Thoughts on 2011

As 2011 came to a close and 2012 began I took a few minutes to pause and think about the year that has passed and what I might want to do in the year to come.

I make it a point not to make New Year's Resolutions. They never work for me and I feel like they're basically a recipe for failure. I have had some success making Birthday Resolutions, but I neglected to make any this year. So perhaps instead I'll focus on some of the things I did in 2011 and some of the things I'd like to accomplish in 2012.

Here goes...

2011 - my personal year in review (including some items which I've elaborated on in this blog...)

Jan – My first cruise...to the Caribbean with an amazing and hilarious bunch of friends (Katy, Emily, Aaron, Jon)

Feb – Fabulous trip to Disneyland with Carly, Jessica, and Lisa (my now roommate!)

March – Impromptu day trip to the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco

April – The wedding of two of my favorite people: Jamie and Jason AND a long awaited work trip to Heidelberg - beautiful weather, fun companions, and I finally got to meet in person some colleagues I've been working with for several years

May – Had a fantastic time at the Mid-Singles Conference in Huntington Beach with Natalie, Melissa and Hillary (plus a bonus day at Disneyland!)

June –Everyone's gotta take a month off now and then right?

July – Made the tour of SF with Katy and one of her friends and took an awesome day trip to Sonoma/Napa with Allison including free tasting tours (olive oil, cheese, and chocolate)

August – The aforementioned Lisa moved in as our fantastic new roommate and Justin and I threw a Settlers of Catan Extravaganza

September – Amazing Labor Day weekend trip to San Diego with Amanda and Delphine

October – Trick-or-Treating at Disneyland with Katy, Jeff, and Daniel

November – Awesome birthday trip to Bodega Bay with Mom and developing my sewing skills with my very talented friends.

December – Christmastime at Disneyland with the roommates (Katy and Lisa) and CA Academy of Sciences with Katy and Hillary

Ok, reading over that is a little more like a travel log than anything else. Which actually kind of makes me pretty happy.

So, here are some aspirations for 2012.

Places I'd like to travel this year:

-England (for work and maybe some family history?)

-Washington DC

-Salt Lake City

-Seattle

-Alaskan cruise (I hope!)

-Alcatraz

Things I'd like to do:

-establish and stick to a regular exercise plan

-attend the temple at least twice a month

-visit 2 new temples

-complete Project Management certification

-take some formal training in genealogy and attend at least 1 conference

-purge the storage in my room and get the rest of my stuff out of my parents' house

-continue learning how to sew

-explore new cooking adventures

I'm sure I could go on...and I certainly hope I get to do more travelling that that (at least day trips), but that's probably more than enough "aspirations" for the time being. Maybe I'll check-in in a few months and see how I'm doing.

An Adventure through the Amazon and Beyond...

Over the holidays I was fortunate to have quite a bit of time off (11 days to be exact!). I was really looking forward to some time away from the office.

I didn't have any big plans, just some relaxing holiday activities with the family and chill time at home.

Of course things never quite go according to plan. I did manage to have some great holiday time with family. But unfortunately I spent quite a bit of my vacation fighting off (and finally succumbing to) a cold.

By the last Friday of my vacation I was finally feeling better and ready to get out of the house. In fact I tried to find something fun to do on Thursday, but without success. So by Friday it was definitely time for an adventure!

I rounded up some friends (Katy and Hillary) and we decided to take a quick day trip around the world. On our travels we visited the rainforest of the Amazon, met some reindeer, went sightseeing under the sea in the Philippines and wandered through the wildlife of Africa. In other words, we made a visit to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco.

I had heard wonderful things about it ever since the renovation a few years ago, and it definitely lived up to all my expectations. In fact my only disappointment with the trip was that I brought the wrong camera battery and didn't get to use my favorite toy very much. Nevertheless, I still managed to get some great photos with my limited battery and the help of my iPhone.

Now...what should my next adventure be?