I rarely post here but I wanted to write about my weekend at the PJ’s at TJ’s party I went to in Arizona this weekend, but I’m not sure if it’s actually a recap or just thoughts on some concerns I had before going and why I was a giant weenie and how none of those things happened.

Thing 1: I Won’t Fit In (aka I’m not 1. a blogger, 2. a mom and 3. a person born in the same decade as everyone else)

1. I wasn’t too worried about this. Look, I READ blogs and blog world chit chat is generally about what other people have written so I’m on equal footing. I too am a reader of the blogs. This is a reason this gathering appealed to me. I wanted to meet some internet friends but a lot of get-togethers are blogging related. But can I get together with people who talk to each other on the internet? Well, sure, I can talk online AND off. Look at me!
2. I like babies. I like baby stories, I do. But I didn’t want to be in a position where I had nothing to contribute to the conversation. Like going to a Star Wars convention and being all “Oh I’ve never seen that. Can we talk about something else?” (Shut up, I have seen Star Wars, it’s an example.) Lots of things were talked about including but not limited to: babies, nail polish, ice cream, pizza, Tom Hanks, in-laws, root beer floats, THAT DIP and stuff I’m sworn to secrecy about. That last part isn’t true.
3. This is probably stupid and I am perfectly FINE with having friends of all ages but when I was younger I wasn’t as open minded about it. (“40? ohmygawwwwwd, sooo old, oldie”) BUT! The important thing is it didn’t bother ME when was there and I’m the most important person here in my own head. I would way rather hang out with someone older or younger who I connect with than someone the same age who is a wiener. So. It wasn’t much of a thing. I think. I will wait to see if I’m described in any other recaps as THE OLD ONE.

Thing 2: I’ll end up sitting alone in my hotel room

I kinda almost sorta did this to my self but it was FINE. I didn’t plan on getting up for breakfast on Saturday because I was TIRED. But in the morning I realized well hey. I probably should have gone because now I am ALL ALONE WHAT DO I DO.

I texted Noemi and of COURSE she offered to come get me but I didn’t want anyone to go out of their way for me, but instead of feeling bad, I realized I was like “oh cool, an hour or so to flake out in a hotel room and read until someone is in the area” and that happened soon enough and it was all good and maybe what I’m saying is I’m not as much as a baby as I thought I was and found out it wasn’t actually a scary thing after all.

Thing 3: To Roommate or Not to Roommate

My gut instinct was to stay alone because I LIKE being alone but rarely am. But I didn’t want to be the person who looks like an antisocial snob either, AND I really considered a roommate for another reason: to avoid Thing 2, which we now know is not really such a big thing after all.

Also I am told I snore. The old one! She snores!

In the end I decided to stay by myself and in the future, I’ll probably do the same, but I think I’ll arrange to have A Person – someone who will stay in the same hotel, who also needs their own space but can be my roommate by proxy.

Thing 4 No one will like me/I won’t like them
I realize no one would TELL me if they didn’t like me, but I didn’t get that vibe from anyone, at all. As far as I know, this didn’t happen or else everyone was very good at faking it. And I really did like something about everyone. Good crowd, these TJ readers.

Thing 5 What if I meet people I *thought* I liked and actually do NOT like them? Would that ruin our online friendship?

Does that make sense? First of all, this wasn’t a BIG concern, at all. Really. But I had “What If’d” it a tad. For example: TJ online is hilarious and sharp and smart and reasonable (which may sound like a weird compliment but GOD I LOVE reasonable people). What if I got there and she was totally different and I wanted to unfollow her while I was sitting right there in her own living room? WHAT THEN? But you know what? Everyone was the same person I thought they’d be. TJ is hilarious and sharp and smart and I like her, as I knew I would. I’m sure she’s super relieved and happy that a person who doesn’t know how to use a credit card machine thinks she is smart.

Thing 6: and vice versa

Well, first. Because someone follows me on Twitter, does that mean they LIKE me? I’m not sure. I don’t blog so how would people know if I’m the same person or not, based on 140 characters? I do know I didn’t talk as much as I normally do. It wasn’t intentional, but I really was enjoying listening to other people, so in retrospect I’m not sure how I may or may not have come across. One person (can’t remember who!) told me I wasn’t what they expected, so I’m not sure if people thought I’d be talking a lot in ALL CAPS and yelling FUCK all the time or what, but if anyone thinks I was “quiet” please let me know because HAHAHHA I will show it to all my friends and family and they will KEEL OVER DEAD FROM LAUGHING.

Thing 7, I didn’t think of ahead of time but was this: I was afraid to touch the babies.

I WAS. My friends in real life have been fine with me picking up their babies because they know I’m reasonably hygienic and not a hoarder but I’ve read things where people are all “AHH THAT PERSON TOUCHED MY BABY WHAT A FREAK I HATE THEM” and I did NOT want to be that person. Or the person who asks and puts the mom in a difficult position (“Is there any way you could prove the clothes you have on right now weren’t dug out from underneath a dead cat?”) So I erred on the side of caution. Please don’t think I didn’t like your babies. I did. So much.

Oh god. Let me see if I can wrap this up:

I’m glad I went. I genuinely liked something about everyone and I laughed a lot and went for a mani/pedi with about seven other women and when was the last time I did that? (Never.) And there was pizza and ice cream and cute babies. There was nothing to be nervous about. So, past me, stop worrying and just go. Go meet your friends. I promise even if you drop your sandwich face down on the floor the first night, they won’t kick you out. I now know this from experience.

Thanks for a fun weekend, friends.
(if I’ve forgotten anyone, tell me NOW before I die of embarrassment). 

Andrea’s little girl was so sweet and they cuddled all weekend and it was very cute.
Brooke is super cute and has fantastic hair and found us a place to have our nails did.
Diane is quiet but when she does talk she is fucking hilarious.
Elise was always smiling and brought us presents from her top secret lair.
Erin’s baby has the best cheeks ever and Erin got us to the airport in time, hurray.
Jess is really warm and also has fantastic hair and an adorable baby who made me giggle with his super fast crawling skills.
Jess is quiet and sweet and we shared a Snuggie and she didn’t hog it.
Kammah BOUGHT me the Snuggie, how sweet is that?
Kara is quiet but very friendly and was always smiling.
Laura Michelle is almost the same as Lara Michelle and her baby swears and we have the same taste in pajamas.
Linnea picked me up at the airport and we got lost but we had fun being lost and she can cut across four lanes of traffic without blinking an eye.
Megan is quiet at first, but super funny.
Noemi is friendly and gorgeous and has fantastic hair.
PENNY IS EVEN CUTER IN REAL LIFE, FOR REAL.
Phil brought us pizza and looks at Kelly & Penny with LOVE EYES and so he is the best.
Phil’s aunts are super nice and fun and oh man, you can tell how much they love Phil.
Stephanie is super friendly and easy to talk to and picked the best mani/pedi colour.
Kelly opened her home to us and everything was perfect and she even put A BED in her living room for us. I laughed every time she said anything, I could talk to her forever and she helped me pick pajamas at Target, she wins, the end.

I apologize for the length – if anyone ever doubted it, I can TALK, you guys. I also forgot to add the part about where I grew up. Which is just here. Vancouver. I’ve lived my whole life here, so there you go.

Homemade yogurt is cheap to make and tastes, hands down, better than store bought. Really. REALLY. And contrary to what you may think, making yogurt is EASY. SO EASY.

Basically, it goes like this:

• Heat milk
• Cool milk
• Stir milk
• Keep milk warm
• POW! Yogurt

But I will give you a few more details, because details I have.

I decided to give making yogurt a try after realizing we were going to end up in the poorhouse based on the amount of money we were spending on Greek yogurt each week. I did some research, as I do, on yogurt makers but they’re all around $100 and on every review I read someone was screaming in the comments “YOU DO NOT NEED A MACHINE TO MAKE YOGURT!!!” and at first, yes, I thought those were just the hippies, but it turns out it really is dead easy and really, REALLY there is no need for a yogurt maker. All you need is:

• Milk
• A big pot
• A thermometer
• A few tablespoons of plain yogurt to use as a starter (you can use your homemade yogurt as a starter next time, so remember to save a little)
• A strainer*
• Cheesecloth/coffee filters*

*Optional

I had everything but the thermometer so my entire investment was a $7 thermometer I found at the grocery store (I believe it’s a drug thermometer because it says things like Hard Crack on it. Maybe it’s for candy. Not sure.)

I decided to give it one go and if it didn’t work out, I’d rethink investing in a yogurt maker but I was so, so pleased with my first batch I’ve started making it every Saturday – you do need to time things out jusssst right, so weekends are best for me.

I’ve always used a 4 litre jug of milk and it makes enough Greek style yogurt to last us a week – I eat it every day for breakfast, Andrew often does too, and I occasionally use some of it for dressings or sauces through the week as well.

Ingredients

• 4 litres milk (I’ve used skim and 2% and found little taste/texture difference between the two, see below re: straining)
• 3 or 4 tablespoons room temperature plain yogurt (I’m not sure if the “room temperature” thing is important or not but I read it somewhere and it’s worked for me so I take the starter out of the fridge when I start heating the milk and consider it “room temperature” by the time the milk has reached the right temperature).

That’s it. THAT’S IT! Can you believe it? (I didn’t.)  Here is a picture of milk in a pot. Exciting.

Preparation

• Dump the milk into a large pot
• Heat to 180F, stirring and gradually increasing heat to prevent burning
• Remove pot from heat
• Let the milk cool to about 115F (in my experience, this takes about an hour or so, with the lid off)
• Scoop about 2 cups of the warm milk into a bowl and whisk in your starter yogurt
• Whisk the 2 cups milk/starter mixture back into pot of warm milk

Put the lid on the pot, wrap a towel around it and stick it in the oven for 6 – 8 hours* with the oven OFF but the oven light on (I KNOW!)

ps, yes, do close the door. Photo above is for illustrative purposes only. Do not judge my dirty oven. Also pictured, the pink sticky note I tack on the front of the stove that says “Leave light on!” because Andrew is a light-turner-off’er extraordinaire.

*I read that the longer you leave the yogurt wrapped its warm little blanket home, the more of a “tart” yogurt you’ll get. I left mine for 6 the first time and it was NOT tart at all. The next time it ended up being around 7 hours and it had a teeeeeeny bit of tartness. I think 6 – 7 hours is my preferred window but govern yourself accordingly.

I like thick, Greek style yogurt so I also strain my yogurt but if you like it runnier, you can stop now. You’re done. You have MADE YOGURT. Well done, you! Please put it in the fridge now, unless you like eating warm yogurt (HOARF)(UNFOLLOW).

I have strained immediately after the steps above, but I’ve also left it until the next day to strain (the first time I made it I timed things incorrectly and had to set my alarm for 4:00 am on A WEEKEND to take my precious yogurt out of the oven and put it in the fridge. Yes I did.)

Line a strainer with unbleached coffee filters (I had some on hand from my pre-Keurig days)(or use cheesecloth) and spoon/pour it in. It does take quite a while to drain all the whey out – hours, in fact. And if you do it juuuust right, TULIPS will grow out of your yogurt.

I left it a little too long this time and ended up with (nearly!) cheese – but no biggie, just stir some whey back in.

I keep my yogurt in a big Tupperware container and stir thawed berries & granola into a bowl of it each morning, but you can flavour the whole thing too – I think you have to do that after the 6 – 8 hours if I remember correctly but you may want to google that – I didn’t want to make flavoured yogurt, so the details didn’t stick in my head.

SO GOOD!

Let me know if you decide to take a crack at making your own yogurt – you won’t be disappointed, I swear.

Good luck, hippies!

Last year, as you may remember, I wrote about the things I’d like to accomplish this year. In a nutshell, those things were:

• Move.
• Buy a new car.
• Go on a vacation.
• Swim.
• Go snorkeling.
• Get myself back in better shape.
• Buy and learn to use a REAL camera.

I did not move. I did not buy a new car. I am not in better shape. I did not go snorkeling. I have an excuse for most of these things. No, really, I do. And I’m sure you want to hear all about that excuse, and the things I did accomplish.

Back in June, I had the opportunity to go to San Francisco for work. My best friend decided to tag along and it was as awesome as a week in San Francisco with your BFF can be. We ate at fancy restaurants. We walked for miles and miles and miles. We went on a wine tour. We shopped. We found a rice pudding restaurant. I’m not even kidding.

A week after I got home from San Francisco, where I spent money like a rich, drunken sailor on shore leave, I found out a big family vacation was planned for January in Hawaii. My brain instantly heard that record screech sound effect and Operation Stop Spending So Goddamn Much Money, LARA went into immediate effect.

We had thought about moving but there are a few things around here that need to be done before this place can be listed. Biggish things like replacing a rotting bathroom floor. Things that cost money to fix, money we just didn’t want to spend while trying to save for the vacation. Don’t get me wrong, when I’m lying on a beach in Hawaii in a few weeks, I’m going to think “This is WAY BETTER than a new bathroom floor!” I’m not complaining, I’m just making excuses. As I do.

I likely don’t need to explain why there was no new car this year either.

I did have a mini-vacation this year, to San Francisco and we leave on our trip to Hawaii this year, so that counts, right? Ehh, sorta. It didn’t occur while I was 40 but it was certainly planned, saved for and highly anticipated for the last six months of my 40th year. My 41st year. The Year In Which I Was Age 40. Whatever.

I DID get a new camera this year. I did NOT learn how to use it to it’s fullest potential – although I did take some pretty pictures, especially during the Olympics and in San Francisco (flickr linkage).

Speaking of the Olympics, I’m going to go ahead and call that the best part of my 40th (41st) year. You guys. SO MUCH FUN. I can’t even begin to tell you. It was fantastic and probably one of the best parts of my LIFE, not just of this past year. To have the world here, in my hometown, was amazing. The weather was amazing. Our athletes were amazing. And most of all, my city was AMAZING. For several weeks, everyone was dressed in red. Everyone was smiling. Strangers were polite to each other. You HUGGED strangers in the street. You laughed and cried and loudly sang the national anthem in public, and in private, standing in your own living room. It was the world as I wished it could always be. I miss it.

(This post took a turn. I told you, I’m cranking it out.)

This year. What do I want to do this year? Oddly enough, moving is kind of off the table now. We likely would have moved if we hadn’t had the vacation to plan, but now we are rethinking that idea. We like it here. We don’t have a lot of storage and we don’t have in-suite laundry, but we do have a lot. We have a huge, private patio. We are both within five minutes of work. The mortgage is completely manageable, which allows us to save for fancy trips and nice dinners and wine and other fun things. I’m not sure. I’m not sure where we’ll be next year.

I would still like to get a different car. My Corolla is boring. Reliable, and boring. I am not a car person AT ALL but I still think I’m more of a Volkswagen Bug kind of girl. I’d like to make that happen.

I will learn to use my camera this year. I will continue to swim. I want to go on another vacation.

Let’s not talk about the getting in better shape thing, OK? Let’s just not. I’ve held steady this year. I am no better off than I was this time last year, but I’m not worse off either. Any improvements I make in the coming year will be an improvement so let’s just say I will do my best to make improvements, small or large.

This time last year I was wringing my hands and wailing about turning 40. How did this happen! I’m so old! WOE WOE WOE and this is SO BAD OMG. And, of course, it was no big thing. I’m not stressed about being 41, at all. I’m reserving the next big age freak out for 45, so that when I turn 50 I have something to look back on and roll my own eyes at my own self about.

Please let me know if you notice any weirdness. Other than the usual weirdness.

What was a shift for me was looking up recipes with no consideration given at all to the fat and calories. I started with this recipe for Coconut Shrimp and quite honestly I have never, in my life, cooked with coconut. FATT-E-NING amirite?  The primal eating style not only allows cooking with coconut, but recommends it. Yowza.

I would absolutely try this recipe as written (with shrimp, der) but we had a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the fridge that had to be eaten, so I tried it with chicken and it was great. Here are the non-meat ingredients, taken from the page linked above:

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 – 1 cup organic virgin coconut oil for frying

(Coconut flakes AND coconut OIL OMG).

A couple of things:

• For two breasts (which I pounded out to flatten), I ended up with a little too much of the coconut/almond flour mixture.
• One egg would have been enough.
• I couldn’t find almond flour so I bought crushed (REALLY crushed) almonds. I’m not sure if there’s even a difference, but it worked just fine.
• I didn’t add the salt. I actually just forgot.
• There is no way, NO WAY, I used anywhere near a cup of the coconut oil. I purchased the oil for the first time yesterday and it came in a tub I found in the refrigerated section, so it was solid in the tub. I threw it in the pan about a teaspoon at a time and figure I used about three teaspoons.

The chicken browned up really quickly, but given that I never fry anything, I forgot that it would brown before it was fully cooked and the spinach was done and I was all “ACK NOW WHAT?” so I threw it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes and it may have been a tad overdone, but it was still really (REALLY) good.

As a side dish, I wanted to make spinach. I LOVE SPINACH a whole lot and I had it in my head to try something gomae’ish, but warm. Believe it or not, I actually had tahini in the cupboard (I think I once had an illusion I would make homemade humous HAHAHA YA RIGHT that happened).

I found this recipe for Spinach with Tahini – doesn’t get much easier than that. And yet I overcooked it when I misjudged the time it would take to fry+bake the chicken. That is your first warning about the picture I’m about to post. The second is that it’s just a shitty picture.

I told Andrew that I wanted to take a picture of our dinner, but he was starving, dinner was late, I am not yet a “quick on my feet” photographer and the lightening in the kitchen is horrible for photography (“photo-graph-ee”) apparently, so long story short, the photo sucks.

But, here it is: Coconut Chicken with Sesame Spinach (pretend the spinach is in focus, please).

I’ve just realized this theme doesn’t work super well with photos – it re-sizes them in a weird way, so I have to make them quite small. Time for a new theme, perhaps…

You know how I always say I’m going to start writing again – posting recipes, writing in general, and then I never do?

Hi, I’m back.

This time I’m here because of food. Again. But with a slightly different focus. Andrew has recently decided to give a new way of eating a try and I’m hopeful it’s something I can do with him – and can stick to and see results from.

For months now, Andrew has been suggesting we try a paleo diet. I took one look at it and said “NO SALT? OH HELL NO.” But the fact of the matter is, I need to do SOMETHING and he’s recently talked me into trying a diet way of eating called primal eating instead, which is a little less restrictive than the paleo plan.

The truth is, we already eat quite healthily. We were both raised on healthy, non-processed, non-packaged food but we’ve fallen into sloppier eating habits of late, as many do, and we need to correct that.

(I had a whole ranting ranty rant written in my head against the evils of processed food and how they’re SO! BAD! and why are so many people KILLING! THEMSELVES! with them? Then I realized that if I substituted “processed food” with “meat”, I automatically had to hate myself. I won’t go there, but I think it’s fair to say many processed foods are terribly unhealthy and it wouldn’t hurt anyone to eat less of them. I’ll stop now).

I weigh more than I should. Probably 30lbs more than I should, although if I lost 20 I’d probably be happy. My BMI tells me I’m Overweight and I don’t like that label, oh no, I do not. I know many people take issue with the BMI scale in general and I wholeheartedly agree that for people with large builds and heavily muscled athletes it is pretty unfair. However, c’mon – I am neither large boned nor heavily muscled so it’s pretty fair for me and I’d like to see my BMI back in the Normal range.

Andrew is convinced of the health benefits of primal eating, and being in the health and wellness industry, he does know a thing or two (or a million) about the way the body works. I’ve done some research too and believe that we’re already pretty close to this way of eating – with one caveat: at dinner only.

My downfalls are breakfast and lunch. I’m on the go all day. I don’t bring breakfast or lunch to the office, which of course leads to muffins (Bran or Egg Mc) for breakfast and Subway sandwiches or cafeteria pasta for lunch. This is going to change.

This weekend I prepared a big pot full of soup to take for lunch. It took me very little time to brown some lean ground beef and season it with chili spices (NOT the packaged stuff – have you SEEN the sodium in that? 1/6 of the package is 22% of your daily recommended sodium intake. 1/6!!) and throw it in the crockpot with a bunch of veggies. And it’s totally delicious – better than anything I’d pick up in the caf and I know what’s in it.

I also made some breakfast frittata thingies (in a muffin tray) that were insanely easy and are really tasty.  I’ll try to post the recipe and pictures the next time I make them.

Today, the first day on the diet way of eating went incredibly well. I ate my egg muffin frittata thingy for breakfast and had the soup for lunch. I also had a couple of small snacks and I’m happy to say I’m not hungry at all right now – really. Our dinner will be chicken breasts and spinach, which isn’t really any different than it normally is, other than I’m trying a recipe with coconut, which kind of scares the crap out of my trained by Weight Watchers brain (fat! calories! eeee!)

ANYWAY. Wish us luck.

I did try to lighten it up (a BIT) by using light coconut milk and browning the chicken in cooking spray and just a few drops of sesame oil (which is so potent anyway, not to mention there are a ton of other flavours in this recipe).

HOWEVER. I can’t say I was thrilled with how this turned out, honestly. I doubt I’d make this recipe (as written) again. So why then, you may ask, am I saving it? Well, we loved the flavours but the flavour…delivery was a bit – no, A LOT, off for us.

I like chicken skin to be crispy not…soggy. Our chicken skin was SOGGY and very SKIN-like and skeeved us out, and we are not picky food people in the slightest. We peeled the skin off as we ate (which, not a bad thing, sure) but it was just kind of a gross out.

And I did brown the chicken first, I did! I was tempted to skip that step because, honestly – WHAT a PAIN. But I did it and the skin was lovely and brown to start but the coconut milk hot tub destroyed any browning results on the thighs, drumsticks and wings. SOGG-AY.

I would, though, like to try the recipe with skinless breasts (boneless or…uh…boned), perhaps even in the slow cooker. Normally I’m a thigh girl but this sauce is so rich I’m thinking breast would be best.

Here’s the original recipe from thekitchn.com.  Changes noted:

• One 3-3.5 pound whole chicken
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• · 4 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons A few sprinkles of sesame oil
• 1 pound fingerling potatoes
• 2 cans (13 – 15oz) regular or light coconut milk
• 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 10 whole garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons chopped lemon grass stems
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 chopped Thai chili (I added this to the recipe myself)

• S&P the chicken according to taste.
• Heat the cooking spray and sesame oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken on all sides (just a few minutes per side).
• Put the chicken in an oven safe dish and add the rest of the ingredients.
• Baste every 20 minutes or so, for an hour to an hour and a half.

Next time I’ll try:

• Combine all ingredients, except the chicken
• Put a bit of the sauce mixture in a slow cooker or oven-safe dish
• Add skinless chicken (cut in pieces)
• Pour the rest of the sauce over the chicken
• Bake in the oven at 375 for about an hour, OR
• Slow cook on low for about 7 hours or high for about 4

I’ll try to remember to post an update if/when I remake this.

I’ve created a Posterous site strictly for sharing recipes, you’ll find it here http://purplelara.posterous.com/

I’ve also un-shared (!) the recipes previously shared in Google Reader, so if you were relying on finding them there, please either subscribe to my Posterous feed (by becoming a Posterous user yourself) or by grabbing the feed http://purplelara.posterous.com/rss.xml for your favorite reader.

And yes, sorry, I’m going to “Share” my own post in Google Reader (how déclassé!), just so anyone who was following my feed via Google Reader or RSS can update their feeds.

I’m excited about the new (again) recipes on my Posterous site, so check it out!

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

• Traveled cross-country by myself
• Shared living space with Andrew
• Joined a bootcamp
• Took swimming lessons (I haven’t done this since my mom registered me, so this counts as something I did for myself for the first time)
• Walked to work on a daily basis (this technically started December 22 of last year, but it became part of my life in 2009)

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I made the usual exercise more, eat less resolutions and for a time, yes I kept them. I have not maintained them over the last few months, which of course leads me to yes, I will make more for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

No.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, thankfully. I lost my beloved grandfather in December of last year, but no one in calendar year 2009.

5. What countries did you visit?

Just the good old US of A.  I went to Washington, DC in June and loved it.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A vacation!

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I don’t think there are specific dates, but periods:

• Quarter 1, adjusting to the new job (a huge change, as I’d been with my previous employer for over 16 years)
• Quarter 2, adjusting to sharing my living space, traveling to DC
• Quarter 3, a great summer
• Quarter 4, to be honest, feeling a little blue as my fitness goals slid, my travel plans fell apart and my 40th birthday approached

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Again, settling into a new job. Leaving my previous job was a huge step for me, and although that occurred very late in 2008, this year (at work) was all about learning new things, meeting new people and trusting that I did have something to bring to the table. My course in DC strengthened my belief in myself, since I scored 97.5% on the exam (which was pretty tough).

9. What was your biggest failure?

Falling off the exercise bandwagon, see next question for my excuse.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

In January I had a mystery hip owie, which I somewhat corrected through massage and physio. In June I joined a bootcamp, which was tough (and also a big achievement for me, I should add). I don’t think my knock-knee’d body is designed for running, and we did a lot of running at bootcamp and I developed plantar fasciitis, which, fuck – ow. It turns out the hip bone IS connected to the thigh bone, etc and so on. My core muscles are weak, which lead my hip to turn incorrectly, which makes my knees MORE knock-knee’d, which makes my arch fall, which lead to the fasciitis. Bootcamp, OUT!

I started swimming as soon as I quit bootcamp but haven’t kept to a very strict schedule in the last few months, which I regret.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My iPhone. Hands down, no question. I don’t know how I lived without it. It completes me.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Hmmm. Whomever is the opposite of Tiger Woods?

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

See above.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Lord, lord. Food and wine, likely.

15. What did you get really excited about?

My trip that never happened. Ugh.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

I’m going to have to go with Single Ladies because I spent all summer drinking and laughing on my patio with the boyfriend and the best friend and every time it came on, the boyfriend busted out his butt-slapping version of the dance and it is truly one of the funniest things you’ll ever see.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Happier.
– thinner or fatter? Fatter, but not by a lot.
– richer or poorer? Income, higher. Disposable income, lower. Go figure.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Swimming.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Chasing at windmills.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Brunch and stockings and my mom’s place, a quick visit with my dad, and then dinner with Andrew’s family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

WITH MY iPHONE!

22. What was your favorite TV program?

I discovered Mad Men on the plane home from DC and we immediately went on a Mad Men bender. I am in love with everything about that show.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No.

24. What was the best book you read?

Hmmm. I loved Under the Banner of Heaven, although it took me FOREVER to read (not sure why). I am currently reading the Book of Negroes, which is amazing.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Pass.

26. What did you want and get?

Love.

27. What did you want and not get?

A vacation.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Avatar 3D. I don’t say “literally” very often, but I “literally” had my mouth hanging open for most of the show. And I’m going to see it again before I go back to work on Monday.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

40! 40! 40!

My birthday and Andrew’s are within a few days of each others, which resulted in SIX, yes SIX dinners over the space of a week. We went out with friends on Saturday night, had his official birthday dinner on Sunday, my official birthday dinner on Wednesday, dinner at my mom’s on Thursday, dinner at his mom’s on Saturday and dinner at my dad’s on Sunday.

I need new pants.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A vacation.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

What fits?

32. What kept you sane?

Andrew. Swiming. Friends.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Fancy? That word seems to go well with a stiff Old Fashioned, so I’m going to go with Jon Hamm.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

I suppose same-sex marriage (mostly in the States, since we’re all good with that here). Honestly, CHRIST, who cares what other people do and why, oh WHY, can’t you see that YOUR values aren’t more important than someone else’s values? Live and let live. Also, shut up.

35. Who did you miss?

I missed my friends at my old job. While I know, 100%, that making the move was the right thing to do, I miss the daily interactions with them.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

I met so many new people this year, online and off, that I couldn’t possibly say.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

People who stomp their feet the loudest aren’t necessarily the most correct, but sometimes it’s better to let them think they are. By better, I mean easier on your own mental health.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I’m with Linda, I’ll use a quote instead:

A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life. – Muhammad Ali

At 40, I’ve learned a lot. But I still have a lot to learn. A lot to learn about myself. A lot to learn about other people. Hopefully I’ll continue to do so in 2010.