Wrapping up 2015

Wrapping up 2014

1. What did you do in 2015 that you'd never done before?
   Made a baby
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
From Last Year
• A bad habit I'm going to break: Buying snacks from a vending machine. So, I guess this one waxed and waned, but I tried very hard most days to NOT do this.
• A new skill I'd like to learn: How to do a stunning cat eye
• A person I hope to be more like: My husband, who is mindful and organized. I'm still working on it
• A good deed I'm going to do: Donate to one of the many public services we utilize. We donated to WERS & WBUR this year, as well as our alma matters, and the conservation lands in our town.
• A place I'd like to visit: All of the conservation trails in my neighborhood. Definitely have hit up many of the conservation trails in our area. Have absolutely done all of the ones in walking distance of our house and then some!
This Year
• A bad habit I'm going to break: Eating when I'm stressed/bored/sad/celebrating
• A new skill I'd like to learn: light woodworking parenting
• A person I hope to be more like: Someone who can easily socialize with others
• A good deed I'm going to do: Donate my time
• A place I'd like to visit: England
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
   Yes indeed! We had a little baby girl come into our circle of friends this year
4. Did anyone close to you die?
   Thankfully, no.
5. What trips did you take?
   We went to PA for a BBQ, and MO for a wedding.
6. What would you like to have in 2016 that you lacked in 2015?
   A new car, a baby!
7. What date from 2015 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
   August 6th—the day I found out I had a + pregnancy test.
   
   I got that first, faint positive on that Friday night, and was surprised as F*-all. I actually had a glass of wine while I was cooking dinner, and I had poured myself another one. I was feeling light/happy and a little bit tipsy, and thought I'd take a pregnancy test for giggles. I had SO MANY OF THEM, due to buying multiple packs of ovulation strips—it was cheaper to buy them bundled together.
   
   I dumped that second glass of wine immediately and proceeded to flip my shit in my head. I waited to tell J until Saturday morning when I was able to take a more expensive First Response test, which showed a clear, no-nonsense positive...
   
   I jumped back into bed and asked him when he'd be awake enough to hear good news, and after that it was the hardest secret I've ever had to keep for 14+ weeks!
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
   I was promoted at work, I managed a group of students for a semester, and I think that they are all talented and amazing, and I can't wait to see what their futures hold.
9. What was your biggest failure?
   Just my big mouth...again.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
    I had about the worst cold imaginable in January. It affected my respiratory system, and I ended up having to use a nebulizer for my asthma—something that I have not done in years. Then again in August, same thing. Terrible cold, upper respiratory problems, and then bam, in the middle of it, pregnant. Then there was the "morning" sickness, and the bloating, and the emotional stress and the being clumsy and dizzy all the time. FUN TIMES.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
    Everything for the nursery. A crib from IKEA, fabric for the curtains, lamps. It all came together so wonderfully.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
    My husband, who was my rock during the SIXTEEN WEEKS that I could not tell anyone I was pregnant. Then the poor man had to listen to me go on and on and on about all of my little symptoms and grievances, not to mention deal with my mood swings and utter fatigue and uselessness.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
    Donald Trump, anyone who supported Trump.
14. Where did most of your money go?
    Maternity clothes, the nursery, baby related expenses.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    When I stopped being nauseated all the time and was able to eat real food again!
16. What song will always remind you of 2015?
    Shut Up And Dance by Walk the Moon
    Dearly Departed by Shakey Graves
    Wide Open by The Chemical Brothers
17. What do you wish you'd done more of?
    Exercising before I got pregnant, and generally moving around when I did get pregnant.
18. What do you wish you'd done less of?
    Being hyper focused on trying to conceive, which would have relieved a lot of stress.
19. How did you spend Thanksgiving?
    With J, eating homemade Chinese food, then that weekend, we cooked for a small group of friends.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
    With some friends of ours having a wonderful "Thanksgiving" dinner.
21. How will you be spending New Years?
    Probably sleeping, since the wee one demands a 9PM bedtime. (We ended up going to our neighbors' house for board games, and I lasted until after 10, since I was drinking sugary Cranberry juice.)
22. Did you fall in love in 2015?
    Every time we had an ultrasound
23. What was your favorite TV program?
    The League (rewatch), Broadchurch, Sherlock
24. Do you "hate" anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
    I think that I've come to decide that "hate," even the mild pretend "hate," is a completely wasted emotion. This doesn't mean that there isn't anyone that could have made this list, just that I choose not to participate in this question anymore.*
    *I have added an addendum to include the strong sense of dislike that I feel for people who mark up library books.
25.  What was the best book you read?
    The Girl on the Train was really good.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    WERS
27. What did you want that you also ended up getting?
    Pregnant!!!
28. What did you want that you did not end up getting?
    A working commuter rail at the beginning of the year. Our public transit system was out of whack for over a month, and there were many days I spent two, three, or four hours commuting into or home from work. I felt like the entire month of February, and much of March was spent on soul crushing journeys to and from the city, with a group of the biggest, most annoying assholes who treated the situation as though it was everyone else's fault that the transit system shit the bed.
    Bonus: What did you not want that you ended up getting anyway?
    Snow. And more snow. And then some more snow.
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
    Not a film, but we saw the live broadcast of Hamlet from the Barbican. It was three hours of Benedict Cumberbatch and it was wonderful.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    I turned 31. J and I went to a restaurant in Boston that we love (Grotto) with some friends, and followed that with an Improv Asylum show.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
    If the commuter rail hadn't failed in the biggest way possible during the winter.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2015?
    Maternity pants
33. What kept you sane?
    Prozac
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
    Benedict Cumberbatch
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
    Everything that wasn't discussed during the debates because look over here, everybody!
36. Who did you miss?
    My grandmother, as always
37. Who was the best new person you met?
    One of our neighbors who raises chickens
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2015
    "Don't spend time with people who don't treat you well," among other things.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
    

    I knew I loved you before I met you - Savage Garden

Wrapping Up 2013

Wrapping up 2012

1. What did you do in 2013 that you'd never done before?

• Planted tomatoes and peppers
• [Finished] Strip[ping] and repainted furniture
• Visited a Frank Lloyd Wright house (Fallingwater)
• Visited the Andy Warhol museum in Pittsburgh
• Saw the Boston Pops with J

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
From last year:

• Run a 10K • I did not do this, but I did run two 5Ks. That counts, right?
• Open an etsy store • I also did not do this, but I got a job, which was really the point of the etsy store at the time the goal was made. I would still like to do this, but it's no longer at the front of my mind.
• Redesign my website • Nope. I did move everything over to Behance, though.

This year:

• A bad habit I'm going to break: Snacking mindlessly
• A new skill I'd like to learn: Photoshop (like a pro)
• A person I hope to be more like: My manager, who is patient and kind and outgoing
• A good deed I'm going to do: Donate blood. It's been a while since I've been able to do this
• A place I'd like to visit: The El Paso Mission Trail

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
One of my besties from college had a baby boy, and managed to name him after a member of N'Sync. Another College bestie had a baby the same month. Babies, everywhere!

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully, no.

5. What countries did you visit?
None this year—we stayed Stateside.

6. What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
A house

7. What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
January 29th, because that was when I was hired to contract at my new job, which I love. December 11th, because that is the date they told me I would be hired as an employee.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finding a job that I love, learning that I need to love myself first.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Not loving myself enough, blaming myself for things I cannot control.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just the usual: colds, stomach flu, banged up fingers and toes.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
An Alyson Fox rug from West Elm, and a Rabbit bottle opener for my mother-in-law.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My managers really went to bat for me when it came to hiring me after I temped for almost a year

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Only my own

14. Where did most of your money go?
We've been saving for a house this year, but as usual, a large percentage of our non-housing money went towards travel: travel for weddings, travel to see family, and vacation(s).

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

• Seeing Fallingwater
• Getting hired at [job]
• House hunting

16. What song will always remind you of 2013?
Cinema by Skrillex, which will forever remind me of J's 30th birthday that we spent in PA with his brother. A great weekend, for sure.

17. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Hiking and general outdoorsy-ness.

18. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Eating. Particularly processed and canned foods.

20. How did you spend Thanksgiving?
Vegas, baby!

20. How did you spend Christmas?

In PA with J's family.

21. How will you be spending New Years?
Probably at home with Dial-A-Pizza and a mini champagne bottle.

22. Did you fall in love in 2013?
Again and again.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Breaking Bad, which went out with the biggest bang and most satisfying ending since Six Feet Under, although like Six Feet Under I was devastated when there were no more episodes.

Then we rewatched it and realized it's just revenge porn.

24. Do you "hate" anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I think that I've come to decide that "hate," even the mild pretend "hate," is a completely wasted emotion. This doesn't mean that there isn't anyone that could have made this list, just that I choose not to participate in this question anymore.*

*I have added an addendum to include the strong sense of dislike that I feel for people who mark up library books.

25. What was the best book you read?
Crime and Punishment

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
fake electronic music (only the pop stuff for me!)

27. What did you want that you also ended up getting?
A trip to Fallingwater, time with a very expensive wide angle lens (from borrowlenses.com)

28. What did you want that you did not end up getting?
A greyhound, again. We had finally started to pull the trigger, even going to an adoption agency to meet dogs, then I got a job downtown, and realized I couldn't juggle those two life changes. One day we will have a dog, and a house, and kids, and chickens. One day.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
We didn't really see any movies this year that were stand outs...probably my most enjoyable theatre experience was It's A Wonderful Life at the Brattle—our yearly Christmas tradition.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29. J and I went to one of our favorite tapas/cocktail places, CasaB, and were treated like royalty—they even had champagne cocktails waiting for us when we arrived! It was wonderful and low key and perfect.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A patch of land in the country.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2013?

Recycled

33. What kept you sane?
Prozac and Klonopin

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Benedict Cumberbatch—I even had a series of dirty dreams about him. As Sherlock Holmes, of course.

I didn't realize how many things I've seen that he's been in because really, this started out as a Sherlock thing more than a Cumberbatch thing. And I hardly seem like the only one to have realized this in 2013.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Pretty much the same as always.

I was upset about the Marathon Bombings, and the aftermath of how it was handled. I don't believe in the goodness in people the way I did when I was younger, and all of it just rang so false to me. It made me very angry, and I was too close to the issue to appreciate it when other (far away) people got worked up about it.

What does any of this have to do with politics? Nothing, which is why I got worked up when people tried to talk about this awful thing in terms of political action, inaction, or different sets of (religious/political) rights and wrongs.

36. Who did you miss?
I always miss my grandmother, but this year I missed her especially. I have no idea why it was so difficult this year in particular since she passed in 2005, but it was nice to be able to sit with her memory for a while longer than usual this year.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

Many of the people I work with now

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.

To love myself.

I'm still working on it.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Raskolnikov felt sick, but he couldn't say why
When he saw his face reflected in his victim's twinkling eye
Some things you do for money, and some you do for fun
But the things you do for love are going to come back to you one by one.

Wrapping Up 2012

Wrapping up 2011

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?

• Caught a striped bass
• Went to a group meditation class
• Traveled internationally with my husband
• Ate frozen wedding cake
• Stripped paint from dining room chairs
• Patched drywall
• Ran a 5K

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?
From last year:

• Work on my yoga/meditation
• I would like to be able to do crow pose without looking like a stuck barnyard animal. 
• I would like to get my hips closer to the floor in pigeon pose, and I would like to touch my heels to the floor in downward dog 
• I would like to meditate at least three times a week, and check out group meditation at least once this year
• Start earning more money as a freelance designer

I did do more yoga this year, but it tapered off in a really bad way after the summer. I still can't do crow pose, my downward facing dog is worse, my pigeon is better. I did check out group meditation exactly once this year. I earned some money freelancing, but I did begin to found a company with some graphic designers, and I have some work slated for 2013.

This year? Rather than resolutions, I'd like to set goals:

• Run a 10K
• Open an etsy store
• Redesign my website

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, friends of ours had a beautiful baby girl! We were actually there when she went into labor, which is apparently much less exciting than you'd think it would be (if you haven't had babies).

4. Did anyone close to you die?
J had a relative pass on this year.

5. What countries did you visit?

Croatia and Italy

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
A complete dining room chair set (all painted yellow)

7. What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory and why?
August 18th. This was the day we were in Venice eating outside, and a parade of Hare Krishnas danced through the streets while we were having dinner. The one meal when we didn't have a camera!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
I had an actual breakthrough where I figured out that I was angry, not because I was actually angry, but because of something I was feeling embarrassed and sad about—it was the first of many steps towards not being so angry all the time, and it felt so big, even though it was over something that was actually somewhat inconsequential.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I let someone completely insignificant get the best of me, and I turned into a total drama queen in front of my family.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got yoga mat burns on my elbows, and a nasty burn on my arm from our wok. I also inflamed my ankle, possibly by running too much too soon, and caught a nasty cold around Christmas.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
I finally bought new, fancy, grownup sheets for our bed. They came from The Company Store, and they're so soft and so pretty.

I bought a Kate Spade bag and wallet, and I bought a new office chair. We also bought tickets to Europe, and while we were there, a Bad Memories Eraser for my sister.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My friend Jessica, who is the reason I ran an entire 5K. I was not the fastest, but I finished, and I didn't walk any of it, all due to her encouragement and support.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
One of my original designs had been accepted into a T-shirt contest and I was really thrilled about it until some wet blanket reported my T-shirt and another person's T-shirt for using unoriginal material, and their claims were baseless and factually untrue, but instead of being rational, the committee pulled the T-shirt designs and publicly called me and one other person out on not having "original, previously unpublished designs."

This all worked itself out in the end because me (and the other person) were in the right, and the committee (and the wet blanket) were in the wrong, but I had to fight this fight for two weeks. The first guy sends an email, and our T-shirts are pulled the same day, but they have to deliberate about their intrinsic wrongness for two weeks?

Anyway, it was really tough to keep my shit together for those two weeks. Especially because it was a stupid internal T-shirt contest, but I kind of didn't want to let it go that they emailed a good percentage of the university where I work and baselessly accused me of some form of not producing original work.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Most of our money went into paying for the wedding, the aftermath of the wedding, and our Europe trip.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

• Our wedding was featured on a wedding blog—100 Layer Cake.
• We went to Italy and Croatia in August
• We decided to adopt a greyhound in 2013

16. What song will always remind you of 2012?
Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder?
happier

thinner or fatter?
about ten pounds fatter

richer or poorer?
richer in experience

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
uppercuts, exercise.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Being angry all the time.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

El Paso

21. How will you be spending New Years?
Black and Gold NYE party at our house!

22. Did you fall in love in 2012?
Again and again.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Wilfred or Breaking Bad.

24. Do you "hate" anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I think that I've come to decide that "hate," even the mild pretend "hate," is a completely wasted emotion. This doesn't mean that there isn't anyone that could have made this list, just that I choose not to participate in this question anymore.*

*I have added an addendum to include the dislike that I feel for people who mark up library books.

25. What was the best book you read?
I didn't enjoy, but learned a lot from Tich Nacht Hahn's Anger: Cooling the Flames. I found a lot of inspiration in Sharon Salzberg's Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation. As far as non-meditation related books? I really devoured the Hunger Games trilogy this year. Admittedly not the best books ever written, but can we please stop comparing it to the Twilight series?

I also read a few Anne Boleyn biographies that were fascinating and illuminating. She was such a powerful and intelligent woman.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
I am going to forever regret publishing this on the Internet, but Call Me Maybe. Maybe?

Just kidding. My favorite album this year was a tossup between Hot Chip's In Our Heads—in particular the song Look at Where We Are and Stars' album Night. Neither of the bands were discoveries, but in lieu of Carly Rae Jaspen, it's better, right?

27. What did you want that you also ended up getting?
New riding boots, an immersion blender, a trip to Europe, and a Canon EOS 60D.

28. What did you want that you did not end up getting?

Relocation to the West/Southwest. I miss my mountains.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Wuthering Heights, Argo.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?I turned 28. The night before my actual birthday (which fell on a Sunday this year), we went to dinner at Cantina La Mexicana. After dinner, we all went down to Central Square for Heroes Night at TT The Bears—where they celebrated David Bowie's birthday at midnight. It was awesome!



The next day, my actual birthday, J continued our tradition of going to Harvard Square and eating cupcakes, plus going to Eastern Mountain Sports and American Apparel.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
This year not being an election year would have made a lot of things easier. Not being pressured to have babies woud have been nice, even though the thoughts are well meaning.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?

Lots of running clothes.

33. What kept you sane?
Avoiding my mother's facebook page.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Ryan Gosling, of course!

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
In fact, many of the political issues I was stirred by weren't political issues at all—or shouldn't have been. Religion, women's rights, gay rights—you know, rights for people that are all equal in every way except when they're used as political props.

36. Who did you miss?
Our old neighbors, still. I'm also sad that my graphic design classes are over, but I still keep in touch.

37. Who was the best new person you met?

I met some really great people in my graphic design classes this year.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons this year.

• It is okay to cry 
• It is okay to know that you're right about something when you're right about something, and simply ask to be heard
• It is not okay to visit my mother's facebook page and then get angry at what I see

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
And I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say 

-Gotye, Somebody That I Used to Know

or...

I'm so human
and it's ok
for me to feel this way 

-Lady Sovreign, So Human

Wrapping up 2011

Wrapping up 2010

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

• Got married!

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?

From last year:

• diet, diet, diet. I would like to eat waaay better than we did this year. Less booze and much less frozen pizza.
• start saving more money.

I did neither of those things. I exercised more for the wedding, but as it approached, I had less time to cook and the anxiety and stress made my diet worse than ever. I also didn't save any money, as the wedding completely wiped me out—back to square one!

This year:

• Work on my yoga/meditation
• I would like to be able to do crow pose without looking like a stuck barnyard animal. I would like to get my hips closer to the floor in pigeon pose, and I would like to touch my heels to the floor in downward dog
• I would like to meditate at least three times a week, and check out group meditation at least once this year
• Start earning more money as a freelance designer

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, our best man and his wife had a baby boy and I got to design his birth announcements!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

Sadly, we lost someone early on this year to cancer, and my father lost his godmother.

5. What countries did you visit?

None, yet again. Here's hoping 2012 will change this answer.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

The ability to cook in my kitchen without feeling cramped.

7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory and why?

November 19th—our wedding day.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Organizing and throwing a wedding, basically by myself. I had some truly wonderful vendors, but we did not hire a planner or DOC, and my parents were very far away, and anyway I have control issues. But I did it, and it was fabulous and perfect in every way.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I wasn't always the best or most thoughtful friend as a bride-to-be.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I have been on a roller-coaster of anxiety and depression since the wedding, and when I finally nailed down my meds, they started causing side effects that were new and scary and unpleasant. I am in the midst of trying to fix all of this, and it has been pretty twitchy.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Our wedding bands, a Clarisonic Mia, a wedding photo book from pinhole press.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
J, who married me this year in spite of all my flaws.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

One time at work this guy came into the office and just started being a big dickhole for no reason. He was angry and he was bossy and he thought he was better than everyone else, and was yelling at us about something he could have instead talked to us about like a reasonable human being. He will no doubt die of a heart attack someday (soon, I'd wager), and it will be all his fault, but in the meantime, he totally ruined my day for no reason other than the fact that he was a miserable person. People like him made me appalled and depressed.

14. Where did most of your money go?

All of it went towards the wedding. Rent? What's that?

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Our wedding!

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

It's Alright by Bang Gang (our first dance song)

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder?

I am more anxious—in fact, I've been showing symptoms of panic disorder. So...sadder? But not really because I have some really great doctors who I trust, and a husband who is supportive and understanding, and I'm not going through this alone. So...happier.

thinner or fatter? Ugh, probably about the same, maybe a little fatter. I lost some weight after we got engaged in anticipation for the wedding, but it all came back with a vengeance shortly around the time we tied the knot.
richer or poorer? We put a big hunk of cash into the wedding, and I quit my restaurant job, so maybe a little bit poorer. We're financially still in the same circumstances.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Exercise, and take care of myself.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Eating takeout, and not treating my depression.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

At our friends' house eating a turkey that is way too big for all of us and some pecan pie from Petsi Pies.

21. How will you be spending New Years?

No clue, but maybe a repeat of last year when we spent time at Ginger Exchange since no one else was in town, and we were friends with the bartender.

22. Did you fall in love in 2011?

I am so in love with my new husband that it's not even funny.

23. What was your favorite TV program?

Parks and Rec, American Horror Story.

24. Do you "hate" anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I think that I've come to decide that "hate," even the mild pretend "hate," is a completely wasted emotion. This doesn't mean that there isn't anyone that could have made this list, just that I choose not to participate in this question anymore.*

25. What was the best book you read?

Hunger Games. This book was not a life changer or anything, but it came at a time when I was sick as all hell, and it gave me something to do while I had a headache and runny nose, but it also gave me a really sharp focus on how much I appreciate my life. The only other book I remember reading this year (and not re-reading) was Mildred Pierce, which I only read because it was nominated (won?) all those Emmy's and we did not have a subscription to HBO.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Meditation music—specifically an app that helps me sleep at night called SleepStream, and has ambient noises like running water, in addition to add-on meditation like music that helps me sleep at night. And also The Joy Formidable.

27. What did you want that you also ended up getting?

A pair of UGGS (don't worry, they're not the ugly kind, they're this pair), and a Clarisonic Mia.

28. What did you want that you did not end up getting?

A stand mixer. A subscription to Psychology Today.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?

Jane Eyre, Bridesmaids

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 27. J took me to Harvard Square where we had cupcakes at Sweet (he even remembered to bring candles!)

And then we had dinner at Sel de la Terre with friends

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not gaining weight after the wedding

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

Lots of yoga pants

33. What kept you sane?

Medication, therapy, and yoga.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Seth Meyers
and always Ryan Gosling, but not just because he's suddenly the Internet's golden boy— see Exhibit A from Jan 2008:

35. What political issue stirred you the most?

Marriage equality

36. Who did you miss?

All of our friends who have moved away. We got to see some of them at the wedding, but it's never enough! Our neighbors moved out kind of suddenly, and this summer will not be the same without them (or their pups).

37. Who was the best new person you met?

I don't think I met anyone new this year...at least no one who I can say was the "best."

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

That meditation is actually a useful tool, and that not all alternative medicine is hooey (some of it is).

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"And I was in your arms

And you were in my arms

And you might like what I say

And you might get what you hate
And it's okay to be right here by you
It's alright..."

Wrapping up 2010

via qsprn

Wrapping up 2009

1. What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?

• Got engaged!
• Hosted Thanksgiving dinner (made a turkey!)
• Rented a lens from borrowlenses.com
• Saw an Army/Navy game
• Had jewelry designed (my engagement ring!)
• Had a professional photo shoot (I felt like I was being followed by paparazzi!)

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions and will you make more for next year?

From last year:

• Cut HFCS from our diet, or severely restrict it. I guess limit processed foods in general.
• Fix my little anxiety/fear of bicycle death thing.
• Resume cooking meals at home more often
• Eat healthier foods, and by exercising more, possibly look smoking hot when I'm naked?

Last year, my diet was worse than ever. I did get over a lot of my anxiety, with a lot of therapy and just having things generally go more smoothly than last year. I did not cook very much, unless you count frozen pizza. Blech.

This year?

• diet, diet, diet. I would like to eat waaay better than we did this year. Less booze and much less frozen pizza.
• start saving more money.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No, everyone eked out their babies at the end of last year!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

None, once more. We were going to go to "Europe," but J traveled a lot for work and I was generally broke/working customer service jobs, so we mainly traveled for weddings.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

The ability to browse wedding blogs without having to hide it (or rather, hide just how often I read them!)

7. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory and why?

November 13, because that was when J proposed!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

I found not one, but two jobs, one of which I truly enjoy, the other which starts next January. I also made some really great personal breakthroughs in therapy. I did finally get that client to pay—the one that was my biggest failure last year.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Letting one of my coworkers get to me to the point that it gave me serious stress when I had to go in to work knowing he and I would be spending the day/evening together.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I caught the flu, again, but nothing major.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The engagement photos, for sure, but we actually also got flannel sheets, which turned out to be an excellent purchase now that it is cold. I haven't even had to use the electric blanket since we bought them, and I'm sure that has saved us some money, as well as helping the environment a little bit (a stretch? Maybe, but they are awesome!)

I also bought some riding boots that I love. I have seriously been searching high and low for riding boots for three years, now. It is about time.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

• J's, whose support and devotion have never wavered, ever. And also because he proposed to me and all that.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Just this one guy who made me want to stop going to trivia, even though we've been going every Tuesday for over a year. He's such a dingbat.

14. Where did most of your money go?

rent, health insurance, wedding savings.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Getting Engaged!

16. What song will always remind you of 2010?

Home by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic Zeroes

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder?

Much happier. I am still in the engagement glow!

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Exercise

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Eating frozen pizza!

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

In PA with J and his family

21. How will you be spending New Years?

Working at my restaurant job, then going dancing with my BFF, Jessica.

22. Did you fall in love in 2010?

Yes, I still find new ways and reasons to love J more and more every year.

23. How many one-night stands?

Fail.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Walking Dead, Mad Men.

25. Do you "hate" anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

I think that I've come to decide that "hate," even the mild pretend "hate," is a completely wasted emotion. This doesn't mean that there isn't anyone that could have made this list, just that I choose not to participate in this question anymore.*

26. What was the best book you read?

I am mostly reading a bunch of wedding books right now, so I am ill equipped to answer this question. Long and short? I don't know that I read very much this year. Offbeat Bride was probably the best wedding book, though.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. I was very sad when Ima Robot seemed to be breaking up. Now? I has a happy, again—and after Edward Sharpe, Ima Robot came out with a new album! Yeehaw.

28. What did you want that you also ended up getting?

MY VERY OWN LETTERPRESS. Also, a pair of riding boots.

29. What did you want that you did not end up getting?

A Clarisonic Mia

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

Black Swan

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 26. We went to my favorite Mexican restaurant with a bunch of friends. The owner even gave us a free cake!

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Getting to tell a customer off. What a waste of a last day at a restaurant.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

Pretty much the same as last year. More sweat pants, more flats, skinny jeans, comfortable chic.

34. What kept you sane?

Medication, therapy, and yoga.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

John Kraskinski.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

Health Insurance

37. Who did you miss?

Our friends Dan and Lydia moved last year, but the loss is still just as strong.

38. Who was the best new person you met?

Almost everyone at my new restaurant job.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.

Let it Go

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:

"This is the first day of my life

Glad I didn't die before I met you

Now I don't care, I could go anywhere with you

And I'd probably be happy"