Archive for December, 2008
A New Year’s Questionnaire
Dec 30th
I saw this end of the year questionnaire on Du Wax Loolu, and thought it looked fun and thought-provoking. So I totally copied it (although she did too, so I don’t feel bad about it).
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
I got married and was a maid of honor in someone else’s wedding. This was definitely the year of weddings for us. I also got down to a weight I haven’t been since I was starting college, which was awesome.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t know that I had any specific resolutions. I wanted to lose weight and be in shape for the wedding, and I was close to where I wanted to be. I wanted to network more and meet new people. I haven’t technically met any new people that I’m now friends with, but we’ve gotten to know some people better, and I am really happy about that.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No. But 2008 is looking to be a good year for that!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
Canada. I even drove through Quebec, which is quite the adventure if you’ve never taken any French.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Motivation. That’s pretty much it. Motivation to eat healthier, work out, get stuff done…
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
June 7th (our wedding day), and November 4th. It’s been a great year.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Getting our thank you notes out in a timely manner!
9. What was your biggest failure?
Gaining back all of the weight I had lost before the wedding. I could blame moving to a place where it takes me 1/2 an hour to get to the gym we had a membership at, but that wasn’t the real problem. I just got lazy about eating and working out.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Like Jess, we got a lot of really fabulous gifts for our wedding, and those are my favorite things we acquired (Kitchenaid mixer, Wii, etc). I guess the best thing that we bought ourselves is probably the camping gear we got, although we did use wedding money for some of it. We have a new backpacking tent that I really like.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
I’m going to quote Jess and “say that the American voters’ behavior on November 4 merited celebration.”
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I think one group is obvious – whoever was responsible for the racist crap and the spread of misinformation during the campaigning process. But also I am appalled at this whole Caylee Anthony case and the fact that her mother has been such a jerk about the whole thing.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent and car payments. But it’s totally worth it! I love my car. Also, I don’t know why I can’t make this section not bold. Gah! I figured it out in HTML because I rock. Or something.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Our wedding, my road trip out to New York for Gwen’s wedding, the election.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Cannon in D, and “The Way I Am” by Ingrid Michaelson
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?
b) thinner or fatter?
c) richer or poorer?
Happier, fatter and richer. Happier because this time last year I was worried about my friends Nicole & Matt a lot, and was stressed about wedding stuff. Now they are pregnant again (congratulations, guys!) and I’m happily married. And we aren’t so much “richer” as we are better at managing our money. At least most days. The fatter thing I’m hoping to start working on next week when I go sign up for a gym membership near our place.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Going to the gym. And as much traveling and visiting as we do, I wish we could do more of it.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Sitting around on the couch. After the wedding, when I suddenly had lots of free time, I loved to be able to just sit and relax. But that has turned into extra weight that I really don’t want or need.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents’ house in Badger with my siblings and their kids. But we are doing Christmas with Ryan’s family this coming weekend, and I’m looking forward to that too.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I fell even more in love with Ryan. Does that count?
22. What was your favorite TV program?
The Office. Hands down. Although I do love House, Bones, Battlestar Galactica and Jeopardy.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Not hate, no. Dislike strongly, yes. Unfortunately.
24. What was the best book you read?
I read a lot of fabulous books this year. I think my favorite is probably one of the Allison Weir books I read about Henry VIII’sdaughter, Elizabeth. But I also really liked some new books I was introduced to by some friends of ours that I never would have picked up on my own. The Secret History was especially interesting. I also read The Host, by Stephanie Meyer, before the Twilight books became so popular, and that was a really good one too.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
We got a mixed cd with a wedding invitation this year, and it was full of really awesome music. I must have listened to it 4 or 5 times on my trip to New York.
26. What did you want and get?
Married, and pretty much everything else I wanted that was within reason. I was totally spoiled this year.
27. What did you want and not get?
A house, a million dollars, a pet. Some of those things will come with time, though.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Probably Get Smart. But I didn’t see many movies this year. I did like the Dark Knight, which I finally just saw a week or two ago.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
We celebrated by going out to Old Chicago with some friends for dinner, and then Serina and I stopped for a martini (the fruity kind) and then at the liquor store and then we went home and had ice cream cake and drank 40s of beer because we are KLASSY. On my actual birthday (the next day) we went backpacking in the rain on the Superior Hiking Trail.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Nothing that I can think of. Unless we had won the lottery or something. But seriously, this was a great year for Ryan and I. I guess I would have enjoyed it a bit more if everyone else wasn’t so down about the economy and stuff, but I can’t blame them.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Some people have a “personal fashion concept”? That’s a novel idea. I guess mine is to always go with my sisters, because they have immensely better taste than I do and are better at picking out clothes that might actually fit me. Why that is, I have no idea.
32. What kept you sane?
Ryan mostly, and having good friends in town. Some of them even live next door, which is AWESOME.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I don’t really get celebrity crushes. Jim from The Office, I guess?
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
All of the ones connected to the election. I’m copying Jess here again.
35. Who did you miss?
My family and friends who don’t live around here. I don’t know why Maryland, Delaware and New York have to be so far away.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
I met a few new people this year – mostly friends of friends. It would be hard to say who is the best, because I don’t really see any of them on a regular basis.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
I learned that sometimes you have to do things that you don’t want to because you know that in the end it’s the best decision for you. And that can suck, but it’s important to do it anyway.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I don’t know any song lyrics. Just kidding. I just can’t think of one – especially that sums up my year. The only song lyric I can think of at the moment is “If I had a million dollars, I’d be rich!” I love that song.
Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you enjoy it with friends, family, and a good drink!
Christmas Cards? What?
Dec 22nd
I’m pulling a total copout and pasting the email I wrote to our family and friends here as my Christmas message. Like any of you hold me to high blogging standards anyway! ;-) Merry Christmas, everyone!
You know how you start off the season with all those good intentions? “I will make lots of cookies, and get all my shopping done early, and get cards out to all those friends and family that we don’t see nearly often enough.” Yah…I started off with those too. And then life happened, and here it is the Monday before Christmas, and while I accomplished 2 of my goals (all my shopping was done last week, and we got together with some friends and baked cookies a couple weekends ago), I have not yet done Christmas cards.
Of all the years to not send a card, I could have picked a better one. This has been a truly great year for Ryan and I. We got married, moved into our first apartment on our own, and have generally had a very blessed year. I apologize for not being more on the ball with this one. Next year, I’ll try to get it right! ;-)
We hope that you all have a very blessed holiday season, and good traveling or visits or whatever it is you are doing to celebrate. We will be heading up North for Christmas with my family, and then down the weekend after for Christmas with Ryan’s family. Lots of traveling, but it is definitely worth it!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!
Love,
Becky & Ryan
Insecure
Dec 18th
Sometimes I worry that people that I like or think are pretty cool people don’t really like me because I don’t get as many comments on facebook as other people do. And I totally recognize that this is completely stupid, and has no bearing on reality. But obviously I’m totally insecure when it comes to facebook. For some reason I am especially sensitive about this in regards to people I knew in high school (who to my totally jaded eyes seem to all be visiting with each other on facebook – again, I know this is rediculous). Why am I like that? And how do I fix it, because I know it’s dumb?
On another note, I am completely wiped out this week. I haven’t gotten home before 8pm yet this week, due to volunteer work and hanging out with a couple friends. I need to go home and just veg out after volunteering tonight, but our dishes haven’t been done all week (at least we haven’t been home to make a bunch more), and laundry needs to be done. So no vegging for me. I am really looking forward to the weekend.
I have no idea what to title this
Dec 11th
I’m laying around at home watching HGTV while Ryan is at Sam’s place watching The Dark Knight. I keep thinking that I should update the site, but I don’t know what to talk about. Ryan and I have been busy, but not with anything interesting (I assume that your eyes would glaze over faster than Ryan’s do if I told you about all the non-fiction books I was reshelving at the library). We did join a bowling league with some of my coworkers, so we’ve been making it to that about every-other week, and that’s been fun. Neither of us are great bowlers, but neither is anyone else on the team, so that’s ok. It’s more about getting out and hanging out with people.
We went to Ryan’s company Christmas party last weekend in Grand Rapids. It was pretty fun – since it was out of town, we stayed over night at the hotel they had it at (at a reduced rate! Score!). They had great food, and it was fun to hang out and visit with some of his coworkers. They are some pretty neat people. And the after-party is always a good time!
My work party is next Friday, and should also be fun. Spouses aren’t invited, but we take a half day off work for the actual party, and then spouses join us for the “after party” at one of the bars in town. It is a good time every year.
I am mostly done with my Christmas shopping for this year, which is really unusual for me. But for some reason this year I had some decent ideas of what I wanted to do early on. That and some of it is a lot easier. My sisters and I are doing a white elephant type of exchange rather than buying gifts, which should be fun. And it meant I didn’t have to buy anything, which made it a lot easier.
My train of thought process isn’t really working today, so none of this is really connected, and I don’t really know where to go from here. It’s interesting that now that I have more things technically going on, I have less to say about it. I think I’m going to be ringing a Salvation Army bell with some coworkers next week. Maybe that will provide some good stories of interesting people. Also, don’t ask me why I’ve suddenly decided to donate half of my free time to random stuff. Ryan told me I needed a hobby, and I figure that since we don’t have money to donate to causes I should donate my time instead. Or something like that. Anyway, it makes the weeks go by really quickly…so summer should be back before I know it, right?!
Oh, and I’m getting highlights for the first time ever professionally next week. I’m kind of excited, but nervous too. I’ll try to post a photo afterward. If I can remember how to do that. This is all a little too complicated for me.
Tell me how scatterbrained you are this holiday season. It will make me feel better about the randomness of this entry!
