I’ve written about a lot of things this year, and a few of the stories have epilogues all of a sudden.  Here’s a quick round up.

1) Just last week, I told you about my neighbors and their mysterious yoga mat that wouldn’t go away. The very day I posted my blog with my possible explanations for the situation, the yoga mat vanished.  Neighbors, do you read my blog? Are you embarrassed? Don’t be! I think you’re both super cute and nice and I wish my dog would quit barking at your dogs so we could all hang out and drink wine and watch The Mindy Project. 

Observe the yoga-less front step!  Observe the sheath of wheat is also gone, lending credence to my theory that the yoga mat was a modern interpretation of a wheat sheath.

2) Remember my neighbor and friend who found out she was pregnant last spring and freaked out and took, like, 9 pregnancy tests?  And was convinced the pollen was causing her to have a false positive?   She had her baby! And she’s completely smitten by it and is already a natural with motherhood.  Luckily for her, the baby is not ugly.

3) I tried on a lot of navy blue dresses for my friend Diette’s wedding. A lot. I posted the winning dress deep within the post about being a Maid of Honor, but some of my fans (read: family members) requested a more explicit reveal of the dress.   This is it! The J Crew Sloane dress in navy!

Not the best angle of it, but there you are. 

4) I made a list of 31 Things to do during my 31st year of life.  I’m making some slow progress!  I haven’t written posts about all of them because they’re not all great stories, but here’s the list of items with a big check mark:

• Item 19: Meeting the neighbors! Already had two successful wine nights with the girl next door, and I worked up the courage to confront the guy on the balcony facing mine to tell him he’s really loud on his cell phone on Sunday mornings.  Both were pleasant. Social interaction success!
• Item 26: Go to a book convention! Went to Decatur Book Festival! Met Meg Cabot!
• Item 28: Found a make-up artist and learned to put on my face like an adult.  My boss has a cosmetologist daughter, and she came over with her magic box of  paints and potions and tutored me in looking like a girl.  I learned about correct eyeliner application, highlighting, and contouring; and she made me buy red lipstick like Taylor Swift.

Here are the items in progress:

• Item 4: Catch up on unread book list.  I made myself an Excel spreadsheet and I’ve giving myself monthly reading themes to stay motivated. Unfortunately, my friend J is making the list longer by continually giving me books to add to the list.  J’s an enabler.
• Item 9: Donate $31 monthly to charity.   I’ll admit, I’ve not been great about this.  This month,  I did donate to my friend Marcie and her St Jude Give Thanks Walk.   I need to catch up on the other months, though. Charity starts in the home.
• Item 12: Post to blog four times weekly: Okay, it’s not been four times, but I’m okay with that because I have actually been working on the big item on the list to write a novel. But I’m here now, aren’t I?
• Item 17: Make all Christmas presents.  I’m working on it. Saving crafts on Pinterest, accumulating glue guns and sequins. It’s going to be awful.
• Item 31: Write a novel. I’m working on it! Brainstorming an outline, reading books about the writing craft, attending a writing workshop, and texting like mad with my writing pal J (also the book enabler).

5) Back in June, I posted about some shows that should be on Netflix Instant that were not at that time.  Freaks & Geeks is now available and it’s a virtual Who’s Who of  20/30-something stars captured in their awkward teenage years or in the early stages of their Hollywood careers.  James Franco! Jason Segal! Busy Phillips! Seth Rogen! Shia LaBeouf! Rashida Jones!  That guy whom you recognize from that thing! And so on! It’s a dramedy taking place in 1980, and it’s like The Wonder Years meets The Breakfast Club.  I’m really enjoying it and I highly recommend it.

image found on tumblr

That’s it for the moment.  And now I leave you to browse the bookstore and talk myself out of accumulating new books.