Year of the Tiger in review

I am so excited for 2011. I know there are internet servers groaning around the world because they have to support yet another blog post about how excited a blogger is looking forward to a New Year and a new start. Yet, I don't care. Because if there are servers out there that are annoyed, aka feeling feelings, then that's just bad news. At that point, we need to completely forget about my blog and do something about computers having emotions. Am I right? We are five sentences into this post and I am already off track, let's just blame it on the half and half in my coffee.

I have been referring to 2011 as "The Year of the Rabbit" because I want to cook rabbit for the first time this year and I think I'm so funny all the time. Wouldn't you know, this year is the actual Chinese Year of the Rabbit. Awesome.

Rather than share with you a list of resolutions that I will either complete within the week or abandon by late April for my "birthday resolutions" (which I absolutely do. I love resolutions.) I am going to look back at 2010 and share a few best of moments. Taking time to look through a new viewpoint is one of my favorite things to do when thinking about the last year. I'm kind of an old fashioned girl, I like history, I love nostalgia, I love remembering things, even if they just happened. Here is a little who, what, when, where and why about my perspective of 2010:

• Who: I am tenacious. I learned that this year. I used to call that trait by a number a different names: obnoxious, stubborn, willful, uncompromising. One day, I looked at it from a different angle and called it tenacity, and suddenly the trait found a new purpose. There is a line and I occasionally cross it, but if I was afraid of the other edge of tenacity, there are a few things I would have completely missed out on this year. Things I love, like my job and learning to cook new foods, and that would be so sad. Is it good to recognize faults in ourselves? Sure. It is better, however, to look again and see how a fault can be crafted into a talent or a grace. Turn your attention and effort towards honing those skills, and the original fault will start to resemble the unpolished version of your newly discovered virtue-- that's all it ever was in the first place.

• What: I like to think I have a pretty good memory, but in all honesty, I'm finding I need to write down more than I used to. Here are a few things I discovered in 2010 and most want to remember.
• Nothing slows me down like watching sets of waves roll in. Nothing.
• I like to show people I love them by cooking for them. I guess I think the way to everyone's heart is through their stomach.
• I love hot air balloons, so much so that I woke up at 6 am every morning to watch them this summer. I love them. I'm like a kid. I'm not embarrassed.
• SUFJAN STEVENS.

• When: One evening I sat on the steps that led to the beach while on vacation at the Oregon Coast. I just sat and watched the waves until it was too dark to see the ocean (and too dark to see the raccoon lurking in the bushes-but that is another story). There was no beautiful sunset, there wasn't even much conversation. There was, however, a misty grey fog hanging over a steel blue ocean, and the air was salty and damp. I sat there while my aunts and uncles talked about heart health, my cousins made up jokes and talked about vacations when we were younger, and my dad laughed just a little too loud. I still don't totally know what I felt at that moment, I can't really name it one thing or another. Even though I don't know the emotion I was feeling, I could see, smell, hear, touch and taste the moment. I could completely drink it all in.

• Where: Traveling undeniably changes one's perspective. I think I have always assumed that the change in geography was enough to do that. Now, I think that you don't necessarily need to change location to have a totally new experience. Tyler and I started the year out with a weekend in Portland visiting friends and attending the Dogs in School art show. This weekend was so random because while Tyler and I went to the same city and the same art show, we were on totally different vacations. I stayed with my friend, Sarah, while he stayed with his brother. Sarah and I went to a show at the Doug Fir, the boys went to the Kennedy school. Sarah and I went to an office party in an old macaroni factory, and the boys caught up with old roommates and friends around the kitchen table. It was the perfect example of why travel is so exciting. You truly can visit the same place 1000 different ways. We returned to Portland later in the year with my whole family for our annual reunion and vacation (as you read above). We stayed out at the coast for about a week in a lovely beach house and then spent four days back in the city. That vacation was completely different from our "two vacations" earlier that year. Portland was a many faceted jewel for me in 2010.

• Why: The year of the Rabbit (!) has some 20/20 vision on 2010. Here are 11 things that 2011 is definitely going to be filled with if I have anything to do about it:
1. New travels.
2. New foods. 
3. Waves.
4. Hot air balloons.
5. Concerts.
6. A little style (with a lot of help from Common Couture).
7. Writing.
8. Baking (fingers crossed!).
9. Good books.
10. Dinner parties. Lots and lots of dinner parties.
11. My wonderful family and friends who always offer new perspective.