Year End Review

I know I am jumping on the bandwagon here, as everyone else is also doing lists of goals, highlights and resolutions, but I just love lists too much to not join in. I am always making lists of things I want to accomplish, places I want to go and things I want to try. So this is not “always” a New Year thing. However, since it is the beginning of a new year, here is a list of my favorite things, places, foods, accomplishments and momentous occasions from 2010.

- Learning a lot about photography. I have found unbeatable resources online and met some great photographers that I couldn't have done without. I did not finish my 365 project, but it was more about lack of computer access than it was about lack of photographs. I had a great time trying and can’t wait to learn more in 2011.

- Running the Jackson Day Race in New Orleans. I have gone back and forth on my running; I like to do it but I admit: I sometimes do not make the necessary time for it. However after barely training, I ran the race on a cold January day in NOLA, by myself. And it was fun. And I didn’t totally suck. My running career is not over. I know I still have more in me.

- Riding a bike around San Diego. There were more hills than I had expected, but I made it all the way from downtown to Castillo point and did not die. Plus, the weather was perfect and I got to see my favorite ocean, the Pacific.

- Participating in the Bay to Breakers. Most of it. I met up with some friends in San Francisco for one of my favorite races and one that I have never run because it is just way too much fun to walk it instead. That way you get to ogle the naked people and laugh at all the drunks and to take photos with the buffalo in the park.  We cut out a half a mile before the finish to go have Pho at 9th and Irving.

- Going to one of my best friend’s weddings in Sacramento. She looked beautiful, it was a nice spring day and I really like her new husband. Triple happiness.

- Getting a chance to read a lot of books. I love to read. Fortunately, I HAVE managed to fit it in this year. I started off in a Meetup group in New Orleans and loved it. I also got some great tips on new books to read! I also polled my friends for some of their favorite books. I also took the list from the Busy Bookworm, but I didn’t read ANY from that list. However, I have plenty of books on my TO READ list. Traveling is great; it gives you plenty of down time (translation: LONG bus rides) in order to work on your reading list. The only drawback is that it is sometimes hard to find books in English, so you read what you can, which is not always good. I need a Kindle.

- Learning how to say “thank you” in a few new languages! A few examples: Arabic - Shokran, Albanian - Falam Nderit, Afrikaans - Dankie.

- Hiking the Himalayas. We had to cut our trip a little short, from 21 days to 12. I loved every minute of the hike and WILL go back to complete the hike. It is beautiful, the food is good and the people are nice. What more can you ask for, except to actually set foot on Mt. Everest, which I DO plan on doing someday.

Okay so really I could list about 100 more things. As I worked on this list I realized I had a great year in 2010. I have learned a lot, traveled to some great places and had a lot of fun in the past year. Here's to 2011!