Year in review, rear-view......

It's that time of year again! Join Dana and me as we do a little reviewing, a little rear-view searching on what was great, pathetic, amusing, tragic, and even unusual. Even you can do a little 2012 reviewing if you'd like. Here are some questions that we'll answer day by day. This is an old dusty bloggie, but I promise to give a nice, pertinent answer everyday in December. On a related note, most answers will be relative to 5309 Fonda Ln and that little fingerprint ring on my left hand! Here are 31 questions to guide the way!

1. When were you most grateful?
2. What was the most delicious meal you ate?
3. Where did you visit this year?
4. What was the best book you read?
5. What were your favorite songs?
6. When did you celebrate?
7. What astonished you?
8. Where did you spend your money?
9. What was your favorite blog post...that you read or wrote?
10. When did you take the easy way?
11. Who has been your teacher this year - officially or unofficially?
12. What rocked your world, changed your life, shifted the ground beneath your feet?
13. Most bizarre conversation of your year: script it. Use pseudonyms if necessary.
14. What cracked you up?
15. Where'd you find the best cup of coffee (or tea, or wine, or beverage of your choice?)
16. When did you struggle?
17. What’s the most whimsical/spontaneous/ridiculous thing you did?
18. When did you see God at work?
19. When were you the angriest?
20. What’s been the best decision you made this year?
21. Who came into your life in 2012?
22. What did you learn?
23. What gifts did you give? What gifts did you receive?
24. Meme of the year: post a picture.
25. What did you make?
26. Where did you spend the most time?
27. Who surprised you?
28. What did you give up?
29. If the year 2012 had a hashtag, what would it be?
30. Where were you on January 1, 2012?
31. What’s one thing you’re committing to in 2013?

(!)

Best parts: mulching (!), drinking coffee, surviving a fight (!), eyemasks, and a proper dinner!

Best parts!

Best parts: finding a volunteer who's been to Michfest too! Late morning naps. Driving in the rain! Eating Indonesian food for the umpteenth time. Talking with Crystal late into the night as she was heading to a crisis call.

Fonda

I've been straying from this old blog in 2012. I've been absent because of some house hunting out here in the suburbs of Chicago. Crystal and I have been at it for a few months and we've finally landed a place of our own! Take a look!

Our closing date is July 24! I'll probably have some rants and raves in August about this whole process!

Listening to a group of 10 year old boys sing a Katy Perry song in the parking lot of my gym. Learning the correct words from them even though they didn't know I was there. Seeing Chinatown through the eyes of my co-workers. Doing with working styles year after year and knowing I'm fiercely green (with a titch of red & yellow in the storm).

Working a weirdly numbing week back in the office. Being incredibly busy & simultaneously bored at it. Coming home, wearing an apron, cooking for these people. Laughing til my ears throb. Dancing in the kitchen between courses. Knowing that a small condo makes the moments glow.

The 20 days of orientation.....

Common questions heard in the office before we leave for 20ish days of orientation:

OK, who left the sour (and now moldy) kitchen towels in a cooler to rot for 4 months?
Can we pitch those towels or just wash em'?
Does tray 2 print duplexly or what?
Can the manual feeder tray print a duplex?
Can you walk me through a mail merge once more?

Dog walks. Apologizing to the neighbors. Immersion blended soups. Wine with dinner. Fancy chopsticks at Minghin. Collaging 2011 photos for everyone that walks through the dining room.

Peeking

A peek into 2004 while cooking dinner in Nigeria: Music on. Dicing onions. Tears streaming. Extremely sensitive eyeball membranes. Pot o' mess is slowly coming to a rolling boil. Music is on in the background. The music is coming from a personal cd player, plugged into a currency stabilizer. Tiny computer speakers plugged in. Musical choices: John Denver, Manu Chao, DMB, Patty Griffin.

A peek into 2012 while cooking dinner in the US: Music on. Dicing onions. Tears streaming. Extremely sensitive eyeball membranes. Pot o' mess is slowly coming to a rolling boil. usic is on in the backgroung. The music is coming from my iphone. Musical choices: Ennio Morricone, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Uh Huh Her.

Life is still good 7 years later.

Please remind me next December

Dear Callie,

Please do more work in December, 2012. Since today was your first day in the office for the new year, you have the following tasks to finish.

2nd mailing. Pastor's mailing. Resource mailing. Retreat mailing. Placing list. Stat sheet. Bingo sheet. Finish session leader scheduling. Make the meal schedule. Make the committees. Make the devotional schedule. Plan workdays. Make thumbnails. Email the newsline blurb. Plan chapel. Plan that thingy for the staff thingy that isn't a retreat.

You need to really get with it.

Sincerely.

xx

A sickly start

Dec 31: Where were you on January 1, 2011?

Well, I was in Andersonville celebrating at midnight when the ball dropped. We got home around 2am and then I got sick. I landed in a CVS minute-clinic place in Elmhurst because they urgent care places had shoddy websites and misspelled words (really, it made me nervous! if you can spell things on a website correctly, how do I know you won't misdiagnose me?!) So after waiting 90 minutes in line, I got my time with the doctor. We headed home after some soup at the nearby Panera. A sickly start to 2011!

This year, we ushered in 2012 with 3 margaritas and a movie! And no chest infection! Wahooo!

Ehh

Dec 30: What aspects of your life do you need to work on?

This one is hard. It should have been an early December post I think! I need to do more things with my family. Better communication, too!

Twitterpated Still!

Dec 29: If 2011 had a hashtag what would it be? Well, I've taken the 25 minutes to condense all of my hashtags from my currygirl twitter account in 2011 right here! My favorite is #twitterpatedstill

#alsocatallergies

#fitnessneverwins 

#gettingold 

#andlittlehouseontheprairieunofficially

#itshardinthebeginning 

#lifeisgreatyeah 

#heresyourqi

#workwithmechopsticks 

#thanksphilly 

#luckyduck

#easyfridays 

#justaliladvice 

#stopssnoringdogsandcrystal

#sarcasticat6am 

#hellovacation 

#stayoutoftrouble 

#noreallyimeanit!

#weezerchristmasalbum 

#homehomehome 

#thisisnotstrep 

#imnotagoodtrashtalker 

#asuccessfulairportrun 

#youremyonlyhipstercousin 

#helloweekend!

#iwannaknowwhatloveis

#feelingatitchguilty  

#sorryeli 

#mostlysarcastic 

#mennoSunday 

#imacrankyoldlady 

#readytocookfor15atretreat 

#notagrammaticallycorrectsentence 

#nocablenosharksjustferrets 

#nosharkweekforme 

#amibeingframed 

#getwithitpandora 

#completelythumbsdown 

#holymolyweekend 

#debtceiling 

#forthelowlowpriceof 

#imretiringin15years 

#letsgoagaininamonth 

#lessofarunandmoreahalfheartedtrot 

#its1962inmy1983apt 

#CoBAC2011 

#maybeoct2012 

#twitterpatedstill 

#worriedsister 

#20daystilmydayoff 

#girlswithpitbulls 

#meeeepmeeeepmeeeeep 

#lifeisprettygooddontyouknow 

#campingonlakemichiganin30hours 

#rejectedchapeltitles 

#youhavenothingtoworryaboutyouspoileddog 

#goodbyefunfridaynight 

#sshhdontyouknowitsalibrary 

#dothisbeforetheimpendingrainshower 

#pleaseletmein 

 #whereisspringexactly

#springtimeinmycomplex 

#groundupjalapenosalsa 

#speechimpedimentsneverreallyimpedemuch

#staywarmfellas 

#gladitsdone 

#sansalvadoryouvewon

#ihavenoideawhatthismeans 

#sansalvadoris1998perfection 

#cervezaporfavor

#encantomivida 

#ihopemyrenewedpassportisinthemail 

#slownightinthecity

#strategicplan 

#bestpartswithcrystalistotallyworthsleepdeprivation 

#colliesshouldneverbetrusted

#theleinenkugelsaretalking 

#beardown 

#imasturdymidwesternerapparently

#imagrannyapparently 

#everythingisbetterwhentheheatworks 

#clinicopensin95minutes

 

Short but sweet.

Dec 28: Who was important to you?

In no particular order:
Crystal.

Whereas the author gives up TV

Dec 27: What did you give up?

TELEVISION. Yep. It's been 5-ish months and it's been pretty ok. I'll watch The Daily Show online here and there, and maybe an NFL game at a wing place if I'm really in a pinch. Overall, it's been pretty nice to have the tv out of the house. I've noticed how I get more done if the tv isn't an option.

Books I've read since:

The Hunger Games
Catching Fire
Mockingjay
The Particular Sadness of Lemoncake
My Horizontal Life
Mystic River
Bloodroot
The Art of Fielding
Freedom
Unbearable Lightness
(Most of these are from Dana)

I've also started guitar lessons for the first time in my life. Having a tv would have delayed me practicing my scales and nerdy guitar theory stuff. Now I can read a book instead of practicing my scales! Yea!

Strung

Dec 26: Who surprised you?

Well, we did have that volunteer who strung us along and sent in his travel arrangements prior to orientation. We waited for him at the airport and his mother answered the phone and said, "Oh right, ____ isn't coming. Didn't he tell you?"

Ketchup

Dec 24: What did you make?
Airport runs. Faith journeys. Campfires. Beans and eggs and tortillas in a big ole' cast iron skillet. Room for a new washer and dryer.


Dec 25: Where did you spend the most time?
Hmm. I feel like i answer these prompts with a hmmm. I spent a lot of time in Schaumburg, Elk Grove and New Windsor. This one was lame!

Blogvomit

Blogvomit: To hurriedly catch up on prompts at the end of the year!

Dec 19: What was the best decision you've made this year?
I finally gave up Charlela Lane (the worst street name in all of America that sounds just like an old French whore) and took up with John Smith Dr. From a French whore to a syphilitic guy who loved Pocahontas. Yep! 


Dec 20: Who came into your life in 2011?

Hmmm this one is a toughy. I don't like to make too many new friends because I'm weird like that. A whole bunch of new volunteers came into my life. And I'm guessing older volunteers who are done probably left my life too. You win some, you lose some.

Dec 21: What did you learn?

I learned a lot of geography. I can drive from home to New Windsor, MD without a map! I memorized all of the interstates and their corresponding names and numbers this year, finally. (The Eisenhower is known as the Ike and as I-290!)

Dec 22: What gifts did you give? What gifts did you receive?

Disney World! My folks took my brother and his family, plus me to Walt Disney World this week. It was my mom's dream for her grandkids to see Disney for the first time. Receiving the gift of family time was a nice way to end 2011!

I gave a few gifts this year, too! A tent light, fancy chocolates, and some other little items were my highlights this!


Dec 23: What sunrise or sunset was most vivid?
Driving home from Champaign-Urbana to Schaumburg at an early hour 2 weeks back. The sun was just coming up over the horizon and it stayed on my right shoulder the whole drive back.

During summer orientation, we did a footwashing on the back side of the property with the sun slowly sinking down. Feet, grass, basin, towel, sunset. Perfect.

SHOES.

When were you the angriest?

Funniest you should ask this. I'm on the way to Disney today. How could I ever be angry knowing that Disney was waiting for me in late December? There's a little bit of Zwick anger in my mom and brother. How do I know?  A few dents in walls, a few storming off's after broken down lawn mowers in the yard. And for me, I did throw my shoes at the floor last month. One at a time. As hard as I could. One bounced back and hit me in the shin. The other sorta hit a sleeping dog. I'm better now, I promise. But really, have you seen the traffic on Gold Rd lately? Could people just make an attempt at using a turn signal? Ok I'm done.

Working through their shit

When do I see God at work?

Wow! It seems weird to tell God when and where I saw him/it at work. Like, he's a construction worker and I saw him out on the tollway waving people through the zone safely. Mostly, I saw a lot of groups of people come together* and work through their shit** together for 3 week chunks of time. Giving each other EYES OF COMPASSION, washing feet, talking for hours into the night about the possibilities in life. That's the good stuff that happens regardless of what antics BVS staff has in store.



*together = sleeping, eating, praying, traveling, discussing, complaining, discerning, singing, weeping, complaining, wondering, dropoffdaying
**this may be the first time I've cussed in this blog

Short & Sweet, with a wick

When was I spontaneous?

Ummm. Barreling down I-70 toward Ohio. Veering off to the Candle Outlet near Richmond. Crystal had a look of shock on her face that I actually stopped for something more than gas and a bathroom break. 

If you say struggles enough times, it's a really weird word.

When did you struggle?

Hmmm. My, what a lovely, happy question! It seems like only yesterday I was writing about taking the easy way. And now I have to ponder the idea of struggle. I looked up the definition. I read the etymology. (I really like to know the stories behind the words.) I used it in a sentence. I repeated it back to myself. I was in my own spelling bee and I was winning! And in those 4 minutes of not writing about a struggle I faced, I've got nothing. I guess one of my struggles is not recognizing the past stuggles I've faced. Power struggles, traffic/commute struggles, work struggles, I've had them this year. And when I think of them, it just sounds complainy.

El Tunco!

Where did you find the best cup of coffee (or your beverage of choice)?

El Tunco is a tiny little surfing on the Pacific coast of El Salvador. When we visited there in the spring, I had the best liquados! Of course the smoothies at the little place near Sarah's home and school ranked right up there as well! Mmmmmhmmmmm!

BROTHER BEAR

What cracked you up?

I've never posted video to my blog so let's see if this works. Here's the funniest pitbull in my life, Eli. He can go from snoring and twitching in his sleep to running laps in the condo in about 10 seconds. Eli is about 6 years old but he still acts like a puppy.

Camping Camping

When did you feel the most relaxed?

Ans. A photo essay for your pleasure.