Monday, December 31, 2012

2012 - my year in review

Since I started this blog, I've spent either New Year's Eve or New Year's Day reflecting on what I did or did not accomplish the prior 365 days. So on this New Year's Eve afternoon -- now that I've finished watching two seasons of Homeland in eight days, and OMG! SO GOOD! -- I'm sitting down to reflect on 2012.

Again this year, I set six goals for myself... the same six I had in 2011, with minor adjustments. Let's see how I did:
  1. Stay Healthy: After losing +/-25 pounds in 2011, the goal for 2012 was to keep it off, but also figure out how to balance moderate exercise (2-3 times per week vs. the 5 times per week during my weight loss campaign) with eating the foods I love and had deprived myself of in 2011 (ie: bread, pasta, cheese, cocktails) in moderation. 
    • Check! I have kept the weight off, and even lost about 5 more pounds every now and then as a buffer prior to events where I knew I'd want to pig out so I wouldn't slip above my goal weight. I have kept up almost weekly pilates, dusted off my bike and finally started riding around Lake Balboa's great bike paths (a 7 mile roundtrip ride from my house), and started going to Pop Physique more regularly... the workout that kicks your butt, but makes it look great in the process :) Haven't been hiking much since June when I took the 'rents cocker spaniel Sophie and almost killed her. (Note: cocker spaniels are not hiking dogs; they are dogs who like to lazily trot around sniffing everything in sight on flat surfaces.) But doesn't matter. I feel like I've got a handle on maintaining my weight and enjoying food... especially since I made it through goal #2 and came back two pounds lighter than I left (note I said "I," not my suitcase ;) 
  2. Finally Go to Italy: This has been a failed goal for many years. To quote a text from my friend Erika back in early September, "I have known you nearly five years and you have been planning to go to Italy for nearly five years. GO TO ITALY!" 
    • Check! Thanks to a fortuitous lack of having to go to work this fall, and a few friends who hounded my ass and helped me plan (aka the aforementioned Erika, plus Diana, Mari, Shawn, Barrett, Jason and Lisa :), I booked a bunch of planes, trains and automobiles, plus four great rentals via AirBnB for an October trek through Rome, Florence, Lamporecchio and Venice that my mom joined me on. It was a great trip, if you don't count the part involving the automobile in Tuscany. It will not be another five years before I go back.
    • Travel Bonus: I also took a summer vacation to the Big Island of Hawaii to celebrate my friend Katharine's "Hawaii Four-O" birthday extravaganza. It was super fun and relaxing. Now, after three trips to the Big Island, I think I need to venture out to another island next time.
  3. Write More: This used to mean opening up my journal and brain-dumping thoughts and ideas to keep my head clear and hopefully get creativity flowing. But there's no real accountability there. So this year I decided that it would mean writing privately in the journal or publicly here.
    • Check! While I don't think I opened my journal more than once (as I tend to only write in that the last few years when I'm in the middle of an emotional breakdown), I did blog a LOT more in 2012 than I did in 2011 -- 440% more to be exact! I've even started to notice trends in what I write about, thus the new nav bar above linking to posts about travel, fun things I do in LA, food, products I love, hockey and my home improvement projects. 
  4. Read The Classics: I used to read a ton of books when I was a kid, and I still love to read. But I now treat curling up with a book as a reward... something I only allow myself to do when the magazine pile (which is replenished weekly) is gone and I have no other pressing projects. The goal the last few years has been to read one book per quarter, so I would get through at least four a year. In 2012, I wanted to attack the classic novels that have been sitting on my bookshelf since high school and college... unread. 
    • Fail (if you're going to be technical about the goal): I didn't read a single classic novel, although I did take Pride and Prejudice with me all the way to Italy, and had The Hobbit sitting out on my coffee table taunting me for about four months. And I DID read five books this year... even more if you count repeat readings of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy as additional books (Hey, at least I'm honest :P) Keeping up my smutty book theme, I also read Rick Springfield's autobiography Late, Late at Night, and Judy Blume's controversial (back in the '70s) first adult novel Wifey, both when I was in Hawaii. I'm sad to say, as much as Judy Blume is a hero of mine, I hated Wifey... probably because it was very '70s, and I'd just finished my first read of the FSOG trilogy, so it was very tame/lame in comparison. But I did enjoy Rick's book... I was just shocked to read what a man-whore the first rock star I ever loved was (is?). Although I guess I really shouldn't be. God help me when Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora write their books. 
  5. Volunteer More: Operation Gratitude takes place four minutes from my house. I can give up three hours of my life every few weekends to bring some happiness to the lives of people sacrificing theirs for our freedom. I also plan to participate in the "Walk MS" in April to raise funds for the National MS Society.
    • Half Check/Half Fail: I did great this year in raising funds for the MS Society! (For those that don't know, my mom has had MS for two years.) I created a team page and recruited six of my awesome friends (Christina, Keira, Cwennen, Diana, Daryl and James) to walk a 5k around the Rose Bowl in April. We raised more than $2000, and I was the #169th top individual fundraiser for our walk, thanks to very generous donations from my friends and my and my dad's co-workers. I also asked my friends to make donations to the MS Society in honor of my big 4-0 back in February (and raised another $1k+. Yay!) But that's all I did this year. Didn't make it to Operation Gratitude or any other volunteer events. Bad me. 
  6. Host More:  I love my house, I have a great kitchen and I just spent a lot of money on an awesome patio. I need to invite people over to enjoy it with me more. I also need to practice cooking more, minus eating more.
    • Fail: No big events this year outside of the annual 4th of July BBQ + Bounce House Extravaganza, a Labor Day BBQ and Christmas Cocktails. I think I only used the grill two, maybe three times. Sad. And while I have been eating at home more, I wouldn't say I've expanded my cooking skills. Maybe I should start having dinner parties where I'm forced to open cookbooks. Hmm...
I am going to think about this stuff tonight as I eat finger foods and drink vodka and champagne. My 2013 goals (don't call them resolutions!) will be posted at some point tomorrow. I may actually incorporate more detailed things, like from my list of places I want to go in LA :) Until then, here's a look at my month-by-month memorable moments of 2012:

January:
February:
  • Burke Williams trip #1
  • I turned 40, and rented a suite at Staples Center to celebrate! The Kings wished me a happy birthday by losing 0-1 to the Calgary Flames in the third period. Snooze. But I had great cupcakes and champagne surrounded by great friends anyway :)
March:
April:
  • Walk MS at the Rose Bowl. My team raised more than $2000 for MS research and care!
  • I met my writing hero, Judy Blume, at the LA Times Festival of Books
  • The Los Angeles Kings make the playoffs at the last minute for the 3rd time since 2002! And keep playing through the end of the month...
  • Jonathan Quick is named a finalist (one of three) for the Vezina Trophy.
May:
  • The 2012 Summer Movie Blockbuster Club kicks off its season with The Avengers, which will end the year as one of my top 2 favorite movies of 2012.  
  • I went to the opera. Yes, the opera. La Boheme at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. I don't think I'm an opera person. 
  • Got invited to a lovely afternoon garden party at the residence of Dame Barbara Hay, the British Consul-General. It was filmed for an episode of Cupcake Wars that aired in August.
  • The LA Kings are still playing hockey. Really well. They make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, for the first time since 1993. Only the second time in their existence. I start to get really nauseous whenever they play.  
June:
July:
  • Hosted my 3rd 4th of July BBQ (actually on July 4th this year)
  • Enjoyed summer
August:
September:
October:
  • Painted my hallway, guest bathroom and guest bedroom. And finally got new blinds for the guest bedroom, admitting to myself it will be a while before I get new front windows and shutters to go over them.
  • The Kings season does NOT begin... thanks NHL for locking the players out and preventing the Kings from raising their Stanley Cup banner because that means I was free for...
  • Trip #2: ITALY!!!
November:
  • Did a lot of blogging about Italy :) (see link above)
  • Saw Richie Sambora @ The Ford Theater. Great small, intimate show, with all proceeds going to Hurricane Sandy relief.
  • A super-fancy VIP Day at Disneyland, thanks to our friend and new Club 33 member Shawn.
  • Thanksgiving Dinner #4 at my house for Mom, Dad, little bro Ryan and me
  • After Thanksgiving, Afternoon Tea in Pasadena with Jenny and Ruthie Z.
  • Super-successful garage sale with Diana, Daryl and James
December:
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