2011: Year in Review

I love a good Year in Review. It's fun to look back and see all the fun things that happened. I want everyone reading this to fill one out so I can read about your year too!
1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before? Took a trip across the pond with my husband, used a jack hammer to grind up tile, laid new tile in the kitchen and entryway, put in a glass subway tile backsplash, served as a Matron of Honor
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I don't remember making any resolutions for 2011. I have a few for 2012 that I'll share in a later post.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? This was a big year for babies. Lauren had her first daughter, Selah Grace. Then Whitney had her son Green Emerson, and Brittney had her daughter Ellie Marie. I'm sad that I haven't met any of them just yet! I also had the priviledge of hearing my cousin Anna give birth to her son Oliver Harper. It was an amazing moment- to be in the room but still respectful of her privacy. I got to hear her sisters screaming for her to push (and all of their other funny comments), and hear Ollie's first cry, and see her husband get choked up, but did not see any body parts she didn't want to be seen. I have a new respect for mothers and the miracle of life.
4. Did anyone close to you die? Glad to answer No for the second year in a row.
5. What countries did you visit? We visited Edinburgh, Scotland and Amsterdam in September. The best part was the bulk of it was free! We were both glad to have been to Amsterdam, but it wasn't our favorite experience so if we could go back, we'd just leave it off our checklist for now and save that money.
6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A bun in the oven.
7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? Nothing in particular jumps out at me for this year. Sorry for the lame-o answer.
9. What was your biggest failure? Bonnie and Ryan's Engagement Party. Not the whole thing, because it was a success overall, but the timing of the food and our unprepared toast could have been much better. We had good intentions but it wasn't the best. We did learn a lot from the experience!
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Luckily, no. Grateful for a healthy year.
11. What was the best thing you bought? a pair of glittery gold earrings and a ruffly navy cocktail dress
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Travis for proposing to Stephanie in a sweet way with her family around and for making sure the ring was exactly what she wanted. It's so unique and beautiful. Also James for one particular incident where he gave someone what they deserved.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? My employees. I'm a no excuses type of boss and I heard a lot of excuses this year. I also had to use formal write-up procedures to take care of the problems which is really uncomfortable for me because I've never been on the receiving end of a write-up. I don't know how it feels to get one, so I'm not really sure how to give one.
14. Where did most of your money go? Paying the usual bills and our Peru trip. We are very close to paying off the car, and the student loan is next. On our way to debt free!
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Celebrating Liz's wedding. Planning the bridal shower and bachelorette party, the wedding day itself, and looking at pictures afterward. Celebrating the engagements of Bonnie&Ryan and Stephanie&Travis and Kim&Colin.
16. What song will always remind you of 2011? I guess 'Freeze Frame Time' by Brandon Rhyder because it's the song that Travis proposed to Stephanie with. We couldn't be there for the actual proposal so listening to it later as she described it made me feel like we were there.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? the same as last year, that 10 lbs from college is still here :(
iii. richer or poorer? Richer. It's the reason to keep working.
18. Is there anything you wish you'd done more of? Relax. I always end up scheduling myself every moment. Each weekend I don't work is filled with an activity, and the weekends that I do work I still spend time with friends after I get off. My goal for 2012 is to schedule less stuff.
19. Is there anything you wish you'd done less of? Letting stuff go at work instead of holding employees accountable for their actions to avoid conflict. It's hard to be a boss and not care if people like you, especially since I'm a people pleaser. I want everyone to like me, but I'm hard on myself and everyone else, so I usually don't like people unless they work as hard as I do.
20. Where will you be spending the Holidays? This year was a slam dunk! We spent Thanksgiving with my Mom's family. The week leading up to it we stayed at her house and relaxed, played games, and Brooklyn was able to be there so it was great. We had early Christmas with my Dad/Connie a couple of weeks later and it was very nice and relaxing, not stressful. The week before actual Christmas, we were in Baton Rouge with Bean's family and it was another relaxing week. This year we really got some quality time in with all of our families and we didn't have to stress out about driving so much on the actual holidays. I think we finally figured out how to do the holidays with 3 families!
21. Any athletic achievements? No, unless you count actually making it through a couple of hour-long Zumba classes without passing out.
22. Did you fall in love in 2011? There's something particularly sweet when your husband reminds you that the goal of a 6-hour car ride was to come up with baby names. So we spent Christmas eve in the car with a notepad and a list of names from our family trees on Ancestry.com, and came up with our 2 girl name options. I fell in love with both names and how we came up with them. We are still fighting over discussing our 2 boy name options.
23. How many one-night stands? maybe I should delete this question, because it hasn't happened and it never will!
24. What was your favorite TV program? I should really make it a resolution to watch less TV. Together we watch Parenthood, Modern Family, SNL, American Horror Story, and How I Met Your Mother. On my own, I watch Real Housewives of Beverly Hills/Orange County/New York, 90210, Toddlers & Tiaras, Sister Wives (new favorite!), Tori and Dean Home Sweet Hollywood, and Our America with Lisa Ling. Lots of guilty pleasures in there.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No. The person I wrote about last year is thankfully no longer around so that's a big stress relief.
26. What was the best book you read? The 19th Wife. An interesting story involving modern day and the history of polygamism in the Mormon Church. It starts with a modern story and intersperses info from Ann Eliza Young's autobiography (not sure if it's an exact excerpt or not) where she speaks out against polygamy.
27. What was your greatest musical discovery? Adele. I know she's been around for a couple of years but I never really listened to her before.
28. What did you want and get? Rose gold hoops with diamonds! And more workout clothes and wine glasses.
29. What did you want and not get? A position change at work. It wouldn't have been a promotion- just a completely different position. Looking back, it's probably better for my career that I didn't get it because there's really nowhere else to go after that one unless I move to Cleveland (not happening!) It was still very disappointing because I was told to apply for it by the hiring manager and it's something I wanted from the time I started my career. After about a 6-month funk, I'm feeling optimistic about my career in 2012.
30. What was your favorite film of this year? Bridesmaids.
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 28 in Scotland. It didn't really feel like a birthday since we were in a different country and I couldn't answer phone calls or texts or check Facebook. We had a good lunch and I crossed off all of my food requests for the day. Dinner was company sponsored but it was really wonderful and there were fireworks!
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not having to deal with car problems so often. Since we purchased the car, I've run out of gas twice, backed into something 3 times and had the bumper repaired, had it in the shop because the timing belt stretched and it overheated, and had it in the shop because the high-pressure fuel pump went out. Also it's annoying to get gas because certain pumps automatically shut off unless you stand and hold it at a certain angle. I realize the gas/backing into things is my fault, but I'm the same driver I've always been and never had problems like this in my old car. In fact, I'd go even longer before getting gas in my Civic! Never ran out of gas in that one.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? I tried to focus on buying higher quality items that I'll wear for years to come. I wish I were better about putting together cute outfits that are interesting. Wearing a uniform to work everyday certainly does not help!
34. What kept you sane? Bean. And the 3 times I stood up for myself at work.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Bradley Cooper. He's just so fine.
36. What political issue stirred you the most? Drug testing as part of the approval process for welfare. Gay Marriage, especially the legalization of it in New York! I wish people in general would take more responsibility for their contributions to our country. Stop sitting back and expecting the government to pay for you. The point of living in America is we have so many freedoms but we are also hard workers who contribute to society, not try to take more than we deserve. I should stop now before this comment gets out of hand.
37. Who did you miss? Donna and Granny. I haven't had enough dreams about them this year.
38. Who was the best new person you met? Most people I met this year were unimpressive, but I just got a new MTP to train and she seems like a really good fit, so I guess I'll say her.

39. Rate this year on a scale of 1-10: 7. Not horrible, but not the best either.
I guess that just about wraps up 2011!