Holy shit it’s 2016. Good-bye holiday season, good-bye 2015, hello January. Last week was supposed to be for reflecting on the year but I spent it gallivanting around my home town San Francisco. So here it is, the first Monday of 2016, (and actually Tuesday by the time I publish it). Instead of writing a blogger cliché post about New Year’s Resolutions (oh, that’ll come), I’m writing one reflecting on my best year yet of blogging.
Best year ever! Woot! I wrote over 100 blog posts- that’s a first! With that many posts, you might think it’d be hard to pick my favorites. Nah. It was easy.
My Favorite Blog Posts of 2015
1) How To Survive A NYE Party Attended By Your Ex and the Girl He Left You For
First time I ever used cat gifs in a post. Brilliant. Should’ve been doing it for years. Also an epic story with a Taylor Swift Deus ex Machina. Blogging doesn’t get much better than this.
2) Fashion Bro-spective: Casual Date Outfit
I love fashion but find the typical fashion blog boring. Look at my outfit! Here’s how to get it! Haha, you probably can’t afford it! I tried a unique take on the niche with this post, recruiting my bro-bestie Walter to offer “bro-spective” on what dudes think of the classic date dilemma: “What to wear (and does he even give a shit)?”
3) 12 Things I’m Woefully Sacrificing because of the MTA Fare Increase
Tried my hand at satire! I heard so much whining about the MTA fare increase, I was tempted to pay people the $4.50 to shut them up. Writing this blog post about the things the cliché New York would have to sacrifice to make up that $4.50 increase (a happy hour PBR! a tall PSL!) made me laugh and curtailed much eye rolling.
4) Bonnets Ablazing at the NYC Easter Parade
I’ve loved covering the Easter Bonnet Parade for the last 3 years. This year I actually participated by wearing bonnets with the cast of The Jane Games web series which made it even more fun.
5) Goodbye Jekyll and Hyde Club, Goodbye Steady Acting Gig
A farewell letter to the most delightful job I’ve had in NYC. There was next to no press about the sudden closing of this venue. This post has served as a resource for quite a number of people curious as to what happened to Times Squares “world famous” Jekyll and Hyde Club. They’ve even left some great comments.
6) Tom Fruin Stained Glass House on the Brooklyn Waterfront
Combine the a brilliant piece of public art against the perfect view of the New York City skyline and color me happy. New York was very sad to see Fruin’s Stained Glass House leave Brooklyn this fall. At least I have a blog post to remember it by.
7) Time Out New York Undateables: Super Sweet VS Cruelly Candid?
I’m used to splashing pieces of my dating life on this blog, but in a magazine? This was a little crazy and uncomfortable. I went on a blind date and it was written up in Time Out New York. An interesting experience, I’ll give it that. I stand by this: if you tell a girl on a first date that you recently pissed yourself on a New York subway, you can’t expect her not to tell of NYC.
I’ve been invited to many events thanks to this blog, but the Great Big Bacon Picnic was the first time I reached out to organizers requesting an invite for press coverage. They of course said yes, the event was delicious, and the man who started it even took the time to send me an email about how well I “captured the essence of the festival and the vibe we wanted to convey to all of our attendees.” I’ve done a lot more reaching out since.
9) 14 Acceptable Reasons to Ghost Your Date
I got ghosted twice this year by boys I’d been dating 1-2 months. I fucking hate ghosting, it’s maddening, but at least I could write a funny article about the shitty experience. Coincidentally, the New York Times published a big article on ghosting the exact same day I published this blog post. Everyone was talking about it and I really enjoyed the timing.
10) I Wish I Was A Better Blogger
Blogging is not easy. Sometimes it’s really hard, sometimes it’s disheartening, sometimes I feel like I want to quit. I’m glad I could share a post that was creative, engaging, and honest about my doubts and struggles with this very blog. (And thanks very much to all who listened. I’m still working on it. Obviously.)
11) City Bitches Go Apple Picking
Is there a more cliché fall activity than apple picking? I don’t think so! I was worried this post would be “look at me, I went apple picking with my friends” but I was thrilled it turned out cute, entertaining, and just the right of tongue-in-cheek.
12) New York Cliché Halloween Horror Fest
Oh my goodness, I wrote a piece of fiction on this blog! First time in 7.5 years! It was super fun putting together a string of stereotypes for the ultimate New York cliché scary story. Terrifying, really.
13) New York City Magic: 99 Red Balloons
So I know the cliché internet user’s attention span is tiny, that most people don’t like reading 600+ word articles. But that’s what I’m most comfortable doing! It’s hard for me to tell a story so succinctly but with this post about a magically sighting on the NYC sidewalk I did just that. Check it out, it’s only 200 words!
14) Strawberry Fields on the 35th Anniversary of John Lennon’s Death
An incredible experience, live it vicariously through me in this post. I can’t believe it took me over 7 years of living in NYC to experience this. You’ll know where to find me December 8, 2016.
15) 12 Days of New York Christmas: Dating Edition
So January 6th is the actual Twelfth Day of Christmas- therefore this (hilarious because it’s true) blog is still 100% topical. Celebrate today, the 11th day of Christmas with 11 Lumbersexuals. I’m not going to lie, I considered making a Youtube video of me performing this as a song. Maybe next year…
Thank you for reading and following and for all the support this past year. It means more to me than a thousand unlimited metro cards. But seriously, thank you.
Alright, that’s enough of 2015! Next up, here’s to 2016!
