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Last night I was asking my mom what she has learned or if anything major has happened in 08. Somehow it came back to me and I discovered that once again it's been a fun, crazy year!

-I travelled to Bogota, Vegas, Zion and Bryce National Park (Utah), Vancouver, Florida, Rochester, Niagra Falls, NYC, Victoria (island you can only get to by boat in the BC), and my first solo vacay to Portland.

-I freelanced and freelanced and freelanced, until I found a full-time, say goodbye to Cobra and say hello to free gym memberships and all the apples I could ever want, job!

-I discovered that I had made really good friends in Seattle. Ones I'd actually keep in touch with for a long time.

-I had 2 friends visit.

-I wrote 67 pages of a book and then I stopped, because I can never seem to finish this shit. Maybe I wasn't meant to just yet.

-I shacked up with Dominic. Or really we shacked up together in the building I was already living in.

-I got cable, which I'm still kinda not thrilled about but at least when you have snow days for a week straight, Fit TV will safe your life from feeling totally useless.

-I knit lots.

-I painted my nails once.

-I discovered how much I liked massages, and while other girls might love shoes or makeup or pedicures, I much rather have my lower back rubbed for an hour.

-I got into CSAs and will never go back to shopping for my produce at the grocery store if I can help it!

-I opened savings accounts, high yield checking accounts and 2 IRA accounts. I have a vacation fund that will support my love, a condo fund and an emergency fund. All things I've learned from reading Smart Women Finish Rich.

-I opened an account with Charles Schwab and felt very adult like.

-I threw out a little piano that I used to play with a lot as a kid. It was my grandma's. It meant a lot to me. You would wind the bottom and then you would open the piano top and hear Mozart or Beethoven, I forget which. But I broke it a few years ago and when it came to combining two people's things in a 1+ bedroom apartment that didn't seem to have a place anymore. But I still think about it a lot, because it brought a lot of happy childhood memories of being with the people I loved most.

-I discovered quinoa.

-I really stopped smoking.

-I ran in 3 races, made great times and met a famous local bread guy that I'm obsessed with. Seriously, he's awesome. Everyone should eat Killer Dave's Bread.

-I saw Hot Chip, Ladytron, Ratatat and lots of interesting World Music at NW Folklife Festival.

-I read A LOT more than I've ever read before.

-I didn't get sick once this entire year. Thank you magic mushroom vitamins suggested by old asian dude at Pike Place Market.

-I started a monthly dinner club and really love the conversations and the people and the food!

-I kissed and loved and laughed and knit and cried and pooped and stared and slept and didn't sleep and got fidgety and was totally relaxed and worked from home and didn't answer the phone and travelled and made a plan to get rid of all my student loans in a matter of 3 years so I can work on a farm for a few months and drove a car and flossed and cooked and baked and made lots of healthy things and bought shiny red wellington hunter rainboots and had too much fun and did puzzles and hiked and hiked and camped and discovered and saw things I've never seen before and some that I have...

and and and

Happy New Year.

Question for the Morning

Question: Will I ever EVER leave this hill?

Answer: That has yet to be determined.

Fuck you question! Fuck you!

Question for the Night

Question: How many cups of tea can one person drink in a single day when they are held hostage by the snow and a hill that's too steep and slippery?

Answer: 10

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy.

The last few weeks have been crazy here. Snow Snow and More SNOW! In the beginning it was cute. Like, awww, 2 inches of snow. Ain't that sweet. Let's try to make snow angels and watch it all melt at the same time. Everyone worked from home because a lot of the buses simply can't get up and down our steep hills. That's where I start going stir crazy. For 3 days, no buses. Finally today, I saw a golden opportunity. I had about 5 hours before the next storm hit. Except this really was going to be a storm, with 25 mph winds and get your candles ready storm. But I had to get out of here, because I know once this hits I'll be home again until I leave for Florida. Some people may love this. Ooh, a Top Chef marathon. That's my Thursday. But when it keeps rerunning over and over and over and over again, it's just mean.

At first I was all, oh god, this is nothing this stupid snow. It's so miniscule to the Detroit shit I've seen. But in all honesty this is way fucking different. Seattle actually hardly has snow. Maybe once a year, tops and it melts before you even notice it. Suddenly, because of global warming or Al Gore we're seeing it more and more and it's fucking all of our lives up. These damn hills just cause slip and slides and no one in Seattle has ever heard of a snow truck. They use sand instead of salt. And if you live on a very steep hill, like I do, you're stuck. You hope you have enough food and you have friends over that live in walkable distance. You try to call a cab and they laugh and laugh and laugh.

So when I had that 5 hour open window of opportunity I shoved everything I could into it. I went to the gym, had famous mac and cheese at Beecher's, looked at books with a friend, sold clothes at Crossroads and then spent the remaining 2 hours soaking in the women's only spa I frequent where I got a massage and read in an indoor hot tub and steam room. As I'm laying around naked, one of the employees comes in and whispers, "It's starting."

Everyone just started going. QFC was mobbed with last minute candle shoppers. I was trying my best to figure out a way to get down one hill and then up another without worrying about the possibility that I may have to rent a hotel room or crash at a friend's house which would mean I'd have to go back up another hill. Ugh.

The first bus was easy and of course, packed. A crazy guy was talking about jerking off and I was still remaining as calm as can be (that spa does wonders for any anxiety you may ever have in life). Once downtown though things were getting bad. I asked if anything was going up the hill and the bus driver said a definite no. I was either to walk up or find me a cab ASAP.

As this point I'm talking to Dominic, who's in Buffalo where his whole house is probably covered in snow and somehow they all survive just fine. I spot a cab and he immediately asks, Where to? Not like a normal Where to? But like, I don't have tire chains bitch so it better just be up the block.

I gave him my puppy dog eyes and said he didn't have to take me up all the way if he thought it was unsafe. He agreed and off we went, in sllllooooowwwww motion because suddenly there was the biggest traffic jam ever. Every downtown shopper trying to get there holiday gifts all knew this was the time to leave. I watch the meter tick away as we inch along.

And then I see it in the distance. The NUMBER 4 BUS!!!! Yes! Even if it doesn't go up the hill, it'll get me closer than this cab can. I give the dude a $10 tip because I just need to get to this bus and can't deal with change (and he really did me a big favor by just picking me up in the first place) and I'm carefully trying to run, but not run because everything is slippery, just to catch the bus. When we meet, I'm all smiles. I love this driver more than I love peanut butter. I'm talking to Dominic hoping for the best. The bus is also doing a slow crawl, but we're moving. We're going up even. All the way up! We did it! I'm home! Yay!!!!

So after all of that, I'm already itching to get back off this hill again. Maybe to somewhere sunny and warm and 77 degrees. But that's not till Thursday and that's 6 whole days away. Can I be indoors that long without eating my arm or saying Redrum Redrum? I guess we'll just have to wait and see...

Question for you?

This is my second working from home because of snow day. I actually almost rather be at work just to get out of my apartment. This snow is totally weird for Seattle, and the fact that I live on a giant hill means I'm stuck here. No buses, no cars, no nothing going down this hill.

So my question is, what the fuck is on TV during the day? Yesterday I didn't watch any because I was too busy for work. Even too busy for music in the background. But today is a little slower. I have time to actually watch segments of the Today show. But then what? How do housewives do this every day? I mean, I know they aren't eating bon bons in front of the couch, but if they want to watch something during a snowy day what do they see? Maury? A 1979 episode of Wheel of Fortune? I even have Comcast, which means we get all these other free shows and I just can't find anything worth watching. Maybe I started acquiring too many hobbies and became disinterested in TV, because I just can't tolerate the tube anymore. It sucks. It babbles and talks too much. And it never seems to tell me anything important.

Have a great weekend folks. I'm hoping to be in 80 degree weather in less than a week! Booya!!!

Tis the season to always refer to my wishlist.

Once again, I don't expect gifts. I never do. But in the off chance you're not laid off and you're feeling spendy, then by all means REFER TO THE WISHLIST.

Here are some of the highlights:

-2009 Daily Planner. This one I LOVE. (EDIT: I just bought myself this planner. She was selling out and I just couldn't risk it! That's usually how this wishlist of mine goes. I end up buying all my wishes!)

-Don't You Fucking Look at Me embroidered top. Yeah, it's awesome and on sale!

-Anything from Caswell=Masey.

-A gift card to Anthropologie.

-A gift card to Hilltop Yarn in Queen Anne.

-Stationary that rocks.

-And last but not least, this shark attack coat rack!

There you have it. Easy, right?

Happy Holidays! Happy New Year! Happy to be Happy!