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!

For more Wordless Wednesdays from others, click here.

1. Vancouver is now my favorite city. It used to be New York for all its glorious nooks and crannies. Then I temporarily gave the number one spot to San Francisco. Only temporarily because I figured, I will grow tired of SF and that’s something I couldn’t foresee doing with New York. It is now Vancouver and I cannot wait to go back.
2. Hailing from Texas and freezing at anything lower than 60 degrees Fahrenheit, I didn’t think I was an outdoorsy person. In Vancouver, I loved being outside. The weather was cool and the scenery is perfect.
3. I was gawking at the gorgeous views of blue and green in Colorado from photos of a friend’s recent vacation but knew in my heart, I love urban living too much to ever be passionate about the pretty lakes and greenery. Vancouver is the compromise between my need for skyscrapers and city lights and fanciful desires to admire natural landscapes. A city nestled amongst ocean and mountains.
4. The sushi here is phenomenal. And much cheaper than in Austin, Houston, and Dallas Texas.
5. I walked around downtown at night and sometimes by myself and never felt like I should be running to my destination with my phone pre-dialed to 911 or a key ready to gouge out eyes.
6. Regarding chains: Surprised to see a Dairy Queen in Vancouver! Also had my first Fatburger experience. There’s tons of Starbucks. I usually look for an H&M when I travel in the states but didn’t do that for Vancouver. Was giddy with joy when I found our hotel was 2 blocks away from an H&M.
7. Alan could not get up for the early morning departures for neighboring cities, like Victoria. So this only means, I have to go back to Vancouver and see it on my own while he does his thing for a day or go with a few girlfriends. Maybe, I’ll do it when I go to Seattle!
8. I love Canadian hospitality and accent, eh!
9. The Asian population in Vancouver is astounding.
10. I’ve never seen so many parks just walking about in a city. It seems every 2-3 blocks there’s a darling park with inviting art, benches, fountains, interesting seating, just beckoning passersby to lounge.

Post Update: I scheduled this post to publish early on the weekend but must update you on my hometown. Vancouver may be my favorite city to visit, but Austin is where my heart is. Central Texas is burning, the biggest fire being in Bastrop, TX, just 30 minutes away from Austin. If you can spare a few dollars to donate to the Red Cross, it can help go a long way. Last I checked, the biggest fire is 6 miles by 16 miles big. 250,000 acres have been charred. Here’s a facebook image of Austin’s capitol building for some perspective.

Today’s VEDA (Vlog Everyday in August) topic is to vlog something neat from your hometown.

Well, I find it mighty awesome that Austin, Texas has bats.

It’s a happy day in Austin, Texas. We have been so dry and dying for rain that yesterday’s late night storm was received by joyous tweets. I tweeted that I loved that rain was building community in our town. And it really has. Here’s just a small sample of Austinites tweeting about the happiness that is rain.

photo credit

@Hipstercrite: i dreamt that it rained last night. i also dreamt that gene wilder gave me ice cream. at least one of these dreams came true. :(

@statesman: Extra! Extra! Rain falls in Austin! Citizens surprised & confused! Dead lawns get water!

@Mutinybikes: Rain in Austin? Weird.

@stetted: The thunder scared me awake last night because I forgot what it was.

@lindaeatsworld: @stetted Love how being deprived of rain has made the prospect of rain& rain itself noteworthy. It’s almost like it’s building community.

@stetted: @lindaeatsworld I think rain has been taking marketing lessons from Steve Jobs.

@atexastwist: AM truly thankful for the rain. Not so much for the power outage, subsequent surges, and the not going back to sleep that followed. Ugh.

@gardens123: I stayed up to see the glorious rain. So sleepy, but I don’t even care.

@FranishNonspeak: Whoot! Woke up to rain drops clinging to the windows. Looks like we got a decent soaking overnight.

@jkru: rain… it’s like a free lawn watering service.

@caeseroct: How do I know it’s raining outside? Because it’s raining inside my apartment too. #leakage

@foodiethenew40: RAIN!!!!

@julieboolietran: I love the rain. Now I can sleep in peace.

@julieboolietran: Loud car outside? Nope… Just loud thunder lol

@robertbanh: RAIN!!

@MisoHungry: I see lighting. Can rain be following soon? #Austin

@racheldaneman: LIGHTENING AND THUNDERRR @themarissagreen your rain dance worked!!! Ahhhh rain is coming!!!! We’re saved!!! (not really…)

@gardens123: Wow, rain is so close. Please, pretty please?

@lisaiscooking: running was slightly less horrible tonight. still, wish I’d been running in rain.

@alm1969: 74 degrees in Austin, Texas this morning. Rain changes everything.

@brandflair: Finally, rain last night in #Austin. My garden is now full of #happytrees. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

I just came back from Austin’s first Gypsy Picnic, a Trailer Food Festival. Austin’s really big on the trailer food scene and the concept of Gypsy Picnic is fantastic but it was WAY too crowded with lines averaging 45 minutes long and vendors running out of food. I ended up discouraging friends who hadn’t left yet into coming. But here are pictures! In honor of National Blog Posting Month – Day 6!

Hope you guys are having a lovely weekend so far! See you tomorrow for Day 7!

Yesterday I had date night with my dude which comprised of a nice one on one sushi feast downtown, then a triple date at the local comedy club to watch Joe Rogan. Outside Rogan hosting Fear Factor and now UFC fights, I don’t know much about this guy and have definitely no preconceived notions about his comedy. Alan’s seen him live before and all he’s told me was that he’s crass which is standard in comedy. I had a lot of fun and would like to share a few notes.

• I’m thankful I do not have a nasal, painful laugh. Every now and again I may let out a cackle that my friends will be quick to tease me about, but if they could hear the girl we sat next to… Dang. Slow, drawn out, nasal, “neyahh, neyahh, neyaah.” We were thankful she didn’t find the show THAT funny.
• Don’t be that guy who tries to film the whole thing to put on youtube. Don’t be that guy who the comedian has to ask to stop distracting him with your camera. Don’t be that guy who has to be asked twice.
• I think Rogan turned off all the men against watching child birth. He may have used the word “explosion” to mentally paint a picture.
• I was surprised how many UFC fighters I knew whenever he name dropped. Brock Lesnar. Robert Huerta. BJ Penn. Seriously, I felt a little proud. I guess I have Alan to thank for that. P.S. Brock Lesnar is the huge (even for MMA standards) dude with the penis shaped tattoo on his chest. I think it’s supposed to be a sword, but it looks extremely phallic.
• I think the only sweet moment was when he relayed to us that he knew he loved his daughter (she’s 2) more than himself when he gave her the good banana. She loves bananas and there were two bananas up for grabs. The beautiful ripe one and the ugly brown one. He gave her the beautiful ripe banana. He cited her the only person in his life he’d do that for.

That’s about all I’m comfortable sharing. I think I laughed hysterically about 70 percent of the time and the other 30 I shook my head in disbelief. Worried that if I laughed, I’d go to hell. He is a great and generous comedian, entertaining us for about 2 solid hours. After the show, he remained accessible, friendly and hung out at the club afterward. Which made it possible for me to grabbed a picture with him!

Joe Rogan and me!

Dude & me

1/3 of our triple date

1219 South Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78704

One of my close friends, Cindy came up for a visit (first visit to Austin in a very very long time) this weekend. I met her up at Madam Mams for lunch on Saturday and then for a delightful second trip to Gourdoughs on Sunday. She was enamoured with the pictures posted from my first visit and insisted we go. How can I deny my friend?

I got to add 2 more donuts to my list of donuts (now at 9!) tried at Gourdoughs. I’m moving on up their menu.

Cindy, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s brother.

Bromance! That’s Cindy’s best friend, Vince and his old roommate, Daniel. I’ve recruited them to be my food buddies.

Mm. Black Out Donut – Brownie batter, chocolate icing, and chocolate covered brownie bites. It was so fricking rich. Pictured next to Son of a Peach.

Bring the Heath: cream cheese icing and Heath chips

I look extra chinky squinting at the sun….

Warning: A lot of food porn ahead.

1219 South Lamar Blvd Austin, TX 78704 www.gourdoughs.com I had a dinner date at 7pm with a friend yesterday. It’s 2 pm and I’m about to head out so I decided to eat lunch and try to last til 7 to be able to eat dinner. I usually get hungry about 3-4 hours after eating unless I STUFF myself silly. So I did just that and stuffed myself SILLY at around 2pm. 3pm I get a text message from Liz whom I haven’t caught up with in over a YEAR. “Hi, I’m in Austin. Want to grab a midday snack at Gourdough’s?” Dammit. I made the decision quickly but my stomach was already starting to hurt knowing what I’m about to do to it. I haven’t chatted with my Liz in over a year AND I’ve never been to Gourdoughs. Easy decision at the expense of my stomach. My poor poor stomach. I met Liz up with her boyfriend and buddies, a party of 7. I find out later that the more people you bring, the better to Gourdough’s. I’ve met some of her friends a few times through the years but the occasions were pretty unremarkable. After eating here with them, they will always be remembered as the fun-loving, food-loving hilarious group that introduced me to Gourdoughs. (4 were regulars, Me, Liz and her boyfriend were neophytes.) So what is Gourdough’s? Gourdough’s Big Fat Donuts is a trailer eatery pretty close to my first trailer-food-love, Flip Happy Crepes. What is it about food trailers in Austin? I haven’t been back to Flip Happy in a while because ever since Bobby Flay did a feature on it, it hasn’t been the same. Gourdough’s (in case you don’t know, “gordo” translates to fat in Spanish. Already, this place has charmed me; I have a strong affinity for puns.) is a gourmet donut eatery. Yes, you’ve read right, gourmet. donut. eatery. Her friend Jon, was giving me the low down on the menu. He said there’s a secret menu that is no longer secret as it’s made it on the paper menu (not pictured). Jon also instructed that once you gain more “experience” you can even order your donut with a side of ice cream (vanilla or chocolate) AND all donuts for an extra dollar you can have meat on it. Otherwise, donuts are just $3.25. He was just there yesterday and said the Porky’s really good. Porky’s is a donut with Canadian bacon, jalapeno jelly, and cream cheese. Did you read that? Go back if you need to. He mentioned a few donuts he’s had. The PB&J one which is donut with grape filling, peanut butter icing with peanut butter morsels sprinkled. The Slowburn with Habanero Pepper jelly with cream cheese. The Flying Pig with bacon and maple syrup. I cannot wait to try these creative combination of ingredients. For now I will share with you what we’ve shared. We ordered 7 different donuts but I think I left out 2 in my distraction of sheer joy and delight. Miss Shortcake Jon’s order. I love the sounds and words that kind of fall out of foodies’ mouths when they eat something SO good. It’s as if they forget they’re not alone and this is truly their most authentic and personal reaction. I believe his reaction was “………God….. this is SO. Freeeesssssshh.” He wasn’t talking to any of us in particular and we all laughed, tickled that we just got a glimpse of a private moment he had to himself. He’s right though. It was pretty damn fresh. Unknown Donut with Honey Dipping Sauce Savag (I hope I spelled his name correctly) ordered a donut that came with a honey dipping sauce. I couldn’t find it on the menu. He’s one of the more experienced Gourdoughers, so perhaps he ordered from the formerly secret menu that hasn’t been posted on the website yet. Mystery donut makes it’s rounds around the table. There he is with my friend, Liz. Here’s a sexy close up of mystery donut with honey dipping sauce. Mother Clucker Liz ordered the Mother Clucker. A donut with honey butter icing topped with FRIED CHICKEN! This was one of my favorites because I love combining savory with sweet. Moreover, the other 6 of us got sweet donuts so this one was a nice little break in comparison. The crispy chicken on the warm doughy donut was truly comforting. This is definitely going to be one of my regulars when I frequent (note I said “when” and not “if”) Gourdough’s. Son of a Peach This is Andy’s order which is from the formerly secret menu! Son of a Peach. So fricking GOOD. My friend Dave is in love with peaches. I’ve already mentally bookmarked this donut to share with him in the future. Funky Monkey My order! Donut that comes with grilled bananas, cream cheese icing, and brown sugar baste. It tasted like a banana’s foster on crack. I’m smacking my lips right now as I type this which is a feat as I’m still in physical pain from all the eating I’ve done. I was 110 percent pleased with my order. Granny’s Pie Granny’s Pie is crowned with caramel, pecans, bananas, and graham crackers. This was pretty good of course. Really rich. It didn’t completely suit my palate but I’m guessing all fans of pecan pies (all the boys that I know) would love this donut.

Closing Thoughts

As often as I rave about food, it is a little rare when I’m completely head over heels with a place. I’m head over heels with this place. What saddens me is we spoke to the nice owner and we learned the Foodnetwork is coming to do a feature and film on the 25th of the month. When Bobby Flay did that to Flip Happy Crepes, the trailer eatery is now OVERRUN with people and can take over an hour to get yourself a delicious crepe. I’m pretty sure the exposure to this modest trailer will do the same. Luckily, Gourdough’s hours are much more accessible (everyday 10am- 2am). In the meantime, I can not wait to come back to Gourdough’s Big Fat Donuts!