lxforever

Let’s dance in style, lets dance for a while / heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies / hoping for the best but expecting the worst / are you going to drop the bomb or not? // Let us die young or let us live forever / we don’t have the power but we never say never … // Forever young, I want to be / forever young / Do you really want to live forever / Forever young?”

—Alphaville, Forever Young (Barcelona magic fountain theme song!!)

“Home, Let me come Home / Home is Whenever I’m with you…”

—Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes

“That last part of your email: Are you saying that you’re the best? Because I too agree with that sentiment.”

—Jeff…THE BEST!

“YOU MAKE HAPPINESS POSSIBLE.”

—Michael J. Mason, in one of the best emails I received in 2010, 7/30/10

2010 > 2009.

Not just in the mathematical sense, either. While I didn’t get everything I wanted in 2010, it was a pretty successful year filled with good things, not just for me, but for many friends and family members as well, which only added to the improvement. Simply put, 2009 pretty much sucked! So I guess it wasn’t hard to do better…and since 2007/2008 were so amazing, it will be hard to reach that level for awhile. Perhaps in 2012? Take it one year at a time? Hah!

Dang. Long entry to make up for the lack of ’em. Apologies in advance.

First off, 2010 was all about WEATHER! And the forces of NATURE! Both broadly as well as locally. There were earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tornadoes and winter weather events galore…still thinking of the folks involved in those events. Locally, there was insane rain, the “MN-i-cane”/crazy low pressure day in Oct. (which took out our tree! whoops!), the November ice storm of DEATH, the weird but awesome short and easy winter in Jan/Feb/March, and then the Big Blizzard of December 11/12 (Jeff’s birthday gift from Mother Nature, no doubt—he loves that snow!). I’m sure there is much more but DANG. This post from Paul Douglas’s weather blog on Strib explains the crazy MN 2010 weather in more detail.

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Anyway. I always do highlights/non-highlights, but I’m always paranoid that I’m going to forget something. So I’m trying something different this time.

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While I didn’t get everything I wanted in 2010, and definitely have trepidation about the same thing come 2011, someone pointed out that I accomplished a fair bit athletically, and thus have a lot to be proud of – and you know what? I’ll take it!! So let’s start with that.

2010 athletic accomplishments

– Complete a triathlon—a long-ago goal finally realized.
– Run 6 miles (on the gorgeous path to and from Lake Harriet!)
– Breathe on my left side—silly but still cool
– Learn a back shoulder roll on beam/keep old skills such as giants successfully—yay for gymnastics
– Get into yoga and practice regularly, realizing that it has its important parts, too…even if I’m not sweating it out

I have Jenny, Diana, Lauren, Cassie, Anna P, Alyssa, and the EHN HS team to thank for my inspiration/finally doing some of this stuff. Thank you!!!

(Sorry to brag, but this is the kind of stuff that makes me feel better. Besides…it’s a blog alllll about ME, what do you expect?!?! Heh heh heh…)

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Other good things in 2010

BARCELONA!!! ROME!!! POSITANO!!! Um, Naples? Ha. Our Europe trip in March was truly incredible and I am so proud of us for doing it.

I also returned to coaching, this time in the parks system, which was terrific. Diana helped me out which made it a hundred times more fun and reminded me so much of our gymnastics club days of yore! Ahhhh! Love!

I also sharpened up my cooking skills which I enjoy and which Jeff appreciates! And I would say that I kicked ass at my job, but without being a snob, that’s just par for the course; I mean, do your job and do it well, right? DUH. BUT! I did learn a few new programming tricks and am definitely excited about that. AND! I managed to find some self-acceptance and okay-ness with what I do and where I’m at. That matters, more than a lot of these other things.

I also survived the ice storm of November 2010. AAAAAAAAH!

I ALSO fell more in love with Jeff/home, in case you couldn’t tell ;).

We also finally finished out our ‘graveyard’ corner and did a little more landscaping too, of which we are very proud, ha.

I made a cool website for my cousin Michael that made me very happy, because it made HIM so happy. I also learned even more about WordPress. Yay.

I also saw four cool movies, all on opening night!

I also read OPEN which was incredible. Loved that.

I’m sure there is more, but this will suffice for now.

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Great things for great people in my life, the 2010 edition

In 2010, Jeff worked for and got a terrific promotion at work and is now Creative Director. This job/company was meant to be for him in so many ways and I am so proud of him and so thrilled that his butt-kicking work was rewarded. He is going to be superb in his new position and is already making positive changes. YAY!

Many of my friends and acquaintances had beautiful, healthy babies, their first for most of them, including Alyssa, Cassie and Cole.

Sarah and Trent got engaged which was so awesome! Her call to tell me made me love LOVE even more, ha! They asked me to be a bridesmaid and I am super excited to celebrate in the Black Hills in June.

Many of my other friends found a better path in their career/work/what have you and have done great things there as well.

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2010 travels

I got to spend time in SF with my sisters/Mason & Anna which was splendid as always…too much fun in SF, always! Lots of Anna-videos, hahaha. And we were there for Valentine’s Day as well, fun! Jenny and I had an opportunity to go out for a fancy dinner and lots of laughs with Stephie and Mike and that was memorable and wonderful as well.

I visited Jenny in Chi and we went to Great America again, where we freaked ourselves out on an inner-tube WATER ride and spent a lot of time in the pirate’s ship waterpark. HA! WHo knew we would like GA’s waterpark so much. We also biked to the beach and did other summer-Chicago things. Such a lovely visit….I <3 JENNY HENNY! I went to Boston to visit Katy which was WONDERFUL! So nice to finally spend time with her/Rob again, and I love Boston. They were most excellent hosts and fed me very well too. :) I also went to Iowa for a day to celebrate my cousin Pat's college graduation. This is memorable because it was a last-minute decision and turned out to be one of my favorite days of 2010. What can I say, sometimes I enjoy driving alone for long periods of time, and love seeing my family, of course. I truly traveled for my first-ever work-related trip, to a conference in St. Louis in May. It was both very cool and verrrrry nerdy. As mentioned, Jeff and I went to Rome/Sorrento/Positano/Naples (eugh!)/Barcelona in March on somewhat of a snap decision and it was AMAZING. More about that... And of course, Madison for many a time. Always fun. I'm sure I went more places, too, but they aren't coming to mind...gah.

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2010 OBSESSIONS!!!

I was obsessed with, in no particular order: riding my bike (duh); WordPress; Greek yogurt, especially FAGE; dinosaurs (for a little bit); ANDRE AGASSI!!!; bears; sparkling water!; EatLiveRun.com; hockey skating when I could; SWIMMING and swimming pools; Anna and Mason, who never, ever fail to amaze me and crack me up; cold press; the trails of Minneapolis; Minneapolis in general; gymnastics in general (duh); the crazy weather!; STRETCHING (always).

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In Conclusion…

Probably two of the greatest highlights of 2010 were completing the triathlon and Barcelona/Italy. Barcelona was completely magical and unexpectedly heart-grabbing, and our surprise time in Positano was a dream come true. Rome was the gem that we love and adore, and Naples was at least entertaining in its own way, ha! Europe is always a place that we feel so comfortable, both in the place and with one another, and it shines. We can’t wait to go back.

Swimming, biking, running… Training for the triathlon, committing to it, and finally completing it were some of my happiest moments in 2010. It’s not like I kicked ass or anything, but it was beyond satisfying to complete it, to know I could do that, and with Jenny to support me no less. Amazing! It also proved to me that sometimes, it’s kind of worth it to work for something (for some reason, the landscaping in the graveyard reminded me of this too).

There were a few non-highlights, as they say, which included: incorrectly estimating our taxes, ooooops, a bit of uncool health news and my subsequent freakouts, my freakouts in general, horrible politicians and some horribly disappointing results from the 2010 election, the tax cuts standing, some tension among people I know, missing my Grandpa. And more.

But more than anything I am learning to be grateful for all of the good things I DO have – ‘counting my blessings’ – and holding those close: family, health, Jeff, HOME, friends, Jenny, Diana, Minneapolis, True Ten, job security/enjoyment, living in a peaceful and safe and stable country. A safe and warm house to call home. You know. Things like that.

Thoughts for 2011? Here’s a couple things I hope to live by…
– it doesn’t matter what people think. It just DOESN’T MATTER.
– Be grateful for what you have.
– Be as in the moment as you can.
– You Make Happiness Possible. For yourself.

Happy 2011! It’s our last binary year ’til the next century (and perhaps our last full year, if the Mayans are right); let’s make the most of it!

This journal was posted on Friday, December 31st, 2010 at 11:59 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.