Happy New Year!

Alright, I haven't blogged in 6 months or something ridiculous. I hate it. It's not for lack of things to say, just time and work...

Since July (the biggest picture recap ever) I have really gotten good at and have been enjoying sewing.

I did play as a tap dancing mouse in the Gala mentioned in my last blog. Tap dancing, not my thing, but I was cute and it did get me involved with Cornerstone Productions and a little bit more theater in my life. More later...

I moved back to Athens into an apartment and out of Greensboro where I had been living with my mom. Super happy to be on my own again!

I started a full time nanny position for [currently] 8 month old twins...BEST JOB EVER! But keeps me SO busy!

Went to see Wicked at the Fox with my beloved Chittoms, continuing the 2011 Theater theme of my life. LOVED it.

I decided to do the Christmas play with Cornerstone and got to play a China dancer, a Santa (1 of MANY in the same scene) and an angel (my favorite). So rehearsals consumed my weeks it seemed.

I totaled my car...my paid for car

I don't know, that's probably a good enough recap to start off the new year right and with that little introduction, I will be posting the "traditional" [that I skipped last year] inventory for 2011. I also MIGHT throw a few things in from 2010 just to make sure I remember...

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before?

Drove a moving truck, sewed a skirt, kept infant twins [full time], played a tap-dancing mouse, flooded a kitchen, totaled a car…made the airbag come out, played a dancing Santa, made cake pops.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I seem to make monthly "resolutions" or at least at the begging of a month find a new resolve to get my life back together...so obviously I don't keep them, but I refresh my trying every few weeks :) His mercies are new every morning...

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Ashley and Christina both had beautiful baby girls, Brylee and Kate

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My mom’s dog, Dale, died

5. What countries did you visit?
None…again. Boo, so sad. I need to get back to Jamaica

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A husband, to be debt free, mad ballet skills, a softball team

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
January 7, I moved back to Greensboro, March 14, my birthday and Sarah came home to begin cancer treatment, August 12, the Gala

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Teaching myself to sew, getting involved in Community Theater

9. What was your biggest failure?
Flooding my kitchen, wrecking my car, another speeding ticket...losing my phone at Disney World

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I was sick for about 3 months with some mysterious respiratory thing that made me miserable. I got bruises and a burn from my airbag when I wrecked my car.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My serger, I think. I’m also pretty happy with my iPhone 4…but I already had one, I just upgraded…I didn’t buy the awesome things for myself…my TV, my car, my Ninja, etc. my mom bought for me. My mom is awesome.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I have no idea

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
My boss at the preschool, some of my "friends"

14. Where did most of your money go?
Gas, food, and rent, paying off debt… Closely followed by fabric and craft supplies

15. What did you get really excited about?
My play people, dancing again, my skirts...and that my new car has an AUX jack. It's the little things. I feel like I have to say going to Disney World here, even though it was technically already JAnuary 2012 when I went...but I was SUPER excited.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Maybe "Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars, "Hey Soul Sister" by Train "& Things I Hate About You" by Miley Cyrus...or the Wicked, Gala, and Overnight Christmas songs I love. Oh, no, maybe also "Firework" by Katy Perry

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

(a) happier or sadder? Happier
(b) thinner or fatter? umm...thinner?
(c) richer or poorer? Richer... sort of... working hard toward paying off debt…

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?


The fun things I love with people I love. Going places, mission trips, six flags, camping, adventurous things; game nights and card playing, having people over and parties, DANCING, sports, blogging…

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Driving, worrying, crying

20. How did you spend Christmas?
I went to two Christmas Eve church services, spent the night Christmas morning with the Chittoms and then dinner and playing piano with my mom It was great.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011?
Maybe.

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Ringer is the only new thing I’ve watched on TV. I did finish watching the seasons of Buffy that I’d never seen before on Netflix.
24 is always my fav though.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
I probably do, the same person whose behavior appalled and depressed me.

24. What was the best book you read?
I read the new series by Francine Rivers this year, A Mother’s Hope and Her Daughter’s Dream or something…but probably haven’t read anything else I hadn’t read before…

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Wicked, One Step Closer from The Little Mermaid on Broadway

26. What did you want and get?
To move back into an apartment, a job, a serger, a new phone, tv, car…

27. What did you want and not get?
To go on a mission trip, an iPad maybe…a husband

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1 and 2

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 27, Ashley and Tate came from out of town and several friends took me out to dinner at Mirko, a delicious pasta place I’d never been and then we all went back to one of their houses and watched the Bachelor or something and stayed up late. It was so much fun and I felt very loved!

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not questioning my decision to move back home, away from the beach all winter; a husband

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?
Skirts that I made and dresses as often as possible, or else the perfect pair of jeans and basic tops with lots of fun accessories

32. What kept you sane?
David and Carolyn, their girls, my other kiddos, 3-day weekends, dancing and rehearsals, sewing

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Fancy...? I love Tony Almeida on 24, and Zac Effron, and I’m still a big fan of Reese Witherspoon...and I do still love Miley Cyrus...Sarah Michelle Gellar returns to the list with Ringer this year. Those are my favs.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
Hmm…don’t even know any political issues.

35. Who did you miss?
Madelynne, Allison, Sheila, Charlotte, Caren, Lindsay, Laura

36. Who was the best new person you met?
Laura, Alyssa, Heather, Stephanie, Cornerstone people, Donna

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.

Hmm...
"You can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometimes,
you just might find,
you get what you need"
Oh wait, should that be #38? Nope, it's my lesson learned.
Also, that God is bigger than everything I mess up and everything he allows to happen happens for a reason, even if I do not understand it, and for my good.
Also, that life is just worth living.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

“I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn
and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them
and we help them in return.
Well I don't know if I believe that's true,
but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you...
...who can say if I have changed for the better, but because I knew you, I have been changed for good..."
-Wicked, For Good