Everything was possible in 2012

 
 Embroidery project by Cookoorikoo

2012 was a busy year. It feels like these past few years have been expanding at an exponential rate, especially since what seemed like a lull in the post college/first years of adulthood. I really got stuck in a rut during 2006-2010. Sure, big things happened, but it really feels like I got more involved with my own life in 2011 and 2012. Things worth thinking about happened. Things that make me look back and think, wow, I really got a lot of mileage out of the year.

In no particular order, here are a lot of firsts and other random events that happened in 2012:

• Ran my first 10K (in half a foot of snow, no less) 
• Started a new job (career, perhaps?) 
• Traveled to half a dozen new cities for the first time, and visited some I hadn't been to in a while: 
• Los Angeles 
• San Francisco 
• Albuquerque 
• Boston 
• Memphis 
• Atlanta 
• Portland 
• Washington D.C. 
• Houston 
• Baltimore
• Went to a casino
• Flew first class 
• Knit a sweater (for my nephew) 
• Became an Aunt (and met my nephew) 
• Completed my first Olympic distance triathlon, finished dead last AND still managed to place third in my age group (proof that showing up and trying is all you've got to do sometimes) 
• PR'd in 2 sprint triathlons, one of them by a whopping 19 minutes 
• PR'd a 10K 
• Went through two rounds of physical therapy 
• Marched in a Gay Pride parade 
• Lost a pet, adopted two new pets, and lost another pet. File under: realized just how precious those furry little lives can be, and just how much they effect us. 
• Rode the Santa Train 
• Knit my first hat (seriously) and my first cables 
• Wore the color orange 

The embroidery at the beginning of this post is by Shana aka Cookoorikoo, a gift she sent to dozens of friends at the beginning of the year.  Mine has been hanging unassumingly in my bathroom, just above the light switch, for the past year.  To me, it's been a daily reminder that every day of the year is its own adventure.

One of my goals (resolutions?) for 2013 is to try blogging again.  I always got bogged down by the process because I didn't feel like I had anything cool to say, or didn't have the neat picture to go along with the post, blah blah blah.  Well, I still feel that way, but I'm starting to learn to see the value in my daily living, and I've got a handy iPhone to capture it all without a lot of fuss.  No excuses.

I'll write more about 2013 later.  I don't want to burn myself out all on one post.