2012 in review

As always, a few days late, but better late than never. Here are my 2010 and 2011 recaps if you care to check them out.

In 2012 Taylor and I :

Paid off his car early (the VW Jetta). Then, just a couple of weeks later, had a huge issue, where we brought the car in to the dealership to check out a problem with the door lock. They said it would be several hundred dollars to repair the lock, and we said, no thanks. Then later that same afternoon they called claiming that there was gasoline in the diesel engine (um, there’s no way in hell!!) and it would require major repairs (to the tune of at least $8,000 dollars, and you better contact your insurance company to get them involved.) After many talks with insurance and the car dealership and about 6 weeks of the car being in the shop, we paid our insurance deductible, turned in our rental car and traded that sucker in. So we also…

Bought a new car. A 2012 Toyota Camry SE.

Celebrated my 31st birthday, our 3rd anniversary, and Taylor’s 29th birthday.

We also did a lot of mentally preparing and budget planning for buying a house in 2013.  EEK!!

Taylor’s sister had a baby, so this year we became Aunt Andrea and Uncle Taylor! Here’s our sweet nephew from just a few days ago. He’s about 4.5 months old here.

And I:

I didn’t cook as much as I’d like to throughout the year. This year was the first time I in my 31 years that I didn’t go to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, so I cooked my First Solo Thanksgiving Meal for my in-laws. And for the first time ever, I also didn’t see my parents on Christmas day, so I cooked a ham dinner on Christmas. I didn’t take any pictures.

Visited

• Las Vegas (March)
• Washington DC/Arlington, VA(April)
• St. Louis (July)
• New Orleans (August & October)
• New York City (September)
• Dallas (October)

Read

I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas in 2011 and I also joined Goodreads and set a goal of 30 books for the 2012 year. I didn’t make 30, but I did read 24 books, so not too shabby.

I enjoyed everything I finished, some more than others. I started Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, The Art of Fielding, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, but didn’t finish. The only one I legitimately quit because I simply could not get into it was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. My favorite books were the John Green books (in order of my personal preference) The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns, Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines.

Here are all the books I read.

1. The Hunger Games
2. Mockingjay
3. Catching Fire
4. Divergent
5. Paper Towns
6. Girl Over the Edge
7. Wife By Wednesday
8. Water for Elephants
9. Looking for Alaska
10. Thirteen Reasons Why
11. The Fault in Our Stars
12. Daughter of Smoke and Bone
13. Juliet, Naked
14. Fifty Shades of Grey
15. Fifty Shades Darker
16. Pretty Little Liars
17. Flawless
18. Perfect
19. Unbelievable
20. The Book Thief
21. Gone Girl
22. Flight
23. An Abundance of Katherines
24. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

I am too lazy to link those books to another site and/or list their authors, but if you’re interested in knowing more about something and can’t find it, let me know and I can point you in the right direction.

Watched

• True Blood (Season 4)
• The Tudors (Seasons 3 & 4)
• Dexter (Season 6)
• And plenty more miscellaneous episodes of Sister Wives, Family Guy, South Park, The New Girl, and Tosh.0

Listened to/Discovered Music – A few of these albums aren’t new, some are especially played out, but I loved them this year anyway. Saw Two Door Cinema Club at House of Blues in Houston in October.

• Two Door Cinema Club – Beacon
• Fun – Some Nights
• Of Monsters and Men – My Head is an Animal
• The Lumineers – The Lumineers
• Katy Perry – Teenage Dream
• The Black Keys – El Camino
• Keane – Strangeland
• O.A.R. – Rain or Shine

Did nice things – As a sort of informal resolution, I tried to do more  nice things this year. I kept track for myself, but don’t care to post the tally here. In general, I sent cards and care packages to friends and family who needed it, and I also did nice things for people I didn’t know. I really enjoyed it and I hope to continue this year.

How was your 2012?

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2011 in review

I didn’t think I was going to write one of these, but then I finally looked back to see what I wrote last year, and thought I’d do it again. I kind of like having a little summary all in one place. Here’s 2010 if you’re interested.

This year Taylor and I :

Moved into a new apartment, and survived.
Celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary.

Visited

• New Orleans (March)
• New York (May)

And I:

Completed a 2nd Warrior Dash, without barfing

Celebrated

• New Year’s Day in New York City
• My 30th birthday

Cooked – Not as much as I would have liked. Learned how to cook risotto.

Visited

• Italy (July)
• Austin (October)

Read

• Room

Harry Potter Series

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow

Started but couldn’t finish

• The Pioneer Woman, Black Heels to Tractor Wheels
• Chelsea Handler, Chelsea, Chelsea Bang Bang

Watched

• True Blood (Seasons 3)
• Lots of How I Met Your Mother &  Big Bang Theory
• Tosh.0
• The New Girl
• Lots of Intervention, Addicted and Obsessed

Listened to/Discovered Music – Again, not all new stuff, but I love all the same.

• Matt & Kim – Cameras
• Eric Hutchinson – Sounds Like This
• Freelance Whales – Weathervanes
• Discovery – Discovery LP
• Ke$ha – Animal
• Grouplove – Never Trust a Happy Song
• Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros – Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
• O.A.R. – King

And talking about 2011 wouldn’t be complete with a special new category.

Developed Friendships

• I became closer to friends I already had while planning our trip and traveling to Italy together.
• I also met new friends at the Blathering. Some of them I think will be friends for a very long time.

Can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store!

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2010 in review

I’m a few days late posting because I had a hard time making myself finish up this wrap up. I kept thinking of more things I wanted to add. This past year was great, and I can’t really complain. I’m sure I’ll miss something with this year in review, but I’ll do my best.

This year Taylor and I :

Paid off my car and his student loan (if only we could pay off mine!)
Waited (not so patiently) to find out if I would still have a job (yes I would!)
Celebrated our first wedding anniversary

And I:

Ran a 5k
Completed the Warrior Dash

Celebrated

• New Year’s Day in New York City
• My 29th birthday

Cooked – Plenty of tasty recipes including Pioneer Woman Mac & Cheese; Pico de Gallo; Tequila Shrimp; Goat Cheese and Carmelized Onion Pizza. There are even more that I somehow didn’t get around to posting about.

Visited

• Los Angeles and Long Beach (February)
• Austin (February and November)
• San Francisco for the 2nd time (April)
• Chicago for the 4th (5th?) time (May)
• Washington, DC/Arlington, VA (July)
• Albuquerque and Santa Fe, NM (November)

Read – Don’t judge. Even though I’m like 10 years behind the times on some of these, they were all very good, and easy reads.

The Twilight Series

• Twilight
• Eclipse
• New Moon
• Breaking Dawn

The Sookie Stackhouse Series

• Dead Until Dark
• Living Dead in Dallas
• Club Dead
• Dead to the World
• Dead as a Doornail
• Definitely Dead
• All Together Dad
• From Dead to Worse
• Dead and Gone

Harry Potter Series

• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 Watched

• True Blood (Seasons 1 & 2)
• The Tudors (Seasons 1 & 2)
• Lie to Me (Season 1 and part of season 2)
• Dexter (Seasons 1-4)
• And plenty of miscellaneous episodes of Family Guy, South Park and Top Gear on streaming Netflix

Listened to/Discovered Music – A few of these albums aren’t new, but I loved them this year anyway. Also saw Two Door Cinema Club and GroupLove live at the Warehouse Live in Houston in October.

• Two Door Cinema Club – Tourist History
• We are Scientists – Brain Thrust Mastery; Barbara
• Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
• GroupLove – GroupLove EP
• The Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
• MGMT – Oracular Spectacular; Congratulations
• Band of Horses – Infinite Arms
• The Black Keys – Brothers
• Arcade Fire – Neon Bible; The Suburbs
• Broken Bells – Broken Bells
• Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga; Transference



What were some of the highlights from your 2010 year?

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Random thoughts of the week

As the week wraps up, I’m sitting here sipping on a glass of Merlot. Although it is a “Bella Sera”, please be warned about buying wine from the convenience store. You might be a little disappointed with the taste and quality in comparison to the usual grocery store bottle of wine.

Anyhow, I thought I’d fill you in on what’s been going on.

• Still waiting to find out if I have a job in a couple of weeks. Please send good vibes my way.
• I’ve been reading the Twilight books (I somewhat shamefully admit). I’ve read all the Sookie Stackhouse books except for the last one, and completely love the show True Blood, but have resisted Twilight for a while. I’m on book 3 (Eclipse) and like the story so far, except as a psychology major, I find the Edward/Bella relationship a little too controlling/obsessive and a touch unhealthy.
• Books read this year total 12 (Sookie and Twilight). I’m also halfway through Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell and A Taste of True Blood. That’s more books than I’ve read in a couple of years combined.
• I started tracking my food intake again. I’m trying to be more healthy, and I’ve found the best way I can do that is by tracking what I eat. I use the Livestrong.com MyPlate which has tons of different foods already listed, which makes it easy for me. I like that if we eat lunch at Jason’s Deli, Schlotsky’s, or Chick-fil-a, I don’t have to hunt down the nutrition counts.
• I also am getting back on track with exercising. After I did the 5K in May, I kinda haven’t gotten back in the groove. I’ve gone walking /jogging three times this week, and plan to go at least once more this weekend. You gotta start somewhere.
• And I bought a Nike SportBand. It comes with a sensor (my regular tennis shoes aren’t Nike+ so I also bought a little pouch that holds the sensor) and the watch, which you use on your walks/runs to track your speed, pace and calories burned. Then you can upload to your Nike+ account online, to track your miles and set goals if you want.
• I’m also getting a hair cut. Don’t know exactly what style I’m going for, but I know I’m going a few inches shorter. Still, I want something fairly low maintenance. I’ll post pictures soon.

What have you been up to? Any recommendations on reading material once I’m done with my current books?

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