Best of 2011

I am stealing this idea from a friend's blog...but I really wanted to reflect on the extra-awesome moments of 2011.

1. January: Officially becomeing a nerdy math major.  I have never questioned this choice from that moment.  It has been the most exciting and challenging academic year of my life!  I have way too many textbooks and calculators but lately I have been craving reviewing calculus concepts in my spare time.  Weird, I know, but it will pay off.

2. Summer: Buying a piano from craigslist and November: getting to play at my best friend's wedding!  That was truly awesome and I forgot how much good stress it is preparing and the adrenalin rush when suddenly that many people are listening.  It was such an honor.  Congratulations Jess and Steve!

3. August: Daniel proposing and the ensuing wedding plans.  It really is the most magical time of my life so far.  My aunt would tell us that when you meet the right person it really feels like a fairy tale.  Let's just say I am so happy I moved to Portland.  (Sorry for the mushiness...but it's true.)

4. Family Time: In 2011, we spent most of our time off together with family and made some great memories.  We took four trips to Salt Lake City to throw my sister a wedding shower, see her get married (Congrats Whit and Ben!), our parent's getting to meet each other, and the wedding of my best friend.  We also got to spend Labor Day in Hanford.  These are some of my favorite moments...

5. December: Learning the importance of friends.  Daniel and I had the opportunity to spend Christmas with some new found friends this year and it made all the difference for us.  Very rarely do we get to relate with people our own age and in a similar life-stage as us and when we do it really lifts our spirits and is a reminder that it's ok to act our age.  We also got to go to California to see his friend's wedding which was so beautiful and fun to get to meet his college friends. 

There is so much to look forward to in 2012!  Graduation, wedding, my mom visiting Portland, a new job.  It's going to be awesome.  I hope everyone is looking forward to a great year!

A New Hobby

I have been troubled lately by my lack of settledness here in Portland which has become ever more apparent with Daniel away.  We have become dependent on one another (which is not a bad thing), but it has left us, me especially, with a noticeable absence of company when one of us is gone.  I wrote recently about my desire for a real friend (click here for a refresher), but I have come to the realization that there has been no effort on my part to gain the ready society of others.  Part of my solo status stems from my previous method of gaining friends by going to church.  Now I must invent a new strategy.

I want to combine my love of cooking with my love of paper crafting into a new hobby: I want to entertain.   Already I have two dinner parties and their guest lists in mind, one for Christmas and the other for the new year.  I think I have been in a rut of thinking that my life hasn't started yet, that one has to be married and/or have children to participate in the "good life".  So often Daniel and I find ourselves going over to other people's houses but we rarely (basically never) have people over to our apartment.

I am going to start with a some ideas from the current issue of Cooking Light and go from there.  I will keep you posted on my party planning schemes and maybe it will inspire you to get your party on!



Happy Turkey week!  And give Columbus and the Pilgrims a break this year...they really did mean well.

Real Friends

This morning over breakfast, I told Daniel that more than anything Portland has taught me to be alone.  In a good way of course.  I don't have real friends here...none that I can just call up and say "Let's hang out," without it feeling forced.  I think friendship is the most authentic of relationships.  It's where the walls come down.  It's where you just want to be in the same room, it's where you laugh genuinely until it hurts, and where their sorrow is your own.

But meeting a friend is as much of a crapshoot as meeting a lover.  So many people pass through and become acquaintances, facebook friends.

This sounds like I am being negative, but that is far from what I mean to say.  Two years ago, I had lots of friends and family that I left behind, and that was a good thing because I needed to learn a lot in Portland and I needed to meet Daniel.  Now I am going to marry my best friend, but I also know that there are more pages to turn, more doors to open, and somewhere in the future...real friends.

For now, I have made friends with me, and I'm pretty awesome.  I laugh at all my own jokes, and I point out this or that beautiful thing throughout the day, and keep pretty good company.

Most of this alone time is spent in my living room, which is also awesome.  This is where I blog, read, do pilates, and play the piano.  Sometimes I sit on that futon until my tailbone hurts.  (This is the same futon where Daniel and I had our first kiss, and two years later where he proposed!)

I guess what I am trying to say is that I am comfortable with myself and comfortable with being alone, just like Daniel and I are comfortable just hanging out with each other.  And that's how I'll know when I have found a real friend...we just like being together.