2011 End of the Year Survey

Well I know it's been a while since I've updated anything.  But I just had to do my end of the year survey anyway.  So here we go:


My annual end of the year survey.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?
Bought a house!  Sold a house.  Started a (small) book club.  Sent my child to preschool.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
We cleaned out our storage unit when we moved.  I also started reading a lot more and watching much less TV, except for the 3 months when I had morning sickness and developed a weird aversion to reading.  I won't make any resolutions this year because of the coming new baby... I have a feeling that will keep me plenty busy next year.


3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, several people, lots of babies this year!


4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.


5. What countries did you visit?
I should change this to states since we never leave the country.  We went to outer banks this year, so North Carolina.  I think I've driven through NC before, but never spent much time there before.


6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
A keyboard for my iPad because typing on this thing kills my fingers.


7. What date from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
So many... Put a contract on our new house on ST Patricks Day, got a contract on our townhouse around cinch de mayo, moved at the end of June, found out we were pregnant in August.  Dylan's first day of school in September, Good year for us!



8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Moving, what a pain that was.


9. What was your biggest failure of the year?
Stopping my yoga, I don't know why I let that happened.


10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just a few months of nasty morning sickness... That's about it.


11. What was the best thing you bought?
Hmmmm.... The new house of course!


12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Sarah- for graduating and starting grad school.  Jeremy (her bf) for his first "real" job, Devin (BIL) for his new job, he and Liz for moving to AL.  Dylan for starting school and doing so well there, Matt for moving endless amounts of heavy boxes and furniture during the moving process and also for organizing the basement-storage stuff.  Lots of my friends who accomplished big things this year as well, Mike for making his movie, Melissa for moving while dealing with Lymes (and I thought moving in general was tough enough), harmony for her awesome new photography career (even if she lives too far away for me to take advantage of it), Bianca for getting teacher of the year at her school...  Sorry if I left anyone out!


13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Charlie Sheen, I guess.  I don't really dwell on this too much.


14. Where did most of your money go?
The new house

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The new house, finding out we are having another boy!

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?
Thriller, because Dylan became obsessed with it


17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or Sadder?: happier
ii. Thinner or Fatter than last year?: fatter (thank you pregnancy)
iii. Richer or Poorer?: richer


18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Exercise, duh.


19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
being lazy, or just energy-less... This has been a tough pregnancy for that.


20. How will you be spending Christmas?
We opened gifts in the morning, then Matts parents came over for a bit and played with Dylan.  Later in the evening we had dinner at my parents house.  It was a nice day.  We also managed to only get Dylan toys that have no batteries and don't make noise!  (well, except for the drum set that Matt got)


22. Did you fall in love in 2010?
Stayed in love


23. How many one-night stands?
0


24. What was your favorite TV program?
Parks and Rec, Happy Endings, and Modern Family


25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nope


26. What was the best book you read?
The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins and Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day (cookbook).


27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Mumford and Sons.  I think I listened to their album everyday for 4 months straight after seeing their Grammy performance

28. What did you want and get?
Aside from the house, a dutch oven!


29. What did you want and not get?
A keyboard for my iPad, I keep saying that I'm going to get one but then just never do.  I really should though, all this iPad typing hurts my hand.


30. What was your favorite film of this year?
Hmmm...  Mike's movie Ultrasonic of course!  Rangoon was pretty good too as far as kids movies go (Dylan looooooves it)


31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 30...  Big year!  I kind of wanted to celebrate, but at the time I was having huge morning sickness issues, so instead I opted for a quiet birthday at home, then had dinner with my family that weekend.  Oh we also saw Wilco a few days beforehand, that was fun.


32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Hmmm...  Honestly I think the year was pretty good.  All the house stuff at the beginning of the year was kind of stressful, so maybe if I could have had a little elf clean the townhouse for me everyday I would have appreciated that.  But overall things were good.


33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Simple, t-shirts and jeans.  Having a smaller wardrobe makes getting dressed everyday much less stressful, plus I can't let laundry pile up too much or I won't have anything to wear.  And now that I'm in maternity clothes my wardrobe is even smaller, which means even less stress.  I'm sure that's not how most people feel about their clothes.


34. What kept you sane?
My family.


35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
No one particular stands out


36. What political issue stirred you the most?
I'm not super political.. Just because it's fresh and local I'd guess all the holiday displays on the courthouse lawn this Christmas, especially since we had the honor of driving by them all the time.  I don't really care about the displays themselves, just that the whole thing turned into a big mess.  I'm guessing there won't be any next year.


37. Who did you miss?
Just wish that I could have spent more time with good friends


38. Who was the best new person you met?
Dylan's preschool teachers, I guess.


39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?
Not to sound conceited, but I think Matt and I realized that we are way smarter than we thought we were.  Dealing with all the moving stuff, especially contract issues, we  trusted someone with many many years of experience, thinking that counted for more, even when we thought better.  Didn't always work out for us.  Now we know to trust our own intelligence and intuition more.



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


 And there will come a time, you'll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.

"After the Storm"  by Mumford and Sons

Comments

Jenn said…
Loved it! I'm sure that 2012 is going to be an amazing year, even though a fair portion of it you will live sleep-deprived.