The Annual Year End ReCap

This is my fourth year (!) doing Linda's year end recap.  For a little history, here's 2008, 2009. and 2010.  If you do this meme too, put a link in the comments, I'd love to read yours!

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

I wrote a bunch more about being depressed.  So much so that I even published a non-anonymous piece about my depression on babble.com.
I had a mid-blog-life crisis and spent a little money for a bloggy makeover courtesy of the ever-patient Nap Warden.
We decided we're done having babies. 
I watched Z in her first dance recital. 
Z started kindergarten and E started part-time preschool.   And I realized this didn't mean I would magically have the time, motivation and focus to do anything other than the usual housework.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
 I'm liking the idea of a list of goals rather than the more general resolutions.  Look for it in a scintilating post in the next few weekzzzzzzz.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My best friend from college had twin baby boys in November who I have yet to meet, which is totally unacceptable and will be fixed when I go visit and help out in January!  Then there's Marie Green!  And B!

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thank goodness, we got a reprieve this year.  Which we feel we totally deserve, after last year.

5. What countries did you visit?

We went to Jamaica with my parents in February.  And, though it was far from perfect,  I'm about ready to go back.  NOW.   I even got to meet another Amalah-inspired blogger!

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

This is what I said last year: "I'm still searching for that elusive "sense of connectedness". I would love to feel more like a "Virginian". I want this house, this town, this state to be my home and I know that just takes time and effort. I want to feel part of a community. I want to feel like I belong."

Oh it is SLOW, this community building stuff.  I'm starting to feel myself sinking into my life here more and more.  I can't go anywhere without running into someone I know.  And I really know no one.  It's a small town and it feels that way, in good and bad ways.   Now, I'm not sure I really want to feel like a "Virginian".  I guess I want to feel like myself, not like I have to change in any way to fit in here.

Something else I'd like:  a sense of my next step.  Writing more?  Taking some online classes?  Weaving my dog's hair into award-winning sweaters?  Beuller?

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

November 16, 2011.  The day my best friend delivered her beautiful, healthy baby boys!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Reconnecting with my husband in a meaningful way.  The previous two years were not easy in our marriage.  It was hard, in ways I haven't fully shared here because they are between us.  But I can say this: this year has been a year of rebuilding and I am oh so grateful for him, for our partnership and for our future together.

9. What was your biggest failure?

It is always the same, every single year: losing my temper. Each and every time it happens I think: who is this monster?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

No.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Why can I never think of anything for this question?  Um, maybe my bloggy makeover?

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The street protestors both here and abroad.  Power to the people!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Anthony Weiner,  Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Casey Anthony.  I'm still hoping humanity is basically decent.  But, MAN, sometimes it's hard to tell.

14. Where did most of your money go?

It's the same every year:  mortgage, insurances/taxes, preschool, Wegmans, Target, Amazon.  Will someday this list include things like a speed boat ride around the island of Capri?  Maybe?

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

When my babble post went live and when Peggy Orenstein linked to this blog post in a tweet, I pretty much peed my pants.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

The soundtrack to the Nutcracker has been playing on repeat in our house for the last three weeks, so I'm going to have to say the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happpier!  Thank you Pr0zac!
b) thinner or fatter?  Fatter!  Thank you Pr0zac!  And cookies!
c) richer or poorer? Poorer:  paying for two girls in school and the soon-to-be-renovated master bathroom has done a number on our bottom line.

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

Writing.  Returning emails and phone calls quickly. Exercising.

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

Same as every year: "Lost my temper. Curled inward instead of reaching outward."

20. How did you spend Christmas?

At home with my parents who braved our collective illness to spend it with us.  This year, the girls were so fun, so excited, so happy with each and every present.  I loved every nose-blowing moment of it.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?

Just the usual, daily falling in love with my family.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Um.  We don't watch much.  The shows we usually make time for:  The Daily Show, Breaking Bad, and Modern Family.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Blerg.  The word "hate" gives me the heebie jeebies. 

24. What was the best book you read?

I'm going to have to say "State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett.  But I read a whole bunch of good books this year.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Missy Higgins.

26. What did you want and get?

A year with no deaths in our family.
A weekend away with my husband.

27. What did you want and not get?
Wow.  I can't think of anything.  How's that for contentment!

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
"Super 8", "Away We Go" and "Crazy Stupid Love".  And I don't think I have laughed at anything this year as much as I laughed at Maya Rudolph kneeling down in a Manhattan street in "Bridesmaids".

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 39 on the Monday after Thanksgiving.  It was a quiet day and I was very happy.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A professional organizer to snap our house into shape.

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

Another day, another pair of elastic waist pants.

32. What kept you sane?

Pr0zac, exercise, blogging, reading, family and friends.

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

Oh, I'll jump on the Ryan Gosling bandwagon.  Why not?  

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

It's a tie between the right to marry someone of the same sex and the right to peacefully protest.

35. Who did you miss?

If I don't get to see my best friend and her newborn twins soon, I may spontaneously combust.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

?

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
That being happy as a SAHM, and being sane, are a quiet joy, one that isn't easily recognized from the outside but is oh so wonderful on the inside.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

"Your warm whispers.  Out of the darkness, they carry my heart."  - Missy Higgins

Happy New Year everyone!