Want to read more on this tradition? 4th Year Photos and Quotes 3rd Year Photos and Explanation of Tradition

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I’ve posted yearly recaps since 2008. I’m a stickler for tradition so here’s my recap for 2011.

Previous years: 2008, 2009, 2010

I had a good year.

Note: All links open in a new window.

January

• Rang in the New Year at Speakeasy with Alan, Jennifer, and company.
• Had girls’ night in with crepes.
• Battled an eye infection for a full month. It was gross.

February

• It snowed.
• I didn’t see Alan often because of his work.
• BDF (Best Dudie Friend) visited Austin! This ended up being the only time I saw him this year.
• BDF surprised me with cookies. His note gets me Google search hits that make me a little sad.
• Sent out Valentine cards and socks to my girlfriends.

Alan and I hanging out

March

• Alan took me to my first NBA game, Heat vs. Spurs.
• BFF had cake balls delivered to me at work.
• My solemate (deliberate misspelling) visited Austin.
• Went to Austin’s 2nd Annual Bacon Takedown.
• Went to Sketchbook Project 2011 tour stop in Austin.
• Hosted my first giveaway on the blog.
• Attended a free screening and Q&A with director of Meaning of Tea, a fantastic documentary about tea. Really!
• Alan and I had a two part dinner to celebrate our three year anniversary at Haddington’s and Uchiko (my favorite restaurant).
• Attended Austin Food Blogger’s Alliance Launch Party and applied for membership.
• March was a turning point in my life. I faced myself in therapy. I’m still reaping the benefits.

At Sketchbook Project event

April

• Visited Houston for dad’s birthday.
• Did a month of video blogging everyday in April (VEDA).
• Had a pillow fight in Ikea.
• Puppet showed a conversation between my parents for VEDA.
• Alex, Hillary, and I met up in San Angelo, Texas for a girls’ weekend.
• Took my little (Big Brothers and Big Sisters) to see a presentation about being a teen parent.
• Alan and I went to a drive-in theater for the first time and saw Back to the Future. Drive-in was on my life list!
• Joined Austin Food Blogger’s Alliance.

Hillary, Alex, and Me at the San Angelo Library

May

• I got bangs impulsively, changing my do for the first time in 5 years.
• Took a canoe trip with coworkers, facing a handful of irrational fears very reluctantly. Obviously, I survived.
• I participated in Leo’s Habit Course and developed a palate for vegetables by eating one serving a day for 30 days.
• Flew to Boston to see BFF. We drove to New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island, all three were states I’ve never visited.
• Read 8 books this month.
• Totes Awesome Channel was founded.

June

• Went home to Houston for Father’s Day.
• Rolled down a hill inside of a ball.
• I hit a boulder with my car. I always hit non-moving objects. Anyway, this was the start of a chain of bumper problems during the rest of the year.
• I hemmed my first dress! As part of my new year’s resolutions, I wanted to do 10 learning tasks with sewing. This was my first major lesson.
• Went to third Annual Cupcake Smackdown

July

• Met Ashley D, Ashley, and Nicole of Totes Awesome Channel and recorded a vlog.
• Celebrated my 28th birthday simply with a dinner with Alan and then a movie and drinks with friends.
• Made my favorite video: 28 Life Lessons from 28 People (for my 28th birthday).
• I caught up to 2007 and got my first smart phone!
• My friend, Naz surprised me with a vlog from my dad.
• I got really cozy with Tennessee Williams and his movies. Cat on Hot Tin Roof is excellent!

Celebrating my birthday

August

• Successfully completed VEDA despite being out of town twice and moving!
• Met up Hillary and Alex in Dallas for our second girls’ weekend of the year.
• Moved in with Alan.
• Used my passport for the first time since renewing it 2007. Alan and I took a vacation to Vancouver, Canada, my new favorite city.
• Saw the bats in Austin for the first time.

In front of the Vancouver Aquarium

September

• Adopted Bob from a shelter.
• I went to some of my Ten Year Reunion and was pleased to see all my classmates have blossomed to beautiful women.
• Brandi and I attended Jessica’s wedding.
• With a lot of conscious effort, I averaged 6 hours of sleep in the month of September! (I’m usually sleep deprived.)

Class of 2001

October

• I had a fluffy cable TV show debut.
• Had my first blogger date with Treavor.
• Donned a borrowed construction hat and went as Heidi in Home Improvement for Halloween.
• Cindy visited Austin!

November

• Posted a blog post everyday in November.
• Ran two blocks of a 5k for Race for the Cure and raised 460 dollars. Thanks to a lot of you!
• Went to Texas Renaissance Festival with Brandi and Jessica. It was our third year going and we decided to only do new things. We threw knives, shot bow and arrows, and had our face painted. It was the first time I’ve ever had my face painted!
• Had my second blogger date with Treavor.
• Attended a We Are Girls conference with my little. It was incredibly insightful.
• Had a Thanksgiving picnic with friends at the park. We threw a whole cooler’s worth of ice cubes into an enormous fountain, to create ripples, to help push a soccer ball to a sad toddler across the fountain. We were successful.
• Had a progressive meal day with Kim, Thomas, and friends.
• During breaks between eats, we made paper cranes for Kim’s tree.
• My bumper nearly killed Kim and me and got us murdered in the woods.
• Made our sparkly tattoos dance.

December

• I decide to like Christmas. I discovered it took more energy disliking it than it does to give into the cheer.
• Partcipated in Austin Food Blogger’s food swap.
• I was without a car the whole time I was in Houston for Christmas (the bumper needed to be replaced) and was touched to have friends pick me up for dates.
• Sewed couch pillows with help from mom.
• Hosting a “Never Have We Ever” dinner party tonight. Post to come!

Bob hanging out with snowman

In writing this post, I realized this year was really sweet for relationships. It may have a lot to do with my prioritizing close friends over acquaintances and then learning to set boundaries. Recently, I’ve been in a funk about not having a life’s calling but I have to say, I’m really content with my tribe. Word on the street is that it’s the relationships that really matter.

Wishing you a terrific end of year celebration! Lots of love!

Location: Kim’s apartment
Photographer: Thomas Chen

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Saturday, I spent the entire day with Kim, Thomas, and company.

I surprised Kim with glitter tattoos.

Then we proceeded to brand all of our friends.

(this photo by Thomas)

And gave our tattoos life by making them dance and drink.

(this photo by Thomas)

We had one of our progressive meals and ate at five places and aspired towards seven. (Two of the places were closed!)

We helped put up Kim’s tree and then made paper cranes to decorate it.

After our dinner, we parted ways and I was going to end the perfect day having a pajama party with Kim and building a fort. On our way to her place, my car started to make this terrifying thumping sound while we were on the freeway. I inadvertently exited into a tollway without having the necessary tag and it took us quite a while driving with this noise before feeling like it was safe enough to pull over (i.e. not on a highway shoulder or into a seedy dark gas station.) Turns out my bumper got loose and was flapping against my tire. We drove at a crawl to Kim’s place and accidentally drove deep into a very dark and wooded area off of the freeway. TERRIFYING. There was another lone car with us that felt sketchy!

I canceled fort night with Kim. It didn’t feel right being out in Houston with a maimed car. I was really disappointed to miss the pajama fort party but it was still an awesome day. We played hard and didn’t get killed. I like Kim’s pithy recap.

Kim 11:11 PM to me

one of the best days, for sure.

and so simple! good food, company of friends (old and new), listening to records, driving in the rain, sparkly tattoos, taking pictures, putting up christmas trees, cracking jokes, almost getting murdered in the secret woods next to the freeway…

I was supposed to drive back to Austin on Sunday (yesterday) but had to stay so I can take my car in today. I was too nervous to drive my car so I canceled what little plans I had and spent the entire day reading. I finished A Beautiful Boy (affiliate link), a memoir of a father navigating his son’s drug addictions. Captivating and depressing. Thus the chocolate milk.

Aside from the car troubles, I really had such a wonderful weekend. There were many great moments I just want to memorize so I can revisit on gloomy days. I hope my car troubles get fixed today. I can’t wait to get back to my bed, dog, and boyfriend.

For more Wordless Wednesdays from others, click here.

For more Wordless Wednesdays from others, click here.

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Jessica, a close friend of Brandi’s and mine, moved away over a year ago. We saw her just once since then and it was at her wedding. A happy occasion but not the perfect time to catch up. We reunited finally over the weekend and traveled south for a day to attend the Texas Renaissance Festival. We’ve gone twice before. To put a fun spin on things, we decided to skip out on most of the activities we’ve done before (no more riding elephants!) and pick the attractions we’ve never done.

So we started with face painting. Even as a child, I’ve never had my face painted!

Then we shot bow and arrows. We picked the heavier bows. 27 lbs, when weaker armed individuals should start at 20 lbs. I don’t know what I’m talking about; I’m just repeating what the guy said. All I know is that I could barely pull the string back!

Then we threw knives. I’ve never thrown knives. Turns out, I throw knives like I throw darts. (Poorly.)

Of course we had to conserve some of our traditions. We ate the same foods and took photos with some characters!

It was an exceptional day.