There are many many people who are doing a '2011 in Review' type of post and they write about various things they've done and accomplished and OH MY GOD. Just the though of doing one literally makes my chest tighten. That sounds like the most un-fun and stressful thing I could possibly do to myself. I mean, the amount of work my brain would have to do! So instead I'm going to borrow from Dooce and post some links from my blog from the past year.
I've gained new readers since the beginning of the year, so some of you may not have read them. And if you're like me? You'll be able to read the posts again and not remember if you read them in the first place because your memory is so terrible. If I didn't know I posted these, I wouldn't believe I wrote some of these things because I've already forgotten them!
JANUARY || I found my life goal!
FEBRUARY || I constantly wanted to kill Vince and I finally got around to writing about my niece's birth.
"We have torn up soda/beer cans, eaten shoe laces, the couch is torn apart, the carpet is soaked with pee, tin foil is scattered, paper is ripped to shreds, plants are eaten, packaging is everywhere, the expensive blinds are chewed and my expensive gluten free 'Oreos' were eaten by someone other than me. All because you thought [the dog] was 'so cute'."
"After finding out that your mom was pregnant, I was worried. I was worried if she would be able to take care of you, what kind of mother she would be, if she would stay sober... In that moment that I was crying, every worry vanished because now I know she is capable of being a great mother to you, Alyla."
MARCH || I pondered about my future kids.
"There's a lot of kids in my life, wether it's at work, the grocery store, friends kids, etc. Some of them are ASSHOLES. Seriously, I feel like tripping them and laughing as they fall because they totally SUCK."
APRIL || This was just a silly feel-good month.
"I was pretty confident that NONE of [the glasses] would look good on me, and I was pretty much right. So instead of using this opportunity to buy a new pair of glasses, I used it as an excuse for a time-wasting photoshoot. Here are the results:"
"Why do I hate bra shopping so much? Because I have a big torso and small boobs. I really don't mind the big torso or the small boobs, except the fact that there are maaaaaybe three size 36A bras in an entire store."
MAY || We took a WONDERFUL trip to California and nursed our wounded dog back to health.
Californ-i-a Part 1 Californ-i-a Part 2
"We left Friday morning around 10, after a late start. This was our first big trip in the Subaru and we were pretty excited! Not so excited to wake up at 7am though, like we were planning."
Guess how much I love you? 40 bags of tater tots worth.
"Well, Roxanne, I loved you $120 worth today TO GET A NAIL TRIMMED. Granted, that nail was exposing a sensitive nerve ending, but still, one hundred and twenty dollars. Do you know how many tater tots I could eat with that kind of money?"
JUNE || We decided to move back to our old place and took a trip to Colorado...which reminds me that I haven't finished posting about that trip!
"The reason we moved into our current house was because I wanted more space. I wanted a room to do crafts in, Vince wanted space to put his bikes, and we also wanted to live close to the forest for Roxanne. Now that we have all of that, I'm not satisfied with it. I'm extremely happy that we took the opportunity to move, because now I have seen the grass on the other side."
"[A lady] told us about this dirt road that would lead us to camping. What she lacked to tell us that it was at the tippy top of a small mountain and to get there you had to go on the most terrifying road ever. It was completely a one lane road and ON THE EDGE OF A CLIFF most of the way up. If someone were to come down, there is no way we could get past; one of use would have to back up the whole way!"
JULY || I ventured into fiction writing and Vince and I got engaged!
"Last week the nurse called to tell me my mother passed away. I never thought I would feel such a deep sense of loss. I definitely didn’t expect to feel like I missed out on something incredible, like I could have made the relationship with my mother better. I felt like I was the one who should have been taking care of her this whole time, like I should have been there for her despite her negativity and hatred towards me."
"You read that correctly, I’m getting married! After wanting to be engaged for so long, I am now finally able to call Vince my fiancé! Agh! I’m so excited. I won’t be able to call him my fiancé for very long though, because we will be married in SEVEN WEEKS. Ya, no time at all! And no, I am NOT pregnant."
AUGUST || I learned that some stress could be good stress, and some stress not so good.
"If Ben had killed another person instead of himself that night he chose to drink and drive, would I still feel the same way about him? Would I still miss him as much? Would I still think about him daily, wondering where Life would have placed him today? Would I still see him as a smart and respectable person. I'm not sure, and I try not to think too much about it and it tends to hurt because I have a hunch that I would, in fact, see things differently."
"It's been a healthy stress though. It's not one that's keeping me up at night, or one that makes me eat tub after tub of ice cream. It's a good one that makes me realize that life is upon me. It feels like up until this point I was just...here. I wasn't doing anything spectacular with my life, nothing life changing. I was getting scared that I'd be like this forever."
SEPTEMBER || I truly fell in love with excising and I got married but was too busy to write about it.
"Now that I am in my routine though, it's getting a little too easy which is CRAZY. That means I actually have to push myself even more and go even more distance which is just baffling to me because I am not a runner. Maybe I'm just in denial though because I'm actually stoked when I find time to run. Can you believe I'm stoked about my EYEBALLS sweating?"
OCTOBER || I was able to enjoy that aftermath of my wedding and realized that the life I chose for myself is going exactly where I want it to be headed.
"Vince's dad Dave sent us a video of the pictures that he and his wife Amy took at the wedding. Iabsolutely love it and totally cried when I watched it, and then cried again when I re-watched it today and then cried again when I uploaded it onto YouTube. It's just so great!"
"When I sit down to study, I'm actually excited about it. Ya, it's hard to learn SO much information in so little time, but I am so in love with it. It's like a game to me to see how much I can learn about it and it makes me so antsy to start the actual nursing program."
NOVEMBER || I accepted myself for who I am, finally.
"I've never really had body issues like a lot of women have and I am SO grateful for that. I don't think I have the perfect body in any way, body things just never seemed to worry me. I did have 3 things that I was somewhat self conscious about until recently, though, that just seem silly to me now."
DECEMBER || I discovered an ooey-gooey cinnamon roll recipe and started some new family traditions.
"I found a recipe at The Baking Beauties, and it is BY FAR the best baked gluten free food I have ever had and tastes exactly like 'regular' cinnamon rolls. They are so amazing that the first day I ate them, I ate three, the second day I ate two, and the third day I ate three. Yes, I ate the whole 8x8 pan by myself in three days and I don't regret it one bit."
"I've never really been into Christmas before this year. I've never cared about decorating or hanging lights or anything like that. Now that my grandparents are gone and most of the traditional things I do every year at Christmas aren't happening, I'm kind of freaking out! The other day, Vince made a comment about how he's happy I'm so festive this year and asked me what changed, and I just started bawling saying, 'My grandparents are heeeeerrrreeeee.'"
So there you have it, a little review of the past year! Now I'm off to finish making some mini cheesecakes, some of which have ginger snap cookie crust and some have chocolate cookie crust, to prepare for a New Year's party we're going to tonight. They're going to be deeeee-lish!
