looking back at 2011

Well it's about 8 hours until the new year rings in.

This past year has been chock full of the good, the bad, and the horribly ugly. I'm just going to list as many major things that I can remember, about this past year, negative or positive. No chronological order to it.


• I graduated college in May, finally receiving my B.F.A., although my parents were not able to attend my graduation - but my uncle and aunt did

• We moved from Lancaster, PA to Alexandria, VA in the hopes of starting my career in the design industry

• I gained a lot of experience in interviewing for positions...

• My grandfather died at the age of 95, on July 11th, 2011

• I worked for 1 year plus some, as a dog walker, and loved the opportunity to be around dogs again, every day

• The relationship between my younger brother and the rest of us, his immediate family, has seemed to deteriorate even more

• Takeshi and I went to the Spy Museum in D.C. for the first time. Still no where NEAR my favorite museum in D.C.

• I got to reconnect with my older cousin Matt, and his wife Kathy

• I got to reconnect with a friend, Ashley, from college who lives in VA - to realize I had made a real friend and someone I really do love to visit - and to see her as a mum, now! ;)

• Takeshi and I celebrating our 3rd marriage anniversary, which included going to Florida. There were a lot of firsts for me there - being in Florida for the first time, being to Disneyland for the first time (as an adult, haha...), swimming in the ocean together for the first time

• Hoping for the best, and trying to plan out things for my career/our financial savings to begin, etc. and having everything fall through

• Wanting 2011 to have been our year where we finally were on an up-curve. To be able to have moved for the last time. To settle down somewhere, and find jobs that support us and that we actually like - and not getting any of it, in the end

• Seeing mum and dad again in the summertime


Hub and I have many hopes for 2012. Maybe this next year will OUR year. The one we're not in a hurry to get through. Oh, but it goes by so fast, no matter what.

But what is even better than us hoping for better - is us planning and working towards better. Because in the end, that's what will get us there. I have a feeling that in a year's time, there's a good chance we won't be Frederick, because like I said, this area is pretty much a dead-end for us (= hub's career). But who really knows? At the start of 2011 we never thought we'd be here, even!

I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve. I hope you're able to be with friends or family. I hope that if this past year hasn't been all you've wanted it to be, then you look towards 2012 with renewed motivation for your goals, continued passion for what you love to do, and an never-ending eagerness for a better future.