My 2010 Songs of the Year

Music this year more than ever helped get me through the rough patches.  I wanted to pay tribute to my  year in music good and bad and all the memories in between.

I chose whichever video I liked best, whether or not it actually belonged to the artist, no matter how bad, yeah its like that ;-)

If It Kills Me - Jason Mraz

What can be said about this song, I played it non stop post break-up for no apparent reason other than it got me through the days and nights.

White Winter Hymnal - Fleet Foxes

I have played this repeatedly for the last few weeks, it has become my fall/winter anthem and will always remind me of 2010

You Are The Best Thing - Ray LaMontagne

This is what Damian tells me everyday...the first time he said it to me I didn't realize he was referencing the song and I almost cried.   Ray has become our "thing" and it was difficult to just pick one of his songs but this was the one that still gets me every damn time.

Drumming Song - Florence + The Machine

This album in its entirety dragged me feet first out of my depression...this song pushed/pulled me towards Damian.  

Daylight - Matt & Kim

My happy song, my happy band, my happy concert, a great night, a great memory.  

The Minnow & The Trout - A Fine Frenzy

This is a SLP song...it was one of the songs that I instantly heard and reminded me of us and our differences.  Somehow even right after the breakup I could still listen to it.  The power of a truly great song I guess, it transcends it all.

Skinny Love - Bon Iver

This was my song with SLP...and posting this was the first time I'd heard it since the break up.     It was cool ya'll :-)  It will always remind me of him and the beginning, the good times.

Night by Night - Chromeo

I love them, they make my insides happy, make me want to dance and seeing Dave1 live was one of the highlights of my year, as was dancing to them in Austin with my boys.  Watching this video for the first time I had my mouth open and my tongue hanging out...there may have been some drool, maybe.

Hey Soul Sister - Train

As cheesy as this may seem this is the ONE song that made Taco and me smile in the midst of the worst depression.  It was on constant repeat in the car, in the house, wherever we could play it.  We shouted the lyrics until we couldn't anymore.  It helped get us through the summer.

Time Warp - Rocky Horror/Glee

This brings back several great memories for me Rocky Horror night at Z&L's, Halloween and the Glee Rocky Horror episode.  I am a HUGE musical fan and this is one of my all time favorites so having such a Rocky filled October for me was spectaish!! Its been on repeat for me since then.

Need You Now - Lady Antebellum

This became mine and Marisol's summer anthem...so much so that it's now her ring tone when she calls me.  Its such a good song to sing drunk at the top of your lungs.  Don't ask how I know that, I'll never tell.

Relator - Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson

I love this song, I love their voices together, I listened to this to get over it all and it helped.  He wrote the album to get over a break up and it helped me get over mine.  Thank you Pete.

The Light - Common

This one goes out to the Gerbil...thanks to the Antisteez crew I found this gem and fell in love.  Common is the one hip hop artist that I can listen to and appreciate no matter my mood. Despite that I hadn't heard this song...it was in their Birthday Podcast mixed in with other tracks and I couldn't get it out of my head.  I've been listening to it nonstop since then and I like to think it found me for a reason.  

Then and Now...10 years later

About a month I went to celebrate my high school best friends 29th birthday and we decided to retake a photo that we had taken on her 19th birthday.  It was a very special moment for us both because until a few months prior we hadn't spoken in three years.  There was a whole lot of miscommunication that occurred and we lost several years of each others lives because of it.  At one point she pulled me aside gave me a big hug and said how nice it was to get to celebrate her birthdays with me again.  I couldn't agree more.

Last night we got together, we celebrated the holidays together again, and it was great, like old times.  It was definitely one of the pluses of 2010 for me.  We said as much last night, we are looking forward to a new year and a new chapter in our friendship :-)

10 years ago - with my high school best friends

2010 - I think we've gotten better with age :-)

Wishing you all a Healthy and Happy New Year and
a wonderful 2011 filled with nothing but goodness!!

Things I didn't even remember I wanted To Do - x's 2 Electric Boogaloo

Here is a revisit on this the 27th day of the twelfth month of the year of 2010.  After my bout with depression, a terrible breakup, a year of money troubles, self discovery and finally ending on a high note I decided to revisit...lets see where we are at...

The Done List

√ Move on - I think any readers that are still around from when the blog started will remember the day I posted about this...it was a great moment to realize that I could be happy again.

√ Create my own embroidery patterns - I just did this for the first time this week, it was fun and challenging. Please Sir, May I have some more.

√ Fall in love with someone who can't live without me – It’s funny how people come in and out of your life and then you realize their purpose…Damian, yours is to be my other half.  You were mine from go and we had our own language from the moment we started talking.

√Play in the snow, like for real not the 1/2 an inch I played in - I've never been one to be childish and uninhibited...in NY this past February I couldn't help it.

√  Sell my nonsense on Etsy - I'm in the process of creating my store and getting stuff out there and I couldn't be more excited even if I don't sell a damn thing. 

√Kiss in the rain – The ex-boyfriend made this happen for me on my first visit to Montgomery. It was coming down, we were in his backyard listening to the crickets it was an excellent memory I will always cherish with him.

√Wake up when the alarm clock goes off - I still can't believe I did this. (although today I was 30 minutes late to work)

√ Do one thing just because it feels good, even if it’s not the right thing - I still can't believe I did this either. Oh CacaBear!

√ Show up to works 10 minutes early - Rare, but it's happened a few times in the last year. The look of shock on my bosses face is priceless.

√ Visit my grandmother more often – I love spending time with my grandmother and as she gets older I appreciate the moments I get with her even more.  I have taken advantage of those moments this year.

√  Send out holiday cards to all my friends and family - I wanted to make this happen 2 years in a row but I guess doing it once still counts for something, we did this again this year.  What!!!

√ Hold a lizard in my hand, most likely a tiny, tiny, tiny baby -  This just happened yesterday.  My sister caught a lizard in a napkin and asked if I wanted to release it and while it was technically in the napkin this is a HUGE stride for me in overcoming my fear.  I felt a rush of happiness once I successfully released the little guy in the backyard.

√ Try Yoga - And I love it.

√ Have someone ask me to dance when there is no music playing – The ex-boyfriend used to love doing this in his empty apartment.

√Take a spur of the moment trip – Austin.  Pure Joy.

√ Make the ultimate mix tape – I did this for the ex-bf’s Valentine’s present and he absolutely loved it, it included a song book with the reasoning behind each selection.  It was perfection.

√ Start reviewing books – I started and then I stopped, must continue.

√ Go on a vacation with close friends and don't worry about my regularly scheduled life while there- I've been lucky enough to do this twice now. And I wouldn't trade it for the world.

√ Swim in open ocean without wrapping myself around someone's neck (I know I'm ridiculous, damn Jaws!) - I still wouldn't put my back to open ocean but being able to be a grown up in the ocean was pretty awesome.

√  Get a tattoo - I've gotten three and the fourth is in the works, so is my quarter sleeve. I love that I've been able to find another way to express myself.

The Pending To Do List 

·  Live in a different country

·  Learn to drive

·  Open my own bookstore

·  Spend more time on my photography

·  Learn to play the piano

·  Learn proper French, not the crap I know

·  Start embellishing my own clothes

·  Spend a night under the stars

·  Take my mother to Egypt

·  Take a road trip across the US

·  Visit Cuba with my family ·  Volunteer at an animal habitat

·  Marry a nerdy, funny and adorable boy

·  Spend at least a month on my honeymoon

·  Start a family

·  Give said family (boys and girls) mini-hawks

·  Foster stray dogs

·  Watch less TV and spend more time on my hobbies 

·  Start riding my bike around the neighborhood to run errands

·  Love up a koala bear

·  Learn to ski

·  Read the complete works of William Shakespeare

·  Memorize sonnets

·  See Elton John in concert

·  Finish college

·  Practice random acts of kindness

·  Ski in Switzerland

·  Have a garden

·  Skinny dip

·  Live in the moment

·  Go on safari in Africa

·  Finally take a spin in my super awesome roller skates

·  Volunteer at a retirement home

·  Jump in puddles

·  Have better posture

·  Live one winter in a cold, snowy place

·  Write a song

·  Learn to ride a horse

·  Go on a picnic at least once a month

·  Paint for the sake of painting

·  Watch every Audrey Hepburn movie made

·  Spend a month in India

·  Document my life in photos

·  Stop drinking soda full stop

·  Give up cheese for one month, just to say that I can do it

·  Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity

·  Read every X-men comic ever written

·  Take Pin-Up photos

·  Move somewhere that I actually like

·  Volunteer at a food bank for Thanksgiving

·  Don't over think everything

·  Watch all 6 Star Wars movies in chronological order over 2 days

·  Read the entire LOTR series

·  Find that perfect house

·  Become a librarian

·  Take a trip with my sister to somewhere amazing

·  Write something for myself, just because I want to

·  Read one book a week for one year

·  Adopt a dog

·  Go camping in the backyard

There's still plenty left on the to do list and still many years ahead of me to accomplish them and to add even more to it :-)

A Vintage Christmas

It was perfect....

Vickie and Michy talking about girl stuff on the 23rd at Grandma's

Onesie's I made for my baby cousin Hunter

My sister Vickie

All dressed up on Noche Buena

Some of the fam serving up their grub, despite the Vegeterianism I had a delish dinner

Bumblebee Bailey dressed up for dinner

 

We had a slumber party at mom and dads

My Christmas socks

Bailey and her Tia

I love this picture of my parents they look like a modern version of the farmers

Waiting to open presents

The Little Haiti Ladies

My sister got me a Cruiser!!!

My dad's new bar sign

Taco's toe is too small for the sock :-)

Taco got my mom elf ears, of course she put them on right away

Bailey's new Christmas sweater

Gabe came by to open his presents

Taco got me an amazing t-shirt, if you get it you're awesome if you don't, tough cookies!

Eric came to visit

Christmas with Damian happened on the 26th, he was in NC with his family

It was worth the wait

My Yoda and Me

  

I've been wanting an Eggnog Latte for weeks, he made it happen. A Christmas miracle.

 

I love that face

  He got cold and borrowed one of my Cardi's I said he looked like Mr. Rogers
"Won't you be my neighbor"

My 2010

Oh what a year you have been. Filled with ups, downers and tons and tons of prescriptions drugs (all medically necessary). And memories for years to come.

This year for me was mostly downs the first half and nothing but ups the second half.  A year of growth, a year of realizations and without a doubt the single hardest year I have ever had to live through.  At times I felt like a pin cushion, a punching bag, an 80 year old women in the body of a 20 something and all I wanted to do was fester in bed.  Then I woke up. I survived it, and I am all the stronger for it.  I came through it with some amazing people, my family who stuck by me, a boyfriend whom I never expected to meet, didn't want to as a matter of fact, I wasn't ready.  Yet feel SO lucky to have met him that I am grateful everyday that he is in my life because seriously, what did I ever do to a deserve a man this awesome.  Most importantly this year I take with me some major life lessons learned and filed away in the memory banks.

2010

Celebrated Bear's 27th birthday with the girls at two of her favorite spots: PF Changs and Transit Lounge

We got all dudded out for Gala this year

Spent Valentines Day in NYC with Bear, Jackie and Mel

Old school slumber party for David's Birthday

Lived through knee surgery and the months of physical therapy that followed

Celebrated my 28th Birthday with the FUNNEST dinner ever

Celebrated Ayden's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's where we took the place over!

Had a weekend of fun for Taco's 30's

Dirty, Nerdy and Thirty!

 

Became a vegetarian (well really a pescatarian, whatevs)

Spur of the moment trip to Austin with the sis and Taco to see the boys

Nothing but good times!

 

10 year high school reunion!

 

Yani welcome's Baby Ethan!!

My snausage had surgery but spent 3 days at home recovering with mommy and is now all better

Went on a super fun roadtrip with my HS bff's

Spent the weekend reconnecting with my sister from another mother

Food & Wine Fest with people you've known for 15+ years = Drunken goodness

Family photos via Photobooth on a bored Tuesday

Matt+Kim because no one shakes their booty like Kim does

 

Tattoo number 3 was added in October

Halloween goodness at Z&L's and my official first date with the boy

FINALLY got to see Ray LaMontage in concert and it was worth every mother effing penny!!

Good times at The News for Mario's short lived going away

Although 5 glasses of Chardonnay was 3 too many

Celebrating David and all that is his genius artistic skill at The Bear and The Bird

Damian and I at Vickie's Birthday to do

   

Front and Center to see my man (one half of Chromeo) Dave 1 for Vickie's 30th

So close I could smell him

Ending the year with my boy and my BFF.

 

 

 

 

 

I am fortunate to have come out of this year a stronger person and more importantly a happier person than when it started.  I can truly say that with everything that I have experienced I know I am truly loved by everyone in my life and I thank my lucky stars that they have chosen to be in it.