Today’s Topic: 2010 Recap
Me and Carlos: NYE 2010
Isn’t it amazing how quickly one year goes by?! It’s also crazy to think about all that’s happened this year. I wanted to recap so that I could appreciate this past year and reminisce the good and the bad and feel fortunate for where I am today.
The beginning of 2010 started out a little rocky. I was working at Creative feeling stuck, underpaid, unappreciated and bored out of my mind. I tried to start new projects and learn things outside of work that would make me feel creative and let me focus on what could make me happy. I read Gretchen Rubin’s “Happiness Project” and that helped quite a bit, actually. It put my focus in a new direction and I started paying attention to the future.
At this point, I had already left the dance scene, so I knew that I would have to try new things to feel whole again. I started reading, formed some new habits (making my bed every morning), randomly cooked/baked with Jamie, I started a blog…you name it. Jamie and I laugh now at all the crazy ideas I had to just get my focus off of working at Creative…I probably would have tried anything.
In March, Robert was born and that was a really great thing to focus on, obviously. He is so cute…look at his face! This picture was taken on Christmas. I’m jumping around here, sorry.
April 9, 2010, I went to Creative, had my first good day at work in a while, and got a message at 4:30pm to go to our CEO’s office. I walked in, said, “Am I in trouble or something?!” At that point, one of our higher ups said, “Depends on how you look at it.” I got laid off…or fired…I still don’t really know what happened. I have never felt shock like that before.
I didn’t know at that moment how quickly I would be able to say, “THANK GOD”…
My luck changed. I quickly got a job at a company that appreciates me, allows you to excel, is open to you being yourself, and makes you want to work harder. I know that this is something that doesn’t normally happen to people — especially in a down economy. I am thankful every single day.
Late April, 2010…see how happy I am?
In May, I got close with my work partner, Heather, and started hanging out, going to street festivals, and enjoying the city. At the end of May, Jamie, Jess and I went to Jamie’s lake house in Wisconsin. I swear, it’s amazing how just getting away for a weekend can totally make you regroup and come back refreshed. I would go every weekend to her lake house if I could…it’s so much fun.
View at the lake house.
In early June I decided to go back to being a blonde. I knew the transition wouldn’t be easy and I had to prepare myself to look like a weirdo for a couple months. My hair color at first was terrible…and it did NOT look attractive, but I felt like we got really far on the first try, considering my hair was black. For Carlos’s birthday, he had a not so cute girlfriend, but he was always great at complimenting me on it, anyway.
Terrible.
At the end of June, I held Demski’s bachelorette party. We had a BLAST! We ate at my place (with the HUGE help of Jamie, of course), and we played games until 9pm, and at that point a trolley came to pick us up. We screamed at the top of our lungs out the windows, gave people shots from the windows of the trolley as we were driving by…it’s actually kind of ridiculous how many people will take straight liquor shots from strangers. Either way, we picked up a guy we named “Javier” on the trolley and it made for some amazing stories.
Trolley…we need to do this every year.
In July, I watched the World Cup, went to the Field Museum, Robert was baptized, and Demski and Mark got married…what a fun month! The wedding was amazing — we had such a great time!
After looking through my photos…looks like I spent August drinking a lot of alcohol. Sounds like a good summer, huh? September was a great month – moved into an apartment, celebrated my birthday (Ann and I lasted all night by eating between every bar we went to), and I spent a lot of time with Carlos building IKEA furniture. You remember how I feel about that, right?
October was a “broke month” because there was so much to buy for the place. It all worked out, though, because it allowed me to start becoming more domesticated…well, at least I tried.
In November, Carlos and I decided one night that we’d do something totally random and spur of the moment and we ended up at the circus…literally, we went to see Barnum and Bailey…and had a freaking BLAST! We still laugh about it because we got ready in under 5 minutes, hopped in a cab, walked up to the ticket office, got great seats and had a perfectly fun night.
December was a hectic month at work, but they were “good problems” rather than bad ones, so I knew I just had to get through the month. Christmas was so much fun — lots of laughter, as usual in our household, and great time spent with the family. New Years Eve is Jamie’s birthday, so we went to dinner at Tocco and then went to Motel Bar for a bit.
Overall, the year definitely had its ups and downs, but I’m looking forward to a great 2011. I don’t know how this year will go, or what will change, but all I can hope for is that I am moving in the right direction and that I’m able to focus on good things to come.
Time to think of some resolutions…Happy New Year!
