2010 in retrospect

What did you do in 2010 that you'd never done before?
Lots of things! Went on a cruise, went snorkeling, finished my Christmas shopping by July, and moved alone to a state where I didn’t know more than two people.

Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I didn’t make any in 2010, because I never keep them. But I think I will this year – I’m going to make goals for 2011 to finish specific things, rather than vague ideas of losing weight and writing more.
My main goal for 2011 is putting together a guest entertainer show.

What countries did you visit?
Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Cayman Islands, Mexico.

What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
Hah, 2010 has been a pretty good year. I would say maybe more stability, instead of a whole lot of transition. I look forward to moving into an apartment that I don’t plan to move out of within a year.

What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory?
April 4th. December 29th.

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
The cruise was fun, but moving to Minnesota by myself was really hard, and it has taken a lot more strength and adapting than I expected. I don’t know what exactly I expected, but I think I just didn’t give it very much thought before I did it.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
I’ve actually been way more healthy this year than ever! I got a huge cold in the middle of May. Emotionally, I recently suffered a large injury. But I will recover.

What was the best thing you bought?
Probably my bam violin case. It’s super light, and since I was travelling so much, it was really convenient to not kill my shoulder when carrying it around so much. Oh, and my new violin bow in august, it made me enjoy practicing a lot more.

Where did most of your money go?
Violinmaking tools.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The cruise, of course. Being able to travel so much from the comfort of living on the ship was just awesome.

What song will always remind you of 2010?
“I’ve Got a Feelin” Black Eyed Peas. And “Maybe We Should Fall in Love” by Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.

Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder? I filled this out last week, and I said happier. But I have to change it now. I am just as much a mess this time this year as this time last year.
thinner or fatter? Thinner, but not by much.
richer or poorer? About the same – still poor.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Playing the violin.

What do you wish you'd done less of?
Facebook.

How did you spend Christmas?
In Maryland, with my family.

Did you fall in love in 2010?
I did.

What was your favorite TV program?
I have to say 30 Rock is my favorite. I just love the characters. Runners up would be: Arrested Development and How I Met Your Mother. Oh, and Family Guy never fails to cheer.

What was the best book you read?
I really enjoyed the girl with the dragon tattoo series.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
Regina Spektor. David Garrett. Mumford & Sons.
Also, I hate to be dorky, but I re-fell-in-love-with Mozart.

What did you do on your birthday?
Ate pizza and played scrabble!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Winning the lottery :)

How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
“smart casual”

What kept you sane?
cheese, 30 Rock, tea, Matty, and Lauren.

Who was the best new person you met?
I met so many wonderful new people this year! Favorites include: Michael, Matty and Ashley, Lauren, Chad, Abby, the Dans, and Nik!

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:
“When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.”

Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
This one.

Merry Boxing Day

Thank you for my highest viewed month so far on this blog, over a thousand views for december! Stay tuned for a summary of 2010 that I will try to make witty and interesting.

Merry Christmas

and to all, a good night.

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the Hannigan ladies.

bein crafty!

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Home again, Hannigan.

(click on the pic for a tasty ear morsel of a tune that this cat always makes me sing.)

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Got stuck in the blizzard in northern Iowa and stayed there last night.

Today's itinerary:
Iowa to Red Wing to Minneapolis to Milwaukee to Baltimore. I'll be home for Christmas.

There is something simple and freeing about 

packing a bag for a trip and realizing 

how little one actually needs to survive.

[edit 2am] Made it safely. Delays and missing connections and finding connections, and flying into DC instead of Baltimore, and surviving most of a day on just pretzels and coke, and yelling at a random asian girl ITS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE in the middle of the airport, and babies crying all around me, and weary flight attendants lying to the parents and saying the children were doing so well. I'll just let your imagination fill in the details. 

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One more pretty Omaha pic before I head home for Christmas. Also taken by Boyfriend.

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Guest photographer: Boyfriend

It's a Merry Christmas in Omaha!

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iowa

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Another day, another dollar.

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I almost didnt post a picture today. I had nothing new to share with you. But then a package arrived in the mail, the ornaments I collected in my travels this year (and then accidentally left in Maryland when I moved to Minnesota)

People who travel a lot collect different things. A lot of people collect magnets. Some people collect shot glasses. Some collect salt shakers. Some collect currency.

I collect Christmas tree ornaments.

Here are my ornaments from 2010:
Cartegena, Colombia - We boarded the ship in March in Cartegena. We went from chilly Washington DC to muggy, humid Colombia. It was unreal, and we had many adventures leading up to it!
Cayman Islands - Unfortunately, I hadn't decided to collect ornaments before we went here. But it's a good memory - my first time swimming in water you could see through.
Puntarenas, Costa Rica - This was my favorite. I have very good memories here. The rocking chairs, horseback riding, the gang going ziplining, and eating so much food. the horseback riding again, and sincere thanks for not being a persnickety british girl. I will always have a fondness for Puntarenas, and I hope to go back there soon.
Panama - We only stopped here once, for about an hour, so I didnt get to see it except from the ship. Panama was one of the places I was most excited to see. My grandparents lived there in the 50s and my dad was born there. It was very humid.
Montego Bay, Jamaica - the place itself was disappointing, but the day was wonderful. It was one of my favorite days on the entire cruise.
Ketchikan, Alaska - The alaska cruises brought a change of pace. We were no longer in beach territory, but the huge mountains and lots of sunlight in an Alaskan summer. (the weather was spring-like, though)
Juneau, Alaska - repeating the same cruise 10 weeks in a row was not as exciting as the caribbean, but certainly not without its adventures.
Victoria, B.C. - This very lovely city had such charm. Good memories include: realizing that we docked too late on a thursday night to play laser tag, so we just ate a lot. Sneaking off in the 20 minutes that I had to buy Boyfriend's birthday present without him noticing. CANADA DAY.

I need to buy an ornament from Red Wing, MN, so that this time next year when I decorate my tree, I can laugh and then call up my buddies The Dans, Nik, and Abby, and wish them a Merry Christmas.

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a celebration needs cookies, and there are two wonderful things to celebrate tomorrow. 

The end of the semester, 

Boyfriend visiting, 

and cookies. 

I guess that's three things. 

Celebrate having cookies by eating cookies! 

today my life is full of 

violins, cleaning, cookies, chili, truffles, cheese.

all the best things. 

There is a surprise in this post - find it!

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Since a couple people asked about it, don't worry, it thawed out just fine. Here's what it looks like now :)

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Receiving a christmasy snow globe in the mail in -5 degree weather turns out like this:

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Maybe I'll build a snowman today.

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Today's a twofer. I promised that I would break my pattern of snow and christmas and violins, but also it is snowing very enthusiastically outside! and I'm very excited about how much it has piled up on my windowsills.

(and yes, those are the dumpsters out back of JC Penney. Romantic bedroom view, eh?)

So, you get a snow picture, and also one that I took in the middle of a roadtrip in October. I know posting it breaks the rules a little, since I'm supposed to actually take a picture each day. But I think it is cool, and I haven't shown it to anyone yet. Plus you can't complain, because I did post one that I took today. Anyway, here you go, in all its uneditted glory:

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I promise tomorrow's pictures will have nothing to do with violins or christmas - it just so happens that those are the only photogenic things in my life right now!

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It's the hap-hap-piest season of all. 

(sorry all my pictures are Christmas themed - I'm just really excited to give this particular present!)

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No christmasy lyric for this one. It's just my bench.

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Why your joyous strains prolong?

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brunch? for one?

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First real snow of the winter! We've gotten lots of "snow" but nothing substantial til today.
I woke up this morning with that child-like urgency to rush to the window and confirm my expectations that the world outside would be covered in glittery white, sunshine bouncing off every crystal, making even the dumpsters out back of JC Penney look lovely (the view from my bedroom window).

It was so. The next child-like instinct was to make hot chocolate, but the adult instinct was to go make sure they hadn't towed my car in order to snow plow our parking lot. There are signs up everywhere that say if your car isnt moved by 9am they will tow it. It turns out that this is crap. No one moves their cars, and so they just plow the road part of the parking lot, not the spaces themself. So, this left me to my adventure of the day: Clearing snow off of the car:

And then brave the roads to go (one block over) to target. I forgot my phone, and that freaked me out a little. Then I realized that if I get stuck, I'm less than half a mile from my apartment. And warmly dressed.

To update you on the success of my winter clothing preparations:
Boots – check! They were warm and cozy even when tromping through snow that was as high as they were.
Wool Socks – I only own one pair, but they definitely did the job right. (hint: Christmas present)
Long Johns – best. Invention. Ever.
Jeans – well of course. I’m not just going to go running around in just long johns.
Large fuzzy comfy sweater – check!
White fleece scarf – check! Both warm and pretty :)
Green winter pea-trench-coat – check! But what about the gloriously poofy down coat you just bought, you ask? Well, that one works beyond well, but its only 20 out there, so I knew I’d be ok with the sweater and the scarf and the peacoat. I mostly needed to be protected from the snow, since it wasn’t too very cold.
Hat – warm fuzzy, very soft black hat from Columbia sportswear – CHECK. Best hat in the world. I win.
Gloves – NOT check. Grr. I have a glove conundrum that has been ongoing my whole life. My problem is that I have child sized hands. They make ski gloves for kids, that would be warm enough. But they don’t make classy adult-looking gloves for kids. So I end up getting gloves that are slightly too big and still not warm enough. Maybe I’ll just stick to mittens.

So, the plan for the day: many hot chocolates and hot toddies and warm blankets and popcorn and movies, and I'm making a stew for tonight. Yum. I am very sad that Boyfriend has left and can’t be here to do nothing with me, but he has work to do, and so c’est la vie.

Oh, and,
here is my December Photo Project photo of the day:

as long as you love me so, let it snow. 

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But baby, it's cold outside.

(this)

December 2010 Photo Project

From this lovely person comes a fun and creative challenge: Taking a photo each day of December, leading up to christmas.
Ready go!

()

Belated Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving all!

I am thankful for:
Chris and Chris getting fired from the ship, so that this could happen:

Chocolate and Music

(I simply remember my favorite things)

I made truffles today, and they turned out so well and pretty that I had to take a picture of them:

Also, this song is one I love recently. It's glorious. So go listen to it.

Snow!

Two posts in two days? Unthinkable! But today marks the first snow of the year, and I always think thats a big deal. The times I miss my Maryland childhood the most are summer when its perfect for sailing, and this day: the first snow. Because no matter how much a pain in the butt snow is to a working adult, I can't help but get excited when I wake up and see the white sky outside and run to the window to see if there is any snow on the ground.  If I was a kid at home, Dad would've gotten the sleds down from the attic last night, and we would've turned our pajamas around backwards to help things along.

Then we'd go out and play in the snow.

What would we do? Play. What an odd concept that is nowadays. No one ever goes outside just to run around. It has to be justified as exercise. Or maybe, in the future, playing with the kids. But, never just playing for the sake of playing.

I doubt this snow will stay around very long. But next snow... I'm gonna play.
(and then I'm gonna come inside and drink a lot of hot chocolate with marshmallows)

Life update.

So I havent written a good, honest post in a while, to let people know how I'm doing. Just pictures, mostly, and events, no thoughts really.

School is going fine. (for a real school update, see my other blog: littleluthier.blogspot.com)

I have quit my bakery job. I wasnt getting enough hours, and even when I was getting enough hours, I was working harder than it was worth the money to do it. Even with the sudden end to meager, yet steady, money, it is still a load of stress off my back, more than I had even realized was there. Now I have time to work on violins. I have to say I really enjoy being able to do what I love for money. I realize how lucky I am.
I also realize that I am the sort of person who works best with deadlines. So I make them for myself. And to-do lists. I love to-do lists. Sometimes I put things on the list just to be able to check them off. (eat a piece of yummy chocolate. check! take out trash. check! win 500000000 dollars in the lottery. che- hmmmm..)

To-do lists are great for everyday life, but it's not as great for planning the future.
My future to-do list looks something like this:
     - Graduate MSCST.
     - Move back to Nashville.
     - Live Happily Ever After.

So, there are a lot of little sub-categories of those three things that keep changing on me (mostly just that third one), and it's a constant struggle to rearrange, re-adapt, rebeokwithhowthingsare.

In the meantime, I have recently bought myself a good winter coat and boots, so now I am prepared for the winter ahead, (snow in the forecast for tomorrow!) and a possible move to alaska in a few years.

Also, I'm looking forward to cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner in two weeks (any suggestions/recipe ideas?) and seeing my Love again (first time in three months).

Back to our regularly scheduled program

So, no one loves Duy Huynh apparently, but maybe a picture of me as a zombie will garner some comments:

the makeup

the boys

the girls

the turkey leg

Zombie Pub Crawl last month.

More love.

I recently discovered the art of Duy Huynh. I love everything he does, but these are a couple of my favorites:

Homesick Traveler

The Solo

Nevermind the Rain

Freedom

love.

Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening -Robert Frost


Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

fridays are my favorite

i really like violin history.

and pretty leaves. 

and motorcycles.

and settlers of catan.

and pulled pork sandwiches.

and sunshine.

and flannel shirts.

and laughs, even amid coughs.

Lonely No More

Say hello to the newest member of my family: Frontine.

I'm just mad about her.

Autumn

I am tired.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Just a few things on my plate, blurb style since I don't feel like connecting everything artistically:

-I started my job today. It's very cute. I make sandwiches and then make them pretty and then bring them to people. It's a simple job, yet some people would be so bad at it. Fortunately, I am just OCD enough to be good at it, yet not OCD enough to go crazy over it. I realized today how much random work experience I have, and how it's all very useful things. The chocolate store, music & arts, waiting tables in nashville, boat detailing, concessions at school, the violin shop, the cruise ship, and now this tiny bakery. I feel like I'm forgetting something. Anyway. Fun. And fine. Also, getting free bread is the best.

-My car is still in the shop, but I am all for unintentional exercise.. most of you know how I feel about the intentional kind. That said, I'm thankful that my car decided to take her three week vacation during the loveliest time of year. I got to walk two miles home from work today, since I didn't have time to go get my bike between my class in the morning. It was gray but not raining, and the temperature was chilly but not uncomfortable, so it was fine.

-I had a rather long and frustrating wrassle with a wireless router this evening. It did not do what it said it would, and I felt two generations older than I should, in trying to deal with it. All of the sudden, it magically worked. I still don't quite know what changed.

-This coming Monday, everything changes, classwise. It'll be exciting, and I will update the little luthier blog for you then! We are learning exciting things about bows and varnish - the two things I am particularly interested to learn. (Come October there will probably be some ebony apathy)

-I have no more words. The end!

A Series of Interesting Events: Pt. 2. Biking

Today I biked about 8 miles on the Cannon Valley Trail. The weather was perfect. Sunny, warm (but not too warm), and the bluest sky you've ever seen. I decided to just go until I got tired, and then turn around and come back. It was really, very lovely. There were surprisingly few people out for such a beautiful Sunday afternoon, so I mostly had the trail to myself. There were a couple pull offs with cute benches overlooking fieldy scenery. Unfortunately, if you stopped moving for too long, the mosquitos would get you and eat you alive. So I only stopped briefly to take pictures. Here yar!

apple orchard banana cat dance 8663!

Today, my friend Abby from school and I drove down to Lake City (the next town over, about 15 miles away) to go to the Pepin Heights Apple Orchard. She texted me early in the morning asking if I wanted to go, and even in my sleep I replied definitely! 

Sweet Tango and Honeycrisp are the two kinds that draw people to this orchard, although there are other kinds. I bought a small bag of the Sweet Tangos. I am eating one as I write this, and it is more delicious than I even expected. It is crisp, and sweet, with just a hint of tart. And the fact that it came from a local orchard instead of the Walmart produce section just makes it so much better!

There were also cider samples that grabbed all of your senses at once and forced you to buy a jug. I couldn't resist it. One sip, and you close your eyes, unable to deny that this is how cider should be. Looking forward to hotting some up on the upcoming chilly nights!

My favorite time of day

Being back in school, and actually having a schedule of daily 8am-4pm instead of scattered classes here and there, I have revived the old tradition of the "after school snack." It is a wonderful way to unwind after classes but before starting up work at home, since it is still a few hours before dinner.

Today's (and most days lately) snack is cheese on triscuits. I should admit that the triscuits are actually the Target brand kind. Although I am a very loyal triscuit eater, I decided that a box of fake triscuits at half the price of a box of real triscuits was something I should at least try. They aren't quiiiite there, but add the cheese and its just fine. Anything salty and crunchy is my comfort food, especially popcorn. But triscuits run a very close second to popcorn. Townhouse crackers with cheese will do in a pinch.

(Note: I made it black and white in order to appear classier. Also, yes, I have 9, because when my food is square-shaped I am more OCD than usual)


In other news, the weather has taken a turn for the colder, and the locals are assuring me that A. this is unseasonably chilly, and B. it really is still summer. I'm sorry, when its in the 50s, its Fall.
I'm dreading the winter, and I'm expecting it to get a lot worse before it gets better. I'm counting down the days until March.