#best trips of 2023

[its-poojagupta-shree]

https://www.launchora.com/story/exploring-adventure-travel-exciting-destinations

Exploring Adventure Travel: Exciting Destinations For The Modern Women

Adventure travel has become increasingly popular among modern women seeking thrilling experiences and a break from the ordinary. It offers an opportunity to embrace new challenges, step out of comfort zones, and create unforgettable memories. India, with its diverse landscapes and rich cultural heritage, offers a plethora of adventure destinations for women to explore. In this article, we will embark on a journey across India, highlighting exciting destinations that cater to the adventurous spirit of the modern woman.

[findmeinthefallair]

The healing and lasting love of a mom

[theartingace]

midnight posting baby centaurs

[owls-den]

Unfortunately I didn't manage to do all of Inktober this year but here's the bunch of pieces I did following my lil trio (Trip, Iris and Benga!)

[melrosing]

anyway in an absolutely wild turn of events I think I’m free of my hideous job and like. substantially richer for it??? lmao 2023 you really owed me

[xo-indulgence]

Japan 🇯🇵

[daisyducklover2021]

A trip to the Northern Lights

[ultimateaclrecovery]

Checking in on my 2023 goals!

23 things for 2023

1. buy 1 horse

Done!! Bought Luna!!!

2. Knit a pair of socks

I knit a sock, that I finished today. But I mostly decided I wanted to knit other things instead so this is fine

3. Three camping trips

went to mt of the holy cross, and New Mexico for two camping nights, plus a day hike in winter park. So technically no but pretty close!

4. Plant four pumpkins

…..no. I bought seeds and did nothing and I don’t feel that bad about it

5. Handstand (five fingers) press

Lol no. Did nothing for it. Never made a plan and so did not achieve

6. Kill side yard weeds (because weeds are the devil 666)

Success? I paid a Gardner to pull them all so yes! Feels like a failure because I didn’t really deal with them or the yard in general, but they are all gone now.

7. Go to Loyola social justice meeting (7th heaven)

I went to a meeting! And baked cookies for an event. (And then never went back oops)

8. Mail 8 letters to mates - birthday cards probably

Success! (Rebecca birthday, Sarah birthday, Clare get well card, Callie birthday, Alison birthday, clare birthday, Callie wedding, clare kt recipe card)

9. Research 9 hours of getting a cat (9 lives)

Decided a horse was enough so stopped researching 🤷‍♀️[ read complete guide to adopting a cat 3 hours]

10. Do ten full pull ups

Total yes, in a row like intended absolutely not. I can do like 2.5 in a row. Made haphazard progress, but now I have a pull up bar so hoping for better next year!

11. Buy 11 things off of my to buy eventually list

Success! This was easy and I did it! (air fryer, air mattress, nice soap dispensers, office mat, thermometer, fire extinguisher, white tank top, little plates, shower cleaner, plastic drain pipes, sheet pan organizer, bonus: back door light bulb, rainbow flag and holder, more bras)

12. Go on 12 dates

Success! I thought this would be really hard but then I just got my boyfriend by like February and it ended up being the easiest ny resolution ever. He even asked me out to start.

13. Run a half marathon 13.1 miles

Success! (Okay this was a gimme because I signed up for it and had a training plan in 2022 but still)

14. Hike a fourteener

Success! mt of the holy cross and it was terrifying and very long but we did it!

15. Read 30 (15x2) books

I read 27 and have three in various states of completion. I kind of wanted to power this one thru but it wouldn’t have been fun and then what’s the point. This one is hard because I abandoned so so many books this year. Like I made it at least one chapter into like 40 and a couple half way thru. So close but no cigar but I refuse to read things that aren’t fun just to hit a goal so I feel fine about it.

16. Host 8 things

Hosted 3, organized a couple others so partial credit. I would like to do better in the future. ( galentines, whimsy brunch, birthday, organized brunch at watercourse, organized lake day)

17. Go out dancing (must be more dancing than drinking, dance class counts.)(dancing queen only 17)

Nope. But also that’s fine.

18. Upgrade phone and deal with all photos. Upload belize to fb and save others. Data management

Mostly. I got an external storage for Christmas so I can finish when I get home. So solid partial credit. (uploaded some. Upgraded phone plus new battery, still need to get data off of it) emmapictures2222_2@gmail.com emmapictures2222@gmail.com

19. General contractor for house cracks plus install air conditioner

Success. Installed ac. Got the cracks looked at once and they were fine and then they got worse and now I’m getting foundation work done. So success I guess.

20. Get 20 layout ds

… I did not count. I def got some but probably not 20 so partial credit. (4 from leiout)

21. Go to frisbee Masters regionals

Success! Another bit of gimme but we went and qualified to nationals!)

22. Buy purple navel jewelry (I’m feeling 22)

Success! (And I love it)

23. volunteer for 23 hours

No and I feel bad about it. I need to find something to volunteer with. I feel like I should have the time/be able to make time but it also feels like I never have time and also never want to. But I think it’s important.

So overall full success on 11 of the goals, happy partial on 5, annoyed partial on 2, abandoned 4 and failed my last one and feel bad about it.

But overall pretty good success!

[mceproductions]

Best of 2023 Music #25: Lauv “Steal the Show”

There is a certain magic when it comes to unexpected connections.

Ember Lumen originally wanting just to humor Wade Ripple began to see him for more than what her heritage had previously seen.

All through a new age love romp showing the duo on a day trip in the city exploring what is offered.

Lauv kills it with the vocals.

And montages for weddings got a new theme.

SUM 22: Through his vocals, Lauv sets the mood of the bubbly connection that begins to form with Ember and Wade via Elementals highlight.

[luuurien]

George Clanton - Ooh Rap I Ya

(Synthpop, Chillwave, Hypnagogic Pop)

Loosening the screws and letting his throwback synthpop melt into itself, George Clanton’s brilliant new album exists halfway between his dreamy hypnagogic pop and his early vaporwave work. Ooh Rap I Ya’s surreal, liquid production centers itself on powerful choruses and the most gorgeous soundscaping in his discography thus far, a powerful and one-of-a-kind pop experience.

☆☆☆☆☆

George Clanton’s music is at once 80’s stadium pop and nostalgic vaporwave, his position as an innovator within the independent electronic space coexisting with his music’s innate desire to call back to the music of his youth. There are times he sways heavily towards one direction - his work as ESPRIT 空想 and Mirror Kisses are fully submerged in chillwave, while his 2020 collaboration with 311 frontman Nick Hexum lives in the more traditional synthpop and trip hop realm - but Clanton knows what he wants his music to sounds like and how to achieve that sound, his masterful 2018 release Slide delivering the best pop songs he’d ever written alongside production that split the difference between ‘90s breakbeat and futuristic electronica. After five years of relative silence for his solo output, his latest album Ooh Rap I Ya works with all the same parts that made Slide such a success, but melts them into one big pool of neon, smeary synths and bouncy alt-dance grooves to soundtrack Clanton’s darker frame of mind, dramatic pop anthems colored in vibrant blue and orange hues. The saturation is heavy and the beats are slow, and it works to Clanton’s advantage in every moment: at just 38 minutes of runtime, Ooh Rap I Ya is an album you could float in for hours, hypnotic chillwave beats where Clanton’s voice is used more as an instrumental texture à la dream pop more than ever before. Somewhere between his dreamy hypnagogic pop and early vaporwave work, Ooh Rap I Ya seeks to consume your entire world.

Of its three singles, only one truly shows off how the album’s thick and fluid production bolsters its sound. Not to say I Been Young and Justify Your Life aren’t fantastic songs in their own right, the former’s hands-in-the-air chorus and the latter’s grungy atmosphere making for catchy and atmospheric synthpop, but it’s the split piece Vapor King / Subreal that most expertly brings his vision to the forefront. The first half pulls from ‘90s trip hop, but lends it a warmer hue, a slow and sturdy breakbeat rhythm situation around Clanton’s vocal embellishments and sloshing synth pads to settle you into his new psychedelic realm before Subreal kicks into gear with pure progressive breaks magic, utilizing a relatively untouched Funky Drummer sample to open up the atmosphere and play some other clever production tricks - echoing synth pulses and spacious pads a breath of fresh air in one of the densest albums this year. The rest of the album isn’t all so different from these singles and Clanton may not stray far from Slide’s anthemic chillwave, but it’s the subtleties working to his advantage here: the lurching trip hot centerpiece You Hold the Key and I Found It is a blurry and slow five minutes, but functions as both a necessary comedown from the opening four tracks and an introduction to the more directly psychedelic second half; a rework of his 2021 single Fucking Up My Life adds extra layers of ethereal synths and lightens up on the distortion for a sweeter but still intense listen. Ooh Rap I Ya is the same George Clanton experience at its core, and by liquidating his many influences into one big pool of dreamy synthpop he continually strikes at the core of what makes his sound so distinctive and addicting.

Clanton’s debt to the past here is fused to his pop songcraft more than ever - while 2015’s 100% Electronica brought a direct mix of vaporwave and blended pop songcraft into it, Ooh Rap I Ya does the inverse, expertly crafted pop where all the colors splashed atop it serve to enhance Clanton’s gorgeous pop. Punching Down’s angst-riddled songwriting gets a shot of thumping synths and rich, heavy chord swells, taking his signature sound and dialing it to 11, and the shoegaze/vapor fusion For You, I Will builds and builds and builds with pitched-down voice samples and detuned synths and a slow ambient burn to finish, Clanton not straying from his roots but weaving them into music that carries more weight in its center.. It’s a perfect balance where he doesn’t have to sacrifice the heft of his production or the hooks he pulls you in with, Ooh Rap I Ya as fun to listen to for its sticky melodies and groovy beats as it is for the detail he puts into every little corner of the mix. Clanton anchors his sound in familiar places, but lets all the colors bleed until those same sticky melodies are merely another wonderful texture in a song filled with hundreds of others.

The magic of Ooh Rap I Ya is one of a kind, Clanton’s curated mix of vaporwave and shoegaze and ‘80s pop and trip hop and virtually anything else he can mine for atmosphere cut up and stitched together into a whole new beast. Functioning dually as a return to his experimental roots and a greater embrace of pop song structuring, Clanton’s music has doubled in its impact, replacing slow builds and big cathartic climaxes with songs that smack you down from the start and only keep on piling. Rarely does Ooh Rap I Ya give your ears a moment to rest, and not a moment goes by where you’d ever want it to. It may be harder to pin down, but floating on Ooh Rap I Ya’s dreamy beats is a wonder to behold no matter how deep you’ve sunken in.

[i-want-all-the-cookies]

Thinking about my resolutions and hopes for the new year, and besides the usual eat healthier and exercise more lol 🤡, I would also like to get back into my writing.

Such as finally finishing my Jimmy fic, especially since I have less than ten chapters to go before I officially end it for good. Interestingly as I'm writing this out, I've started to wonder if that's why it's been so hard for me to continue with it? The thought of ending something I've worked so long on is somewhat sad. Maybe sad isn't the correct word to use? But something close to a feeling of sadness. But even then, I hate leaving stories unfinished so an ending eventually must take place.

I would also like to finally complete my Halloween pieces, as well as to continue on my Forrest and Phillip fics. And possibly even start on some Wolf fics that I have written full notes on already, and that are just waiting in my drafts.

And my last hope for the new year is to complete a small comic strip of Jimmy and Forrest playing basketball. Cuz the idea of two of the tallest Union members enjoying the game of basketball, even if not together, is cemented in my mind and I will not accept that they don't. But in all honesty this resolution will most likely be harder for me than my resolution to exercise more, cuz an artist I am not, so everyone wish me luck on this!

And with that, I want to wish everyone a happy new year, and I hope that this new year is better than the last for everyone. ❤

[alaskassweetdump]

This year wasn’t my first time at the Farm, but it was most successful time. Last year, I attempted Bonnaroo on my own, during a heatwave, with undiagnosed health issues that are exacerbated in the heat. This time, I got to go with my best friend, like we have always dreamed and planned.

We arrived Wednesday morning and we’re then placed in our camp spot, which couldn’t have been a more perfect spot. We camped right at the House of Yes aka my favorite Plaza. We were only a short distance from both entrances and the Woods.

The heat still whooped my ass, but my best friend was there to keep me going. She was the one that told me to get my towel wet and keep it over me, which kept me sane the rest of our time there. Due to the heat, I stayed at camp while she went and saw Kendrick Lamar & DJ Diesel. Don’t worry, she sent videos and I could hear them in the distance.

Saturday was perfect. I found About Face Beauty’s set-up inside of Centeroo and picked up the festival pack that they had (dickies x af crossbody, enamel Bonnaroo pin, fractal eye paint, & light lock lipgloss). After that, we went back to camp and prepared ourselves for a night of Yung Gravy & Lil Nas X. Seeing those two back-to-back was quite the workout for the out-of-shape babes, but it was worth every minute.

Sunday we started tearing down camp and heard Paramore doing sound check in the distance. I had just seen them in DC, so we had decided that while it would have been amazing to stay, we couldn’t wait another 7 hours while tired and overheated. But! Silver lining moment: I got home just in time to catch the Foo Fighters streaming on Hulu & Paramore was up next.

Amazing trip with my best friend. Which in my opinion, is the best way to Bonnaroo. We are now even more ready for our next trip to that beautiful, glorious Farm.

Until next time, Bonnaroo. May it be sooner rather than later.

[calpicowater]

Week 17/52: April 24th - April 30th 2023 | Abbotsford 🍟

In Abbotsford for work for the next 10 days... this was my week one. Fairly uneventful. Just work, scroll, rinse, repeat. My hotel was the worst... did not have a functioning shower... but otherwise, weather was super warm. Hello to summer weather! Had some really good Church’s Chicken. 2 piece spicy combo with fries and biscuit... and fanta! 🍊

[jeevesreads]

TOP 20 OF 2023: Planes, Trains, and All the Feels by Livy Hart

As 2023 comes to a close, I’m celebrating my 20 favorite romance novels of the year. I’m really not surprised that Hart had two strong contenders for this list (honorable mention goes to Some Kind of Blunderful!) After she made me love an angsty, messy second chance romance last year, I knew that her writing was something special. This bubbly, banter-filled romance was everything I could’ve…

[radiofauxshow]

Radio Faux Show Volume 3, Number 31: Best of 2023 (Music From Around The World)

This Week’s Theme: Best of 2023 (Music From Around The World) I listened to a lot of new music in 2023. I listened to hundreds of complete albums and clicked through at least a few tracks on hundreds more. I’ve listened to new music every day this year. I listen to more new music than most people, but this year saw an extreme amount of new music listening in the Faux household, even for me. For…

[pundesal]

with spotify wrapped quickly approaching, thought i’d share a 2023 wrapped (even though nobody asked LOL)

picked up new hobbies

got a new job!

had a joint bday party w my best friend (known him for almost a decade but we’ve never celebrated tgt till now smh)

made new friends from said hobbies and bday party yay

went to japan and had the time of my life!!! but got sick and was down for the count OTL