hny

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.