, not by me!
I’m starting back in May, when we went to Maifest at Grant’s Farm. I really love the pops of pink of the apron and ribbon against the darker background of the dress, and I also really love the setting of the picture!
My second Everyday Dirndl was purchased specifically with paying homage to the Austrian flag in mind, and the full look is even better than I hoped. I love the white “Surprise Me” apron Erika created for me, and I think my accessories, which featured lots of edelweiss and pops of white and red, are the perfect accompaniment!
Next up is the look I wore to Belleville Oktoberfest. I borrowed an apron from another dirndl to go with my purple dress, and added my iridescent Docs and some purple accessories to complete the look.
Speaking of borrowing an apron, this is the dress that goes with the apron in the previous photo. This time, I added a fancy, sheer floral apron to my harlequin print dirndl for St. Charles Oktoberfest…I love the autumnal color scheme!
And finally, a look featuring my new Christmas apron. Not the look I wore on Christmas Day (which I also love), but the one I wore to the Belleville Christkindlmarkt, adding a green ribbon and red accessories for a festive look.
I really love finding new ways to mix and match my pieces, and I can’t wait to see what I come up with next!
My final “Top Five” photos list for the year is my favorite photos I took in general…no food here, but there is a travel picture from our trip to Chicago in May. I love the fact that the sculptures outside the Art Institute have a lovely backdrop of skyscrapers!
I’m always looking for interesting ways to frame photos, and I think this picture of the Cabanne House in Forest Park was especially well done:
When we visited St. Charles in October for Legends and Lanterns, I got a shot of the fallen leaves on the brick street:
Another fall photo came in brilliant orange at Lafayette Park in St. Louis:
And finally, a photo from Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden. I’m not sure I’ve captured it this gold before!
I hope you’ve enjoyed a look back at some of my favorite pictures from 2023! I can’t wait to see what I come across in 2024!!!
It’s time to start taking a look back at 2023, and I’m beginning with my top five favorite photos from the trip Turkey, Bunny, and I took to Disneyland this spring. My first picture isn’t the most fantastic composition or anything, but it makes me smile every time I see it…I love that Radiator Springs at Disney California Adventure warns you to “Mind your speed as you go. Sheriff’s old, but he’s not slow!”
Nighttime pictures are always some of my favorites, and I love this one that captures the lights and the water display at Pixar Pier in Disney California Adventure during the evening show:
Back in Radiator Springs, I knew I’d have to include a photo of the neon lit up at night, and I decided Flo’s V-8 Cafe was my favorite of the bunch I took:
You can’t go wrong with a castle photo, and I especially love this one of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle because the Disney 100 medallion and other decorations are so visible!
And finally, a nighttime photo of the castle, which focuses on one of the lamps in the foreground. I can’t tell you exactly why I like this picture so much, but it’s one of my favorites of all the ones I took!
Stay tuned for a look at some of my other favorite photos from 2023!
Time for a look at my favorite food photos from 2023! Most of them are dessert photos (hey, it’s not my fault desserts are so photogenic!), but let’s start with a spread I made featuring white borscht last winter:
For the first time since before the pandemic, this is a year I’m actually sorry to see go. We had a lot of fun this year, and made enough memories to make up for all the things we didn’t get to do in the previous two years.
But first, January, which is always a fairly quiet month. We rang in the New Year, and I looked ahead to some of the things I was most anticipating in 2022 (Spoilers: they all happened this time!). Ladybug and I had the opportunity to go to the “Beyond Van Gogh” exhibit, which was really cool. Chickadee finally resumed her job as my grocery shopping buddy after taking a very long hiatus during the pandemic. We had our traditional Burns Supper.
We finally had a decent snowfall in February, which provided Turkey and Bunny with their first-ever official snow days. On the 6th, we celebrated the 70th anniversary of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Accession to the Throne with a tea party, the first of many Platinum Jubilee celebrations. We had a special dinner for the Opening Ceremonies of Beijing 2022, the first of several special themed meals we enjoyed during the Olympics. We eagerly celebrated “Twosday.”
Where do I even begin with June? I don’t think there has been, in the whole history of our family, a single month packed with so much fun. We started by attending a street party for the Platinum Jubilee, and I even made the Platinum Pudding to continue the celebration at home. We acquired some new neighbors. To celebrate not only the return of Albert Pujols, but also the historic season for the battery of Molina and Wainwright, we attended a Cardinals game at Busch Stadium as a family for the first time in at least five years. We picked lavender for the first time. I had a fun birthday celebration. And that was all the “boring” half of the month because….
After all that fun, July was spent from recovering, both from COVID, and from all of our travels! We spent the first two weeks back home lying around the house watching old Disney movies (Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros were favorites) and playing with our souvenirs. We were all healthy by the time Bunny’s 18th birthday rolled around. I had my first root canal, which was not as bad as I feared, but not something I’d care to repeat.
August was a similarly quiet month. We did make a quick day trip up to Chicago for the Fab Five’s first visit to Navy Pier and an appointment at the Rare Dirndl design studio. We finished summer school (Disney themed, of course!) before everyone started back to school…Turkey and Bunny in their second year of college, Moose a junior in high school, Ladybug a sophomore, and Chickadee in the fifth grade.
September is usually a low-key month…it’s kind of the February of the second half of the year. Ladybug, Chickadee, and I did go back to the Missouri History Museum for the first time since before the beginning of the pandemic, and took part in a great hands-on exhibit. Chickadee had her braces removed. And then, a terrible day. Of course I knew Queen Elizabeth II wasn’t going to live forever, and based on her age, her time on earth realistically had to be drawing short. Just the same, I guess I really wasn’t prepared for her passing to coincide with her Platinum Jubilee year. I did take a break from the wall-to-wall news coverage I couldn’t turn off to attend our town’s Oktoberfest.
And that brings us to December. We were back in St. Charles for one of our very favorite events, Christmas Traditions. We had a very nice Nikolaustag, even if it did make me feel old. We also enjoyed Luciamorgon. Our Christmas in Germany themed Christmas School was a lot of fun and helped us connect to our heritage! We baked all of the things. The Fab Five finished their Advent project. We had a very merry Christmas. But we needed a little more Christmas, so we visited the Wild Lights at the St. Louis Zoo before it closed for the season.
I don’t see how 2023 can top this year, and I don’t think there’s really any point in trying. Some things are once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and there’s just no competing with them!
Since all of my other 2022 in Review “Top Five” photo lists have six photos, this one had to also, right? Right?!? I’ve already looked at food, drinks, desserts, and our trip…these are my favorite photos from the past year that aren’t food or vacation related.
I’ve taken hundreds (thousands?) of photos at the Missouri Botanical Garden over the years, but there was something special about this one featuring Henry Shaw’s final resting place in front of his country house:
This photo taken in downtown St. Louis in May reminded me how much I love an urban environment:
Speaking of urban environments, this spring was the first time I’ve visited the Chicago Water Tower in many, many years, and I discovered just how photogenic it is!
That’s a quality shared by the entire city of Chicago…I loved having a bird’s eye view of the city from the Centennial Wheel!
A little closer to home, I really like the beautiful gingko tree outside of our town library, especially in the fall:
Our town is also especially pretty at Christmas:
That wraps up what ended up being my top 30 photos of the year. In light of all of the fun things we did in 2022, I think I should get at least some credit for keeping the number that low!
I took so many photos on our vacation this summer, and so many of them turned out better than I hoped, so it was almost impossible to choose a selection for this “Top Five” list. Yes, there are six photos, and no, I’m not sorry…the fact that there is only one bonus photo is a miracle, and I refuse to apologize for it!
We’ll start at the beginning of our trip with this photo of the Washington Monument as seen from the German-American Friendship Garden. It’s probably not my best photo of the landmark, but I love the lighting, I love the fountains, and of course I love the monument standing tall in the background:
This photo captures that boardwalk feeling in Myrtle Beach, SC perfectly!
Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge is such an immersive experience…you actually feel like you’re in one of the movies when you’re there! Also, this may be the best picture I took on our trip.
I took many, many (MANY) photos of the castle at the Magic Kingdom, but there’s something special about seeing it lit up at night:
I know it’s kind of silly, but this picture I took at Disney Springs just looks so good! It has a real Rodeo Drive vibe:
On our final day at the parks, Bunny and I did a speed run through EPCOT looking to add 50th anniversary pressed pennies to our collection. We did pause to admire the view here, though, and it was a perfect moment, with the puffy clouds against the bright blue sky reflecting in the water and the colorful flowers in the foreground. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a monorail going by on the bridge!
Tomorrow I’ll wrap up my “Top Five” photos lists from 2022 with a look at everything else!
Between our Disney Dinners and other special events this year, I’ve made a lot of speciality drinks, and some of them were really pretty! Here’s a look at my my favorite (and prettiest!) creations from 2022, starting off with a concoction I created for Kirby Day:
I think the pink salt rim is what really sells this Kyyyalstaad Fizz (lemon and lime juice with sparkling water) we had on May the Fourth:
I created a nonalcoholic version of the Monorail Yellow…I love how summery it looked!
If the Monorail Yellow looked like summer in a glass, the Lava Smoothie looked (and tasted) like the tropics in a glass!
The Witches Cauldron Brew from The Nightmare Before Christmas cookbook was the perfect drink for fall:
Keeping up with the theme of six photos in my “Top Five,” here’s one that’s definitely not like the others…hot chocolate from our first snowfall of the year in November!
Tomorrow I’ll be taking a look at my favorite vacation photos…let me tell you, that was a hard list to narrow down!
