Some years end and I feel like not all that much happened.

This year….yeah, a lot of stuff happened! And most of it was good. This was like my Energizer Bunny year—I just kept going and going, trying to accomplish as much as I could. Here’s some of what I did this year:

• Got a new job that I really, really wanted.
• Moved! I still live in the same neighborhood, but this new apartment is just a better living situation for me in every way.
• Ran two half-marathons, one in Boston and one in Florida
• Did a few other runs- the Harpoon 5-miler, the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge, and the Jingle Bell Run 5K
• Went to Disney World
• Went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
• Got my wisdom teeth out. Please don’t kill me, those who have had painful wisdom teeth experiences, but my teeth were only on the top and not impacted, so getting them out was just like having any other teeth pulled. I was conscious through the procedure, didn’t take anything stronger than Advil, and went out to 90s Night the same day I had them out.
• Joined the bone marrow registry
• Had a fun Valentine’s Day with friends
• Had the absolute best weekend of my life at my five-year college reunion
• Went out to Vegas for Jon and Steph’s wedding, where I had a lot of fun and met a lot of cool people
• Saw Celine Dion in concert!
• Had a really fun birthday party back in July
• Went to my cousin Ryan’s beautiful wedding by the ocean in South Dartmouth, MA
• Played on my office softball team
• Made some new friends at work
• Went to Aruba with my family for the second time, and I crossed an item off my bucket list by going parasailing
• Joined 20sb and discovered a great community and lot of great blogs
• Continued singing in my chorus and had a couple of solos in the concerts
• Did a lot of exploring around Boston—places like the Arboretum, the Boston Harbor Islands, Castle Island, and the Franklin Park Zoo
• Did a day trip to Portland, Maine
• Went to several churches of different denominations—this will be discussed in an upcoming post, because I’m still not quite done with the project
• Somehow, without even trying, managed to break my bad habit of watching reruns of old TV shows when I could be doing something more productive
• I am actually astounded at how much my anxiety has improved. It has been a long time since I had a major anxious freakout.

One bad thing that happened this year—I didn’t blog about this when it happened, but my paternal grandmother died at age ninety-three back in May. Thank you to Megan and Cat, who were with me in the T station after a softball game when I returned a call from my dad and found out. It was sad and I miss her, especially at family events. But she was a wonderful lady who had a great, fulfilling life. Her health had been declining and she really missed my grandfather—her husband of sixty-six years—who passed away in November of 2008. So as sad as it was, I’m at peace with it. And I do have to say, deaths in the family really make you reflect on the family you have. I am very lucky to have such a large extended family that I’m close to both literally and figuratively.

Some disappointments in the past year:

• I HAVE GAINED SO MUCH WEIGHT. I weigh more now than I have ever weighed in my life. I know everyone says this, but this year I am going to try to make eating healthier, exercising more regularly, and cooking at home instead of eating out big focuses of my life.
• While I blogged a lot more, I am still having trouble motivating myself to get back to my fiction writing. I don’t know why.
• I wish I had more money saved, but at least the reason I don’t is that I spent it on some fun stuff last year—like going to Florida, Las Vegas, and my college reunion.
• My trip to New York.
• Dating! More than anything, I want to find the man I will spend the rest of my life with, but dating just sucks so much. I only went on about four first dates and two second dates in the last year, so in 2012 I’m going to try to step it up, but I am starting to wonder if there really is just no one out there I would be compatible with.
• I do not get nearly enough sleep because I stay up late for no reason. This is another terrible habit of mine that I need to break, and it’s probably one reason why I gained so much weight this year.
• The Killing. Lesson learned: do not blog about a show before the season finale. Worst season finale EVER! Everything they said had led us to believe that we’d find out who the killer was by the end of the season, but a last-minute loose end meant that we didn’t, and it annoyed the crap out of me.

I don’t know if I’m making any resolutions per se, but here are some things I’m aiming for this year:

• Successfully completing the 17-Day Diet
• Much more cooking and baking
• Completing an open-water swim
• Running another half-marathon in November
• Making it to New York for a weekend without being interrupted by a hurricane
• Taking trips to both Southern California and Washington DC
• Adopting a cat! I have been an aspiring cat lady for years. I adore my roommate’s dog Juno, who has convinced me that for the rest of my life I’m always going to have to have pets, but if I’m getting my own pet, I will start with a cat because they don’t require quite as much time.

I do have to say that overall I am very happy and very lucky, and I do appreciate that. I have a lot to be grateful for.