Curious Notions

I wish everyone a safe, better than 2009, healthy new year in 2010. I had a wonderful time last night and spent today eating good barbecue, seeing Jen T one last time before she goes back to Philly tomorrow, browsing a bookstore, and now I’m doing some cleaning and game planning for 2010. I’m feeling good over here.

I’m back from Houston and am EXHAUSTED. I’m running on 4-5 hours sleep a night. I work both jobs today but soon enough I shall explain this picture (and relive some really good meals with you).

Happy New Year, everyone.

I’m relaxing in my kind of messy apartment, pondering what I should compile as my list of resolutions this year. So far I know I want to have a pristine apartment most of the time, cushion my emergency fund, write in my paper journal at least once a week, and write 3 short stories. I need more details to flesh out my list.

I have one HELLISH packed day at work tomorrow but then it’s the weekend again!

Edit: Here’s another picture of us on NYE’s that was just tagged on facebook. I like this one minus the amount of leg I’m showing. I was wondering if I was showing my goods to Alan’s friends last night cuz the table and purse covered me some in this photo. Aside from the leg, I like our smiles in this picture. Alan looks so cute, cheeky.

January
- Kim came up for New Years. We celebrated downtown with Alan’s couple of friends and Jon and the boys.
- Kim and I wrote on two balloons on New Year’s Day. One balloon of our regrets and things we’re letting go. The other balloon our desires for 2009. Then we ever so poetically, released them on my balcony.
-I went to San Diego for the fourth time. I made it to the zoo and stayed at the same hotel as Jon and Kate plus Eight when they went to San Diego on their way to Hawaii.
- Made Jambalaya for the first time.
-Ate a lot of food with Jon while he was visiting Texas.

At Paradise Pointe Resort in San Diego.

February
- Spent my favorite holiday with Jamie.
- Did my own taxes for the first time
- Found a new hair stylist of of Sixth Street after asking her for a kiss for Bing for his birthday.
- Sent out Valentine cards and packages.

Celebrated Bing’s birthday on Sixth Street. The night I met my hair dresser.

March
- Watched a lot of movies and cooked a lot of dinners with Alan.
- Cindy came up to visit. Introduced her finally to Flip Happy Crepes.
- I got about 3 hours of sleep a night.
- I go to San Diego for work yet again and stay at a hotel that had sex toys in their mini bar available to purchase.
- I search for a Madam Mam’s replacement. (Never found it)
- I celebrated Brandi’s birthday with Jessica. This is the 2nd time in 2008 we managed to spend some time together. We went downtown for her birthday and ate at Hula Hut.

With my girls, celebrating Brandi’s birthday. I wish this year we saw each other more. There was a time a year or two ago we saw each other once a week at least.

April
- I go to Second Chance Prom with Neville. Sweet since I didn’t have a date to my highs school prom. Well.. Liz was my date :)
- I meet my little and take her to celebrate Earth Day at Republic Square.
- I take a fabulous vacation to NYC (originally suppose to include Boston too and visit Mary Ellen but her paper got accepted into a conference). I got to see the Jennifers and Jon. Jon was my lovely host. (entry, entry, entry, entry)
- Had my first Brazilian Wax. Yikes.
- The father of two of the kids I’ve babysat since both of them were born, died.

Jon and I in NY.

May
- My brother graduates college! My parents came up to see him walk.
- Alan and I didn’t renew our lease and I started to mourn the apartment. I was in love with our location and view.
- Continue to babysit for the boys who lost their father. Started with the night of the memorial service and then the funeral.
- Selina asked me to be her bridesmaid.
- My brother turned 23. Making me feel old.

Our view.

June
- Go to funnest book signing I’ve been to with Si Nae and her boyfriend. We went to see Chuck Palahniuk promote Snuff. He threw out blow up dolls.
- I worked a lot.
- I saw a lot of movies with Alan.

Si Nae, her boy, and Chuck Palahniuk!

July
- Alan and I moved out and stopped being roommates :( But it was a good move for us :).
- Went to Florida for the first time to get Mary Ellen married. Flew in a few days early and I joined her clan in cooking, building, bitching, bonding, all in the name of love and the most beautiful wedding I’ve been to yet. It was pretty much a DIY wedding and you can see the labor of love in everything. The baby food jars around the garden sheltering tea light candles, the fireworks/crackers, the dance floor her uncles and aunts built, the cascading fruit basket one of her uncle fashioned at 3 in the morning the night before the wedding, etc. SO many details that were not only beautiful on its own, but also in the labor and thought and love that it represented.
- I take a Thursday off of work and Brandi and Jessica and I hang out for the third time this year. They treated me to a trip to Schiltterbahn for my birthday. Last year it was Sea World.
- Turned 25. Jen T who normally only comes once or twice a year happened to be in town for my birthday :). Si Nae dropped by flowers. I had a pretty birthday cake in the shape of a snow globe. I celebrated with friends. Felt special. Alan took me out to a romantic dinner and bought me a cell phone. It was a good birthday. Though I hate that I’m now 25.

Birthday celebration.

August
- Lily teaches us to make sushi.
- Alan introduces me to Mikados. I mention this because now we go here fairly often for sushi. I’ve yet to take him to Musashinos.
- Cindy comes and stays with me for almost 2 months for her pharmacy school rotation.
- I take my little to her first play. Jack and the Beanstalk.
- Nisreen and Nino get engaged and Nisreen asks me to be one of her bridesmaids.

Sushi making night

September
- I take my certification test and am now certified in clinical research.
- I go to the Domain with Nisreen to study for that test. We go just looking around for her wedding dress and we actually FIND it at St. Thomas.
- I fly to Orlando for work, wishing Alan had gone.
- I take my little to her first UT football game.
- Cindy and I try to learn about football.

So it wouldn’t just be for me why I wanted Alan in Orlando with me. Lookit the golf course!

October
- To my surprise, I’m taken by UT football. Really taken after watching OU game. I thought I had burnt out on football forever, but it’s really quite addicting.
- Alan takes me to see UT/Missouri game.
- Alan had a birthday.
- I dress up as a Hula girl for Halloween.

Kissing Meatwad.

November
- Ran my first 5k with Nisreen, Katambra, and Melissa.
- Jessica has a birthday, so the three of us (Brandi, Jessica, and I) reunite for the fourth time this year. FOUR times. That’s so sad. We go to Pete’s Dueling Pianos with plans to go to ren fest again but Brandi got struck with hives.
- I practically live at work.
- My brother breaks in his apartment by hosting a Thanksgiving meal. He makes his first turkey. Delicious!
- I take my little to the Paramount theatre for the first time. We see The Hungry Caterpillar. Then I have a mini high school reunion.
- I take Thanksgiving week off from work and spend a week in Houston.
- I see fireworks with Kim and kind of Chris.

Nisreen pours everyone a double shot of bourbon at my brother’s Thanksgiving dinner.

December
- I finish paying off my car :) One of my New Year’s Resolutions. I bought in July 2007. Not bad, if I do say so myself.
- I spend Christmas in Houston.
- On the 26th of December, Kim and I for the 2nd time release balloons for New Years. We’re stunned that this time around, we do not have any regrets to write on that regret balloon. Instead, we write what we want to stay away from. Good times with Ms. Kim.
- I get to see my best friend, Mary Ellen. Second time this year. First time being for her wedding in July.
- I go back on Saturday (today) to get some work done and to spend NYE in Austin. With friends and beau.

Our balloons. Purple = wishes. Pink = what we’ll stay away from. Since we didn’t have regrets this year.

It’s been a good year. I read 10 books, ate a lot of Pho, and laughed a lot.

I must begin again, and again I must begin. Every time I lose, I win and must begin again.

—Joyce Sutpen

Financial Resolutions

• Open a Roth IRA and contribute for both 2007 and 2008. Half way there. Opened an account with Michael’s guidance and contributed what I could spare for 2007. New thing of the week.
• Do my own taxes. I’m pretty much 90 percent done fililng. Last night I got on Turbo Tax. I must admit it’s actually kind of fun. I just need one more W2 Form. First time in my working years, I don’t get a refund. Rather, I have to pay! Boo. Good thing for deductibles. This was also one of my new things this week.
• Save all my receipts
• Pay off my car note. 7K more.
• Open up a HSA and contribute enough for it to be a deductible

Healthy Resolutions

• Eat at McDonalds no more than twice a week. (So far I’m going on 4 days straight of no McDonalds which is 400 percent better than I have done since 2008 started.)
• Work out 2 hours a week. Currently, I give myself a 0 percent.
• Enjoy more vegetables and fruits

Communal Resolutions

• Volunteer more (I just got matched for a little sister yesterday through Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America)
• Recycle (Our kitchen counter currently is covered with neatly stacked plastic water bottles waiting to be taken somewhere to recycle)

Leisurable Resolutions

• Keep running list of books I finish this year. (http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/104097)
• Watch one half of the AFI Top 100 American Movies (Currently at 34/100)
• Get my passport (Application still sitting on my dresser)
• Take a true blue vacation. Bought my Jet Blue tickets to visit my NYC and Boston friends this April. I’ll be gone two weekends and it’s starting to look like it’ll affect my work. After I bought the tickets, I found out there are two out of town meetings I need to fly to in April :( I guess I’ll see what happens there soon.
• Attempt to expand my writing horizons. I.E. less blogging and journaling and more essays? fiction? Let’s see.

Relationship Resolutions

• Take a few more risks.
• Be a good friend but learn when to say ‘No’ and not feel so guilty.
• Date someone I like for at least a month. Baby steps!

Time has flown by. I celebrated the New Year with a hodgepodge of people in downtown Austin. My roommate and his friends, ran into Kim and stole her, and Jon and the boys. This was the first year in a long time I had not had set plans and we just kind of winged it. It ended up being a blast. I daresay everyone had safe drunken fun. Surprisingly, even though Jon and Kim have been two of my best friends since 2001 and 2002 respectively, this was our first New Year in the same town, much less together. What a promising way to start the year.

New things of last week and a few movie reviews are soon upcoming. (I iceskated for the first and last time of my life on Christmas Eve.)