Hello my people! I never update this blog [UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE YEAR], but for some reason the moment struck me this afternoon and I figured I’d run with it before I lost all motivation.

There are two things I am coveting right now that I wish someone would buy for me. I don’t even care who.

1. Running medals rack – I have a bunch of race medals gathering dust in my jewelry box. I’d love a nice place to display them in my office!
2. A mini Coach bag for evening - I adore the Coach bag my husband and friends bought me for my birthday last year. I love it so much, I want another one for evenings out when my everyday bag isn’t practial. With Fall approaching, patent leather is making its comeback (hallelujah!) The chelsea patent small bag is adorable. Yes please!

I was watching Phantom Gourmet this morning and it made me remember a few restaurants I REALLY want to try.  I can never seem to remember them when I’m planning a dinner out, so I thought I’d use this post to remind me.

As I visit them, maybe I’ll update the list. Maybe I’ll even add to it when I hear about another good one.  Maybe I’ll even write a review. Who knows where this exciting adventure might take us!! (Yes, that’s sarcasm.)

Sweet Basil in Needham - Gets rave reviews from colleagues. NOTE: This place is cash only and BYOB.

The Restaurant in Woburn – Fun + casual + close to my house =  WIN

In a Pickle in Waltham – Has candy in its pancakes, holla!

Douzo in Back Bay - I’ve been here and its AWESOME. I want to remember to go back with the hubby.

Oleana in Cambridge – Upscale Mediterranean. Apparently has an outdoor patio that is fab in the summer. Comes highly recommended by former colleagues.

More to come as I remember them…

I realize 2009 ended like two weeks ago, but work and life have been busy so I’m just getting to this now. Bettah late than nevah, right?

I’ve done this the past two years – 2007 and 2008. I copied this originally from Jonniker and Sundry. 

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Ran a half-marathon!! It was such an amazing experience and I meant to blog about it, but never did. 

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

Here’s my related post from last year. Here’s the update:

1. GOAL = Be as healthy as I can be – Originally I thought I did okay on this one, but in reading it again, I realized I have some of the same goals for this year so I think we’ll just keep this as a life goal, yes?
2. GOAL = Clean up basement – CHECK.
3. GOAL = Volunteer more – Right now all my “volunteer” energy is spent through my professional association, but I’m hoping that once my obligation there is complete that I can get more involved in my community. 
4. GOAL = Finish blog posts about honeymoon – Oh good lord… this might never get done. Oh well. some things are not meant to be.
5. GOAL = Finish wedding album – CHECK
6. GOAL = Get a new digital camera – CHECK

I will probably make some… hope to update again soon with those details (two posts in one month? STFU!!)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes, so many, many little friends were born! Two closest to me would be Sarah (born to one of my best friends) and Mackenzie (my niece!)

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

None outside of the U.S. – I think this should be changed to states I visited, so here’s that list:

• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• Maine
• Rhode Island
• California
• Washington (state)

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

Not much really – I had a pretty great year. Maybe more sleep?

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

• Nov. 1 = my first half-marathon
• March 13 = Mackenzie, see above
• March 22 = Sarah, see above

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Accomplishing a half-marathon and running it FASTER than I expected. Also, taking on the President role of my local professional association. I am very proud of both and truly worked my ass off to do the best job I could at both.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Hmmm…not sure.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Yes, the klutziness continued:

• Hurt my foot falling off our new boat this summer and had a bruise and swelling for MONTHS afterwards.
• Tried to catch an Aveda bottle as it was falling – it cracked and cut me on top of my hand requiring three stitches.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

Our boat, Buzz Off!! Oh and new hardwood floors. They are so lovely.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

No one in particular (sounds cheesy to say my husband again.)

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

No one, I’ve been very lucky that way.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Beyond the boring stuff – the boat (hot DAMN boat and their crap are expensive), hardwood floors, and our personal training sessions.

15. What did you get really excited about?

Buying our first boat and taking our friends and family out on it. Running my half-marathon (hello, repetitive). Visiting my brother in Seattle for Christmas, something we’d never done before.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

All I can think of right now is “I’ve got a feelin’” by the Black Eyed Peas. I spent a LOT of hours running to that this Fall.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Same really. I’m a pretty happy person overall!
– thinner or fatter?  Stronger and more muscular, more in shape, but same fatness
– richer or poorer? Probably poorer considering the boat purchase.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Nothing really.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Again, nothing really (sorry this is getting boring.)

20. How did you spend Christmas?

At my brother and SIL’s house in Duvall, WA. The first Christmas Iwe’ve spent away from home EVAH. ‘Twas awesome – relaxing, fun and everything you could wish for in a vacation.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

Fell more in love with running!

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Oh so many: The Office, 30 Rock, Parks & Recreation, Nip/Tuck, Top Chef, Glee (so fantastic), and my newest guilty pleasure – The Jersey Shore!!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No – waste of energy.

24. What was the best book you read?

Umm… I’m sad to say I didn’t read an entire book all year. This is quite sad. Perhaps something to add to the goal list for this year?

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

This is awful, but “Shots” by LMFAO. I blame my brother completely for this one. Sorry.

26. What did you want and get?

A boat! My car paid off! New hardwood floors! (Trying out the exclamation points to see if that counter-balances the repetitiveness of my answers.)

27. What did you want and not get?

A new house, same as last year. This year we’re going to make it a priority.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

The Hangover. SO FUNNY!  Go see this now.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I packed for our trip to Seattle and ate at our local Chinese joint – we celebrated more fully once on our trip. I turned 32.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Nothing really – which says a lot about the great year I had.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Uhhh….

32. What kept you sane?

Same exact answer as last year: My husband, working out, coffee. I’ll add cooking to that list too.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

None really – George Clooney is still pretty awesome, but I didn’t have a real favorite this year.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Probably healthcare, but I wasn’t stirred to action, unfortunately.

35. Who did you miss?

Normally I would have said my brother and SIL, but we just spent over a week with them at Christmas, yahoo! So now I just miss my friends that don’t live locally.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Some great new board members for my prof association. No one else in particular comes to mind on the personal side.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

Control what you can control and don’t waste energy worrying about the things you can’t effect.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I can’t think of anything. Sorry am lame.

I’m not suggesting by this title that I never do things I regret - I definitely have small regrets. Like drinking just a weee-bit too  much wine a couple weeks ago ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT (seriously? I’m in my 30s, why did I not figure this out a decade ago), wearing unflattering pants because I was too lazy to buy new ones (yeah, there’s really no excuse for that one), and not keeping in better touch with friends/family (am bordering on the worst friend/auntie ever, but I can only do what I can do.) 

But at this given moment in my life, I am thrilled with the major life choices I’ve made the past few years. Let’s go over the list, shall we?

1. Accepting my current job – I am damn good at what I do, I love doing it, and I love where I do it. My company has amazing benefits, tremendous work/life balance, and yet challenges me every day (especially lately, as I’m now past my first year of “learning” and can actually contribute to more meaningful and high value projets. ) My boss is fantastic, my team is supportive, my commute is short, and I make enough money to support my life and my future. No, it is not perfect (no job ever is, I don’t care what you say), but I hope to be here for many years.

2. Marrying my husband – I wonder if he’ll take offense that this is second on my list…?  It should probably be first because I thank my lucky stars every day that he is in my life and that we got married two years ago. He makes me incredibly happy, puts up with my insanity (he even enjoys my craziness somehow),  and is always supportive. He knows me better than anyone on earth, sometimes much to my annoyance. And before you get all, “Well, duh, you’ve only been married two years, you are clearly still in the honeymoon phase” – we have been together 13 1/2 years. Stuff that in your pipe and smoke it.

3. Buying my car - Yes, I know this isn’t as major a decision as career and life partner choices, but still, I love my little RAV4 and have never once regretted spending like $20k+ on it and buying it new (quelle horreur!), which is saying a lot since I spend a good amount of time in it.

4. Becoming the president of my professional association – This is one of the biggest challenges I’ve ever taken on and there are some days where I question my sanity in accepting the role, but more often than not I am so happy I did. I’m learning how to be a leader, how to delegate responsibility, and how to let things go (not easy for an OCD over-achiever like me.) One of the best rewards is that my fellow board memebers are great people with whom I enjoy interacting and who seem to appreciate me as a leader. This is HUGE since these are my peers – my much more experienced peers in many cases.  This experience is making me even better at what I do and giving me fantastic connections in my industry. The benefits definitely outweigh the time commitment and small stress of taking on this responsibility.

So what’s the point of this post? None really, just felt like sharing.

Thing the first: My officemate calls anyone named John, “Johnnie,” which always strikes me as hilarious since the youngest of these people is in his mid-4os.

Thing the second: I really hate when people comment on my food when I eat at my desk, like “Wow, looks like a healthy lunch, whatcha got there?”  I don’t know why this bugs me so much, but I really dislike it. I’d rather they see I’m eating and come back later, quite frankly, which is what I do when I encounter the same situation. The challenging thing is that I eat at my desk almost EVERY DAY, so I don’t see this situation improving at any point in the future.

Thing the third: While I’m complaining, I really hate it when people give you a deadline on Monday that they need X, Y, or Z by Thursday, and yet start bugging you about it on Tuesday. If you wanted the damn thing on Tuesday, WHY NOT MAKE THAT THE DEADLINE!?!? Hmph.

Thing the fourth: I’m training for a half-marathon, which I am LOVING.  But I think its funny that people assume that because I’m a “runner” that I should be skinny, with a typical runner’s body. HA!  I am here to prove, once and for all, that you can be a runner, be training to run 13 miles (all at once) and yet continue to be pleasantly plump (especially if you like food and wine as much as I do.) Runners come in all shapes and sizes, and thankfully running is one of the few activities that requires little coordination (you are talking to the un-coordinated queen of the world, just ask my hubby or our trainer, who laugh at me on a weekly basis) and little equipment so many different kinds of people can do it. So there.