The Best of 2011

I don't guess I've ever gotten to the end of a year and thought, "What a crock! That year sucked!" In fact, while the days may sometimes be longer than I'd like, the years are getting quicker and better. A lot quicker, and a lot better.

This year, however...this year has been extra special. Without further ado, here are the highlights (in order of how they come to my memory, which might be in order of importance, or impact...I don't know):

1. My first marathon

2. Going to Alaska

3. Post-Run Brunches

4. Meeting my 323 girls

5. Monthly Book Clubs

6. Going to Canada a couple times (pre-return to blogging)

7. Running with Kenyan Way

8. Having more time for these guys:

9. Going on some dates with a couple really cool guys...and deciding potential relationships aren't what I'm interested in right now.

10. All the fun people I've met by choosing single life

11. Finally getting my windshield fixed after, like, 2 years

12. Returning to the blogosphere

13. Having time for books. Lots and lots of glorious books

14. Getting a juicer

15. Getting into grad school (Oh yeah! I keep forgetting!)

16. Meeting my new therapist, Carole. So, so thankful for her!

17. My kindle

18. Bridesmaids

18. Breaking Bad, American Horror Story, Big Bang Theory and New Girl

19. Learning more and more and more about Houston

20. And last but not least...

                                                                             ....All the froyos in the world!

I hope your year has been everything and more you wished for, and I'll be wishing all the best for you in the new year!

Absences

Hello, friends and family!

Has everyone enjoyed the holidays? I've spent mine doing all my favorite things - hanging out with friends, reading, watching movies, cooking, journaling, napping, running, spending time with Jillian, prepping for 2012 and being with family.

In the spirit of soaking it all in, I haven't taken too many pictures, but I'd like to share with you some of the things I've been up to over the break...

First.

Okay, where to start? I haven't read the books. I don't plan to. I haven't seen the swedish versions. I don't plan to. And I probably won't see any of the sequels, especially not if they're 3 hours long too.

But good heavens, what an intense movie! There were a handful of scenes that I honestly couldn't handle, but in spite of myself I guess I really liked this movie. The hardest part of this franchise for me is knowing that really gruesome, grotesque stuff actually happens to people in real life. It's hard enough to watch in a fictional setting, but it's even harder knowing that that stuff really goes on. It's a little different watching Mission Impossible 4 or The Descendants (at least for me); I guess sexual crimes are just so appalling and on-another-level that I had a really hard time passively watching this film.

Um, and it was 3 hours.

Also, I really liked Rooney Mara's hair. I think I'm just getting way overly antsy for this Locks of Love do-goodery to come to an end. Chop, chop!

I also finished our book club book:

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan

A note about book club: I love it. It's been one of my favorite parts of 2011. But we do not read books I enjoy. If they're not about Nazi's, they're about medical minutia; if they're not about military history, they're about adultery (insert Loving Frank). That being said, I read this book like a champ because Ninja reminded me that book club serves as a horizon-expander, a culture-provider, a...reason for us girls to get together and drink wine. So I read through the adultery, through the abandonment of children, through to the ending of the book which astonishingly blew. my. mind. I hate to recommend a book based on the very, very end alone, but the conclusion of Frank Lloyd Wright's affair with Mamah was unusual to say the least. And the fact that it's historical makes it even more compelling. Good stuff, book club. You pull through again.

I've spent a good deal of time running, at the gym, and with this woman:

I love it when you're angry, Jill! Grrrr!

I spent Christmas eve at the San Marcos outlets in New Braunfels, Christmas day in San Antonio, and then we high-tailed it back to Houston. I'm just soaking up these next five days of freedom. I hope you've enjoyed the holidays as well!

A Massage for my Heart

I'm going to work on upping the sappy factor of my blog post titles next year. I feel I'm on the right track with this one.

Yesterday was my second to last work day of the year. That made it the second best day of the year so far. Can you guess where today ranks?

Yesterday was also the first time I've ever gotten a massage. I was nervous. I told everyone at the chiropractic office where I was getting it done. I kept on as many clothes as possible (eventually I had to take my scarf off). I asked the masseuse a lot of awkward questions. I didn't relax for the first 40 minutes of the hour-long thing. And...it was painful! I've been informed by experienced massagees that the pain is normal and good, but I was really shocked at just HOW painful it was! At one point he spent 5 minutes pinching and pulling and pounding my right tricep. My tricep!

All in all, I liked it. It's not my favorite thing, but it was probably something my body needed and appreciated. 

With my body all loose and relaxed, it was time for a massage of the heart with THE LADIES CHRISTMAS DINNER GIFT EXCHANGE 2011. 

These women... 

...have made...

...this year....

...a cut above the rest.

The food was amazing (wow, Damian's), the wine was amazing, and the presents - the Penzey's spices and homemade cranberry vodka and lemoncello and other adult beverage goodies - the presents were so special and perfect!

After dinner we rolled ourselves back to our prospective homes, where I tried to read but ended up passing out in no time. The first annual THE LADIES CHRISTMAS DINNER GIFT EXCHANGE 2011 was a major, major highlight of the holidays!

Friendmas!

This week is Christmas party mania, which makes working out that much more important but also that much harder to squeeze in. I flew to the gym immediately after work, plopped on a bike for 30 minutes, then ran for another 30 minutes. They were both exceptionally boring. End of story.

What wasn't boring was the rest of my night...

OJ filled her home with lots of Christmas cheer and then had a bunch of people over to celebrate Friendmas last night! I'm all about the cheese at OJ's events. Her taste in wine+her guests' taste in cheese always makes a happy home for the holidays.

Her home might be from a magazine. Everything is perfect!

I love this tree and this girl...and our sorority sister pose. Cha!

Ninja, who is most assuredly on the naughty list every year, walked away from the White Elephant with the best prize: a new wine decanter! I am now the proud owner of snap-on pants-hemmers. There is no justice!

Ninja and I also split 3 pieces of cake after taste-testing two different kinds of cookies. This is Polly and I really enjoying an amazing carrot cake. (Polly is the most adorable name, and it belongs to the most adorable girl.)

The dessert bar. If you live in Houston, kindly make your way to Dessert Gallery stat. Like, now. Tonight. Go. Wait, invite me over and pull a blanket over me when I'm passed out in a food coma on your couch at the end of the night.  

Lily was there in the background but she was too busy scavenging to take pictures with me.

I did not weigh myself this morning because I'm sure the holiday happiness bloat I'm experiencing would have made me at least 5 lbs heavier than I actually am.

In other news, I found out yesterday I got into grad school! In three little years I'll be Amy Still, Master of Educational Psychology! Night school, here I come!

Alaska on my Mind

So, so ready to spend Thanksgiving with Lauren in Alaska!

Three flights stand in the way of this blissful adventure, however - Houston to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Anchorage, and Anchorage to Kenai.

Even though, normally, flying on a Wednesday would be ideal, this Wednesday just happens to be the day before the busiest travel day of the year. I'm already dreading the airport mania. I do some of my worst character judging based on things like how quickly people can remove their shoes before getting to security, who is talking just loud enough for everyone to hear about the extent of their travels (I beat you, I promise) and people wearing sunglasses inside. Airports!

To combat my inner crazies, I'm majorly stocking up on reading material. I also envision my six days in Alaska looking a lot like this:

Wake up
Make hot tea
Read
Go for a FREEZING walk
Make hot chocolate
Read
Watch a chick flick
Drink wine
Go for another FREEZING walk, this time tipsy
Eat dinner
Drink wine
Read/Watch another movie

(This looks strangely similar to my beach vacation schedule, only with sweaty walks instead of freezing.)

Clearly, my Kindle is going to be busting at the seams. I really, really, really love my Kindle.

Books to be read include but are not limited to...



Even among authors, Jeffrey Eugenides possesses a rare talent for being able to inhabit his characters. In The Marriage Plot, his third novel and first in ten years (following the Pulitzer Prize-winning Middlesex), Eugenides describes a year or so in the lives of three college seniors at Brown in the early 80s. There is Madeleine, a self-described “incurable romantic” who is slightly embarrassed at being so normal. There is Leonard, a brilliant, temperamental student from the Pacific Northwest. And completing the triangle is Mitchell, a Religious Studies major from Eugenides’ own Detroit. What follows is a book delivered in sincere and genuine prose, tracing the end of the students’ college days and continuing into those first, tentative steps toward true adulthood. This is a thoughtful and at times disarming novel about life, love, and discovery, set during a time when so much of life seems filled with deep portent.



Andre Agassi had his life mapped out for him before he left the crib. Groomed to be a tennis champion by his moody and demanding father, by the age of twenty-two Agassi had won the first of his eight grand slams and achieved wealth, celebrity, and the game’s highest honors. But as he reveals in this searching autobiography, off the court he was often unhappy and confused, unfulfilled by his great achievements in a sport he had come to resent. Agassi writes candidly about his early success and his uncomfortable relationship with fame, his marriage to Brooke Shields, his growing interest in philanthropy, and—described in haunting, point-by-point detail—the highs and lows of his celebrated career.

In the Nevada desert, an experiment has gone horribly wrong. A cloud of nanoparticles—micro-robots—has escaped from the laboratory. This cloud is self-sustaining and self-reproducing. It is intelligent and learns from experience. For all practical purposes, it is alive.
It has been programmed as a predator. It is evolving swiftly, becoming more deadly with each passing hour.
Every attempt to destroy it has failed.
And we are the prey.
(((I love Michael Crichton's books and I don't care what you think!)))

Dr. Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, he gives us the foundation for attaining and sustaining optimum emotional health. Rooted in Dr. Weil's pioneering work in integrative medicine, the book suggests a reinterpretation of the notion of happiness, discusses the limitations of the biomedical model in treating depression, and elaborates on the inseparability of body and mind.

Dr. Andrew Weil is kind of the dark horse - I usually associate him with mushrooms (non-hallucinogenic, for the record) for some reason.

Chasing Wine with Froyo

I'm a very simple girl. I know what I like, and I don't really deviate from those things.

Froyo
Running
Roger and Benny
Girl-time
Manicures
Baking
Cooking
Yoga
Crafting
New/Different workout routines
Boys
Movies
Decorating
Shopping

That's my life...probably in that order.

This week was busy but satisfying. Yesterday marked winefest with THE LADIES #2.

This class: Thanksgiving Wines (who knew such a thing existed?!)

Correction: Thanksgiving Wines with that bozo in the background leading the crazy train.  

This class was heavy on the snobs, puffery and wine name-dropping (again, who knew this was even possible?). Ninja's outfit was super cute though, as evidenced by the no-fewer-than-5 guys who hit on her in the 2 hours we were together.

 The only possible way to rebound from wine hell was froyo. Enter Sweet Lola. Commence hallelujah chorus.

Sidenote: it wasn't really wine hell. I actually learned a lot and the biggest takeaway was that it'd be cool to have a traditional wine every Thanksgiving, so each year we can revisit it and note the changes. Despite my dislike of los patoots, I will obviously keep coming back for more.

On to the next, on on to the next...

Only four flavors, you say? Only four needed. Lavender? Pumpkin Cheesecake? Ohhh Lola.  



THIS is a froyo-eria! This adorable, boutique-y bohemian beauty! Sweet Lola I love you.

Even the froyo-ista is posh. OJ and Ninj making magic in their cups.

My masterpiece: pumpkin cheesecake (divine) + chocolate (wow) + pecan prailine nuggets. Froyo heaven definitely restored wine hell.

We might actually have been buzzing from Thanksgiving vinos and sugary delights. All in all, THE LADIES done did it again. Holla!

Currently Loving

1. This super creepy show.

2. Defriending people on Facebook.

3. Pugs who help with laundry

4. Shopping for a new apartment/garage apartment/condo/townhome to move into in February.

5. Deadlifts

6. Another wine class with THE LADIES on Thursday.

7. Dreaming about seeing the Northern Lights in Alaska in  one week with Lauren!!

8. Having curly hair

9. Book club this week! JSF is one of my all-time faves.

10. Celebrating Thanksgiving with family in Austin this weekend. I LOVE Thanksgiving. And family. And each and every day.

What are you currently loving?

Wine Tasting, or just another reason why I NEED to get to Spain.

Spec's. Maybe you've heard of it?

Thanks to NinjaCupcake, who always seems to know the cool happ'nins around town, THE LADIES hit up Spec's last night for some very tasty wine tasting... and cheese and cracker eating (my favorite part).

Wines of the night: Ribera del Duero. We learned about Spain, History, Grape Varietals...oh hell, you can read the slide yourself.

Let me break it down for you...

I can promise you one of these two is up to no good...and it's NOT the one studying her wine sheet...

Ohhh Ninja. She knows the finer things in life.

I was having an "eyes closed" moment with my "yum and cheap."

This 100 year old yahoo keeps his phone turned on its highest volume (presumably to be able to hear it), then proceeds to get three obnoxious phone calls during the hour-long class, THEN puts the call on speakerphone every time. Insert my rant on old people+technology (which is not nearly as scathing as the rant on old people+social networking).

I put OJ in a chokehold. It's kind of an awkward photo.

Please note Instructor-Man conducting class behind us.

The ladies DO Spec's. To be continued.

Our little OJ is off to run the NYC Marathon this weekend, and I am so, so excited for and proud of her! This lady can do it all, y'all, no exage.

Tonight, I babysit. It's me vs. a one-year-old, may the best man win. Saturday I'm running with Le Ninj, crafting some fantastic infiniti scarves with my moms and then heading out to BFE Mexico for work on Sunday.

Happy first Friday of November! Make it a great one!