There is a hole in your bucket Dear Liza

Dear blog lovelies, two quick thoughts before I jump into my 2011/2012 review of my Bucket List:

1. Did you sing that song when you were little? (The one referenced in my blog post title). If you have no idea what I’m talking about, click here.
2. Have you noticed I never use punctuation in my post titles? My very favorite font doesn’t include any punctuation marks – even a period! Instead, a big weird star shows up. It drives me crazy, but I love the font too much to change it! If it were up to me, the real title of this post would be, “There’s a hole in your bucket, Dear Liza”

Anywhoozle, moving right along… the Bucket List wish list I created on NYE last year was hefty, to say the least. I ended up completing only seven out of the original 18. But I’m considering that a WIN anyway. Plus, I threw in a few more that weren’t on my list last NYE, ending the year with 13 completed (or almost finished bucket list tasks! Lucky number 13…

#4. Live in another city for at least one year
I moved to SF on 5/13/11, so my one year anniversary will
be 5/13/12, and I’ll be able to cross this off!

#10. Meditate in a Buddhist temple
I did this many times in Bali

#18. Teach myself to video edit
I’m not crossing this off yet, but technically I taught myself
with the 2011 video recap I did, I just want to get a little bit
better with editing real video – not just photos! 

#21. Make amends
There are a couple people I set up dinners or goodbyes with before I left Seattle,
in an attempt to “make amends,” and it feels so much better! 

#31. Visit Bali and wear flowers around my neck
Check and check! Best thing I’ve ever done in my life! Now that I’ve fully
processed the trip, I will be writing about it earlier this year.

#32. Squash grapes with my feet
Had so much fun doing this in November at Rosenblum Cellars! 

#38. Collect my friend’s addresses and send out holiday cards
The holiday cards I created this year and sent out were a huge hit.

#39. Take a yoga retreat
Yoga retreat in Bali! Two birds, one stone.

#79. Finish the last quarter of my Life List
Duh!

#84. Wine taste in Napa Valley
My parents and I took our first trip to Napa together
in August. Such great memories!

#90. Go to dim sum for breakfast
I attempted this in February ’11 and technically
completed this in ’12, but who’s counting?

#96 Fly somewhere every month, for a year, to get more comfortable with flying
I started this in August ’11 and will finish it this year!

#97. Make a wine cork board from bottles of wine I’ve actually drank myself
I started this two years ago (no joke) and because I want all
the bottles to be ones I’ve drank, it’s taken FOREVER. 

As the days kept turning into night

Well, my friends – 2011 is officially gone and past. For me, it was a “Banner Year.” I made it my goal to end 2011 and my 20s with a bang, and I feel like I succeeded. I know my journalism professors are turning over in their yet-to-be-filled graves by the use of the “banner year” and “out with a bang” cliches, but sometimes cliches feel oh so right. I’m just so full of love, luck and happiness in my life these days, it makes my heart three times its size.

As I look back and say goodbye to 2011, I’m simultaneously looking back and saying goodbye on my 20s since I’ll turn 30 in two short weeks. Oh how, oh how, do you write a post summing up an entire decade?! My general conclusion is that life.is.good. Each year I’ve learned to right a few wrongs, improve just a titch, enjoy new and exciting hobbies, cross off many bucket list items, and really revel in all the joy friends, family and success can bring. I feel like I’ve slowly been growing each year into a better version of myself than the year before, and I’m so excited to jump into 2012 – my first full year living in San Francisco. I have a lot of thoughts around what I want my year to look like, which I’ll also be sharing with you this week, along with the bucket list rundown of 2011/2012. But first, I thought it’d be easier to create a video recap of my year instead of posting a 900 word diatribe with 100 photos.

So, I present to you … a video recap of what I was doing in 2011 as the days kept turning into night:

Currently Feeling: Glad to have finished that video! Has taken me all week, but I’m getting better at iMovie. It’s pretty fun!
Currently Anticipating: Jersey Shore starting this week! Is that bad to admit?
Currently Wishing: I could have just been in Maui with my family over my actual birthday – hate stressing about celebrations. :/

One Month

Forgive me blog lovelies, for I have sinned. It’s been one month since my last post.

It should go without saying that I’ve spent the last month largely focused on settling into this new bright and shiny home of mine. While the first couple weeks were a bit overwhelming, the last couple weeks I feel like I’ve really hit my San Francisco stride.

A friend of mine told me she has a theory – those who move to San Francisco and are meant to be here, have everything fall in place. Those who are not meant to be here, struggle.

I had this feeling when I visited San Francisco last October that I was just meant to be in this city. And so the story goes, I made it my personal goal to get here one way or the other in 2011. Now that I’m finally here, I feel like I’m meant to be here more than ever. Everything has, for the most part, fallen right into place. From my job, my ‘hood, apartment and neighbors, to the new friends I’ve made and fun new things to do and places to go that I’ve discovered.

Every time I meet someone new and I tell them I’ve been in San Francisco for a little over a month, (which is pretty much daily), they ask me how I like it. So far my standard answer has been an upbeat, “I like it a lot!” I used to toss around the L word about SF before I actually moved here. Now I feel like I’m in a new relationship with someone, just getting to know them, and LOVE is far too strong when we’re in such an infantile part of our union.

It was easy for me to say “I LOOOOVEEE San Francisco!” as a tourist, but it’s a different ball game for me to say I love it as a resident. How could I, when I feel like I just scratched the surface of all this city has to offer… I’m slowly learning what it means to be a resident here, not a tourist.

Read the rest of this entry »

Big life changes have kept me away and silent

Something I’ve learned throughout my years of blogging life – I don’t do well with writing like nothing’s ever happening when something BIG is happening. I tend to bleed my heart through my writing, so I often go silent when I’m sad and don’t want to share that with the Internet, or in this case, am mandated to keep quiet about some of the biggest news of my life (for more than a month)!

The short of it – I’m moving to San Francisco. Something I’ve wanted to do and talked about since I was in my early 20s. It’s exciting to have that horizon turn into a shining beam of sunlight directly in front of me.

The long of it – I’m leaving a job, friends and a city that I’ve loved, loved, LOVED. Loved. Loved. LOVED. Who I am, my extreme happiness and what I’d like to think as success in life is attributed to Seattle and my job at Whrrl.

But, onward and upward!

I will be back with MANY more details – but, I wanted to give everyone the heads up and leave you with my favorite quote, which has had me pushing toward this day for the entirety of my 20s:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. EXPLORE. DREAM. DISCOVER. – Mark Twain  

Currently Feeling: In LOVE with my new at-home work space. I’ll post pictures and share the transformation soon!
Currently Anticipating: Flying down to the Bay Area Wednesday to find my new apartment! *Fingers crossed* I find something good – no GRAND!
Currently Needing: To finish this monstrous task I can’t wrap my head around. Why must I be such a procrastinator?

A Christmas update

//via Flickr

Merry belated Christmas everyone! I took a longer-than-expected hiatus from the Internet; I haven’t opened my laptop since last Thursday! I’m actually kind of proud of myself for that.

I hope all of you had a safe and cozy holiday with your family(s) – full of laughter, wine, general merriment and fattening Eggnog cheesecake (oh wait, that was me).

The only little spot of grey in my holiday season this year is that I was sick, but nothing I didn’t try to fix with extra doses of cold medicine. I was super excited this year because I was fortunate enough to take some of the money I’ve been making with another job to buy special gifts for everyone. I love picking out just the right gift for someone and watching them open it; it’s my favorite part of Christmas, by far!

My favorite gift this year were a new feather duvet and feather pillows for my bed – there’s no feeling in the world like sinking into a fluffy, feather duvet and snuggling up when it’s cold. My sister also painted me the coolest painting to match my room, in hot pink and orange with butterflies. And, I picked up a new flat screen TV and Blu-Ray player (that streams Pandora and Netflix!) in an after-Christmas sale at Best Buy. All exciting additions to this little Seattle life of mine.

I love, love Christmas and love even more that as I get older, the “after Christmas” depression seems to be less prevalent. I’m ready to sail right into the New Year! 2010 has been ridiculously good to me, so I’m unsure how much better it could get from here, but I’m ready to find out…

What is your favorite Christmas present you received this year?

Currently Feeling: The need to stop hacking so I can get back on the workout train.
Currently Anticipating: Catching up with an old friend tonight that I haven’t seen in years! We used to work together at Tully’s back in my first year after college. So long ago!
Currently Loving: Having so much time off this week! I need to rest before January, which is going to be a super crazy month.

I’m as free as a bird now

It’s official! After two years and three months, I’m finally no longer a fugitive of the law – I bought car tabs!

I’ve been given one ticket for driving without tabs (on Halloween last year, mind you!) How do you give a ticket to a girl dressed as a princess? And I’ve escaped one ticket with my cunning mind and ability to think on my feet (I don’t drive my car in Seattle officer, and only made this trip one time to Lake Chelan).

I’m a mastermind, I tell you!

I’ve perfected the art of running from the cops. (Should I be putting that in print?) But, it’s going to feel pretty darn good to not be glancing in the review mirror all the time and taking sharp rights down back alleys when I see cop cars. Or, you know, taxi cabs that look like cop cars in the dark. Whew!

Breaking the law! Breaking the law!

Currently Feeling: Ready for new challenges! I start to feel like this every November it seems like…
Currently Loving: Coconut water. Low calorie, AND a great refuel after a work out.
Currently Needing: To take a good analytics class. Send a webinar over my way if you find one!

Stay kizzity cation

Last week, I took my very first staycation – a “vacation” where I just stick around (stay home, if you will) and do nothing.

Not really my style.

It’d been nearly two years since I’ve visited with my biological father and his side of the family (grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins). Since my weekends are consumed with events, birthdays, cabins, mini trips and being a selfish 28-year-old, single woman, I needed to take time off work to actually visit family.

One would think I would have all the time in the world to get to blogging with a whole week just hanging around – but noooo. I was stuck in my own personal hell. See, my family lives in a tiny town in Washington State, population 2,000, and I stayed at my grandparents’ house. They don’t own a computer or have Internet, nor does my phone get service there. Talk about testing my inner being. I’m all for unplugging in the name of lying on a sand beach, or meditating in India. I’m not in love with it if all you’re doing is lying around in the rain, eating and watching TV. It’s like I have restless body syndrome.

However, I did manage to survive three days there – thanks to the company. I don’t think I talk much here about my dad’s side of the family, or my roots with them. I’m lucky enough to have an amazing grandma and grandpa, both with Southern accents, a knackering for sweet tea and buttery, homemade cooking and hearts as big as Jupiter. I miss them daily. (And I gain 10 pounds every time I go there thanks to buttery biscuits, fried eggs, grits and bacon for breakfast, homemade cornbread with every dinner meal and a big bowl of peach cobbler for dessert after that!)

I wrapped up my staycation in the only way I know how to exist – busy, busy, busy. From one end of the spectrum to the other this past week, I tell ya.

I took a bacon cooking and wine workshop, which was AMAZING. (Separate post coming on that), celebrated the third anniversary of Girl Power Hour with a long-awaited and lots-of-time-spent-planning birthday bash (separate post coming on that too). And wrapped it all up with a long weekend at my second favorite Seattle festival next to Summer Solstice Parade – Fremont Oktoberfest! Tiny beers unite! I even signed up to volunteer this year and spent Sunday in a custom-made beer barrel on wheels, pouring beer for Deschutes Brewery (whose hometown is Bend, Oregon). Huzzah!

And now back to our irregularly scheduled programming…

Currently Feeling: Stuffy, coughy and tired. The fall cold has caught me! Dammit.
Currently Anticipating: A Mai Tai making competition tomorrow with my GPH girls, hosted by Seattle Met; Girls Who Dine Out October at Spinasse on Thursday, then an entire cabin weekend at Leavenworth Oktoberfest!
Currently Reading: “One Day” by David Nicholls. The ladies at the book store told me it’s the greatest love story and everyone can’t put it down!

Five little updates on July

Well hello there, July 16th. Where have the last two weeks gone? Been busy soaking up the sun that finally came to Seattle – and as my GChat status says, “The summer sun makes me irresponsible.” Less time for blogging and computer playing, more time for outdoors, friends and barbecues. The best time of the year!

Life has been trucking along quite nicely these days – I’ve got a few little updates for you.

I finished my 30-day challenge – you can read my somewhat wrap-up thoughts here since they were the same for the last two weeks of the challenge. I was a couple days shy of the complete 30 days. It was tough to make it to class every day the last two weeks cause I became super burnt out. But for the most part, I did it! So, I’m back to boot camp a couple days a week, and hot yoga a couple days a week. I’m also walking to work now that the weather is nice! Two miles – 45 minutes of walking a day – so it’s been a great addition to my workouts.

Me putting the last star on the challenge board

My Fourth of July holiday weekend was one of the best ever. Choosing Lake Chelan over Seattle turned out to be the best decision I could have made since Seattle gifted everyone with grey skies and rain for the holiday. Meanwhile, I hung out in my bathing suit, drank BLs on the beach all day and finished the evening up with a crazy dance party boat ride to watch the Chelan city fireworks. Lots of funny pictures and memories of the weekend that, unfortunately, don’t belong on the Internet. Good times were had by all.

Left: All the girls at the beach. Center: Boating it. Right: Wine tasting on our way back.

My summer garden is rockin’ and rollin’. I had to upgrade my basil plant because I used it so much, I dried the first one out and killed it. So, I purchased a bigger and better one. I have basil for days! My favorite summertime dinner meal these days has been some whole wheat pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic, fresh mozerella, tomatoes and basil from my garden – finished with salt and pepper. Mmm. Someone told me our summers in Seattle don’t usually last long enough for peppers or strawberry plants, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed there. And I have a couple tiny green tomatoes that I’m watching with much love!

Caprese pasta - my summertime staple!

Turns out my work is sending me to New York City for the BlogHer 10 conference the first weekend of August. I’m super, duper excited and geeked out to meet so many bloggers and make some (hopefully) lifelong connections. I’ll get to hang out with Doniree for the first time, which I’m fantastically excited about. I feel like I’m the only 20-something blogger left in this world that doesn’t know her personally. I’ll also be hosting a fun Sex and the City walk through the city with a Kindle giveaway at the end. I think it’s going to be a fabulous, successful event, so that pushes my excitement that much further. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my job? By the way – this will be the first time I’ll have visited NYC while 21 and over. Trouble to be had! NEW YORK…. These streets will make you feel brand new…Big lights will inspire you…Let’s hear it for New York, New York, NEW YORK.

Can you think of a better event?! Excited!

I’m heading over the mountain pass again this weekend for a bachelorette party for one of my high school girl friends – lots of longtime girls of mine will be there. I hang out with all 10 of them about twice a year, so this should be interesting and fun. We’re starting off with a night out in the tiny town our cabin is in, wearing ugly bridesmaid dresses. (Thank you, Goodwill, for mine). We’re also floating a river Saturday in intertubes and then heading back out in matching tie-dyed tank tops with nicknames on the back. Mine? G-Spot Je-Spot. Yeah. That’s right. High school nickname I can’t seem to freakin’ get ride of. (For no other reason than my name being Je Anna). Should have some fun stories and pictures to share with all of you. Happy weekend!

Currently Feeling: A little bit of a nervous belly.
Currently Anticipating: Relaxing this weekend in the sun before a SUPER busy work week next week. Time to recharge!
Currently Loving: The new Eminem CD. Seriously – it’s so good. He amazes me, and brings me back to memories in high school when I used to listen to his first CD, all at the same time.

30 Days: Update two

Men are stinky. Like really, really stinky. I’m going to open a yoga studio that has women’s only classes cause man if it isn’t bad enough to be stuck in a room like sardines that you can’t breath in cause it’s 95 degrees plus, then it’s absolute hell to have to smell some big dude’s body odor for that hour, praying his sweat doesn’t drip on you, and OH.MY.GOD. did I tell you he FARTED. Like huge. Like next to me and then said, “Sorry!” and the class was silent. I don’t know who I felt more sorry for, me or that guy.

P.S. I’m never eating garlic fries at a baseball game again.

P.P.S. Money saved these last two days because I’m against CONSUMERISM and can’t buy anything:

• $59 on a yoga towel with special grippers on the bottom, so it sticks to your mat. I WANT!!
• $13.99 on the “Away We Go” soundtrack, which is my fav movie of 2009 and features music from Alexi Murdoch. One song came on my Pandora station yesterday, and I was all…”Oh my God, his voice is amazing. I need this soudtrack IMMEDIATELY cause then I’d be all calm, soothed and relaxed thinking about how life is great every day!”
• $69 on Tom’s (again). God damn these things. They just released the cutest wedges ever this week, which is much more my style than flats. AND they benefit starving children in Africa.

Currently Feeling: A little groggy from my 6am class today. I always think it’s a good idea to go home and go back to bed, but then I just feel groggy.
Currently Anticipating: SUPER fun weekend ahead – trying out Lark restaurant with the girls tonight, then heading to SAM Remix for Picasso/Warhol/Kurt Cobain exhibits. Tomorrow is a high school throwback kegger, and Paolo‘s wedding reception. Then Sunday a Mariner’s game! Woot!
Currently Needing: More yoga shorts, not pants. Man the pants are hot and stick to me. Love ‘em to lounge in, but not for hot yoga.

30 Days: Update

hot.power.vinyasa.yoga.is.f&*@ing.brutal

This is me with soaking wet hair, no makeup because it all ran off (post raccoon eyes),
sopped to the bone with sweat, wondering what in the HELL I’ve gotten myself into.

All I can say is I’m grateful I didn’t pass out.

One star up. 29 more to go.