In Review

I had this dream that I would write 100 blogs this year.  Once every 3 or 4 days seemed like an obtainable goal.  But no dice.  I did write more this year than any year before - which feels like progress.

I want to write more.  That's a good thing to think of for 2011.

I have been thinking a lot about 2010 this morning (in the 20 minutes since I woke up) and I have come to the realization that this may have been the hardest year yet.  While all years have had their obstacles, it seems like 2010 was the first that really put me through the ringer.  But here's the thing - I don't want to dwell on the hard and the crappy and the sad - I want to focus on the wonderful and amazing:

I got to go to Hawaii.

And Italy.

And Paris.

And Nantucket.

 

AND New York.

My baby siblings both got it done - graduation wise.  My lovely T-bone got engaged. My dad got married. I re-met wonderful, local family.  It goes on and on.

And now I will clean my house in preparation for a few lovely people to come celebrate.

In 2011 I would like to:
-revisit the whole gym 5 times a week thing (I am hoping I can join a gym closer to where I live to make this much easier)
-write more  - a blog post every 3 days should be easy...
-read more - a book every two weeks.  With reviews on this blog!  Huzzah!

Happy New Year.

where's the outlet

It's time for another blog plug.

Many friendships are ones you discover for yourself.  You seek out people or perhaps they fall into your lap by sheer luck but you work at them and they take time.  However, there are also friends who you have the great fortune of being required to love through no fault of your own. They are cousins, or conveniently-timed born children of your parents' friends or some other fantastic twist of fate.

For me - I have discovered that my parents have excellent taste in godparents.  There is much back and forth on what the role of a godparent is to a child.  Is it simply to provide spiritual guidance? to be the guardian should both parents parish in some sort of flaming disaster? to be an extension of family when perhaps it is needed most?

My godparents (and I have the extreme good fortune to have three, two godmothers and a godfather) have all given me something quite different.  This blog is focused on Godmother 1.  Annie.

Annie was my Mom's college roommate.  Which was good news for her (my Mom) and for me - it turns out.

Annie faded in and out of my childhood in the form of real hand-written letters on the topics any 10 or 12 year old would pick (so Titanic, mostly).  She came to visit once, with Kevin - her beau.  They brought me a box of beads with ribbon for stringing them.  And a book about restoring a house.  They have always been quite good at presents that are both random and perfect.  Its a skill I have spent most of my adult life striving for.

Then while I was in college she came to visit New York.  It was the first time that I had seen her in probably about 8 years.  I was so scared that I wouldn't recognize her, but I did.  Of course.  She's Annie.

And then I moved to Chicago because Annie said I should, and at that crossroads of my life - I figured that she was as good as anyone to make my life decisions. 

And now I am in Chicago as permanently as I have ever been anywhere.  Annie and Kevin have been an integral part of that life.  From giving me food and shelter, to wisdom and opportunity.  They are without a doubt, the coolest people in the universe and all of my other friends who have had the chance to meet them have all agreed whole heartily.

Kevin, who I have only met because of Annie, has become just as important as she is.  They work as team.  To bring wonder and awesomeness into the world.

And now Kevin is embarking on an adventure that was certainly not planned, or asked for, but he is taking it on it with more grace and good humor than I could ever muster.  You should read about it here.

jonesing.

Today I traveled by plane, train, subway, and car to my Mom's house in Maryland. I am so very, very happy to be here. There is a certain something about coming home for Christmas that fills me with such warmth and happiness. Nearly all of my most favorite Christmas memories are wrapped up in this house and with people from this town.

But.

Now that I am all growed up I am starting my own Christmas traditions, and I am becoming a part of other peoples' celebrations and it is quite lovely to have my own things that I share with my chosen family rather than my given family.

However.

I have a problem. Boyfriend and I decided last night before I left on my transportation journey that we would each open one present from each other. Just one. Chosen by the giver rather than the recipient. This was actually my idea and for the very practical reason that I had bought Boyfriend Charlie Brown Christmas on DVD and really wanted a chance to watch it before Christmas. So we opened our presents and watched Charlie Brown Christmas and then went to bed and merry early Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Except.

ALL DAY today - I have been craving the opportunity to open a Christmas present. While, at this point in my life, I much prefer to give than to receive presents, there is something about opening a box wrapped in shiny paper and discover a surprise, all for Me! that gets me so excited and deliriously happy. Even if I don't like the present, the act of opening it is enough to satisfy me. Normally on days that I open presents (Christmas is pretty much it, having decided that birthdays are far better suited for adventures) I get to open a whole bunch and get it all out of my system for the year. Hardly ever do I just open a single Christmas present, especially when I am fully aware that there are more out there for me.

Seriously, I feel like a addict. All day I have wanted a hit, a present hit. I have gotten to hang out with two of my favorite people, and even buy myself a little something to see if it would take the edge off and it did not work. There was still this little piece of me that wanted nothing more than to rip paper off of a box. Even if it was empty box. I just wanted that moment of euphoria.

And I am at least two days out from getting anything. It is going to be a long two days full of amazing times with gorgeous people that I love. And it could be worse, I could be sitting in my apartment in Chicago with an adorable Christmas trees and all these wrapped presents calling my name (sorry Boyfriend).

Lost and Found

A crazy story to make up for the lack of posts recently.

Last Christmas (I think), my baby sister, 'Bear gave me a friendship style bracelet in the colors of the Chicago Bears:
It lived in my jewelry box until the beginning of this football season when I put it on and vowed that I would wear it every day until the Bears won the Super Bowl (obviously this is not entirely accurate for a variety of reasons, but its a fun hyperbolic thing to say).

So I wear pretty much every day but I take it off to shower because there is something about wet embroidery floss that grosses me out.

On Saturday I had to be at work at 8 AM, which was already poor planning but add that to the fact that I did not get much sleep the night before and it was super snowy outside, I was running extra late, so I threw the bracelet in my bag and put it on on the bus.

I got to work, worked a whole day, went out a whole night, woke up the next morning went out and had a show, a rehearsal, a trip to costco and a Christmas tree excursion. At some point in the midst of all that I realized that my bracelet was gone.

I was super bummed, because while I do not expect the Bears to make the Super Bowl it was kind of nice to think that my bracelet had magic powers that was making them do so well. I figured the bracelet had fallen off at some point on Saturday and having been to about 10 different places and having taken my coat off at all of them I knew it was going to be quite impossible to track it down.

I resigned myself to the Bears not doing so well anymore (despite the win over Detroit) and went about devising a plan to tell my sister what had happened without feeling incredibly stupid and irresponsible.

On Monday morning after taking the company van to run an errand and bringing it back to park it, I had to brush some snow off of the ground to see if I was parked within the lines of the spot (our parking lot is never ever plowed which is particularly fun two or three days after a snow fall when everything is iced over) and low and behold what did I find??

My bracelet! It was right there on the little step up ledge next to the drivers seat completely frozen to the car. Here are some crazy things about this state of affairs:

1-I had not driven or even been near that car (or at least that part of the car) since 8 AM Saturday morning - over 48 hours before I found it.

2- That van traveled over 15 miles between the time I lost the bracelet and the time I found it. At least six or so of those miles were on the highway traveling well over 40 miles per hour.

3- The door handle on that door is broken (classy, I know) which means that I never use that door to get into the van, only out of...which means there are about three or four times I actually used that door AND

4- During none of those times was I taking a jacket or gloves on or off (the typical culprits of lost wrist accessories).

How I managed to lose this bracelet in just the right spot AND it managed to freeze there almost immediately, I do not know, but I do know that it is a sign...maybe. We'll see how the rest of the season goes - and if it it goes well than it it is totally a sign, if it doesn't go well, than it is probably just a bracelet.