Goodbye 2009.

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It's been a long December but there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last...

Another year survived... another decade past. Closing out 2009 closes out many chapters of my life and 2010 brings many new beginnings. It reminds me of an old favorite quote from Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the last line of Save Me the Waltz:

"I just lump everything in a great heap which I have labeled “the past,” and, having thus emptied this deep reservoir that was once myself, I am ready to continue."

I am ready to continue...

18: Shop

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Online or offline, where did you spend most of your mad money this year?

I honestly have no idea, but I suspect it was Banana Republic.

17: Word or Phrase

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A word that encapsulates your year. "2009 was _____."

Eye-opening.

16: Tea of the Year

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I can taste my favorite tea right now. What's yours?

There are really two teas that characterize 2009 for me--the first is the Fairmont Empress's inhi Victoria, BC, Centennial Blend. I actually first tried it in December 2008 (The Fairmont Empress's actual Centennial) but since I gave my roommate a small tin with bags for Christmas, we enjoyed it throughout my final few months in Vancouver.

Also, there was an apple/hibiscus blend of tea at the coffeeshop we would always mix into other teas. You could also eat the dried apples out of it... very fun.

15: Best Packaging

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Did your headphones come in a sweet case? See a bottle of tea in another country that stood off the shelves?

The most exciting was when I came home and there was a bright pink RueLaLa box sitting at my door. It certainly was attention grabbing... I'm happy no one stole it because it was my brand new Lululemon yoga clothes for the Bikram I had just picked up a few weeks earlier.

14: Rush

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When did you get your best rush of the year?

Dogsledding in Churchill. To be flying across the tundra, trusting a team of huskies not to flip the sled and not throw you into a tree. It truly was incredible... I even got to tell them to "Mush"!

13: Best Change (Place)

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What's the best change you made to the place you live?

Having a place all to myself! I really got along well with my roommate in Vancouver, but I've had some not so great roomies in the past. It's nice to be able to do whatever I want, whenever I want. If I want to leave a dish in the sink or wash them all immediately, it doesn't matter. Or if I want to blast music in the morning or keep the temperature absurdly low, I can!

12: New food

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You're now in love with Lebanese food and you didn't even know what it was in January of this year.

Ethiopian food. I love the spicy, complex flavors and the fact that all your food is severed on a giant edible plate of bread.

11: The best place

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A coffee shop? A pub? A retreat center? A cubicle? A nook?

Vancouver. I could name a number of places that I can still imagine myself sitting, happily looking up at the mountains on the North shore or out across the Georgia Strait. Anywhere from a bus stop across the street, to Stella's, my roommate's living room with the fire going, a coffeeshop in Kitsilano, the bubble tea place, the bench down the street from my coffeeshop, the BC Ferries.... if its on the lower mainland, chances are its on my best place list.

Maybe I'm just disillusioned because I left before I was ready... but in my memories, Vancouver equals happiness.

10: Album of the Year

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What's rocking your world?

Hands down, greatest find of the year is Lights. I found her on the Vancouver radio station I love so much in early 2009. They would play her all the time. All that's been released so far is her EP but I could listen to the 5 songs on it over and over. Just discovered she HAS released a new album (thank you Pandora!).

9: Challenge

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Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

After leaving a city I truly love and wish I could have spent more time in, I battled doubt and fear of finding a job in a failing economy. I moved to a different city and battled loneliness and unhappiness of trying to find my place here. With the year closing out, I battle new challenges of rediscovering and focusing on myself amidst painful changes.

I don't know if any of them could be called "the best" as I am still trying to figure out where I belong and where I'll go from here... but I certainly grew and will continue to grow through all of these challenges, no matter how minuscule or catastrophic they may seem.

For all of the challenges of 2009 and those coming, I've been so thankful for the love and support of my family and friends.

8: Moment of Peace

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An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

At the farthest edge of the earth I've ever been to, in Churchill, Manitoba, standing on the edge of a frozen Hudson Bay long past when all the residents had fallen asleep. We were hunting Aurora Borealis, but the silence was astounding and I can honestly say I've never seen so many stars in my life.

I could feel every ounce of the bitterly cold Arctic air that I took in as I stood on the frozen banks and stared up at the sky, willing the ancient Inuit spirits to send the lights. Unfortunately, that night they didn't, but I was able to stand there and just be aware of how small and insignificant I really am in this world compared to all that has come before and all that will come after me.

7: Blog find of the Year

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That gem of a blog you can't believe you didn't know about until this year.

I've found several little blogs I love love love and ready every day, but one that I always look forward to is the Missed Connections NY blog. Sophie creates artwork out of the Craigslist "Missed Connections" section... that section already makes me think when I peruse it, but Sophie brings to a whole new level with the art to go along with the word. I love it.

6: Workshop or Conference

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Was there a conference or workshop you attended that was especially beneficial? Where was it? What did you learn?

I wish I had attended anything of value this year.... as I think back through 2009 I realize the couple of years before were much more eventful. Although I'm not exactly completing the prompt (because I can't), maybe this is where I promise myself I'd take at least one workshop in 2010 to enrich my life and better myself.

5: Night Out

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Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

I'm glad I held off on this one... this is one of the ones I am passing on for now. I may or may not come back to later.

4: Book

(Anna Inghardt, via Decor8)

What book - fiction or non - touched you? Where were you when you read it? Have you bought and given away multiple copies?

I'm almost ashamed to admit I haven't read a lot of books this year. At the beginning of the year I really got in to the Sword of Truth series and read some personal finance books like Your Money or Your Life, but I think I've read some great books at the end of this year as well. I read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows which was a great book about post-WWII life on Guernsey Island, as well as a glimpse into the occupation of the channel islands during the war.

I also read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, a humorous look at the apocalypse. An angel and a demon who actually enjoy earth and don't want it to be over have to find the misplaced Antichrist, stop the four horsemen and overall stop the end of the world.

Lucky number 13!

I'd like to interrupt your regular broadcasting to inform the world that I actually won a contest! I hardly ever win anything... Yay!

I won the Prismera Design Giveaway on Modish by commenting and having my comment number randomly selected... and that was number 13! I always knew I liked it... :)

At any rate, I love love love the necklace and had contemplated just buying one from Prismera Design, but unfortunately can't be spending really any money at all on jewelry. I've been looking for something I can wear all the time, and I believe this piece to be just that. Happy Friday to me!

3: Article

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What's an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious'd and reference throughout the year.

Hmmm... this is a tough one. The best article I read all year? I don't know about article in a newspaper/magazine/etc, but I'm fairly certain if it was a blog post it came from Get Rich Slowly. I might not access the same post all the time, but I have read every single article, shared a considerable amount with friends and go back to them over and over again.

2: Restaurant

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Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

This is a tough one, because obviously I've eaten at quite a few restaurants this year! One that sticks out in my mind is when the bakers from the coffeeshop went to this place on S. Main called Grub. They had awesome punch and vegetarian food!

What made this night so memorable is that it had just snowed recently and since Vancouver isn't used to getting snowed on, everything shut down! I waited for a bus for almost an hour and was late. I wore my snow boots and ran around trying to get there. Luckily, I wrote down the address wrong and arrived at my destination about 20 blocks before I was anticipating.

It was a great night with all the bakers and I ended up spending the night with one of them because I couldn't get home and had to be at work at 5:15!

1: Trip

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What was the best trip of 2009?

For me, 2009 was full of amazing trips. In February, my mom and I embarked on a 2,600 mile road trip from Vancouver, BC down through Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and New Mexico before arriving back in Texas. We saw two national parks (Giant Sequoia and the Grand Canyon) and I completed two items on my life list (#64 and #26). It was definitely one of the greatest adventures.

Prior to that great journey, I had flown to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and there I took a 43 hour train ride to Churchill, on the Southern bank of Hudson Bay. In Churchill, it was -20 degrees celsius--by far the coldest weather I've ever been in-- and was the farthest north I've made it so far. At 58N, the town of about 100 is located on the Artic Tundra and can only be reached by rail or air. In the fall you can see polar bears and in the summer beluga whales.

I didn't get to see either, but I got to knock 3 items of my life list (#24, #36, and #63). Dogsledding across the tundra/borealis forest was an incredible experience. I got to see an inukshuk on the shore of the Bay and on the last night the sky was full of dancing Aurora Borealis. We made friends with the locals, attending a "meat draw" with some local researchers and drinking tea with the owners of the only true B&B in town and our dog sledders, where we met Isobel, the blind sled dog.

I'm thrilled I took the chance to go up there, because I doubt I will have the opportunity to again. With global warming, the winter is shorter, the polar bears are hungrier and the entire town's livlihood is threatened.

Best of 2009 Blog Challenge

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In an effort to step up my blogging as I've been slacking lately, I am going to participate in Gwen Bell's Best of 2009 blog challenge.

Since I'm a couple days behind, I'll do them sporadically... some days there may be none, some days there may be three, each in a different post. It's finally occured to me that I'm in the last month of a decade. The last decade that ended, I was an eighth grader and more concerned over what Y2K meant and how soon Christmas break would be coming than anything else.

So here's to a fun beginning of all things 2009!