Dear 2012,

Where do I even begin? You were everything and nothing that I expected. Instead of lamenting all the, "I wish I did ____ this year" thoughts, let's take a look at what I did manage to do this year. Day by day and week by week, my life seems rather inconsequential and boring. But when you look at it retrospectively, perspective shifts. Forgotten are the days full of laziness, the disappointments, and the little frustrations. What you are left with is highlights of a year (hopefully) well spent.

In January I set some pretty easy New Year's Resolutions and became a Mac user. I started the year off strong on the fitness front and completed my 50 mile challenge. I walked, biked, and ellipticalled away the cold winter days. I started a new year full of adventures in second grade. And began the frantic process of trying to complete and recap my 30 Before 30 list.

In February I turned the big 29+1. I managed to celebrate instead of bemoan my big birthday. Immediately following my birthday I was harshly thrust into the world of adulthood. In one week I managed to deal with the leaking and destruction of my bathroom ceiling and attend a scary DUA hearing where I had to represent myself to resolve a dispute over my unemployment benefits.

In March I took biking to the next level and biked an entire marathon! It seemed like a really good idea and I was glad that I was able to accomplish it but man on man, did certain parts of my body hate it. I created a soundtrack of my 30th year. And I hung out with crazy second graders and stayed mostly healthy while they all got the plague.

In April I was almost bankrupted paying taxes on the previous year's unemployment benefits. That was another harsh grownup lesson. I supported the entertainment industry by seeing The Hunger Games and Titanic 3D in theaters. I managed to escape to Maine for a few days to relax and recharge during school vacation.

In May I spent a lot of time not blogging. I had some serious thoughts about the passing of time. I also took lots of pictures of clouds.

In June school ended. I dog sat while my parents took off for Alaska and I watched soooo much Dawson's Creek. I created a Summer Fun List of activities that I wanted to do over the summer to make it as memorable as possible. I went back to Maine and the BFF's Weddingpalooza officially began. I ordered a dress, we made invitations, and spent lots of time being overly girly.

In July I visited my first lighthouse of the summer and visiting every lighthouse in Maine officially became a new obsession. I drove west to catch up with an old friend and reminisced at Katie's with soft serve. In one exhausting but amazing weekend, I helped the BFF celebrate her bachelorette party and bridal shower.

In August I was insanely busy. I tutored, I traveled, and I went back to school. M came to visit and we explored Boston, Concord, Salem and Maine in 5 days. I headed to Vermont for the BFF's wedding weekend and wore lots of pretty dresses. My best work friends moved away. After some last minute tutoring, I returned to school to new adventures in 3rd grade.

In September I explored museums and apple orchards. I registered to vote, sat through the first of many boring graduate classes, and had a smoothie disaster. I said goodbye to summer and hello to fall. I created a short Fall Fun List of things that make fall so wonderful.

In October it rained a lot. It was warm and swampy and nothing like the brisk and clear October that I love. I listened to Mumford and Sons over and over while I ran and walked many, many miles. I watched and live-blogged some of the Presidential debates, celebrated 10/11/12, and made it through Hurricane Sandy. Halloween came and went without any pumpkin carving.

In November I finally joined the 21st century and got an iPhone! I voted for president and found a lot of money on the ground. I enjoyed the sunny, brisk October-like weather and headed to Maine to celebrate Thanksgiving with my parents.

In December I was super crafty. I made my own advent calendar and holiday cards. I used the money I found at the mall to donate things to the food pantry, Toys for Tots, and the hat and mitten drive at school. I celebrated 12/12/12 and baked a lot of cupcakes. I mourned the loss of life and innocence in Connecticut. I survived the end of the world, celebrated Christmas and completed the 2nd Annual, Unofficial Boxing Day 5K.

So 2012 I don't really know what I expected from you. I think the main take away from this year is that life is messy and you can't really plan for anything. You just have to make the best of what you have and try as hard as you can to enjoy yourself along the way.

Here's hoping for a wonderful 2013!

XOXO,
Amy

Farewell Autumn

Now that the shortest day of the year has come and gone, it's officially winter. This year fall disappointed me. October was super rainy so I missed out on the pumpkin carving. Thanksgiving snuck up on me so I missed out on the pumpkin pie. And of course, I didn't get anywhere close to making a mini book. And to be honest, I don't plan on it. Fall 2012 didn't have a lot of awesome that needed to be documented. 

After a Summer to-do and and Autumn to-do, I don't have a winter to-do planned. Winter is the time when I hunker down, snuggle under a quilt, drink hot cocoa, and watch a lot of TV. It's my form of hibernation. I'm not a cold weather enthusiast and I don't do the typical New England outdoorsy winter things. I'll emerge from my cave come spring!

Hello December

snowflakes

twinkle lights

cookies

christmas trees

cold noses

mittens

cookies

hot chocolate

glitter

christmas music

scarves

cookies

presents

candles

holiday cards

peace

cookies

penguin stamps

charlie brown

advent calendars

cookies

In November

At the beginning of November I wrote:

Please be better than October.

Please be sunnier.

Please be filled with more friends and family.
Please be full of adventures.

Please be full of happy days.

Please be all of these things...and I will be thankful.

And it turns out that November was all of these things. The swampiness and dreariness of October cleared and November turned out to be a gorgeous fall month...cool at times, cold at others, but sunny and beautiful. 

I had lots of friend dates this month. I made mini books with N and started quilts with S. I celebrated a belated Halloween with D, O, K, L, and lots of others. I spent Thanksgiving in Maine with Everyday Mom and Dad. 

And got to FaceTime with Everyday Brother.

In November, I took adventures to Maine, Western Mass, and Boston. I wandered Fanueil Hall for Tuba Christmas and saw men balancing on ladders with machetes. 

I had some happy days and some less happy days but overall it was a good month. Be prepared for lots of holiday cheer soon! 

Goodbye November.

Time Flies

I can't believe it's the middle of November already!

It seems like we JUST went back to school. The fact that my class is crazy and has taken 50 school days to calm down hasn't helped matters.

And my gorgeous, sunny, brisk October was replaced by a warm and swampy month. We had a hurricane two days before Halloween followed up by the first snowstorm a week later. Pull your shit together Mother Nature!

But my real concern is that Christmas is being forced down my throat whether I want it or not. Target was decorated for Christmas BEFORE Halloween. That is UNACCEPTABLE! Why do we have to rush things? Can't we celebrate Christmas at Christmastime?

November has been surprisingly lovely weather-wise. I've done some crafting and visiting with friends and have tried to avoid anything Christmas. Now don't get me wrong, I can't wait to cut snowflakes and put up a tree and drink hot cocoa and decorate and watch Elf over and over again. BUT...this cannot begin until AFTER Thanksgiving. After the turkey is eaten and pie is consumed, give me a Christmas only radio station and a cookie baking party.

So for the next week, I will drag my heels and scrooge it up because IT IS NOT CHRISTMAS TIME YET!

Because Thanksgiving is so early this year, I'm mildly afraid I'll use all up of my holiday spirit before we even get to Christmas! So be prepared to sing fa-la-la's with me.

 

Hello November

Please be better than October.

Please be sunnier.

Please be filled with more friends and family.
Please be full of adventures.

Please be full of happy days.

Please be all of these things...and I will be thankful.

In October

In October, I listened to SO many hours of Mumford and Sons. Everyday Brother came home and I spent lots of time annoying him. I went to work, laughed at with kids, and taught them things. I enjoyed lots of New Girl and pulled my hair out watching presidential debates. I tried to upgrade to an iPhone and was denied. I survived hurricane Sandy and got a four day weekend out of it. I made a Halloween costume, baked some yummy things, and didn't buy ANY Halloween candy. I ran 3 times a week for the entire month and invested in a foam roller but don't really know what to do with it yet.

My goals for the month were:

1. Buy and listen to the new Mumford and Sons over and over and over.

Did I ever. I don't think I listened to anything else this month.

2. End the month with more money in the bank than I start the month with.

Thanks to the magic that is the three paycheck month, I definitely have more dollars in the bank today than I did on October 1st. But I did go a little shopping crazy this month. Oops.

3. Do lots of things from my Autumn 2012 list.

Um...I did some things...not lots. I wore sweaters and scarves (for decoration not for warmth), made applesauce, and sent lots of postcards.

4. Be crafty.

I was crafty in cooking, and costume making, and generally being sly...but I still want to do some paper crafting (a.k.a. minibooks).

5. Fill my weekends with friends and fun.

I honestly don't know what I did with my weekends. I saw some friends but not a lot. I had some fun but I also relaxed and went to Target and slept in on weekends.

October is typically my favorite month of the year but I was disappointed this year. I think I expect 31 days of cool, sunny, crisp days and instead got a whole lot of rain. The foliage was gorgeous this year but I didn't even enjoy it because it was always raining. Boo. 

   

The Evolution of a Halloween Costume

I was going to be a pumpkin for Halloween. I was just going to pick up an orange t-shirt and sew on some felt jack-o-lantern features.

But then my co-teacher decided that since we are reading The Witches in class, we should be witches. And so I thought I would be a pumpkin witch. I purchased an orange and black, feathered witch hat fascinator.

Exhibit A:

But I felt like a crazy bird with an ice cream cone on my head. So I kept looking and found a different witch hat.

My plan evolved from there. I took a bag of plastic spiders and a glue gun and went to town. I made earrings, a bracelet and, with the help of some puff paint, a spider web t-shirt.

A few glue gun burns later and I have a costume that is simple but appropriate for school and a Halloween party. All that was left was some late night nail painting:

I had to stay up late to let the nail polish dry enough so it wouldn't smudge on my bed blankets. My philosophy on painting nails is simple. Paint quickly and without regard to neatness. The next morning in the shower, scrape at my cuticles until all the excess polish comes off. Hey, don't knock it until you've tried it!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

May it be full of treats and not tricks. 

(I think we've had enough tricks this week!)

  

Cooking with Amy: Applesauce

Everyday Dad picked up a peck? a bushel? LOTS of apples from the great state of Maine and I thought I'd make a little applesauce.

In true Amy fashion, I Googled recipes and got overwhelmed that they were all different. So I did what any good cook would do, I just threw a bunch of stuff in the pot without measuring anything and hoped for the best.

Prep time 10 minutes. HA! They obviously have not met me. It took at least 25 minutes to peel and cut up the apples. At first, I cut the apple into slices then peeled each individual slice. I quickly realized that it wasn't the most efficient way to skin apples.

Everyday Dad then schooled me on the proper way to skin an apple.

He skinned the entire apple in two strips!

FYI: This is how I skin apples. #Fail.

After all the peeling and chopping, I filled up a sauce pan...

Threw in some water, cinnamon, and brown sugar and set it to simmer.

As the apples got all smushy, I wondered what this food mill thing all the recipes talked about was. Turns out, Everyday Mom owned one. I had to wash it well as it was full of dust.

I dumped the lumpy applesauce in and cranked and cranked and cranked and NOTHING WAS HAPPENING!

Turns out I was spinning it the wrong way. Oops!

The applesauce was delicious and I felt good about it being homemade but my god it took a long time to make. Definitely something to make in large quantities!

  

Batten Down the Hatches

A storm's a comin'. A Frankenstorm to be more specific. A category 1 hurricane that is basically going to miss Massachusetts to be even more specific.

Now you may be asking yourself...why is New England getting a hurricane during the last week of October? Good question. And I believe the answer to that is global warming.

Last year on October 29, we were surviving a blizzard. Heavy snow took down limbs and trees that were still covered in leaves, leaving some towns without power for almost a week. Halloween was subsequently cancelled. This year, the power outages and cancelling of holidays may be repeated due to a hurricane.

The mass media (including the electronic billboard signs on the highway) have been warning us to PREPARE FOR SEVERE WEATHER!

So naturally, I spent the day running, watching Gilmore Girls, cooking, and making last minute trips to Target to complete my Halloween costume.

Now, you would think I would be more concerned as the last time I was faced with a major storm threat, I was woefully ill prepared.

I did pick up a few things to help me ride out the storm. I bought some pretzels and chocolate to make yummy things, some PB&J, and cereal. Because let's face it. If we lose power, everyone that stocked up before the storm will be moaning over spoiled groceries while I nom away on my PB&J in the dark.

I don't really know what batten down the hatches means but in the context of my life, I assume it means buy some water to drink, some food to nom, pick up a library book to read in case the internet goes down, and park my car as far away from trees as possible.

I'll let you know how I fare.

Ansel Adams & Hats

Everyday Mom and I took advantage of our library's museum passes and headed to the Peabody Essex Museum over the weekend. First up, we toured the Ansel Adams exhibit. It was amazing! Many of his most famous photographs were there and I found a new favorite.

If only I had $15,000 lying around, I would snap that up in a second. There were three HUGE (10'x10'?) prints that were gorgeous. Adams projected his negatives onto rolls of photo paper then carefully lined up the rolls to complete the print. They were amazing.

After seeing all of the photographs, we headed to the hat exhibit. I have to admit, I wasn't psyched to look at a bunch of hats. But...it was awesome! There were 250ish hats and so many of them were CRAZY! There were lots of new, weird ones, but also many very old and very strange ones. I can't believe people actually wore some of the hats.

They had a photo booth set up where you could take a picture of yourself and then digitally add one of the hats from the collection.

I wanted to go with the upside down shoe hat, but the people behind us in line said it looked dumb. 

When you left the hat exhibit, they had a dress up area where you could try on a bunch of hats. Pushing my fear of lice aside, Everyday Mom and I tried on a bunch. 

Everyday Mom pulled off the black boa hat much better than I did!

I think I wore it incorrectly!

The hats were a lot of fun but my head was itchy with psychosomatic lice for the rest of the day.

Hello October!

In October I want to:

Buy and listen to the new Mumford and Sons over and over and over.

End the month with more money in the bank than I start the month with.

Do lots of things from my Autumn 2012 list.

Be crafty.

Fill my weekends with friends and fun.

Won't you join me?

In September

In September, I said goodbye to summer and hello to fall. I made a new season to-do list and started working on it right away. I went to an Ansel Adams exhibit with Everyday Mom and tried on lots of hats. I picked apples, and ate apples, and made applesauce. I watched a lot of Breaking Bad. I relived all my summer adventures. I honed my hermitness and tried to adjust to good friends moving away. I went back to school/work and laughed at all of the funny things kids say.

My goals for the month were:

1. Eat an apple a day for the month of September.

I ate soooo many apples. I didn't eat one per day but I definitely ingested 30 apples over the course of the month.

2. Don't spend ANY money beyond necessities (rent, gas, groceries, bills).

I did really well on this goal. Aside from the necessities, I spent less than $25.00! 

3. Fully catch up on blogging.

I have actually written ALL my summer recap posts and they are scheduled to be posted within the week! Stay tuned for lots of adventures.

4. Read a real book.

I started a few books and read a couple kids books, but I did finish the young adult novel Looking For Alaska by John Green. I loved it and have since requested the rest of his books from the library.

I've decided that September isn't my favorite month. It is a big adjustment to go back to school, it doesn't quite feel like fall, and people are super busy. Here's hoping for a more exciting October. 

   

PLC does not stand for Personal Liability Claim*

This year, I'm taking a graduate course offered by my school but not for graduate credit. Yes. I'm wondering about that too.

While the next class isn't until the first week of October, two assignments are due tomorrow. RUDE! So of course I waited until the last minute to do stuff. And the school email server is down which means that I'll be working on this REALLY last minute tomorrow. Oops!

I'm spending time at my favorite place for studying: Barnes and Noble with my first latte of the season. I know buying a latte in September violates my goals but I had a gift card that covered half of it and I paid for the rest in quarters...so it doesn't really count.

The class is Professional Learning Communities and the first chapter of the book talks about how students do their best learning by doing...hence the title. But I'm learning by reading instead. 

P.S. The class is being taught by the wife of my former high school band teacher. Small world. 

P.P.S. I almost wrote high school teacher instead of high school band teacher because I was unsure about sharing my band geek status with the internet world. But then I thought, I'm a grown up now, I should be proud of my musical prowess geekiness.

*PLC means a lot of things.

  

FALL IS MY FAVORITE!

Goodbye summer.

Hello fall!  Let's do this.