Year-End Questionaire Post (from RA)

A little late, but better than never?

1. What did you do in 2012 that you’d never done before? 
Well, I got pregnant. Can't say that I have done that I have before! Our baby should arrive on the outside sometime around the end of April/early May. 

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't think I really made any last year and I don't plan to make any this year...except maybe to continue to just say no. I'm usually a very yes person (do you want to get drinks? Yes! Will you bring this/buy this/do this/for this? Yes!) Saying no to the things that I know just won't make me happy and that I can't be happy and giving doing it makes me much more relaxed.


3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 
Yes, my sister-in-law had her second baby, our nephew Luke, and two of my college girlfriends had their first babies. I'm sure I'm forgetting someone though...


4. Did anyone close to you die? Oliver, my husband's family's dog ended a very long and happy life this past September. He was 17, which is quite a life for a big lab mutt like him, even if he was the runt of the litter. He was a wonderful dog who brought a lot of joy to our family.


5. What countries did you visit? No countries, and not even any new states!


6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you didn’t have in 2012?
A baby seems like the appropriate answer here! Maybe a trip to the beach? I didn't set eyes on the ocean (from the east coast anyway) in 2012. 


7. What dates from 2012 will be etched upon your memory, and why? I will always remember the day that I found out I was pregnant.  And is this terrible? The night we ate cheese, and drank wine and watched the first episode of Downton Abbey. Also, the Redskins making it into the playoffs. Mmm, and Hurricane Sandy and the day the five pine trees did not fall into our house.


8. What was your biggest achievement of this year? I pr'd the 5k in July and I almost, very nearly placed!  I guess that's not a really big achievement, it's not curing cancer or anything, but it's something I'm very proud of. 

9. What was your biggest failure?
I seriously suck at staying in touch with people. I hate to talk on the phone, I hate to make phone calls or receive them or have to listen to voicemail. I won't pretend like I even know what it is to suffer from anxiety, but if I had to name one thing that creates major, my-version of anxiety, it's the phone. I also hate the lack of intimacy that comes with communicating by text or facebook, and even email to a certain extent. So basically I have to come to you or you have to come to me. Let's all just take up letter writing again, shall we?  And my blog is a sham. It's basically just a google reader with a header. Whoops!


10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Minor reoccurring running injury.  Once a season I seem to get in trouble with my Soleus muscle and it takes a good couple of weeks to move past it. This year I was FINE, FINE I tell you, until it just exploded in my face. Turns out my beloved Brooks Ravenna's just didn't have enough support. It took a solid two months of doing pretty much nothing and switching back to Adrenaline's to come back. I still race in the Ravenna's though. They are lighter and feel faster than the Adrenaline's.


11. What was the best thing you bought? Aside from all those wonderful money saving appliances, the money we spent on the trip to California was well worth it! We had fun planning the trip and taking the trip and we had talked about taking it for so long, it was a long-anticipated trip and I'm so glad we finally went!


12. Whose behavior merited celebration? I have a wonderful family and I have some really special friends, and I think that's all I can say about this or I'll start to boo hoo all over the key board.


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Ugh, there are a lot of obvious answers to this, but since I hate to read this news (it induces more fake anxiety, I stick to the food & wine section, and real estate), I'll just say people who are unkind and not thoughtful on the metro.


14. Where did most of your money go? Home improvements and travel. We had new windows installed this summer. We have seen a noticeable difference in the heating/cooling bill as the new windows are much more air-tight. The dogs also freak out less about outside noises because you can hear less through the new materials! We installed a crazy high efficiency water heater and purchased a high efficiency Samsung Washer. We've seen a noticeable reduction in our water bill and I credit some of the reduced electric costs to these as well. We also purchased a GLORIOUS NEW FRIDGE. For two people who like to cook and entertain, it has been such a treat to have a fridge that accommodates party platters (there's a special drawer, JUST for platters!), and a freezer that holds multiple sheet trays. We ascended some new culinary heights this year. In 2011 we saved, saved, saved, and in March 2012 took a blow-out, 10-day trip to Sonoma, Napa and Monterey. It was fantastic.


15. What did you get really excited about? Our trip to California, our trip to Charleston, visiting Austin for a work conference, hosting Thanksgiving, Mike & Kate's wedding.


16. What song will always remind you of 2012? Make This Place Your Home and Southern Comfort Zone.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? More content, fatter, and cash poor, but savings account rich!


18. What do you wish you’d done more of?  Travel and ski. Can you ever do enough of either of these things?


19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Mmm, I don't really have a good answer to this.


20. How will you spend Christmas?  We spent Christmas in the usual fashion with [Husband's] family. It's fun with some many people around and two days of festivities.


21. Did you fall in love in 2012? See #12?


22. What was your favorite TV program?
 Girls, Smash and Downton Abby. I am so excited about the return of each in 2013,  each date is actually on my google calendar. That is a first for me.

23. What was the best book you read? Hmm, I made an effort to utilize the library and read more this year, and not a garbage books, but some good things. I think my favorite book of the year was Frank Bruni's "Born Round."  It's a really fantastic, heart-breaking and uplifting memoir. I got through it in about 2 nights of staying up til 2am reading because it was just so good.


24. What was your greatest musical discovery?  
Well, 9th row at Brad Paisley is great, but I think I intuitively knew that before. 


25. What did you want and get? 
A healthy pregnancy so far. We're really grateful for how well things have been going. We also got to take an amazing, amazing trip to California for 10 days. We really worked hard to save for that trip and it was amazing. We drank so much wine. :)


26. What did you want and not get?
I did not win the mega millions drawing, but I've come to terms with that.

27. What was your favorite film of 2012?
Ah, we hardly ever go to the movies and I can't think of anything that I just loved, so that must mean there wasn't anything that great. I did get to see It's a Wonderful Life in a theater this year, the day before Christmas Eve. This was only my second time seeing it on the big screen. That's probably my favorite cinematic moment of 2012.


28. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 29! Almost being 30, I spent a lot of time trying to recall when I was younger where I thought I'd be at 29...and I don't know if I ever thought about it. I am looking forwarding to 30 next year though. Long distance runners typically peak in their careers in their 30s. :)


29. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
We've been trying to focus more on our finances the last two years and get them to a really good place. Two years ago, we started using Quicken and a great tracking/savings system that my sister-in-law taught me and while we haven't quite mastered it yet, we've certainly improved, and continue to improve out financial situation. I feel like we did well in 2012, we saved for a lot of things and were able to take some great trips, make upgrades to our house, and start talking about buying our next house, but I always feel that we can do better.


30. How would you describe your personal fashion concept of 2012? Sorry to disappoint everyone, but leggings. I love leggings. I do wear them with long shirts and sweaters, so I do understand they are not pants, but I love them. I also purchased as a birthday gift to myself a pair of flat, riding-style boots to wear with my leggings. It has really made my legging-wearing infinitely more satisfying.


31. What kept you sane?
My amazing co-workers. My job has, for better or worse, had a huge effect on my quality of life over the last several years, and this was the first year in many that I didn't feel attacked, assaulted, and left for dead by the months of April to September at work.  When things are rough at work, it is very hard for me to enjoy life outside the office or to be a tolerable person to be around.  That's just how it is. This year will go down in history as a great year, in which I actually enjoyed my work,  all thanks to the wonderful, wonderful people with whom I work.


32. What political issue stirred you the most? See the part about not reading the news. I do listen to NPR though! It's somehow less depressing to heard difficult issues discussed across the radio waves.


33. Who did you miss?  I do miss my granddad (my dad's dad) and have been thinking of him frequently lately.

34. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012.
Sometimes the worst case scenario is not what happens.


35. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. I'm skipping this one since nothing is coming to mind!