Happy New Year to everyone!
I celebrated the arrival of 2011 with a small brunch at my house on New Year’s Day. I got the idea last New Year’s Day while watching Down Home With the Neelys in my pajamas. Everything turned out well and everyone had a good time, including me. I was very pleased!
The Menu:
Honeybaked Ham mini-ham
Cranberry Orange Scones
Winter Fruit Salad
Spinach Quiche (I used roll-out piecrust)
Neely’s BBQ Home-Fried Potatoes
Cinnamon-Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake
…and Vanilla Bean Champagne Cocktails.
We also painted champagne glasses! More on that coming soon at Blissfully Domestic. :)
I’d like to make this brunch a new tradition! But NYD falls on a Sunday next year, so that might throw a wrench in it. In any case, it was a great way to kick things off. I’m excited about 2011 (even though prime-numbered years kind of annoy me). This is MY new year! :)
4 Comments + Posted in: celebrate
Runaway by Meg Cabot
I waited so long to read this conclusion to the Airhead trilogy that disappointment was probably inevitable. I enjoyed it, but felt that MC dropped to her worst writing tropes (i.e. headdeskingly clueless heroine) just in time to wrap up an intelligent, fun story. Maybe it was just me.
Anchored In Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash by John Carter Cash
I sort of relate to June Carter Cash as portrayed in Walk the Line, and was interested in the true details of her life and her marriage to Johnny. This biography was written by their only son and child together (they each had several daughters from previous marriages). I prepared to be inspired – and I was, but not in the ways I expected. After so much depiction of their relationship as a Southern fairy tale, I was saddened and disillusioned by some of the facts. But there’s no doubt that June was an incredibly strong woman.
Matched by Ally Condie
THE YA dystopian novel of this season – it’s sort of a more romantic teenage version of The Giver. For me, it suffered slightly from overhype, but overall I thought it was great and look forward to the sequels!
The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Rolling by Neta Jackson
My last book for 2010 – I stayed up late last night to finish it. :) I finally bought the last two Yada Yada books so I can finish the series. As with all the other books, the Extreme Diversity and charismatic influences are heavy-handed, but there’s no doubt that these stories put me in a more God-centered mindset. Plus, I always enjoy good individual AND group character development over a long period of time. One more to go!
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
In this novel, Frankie, a brilliant but underestimated teenager at a New England boarding school, beats her boyfriend and his buddies at their own secret-society game. I loved it. Most of the characters were the kind of smart, quick people I’ve always enjoyed hanging around. :)
Get Off Your Knees and Pray by Sheila Walsh
An encouraging, easily understandable look at cultivating a lifestyle of prayer. I LOVE Sheila Walsh – she’s so real and down-to-earth.
Books for December: 6
2010 FINAL TOTAL: 67
There’s been an obvious decline in my year-end reading totals over the last few years. I guess that’s what happens when you get older and develop more interests. And start subscribing to a lot of magazines. :\ But it’s been a great year of reading no matter what the numbers say. Yay books!
Add a Comment + Posted in: book reviews, reading
I’ve been filling out the same end-of-year survey since 2002. It’s crazy to see how much my life has changed over those years. This year was one of the most eventful. I have truly been there and back again.
1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Took a cooking class; took a picture of my outfit every day (in theory); taught dance to a group; made Julia Child’s boeuf bourgignon, and a cake with a heart in it; sewed something; left a church solely based on my own decision; joined an officially PCA church; hired a lawyer; got a divorce (which I fully hope and expect to be a one-time only event); joined a support group; refinanced my home and owned it as an individual; started a public blog; wrote to my Congressman; became a columnist (!!!). These are just the ones I can think of.
2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
My 2010 resolutions were “to scrapbook more, and to hand off at least part of my missions board ministry to someone else.” Well, I didn’t scrapbook very much, but I quit the missions board ministry even before I left my old church. I was also excited about learning to bake bread, and I did plenty of that!
In 2011 I plan to start a thankfulness journal, where I can quickly write down a few specific things I’m thankful for that day. I also got The Daily Writer for Christmas – I doubt I’ll manage to participate daily, but it’s a start. I also want to continue doing new things and taking chances. :)
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Overall this year was a baby lull. 2009 was full of births and 2011 will be too!
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My (great-) Aunt Betsy died fairly suddenly on June 19. She was 67.
5. What countries did you visit?
I didn’t leave the country, and I didn’t see any new states either. Next year will be better!
6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
An amazing, Godly man who loves me would be great, but overall I feel content with my life right now.
7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
May 17 was the day my ex-husband left. September 9 was the day the divorce was final. Those are the only dates my brain had room for.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Surviving terrible things and coming out of it healthier and more confident than I was before. Finally learning to live one day at a time. Does it get much bigger than that? Of course, the credit goes to God, but I can still feel a little accomplished.
9. What was your biggest failure?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say, for the first time ever, that I didn’t have any massive failures. I really think I acted and made decisions to the best of my ability this year. Of course I’ve made mistakes, but overall I don’t feel like a failure.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Just my nearly-chronic sinus problems. And insomnia, which I had never dealt with before. Not fun.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Emeril Lagasse tri-clad stainless steel cookware. I love using it and am thankful for it every day!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My entire family’s. They couldn’t have been more helpful or supportive. My dad especially has gone above and beyond.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Really?
14. Where did most of your money go?
Legal fees, travel, and house-related things.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My new couches. My sister and college roommate both moving back to Nashville after living far away. Getting together with a few online friends in July (we call ourselves SIPsters – the SIP stands for Scary Internet People :D). The Shelby Farms Greenline. And Myla’s wedding and new album!
16. What song will always remind you of 2010?
I already covered this.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? About the same.
c) richer or poorer? About the same, I think.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Productive things.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Facebooking in front of the TV. :P
20. How did you spend Christmas?
With my parents, siblings, and grandma at my parents’ house. It was good!
21. Did you fall in love in 2010?
No.
22. What concerts did you attend this year?
Paramore (with Tegan & Sara and New Found Glory) in Nashville. I can’t believe that’s the only one, but at least it was a great one!
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Lost. I still haven’t decided how I feel about the ending.
24. Do you dislike anyone now whom you didn’t dislike this time last year?
I guess, in the sense that I dislike people whom I didn’t know this time last year.
25. What was the best book you read?
Fiction: Rampant and Ascendant by Diana Peterfreund; Love Walked In by Maria de los Santos; Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld. Non-fiction: Plan B by Pete Wilson; A Circle of Quiet by Madeleine L’Engle; Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
My only real “new discovery” this year was Kate Voegele, who’s been around for a while. I LOVED the new releases from Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, and of course Myla Smith. :)
27. What did you want and get?
DVR – finally! New couches. A home weather station that works.
28. What did you want and not get?
A new bike. A new oven. Lots of intangible things.
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
I didn’t see many movies this year, but The Social Network really impressed me. Deathly Hallows Part 1 was also great!
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 31. I went to work. My friend Stacy took me to lunch, and my parents took me to Macaroni Grill for dinner. It was a nice, if uneventful, day.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not going through all that I’ve been through. Of course. But I believe it was deeply necessary, because otherwise God wouldn’t have allowed it, and I believe that someday it will all be fully redeemed.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
I made an effort to branch out with accessories this year. It went well.
33. What kept you sane?
My family and friends. This isn’t a pat answer. I have the best family and friends ever.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Sandra Bullock. I know that’s so cliché because this was Her Year and all, but her personal crisis was for the same reasons and almost on the same timeline as mine, and she’s been an inspiration to me. She’s maintained so much dignity and class, and not let her situation keep her from happiness or success, or from having a family! I also became a big Pink fan, both for her past two albums and for her general awesomeness.
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
The new TSA scanners. I was so impassioned that I wrote a letter of protest about them.
36. Who did you miss?
My many friends who live far away.
37. Who was the best new person you met?
I’ve met a lot of great people at my church, and I’m hoping to get to know them better!
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.
When you go through a major loss, a whole world of connection opens up. It’s like a vast social network that I never knew existed. People feel safe enough to share their own stories with you because they know you speak the same emotional language. Along the same lines, friends who understand grief have become much more precious to me. I’m really thankful for that positive “fruit” of hard times.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I’m through accepting limits ’cause someone says they’re so.
Some things I cannot change, but till I try, I’ll never know.
Too long I’ve been afraid of losing love I guess I’ve lost.
Well, if that’s love, it comes at much too high a cost.
– Defying Gravity, from Wicked
1 Comment + Posted in: reflections
I came across a quote that summarizes one of the biggest life lessons I’ve learned this year. I haven’t read anything else by the author, so disclaimers apply, but:
…When we are simply imagining chilling scenarios, we are facing the horrible emotions without any of God’s sustaining grace. Every time we imagine something, we put ourselves through agony of a kind we will never have to go through in real life. Because when awful things are actually happening, God walks with us through them and gives us His grace and strength. The peace of God’s presence through a trial is something I can never conjure up in my imagination, and something that only comes with real trials, not the pretend ones I make up while driving. Now I know the difference.
So today, when the what-ifs come darkening the clear skies of a quiet moment, I try to remind myself that if something like that were to actually happen, it wouldn’t be like I imagine it. I have no idea the peace, and strength, and grace the Lord would give me. I’m sure you’ve heard that trite little saying, “The will of God will never lead us where the grace of God cannot keep us.” It’s true.
5 Comments + Posted in: faith, quotes
This is my 2010 Christmas card! I love it. I designed on and ordered from Shutterfly this year. I figured I’d have more than enough cards, so I just breezed through my address book instead of making a list. Of course, this uncharacteristic lack of planning resulted in my running out of cards before running out of recipients. So if you didn’t get a card from me and feel you should have, I hereby apologize and present it in digital form.
Shutterfly was running a promotion where bloggers could post a picture of their card and get a code for 50 more cards free! But I kept forgetting to do it, and now it’s expired. Plus you had to order the cards by tomorrow, and I was planning to redeem them for next year’s cards. So I don’t know why I’m giving them this free publicity now. But whatev.