1. In February we upgraded to a nicer and larger apartment. It's not ideal, by any means, and we're still a tad snug in here, with scant kitchen space and natural light, but it's been an enormous improvement, nevertheless! And the wainscoting (which I plan to paint white sometime this year)...
2. We forked over way more money than we should've, but in the end we had all of our furniture and belongings out of our storage unit in Maine and back in our lives - hopefully for good.
3. Our Olive turned one. She immediately began walking, and finally, only two months ago, talking. It was a remarkable year watching this child develop and I always lay in bed looking forward to what the next day with her will bring.
4. I ran my third marathon and it was my best yet. I'll never be as fast or as committed a runner as I was in my younger days (committed, not fast), but I was pleased that after a child and weak training I could run 26.2 miles without too much trouble. I'll run my fourth in about five months.
5. Concerts! The live music we attended in a few short months made up for lost time during the years I was living in Maine. The Decemberists, Avett Brothers, Bright Eyes, Cirque du Soleil with Katrina (not quite a concert but in the same vein), Justin Townes Earle (along with Shovels & Rope), My Morning Jacket (with my Pop!), and Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings made for a super entertaining spring through autumn.
6. Music Together. This program made such an impact on our already musical Olive. It's such a wonderfully warm, safe, and gleeful environment where she so obviously feels welcome. The winter session is about to start up again in mid-January and I'm eagerly waiting to see the strides she'll make this time around.
7. Rob began his stint at the National Aviary at the very beginning of last year. After six months of interning in the hospital there he was hired as a vet tech, a position which lasted six months. He was just renewed for another six months. Between that and interning and working at the zoo as an overnight educator, he's getting a lot of valuable experience that's been inching him up the Zookeepers' Ladder of Success. This arrangement also resulted in Olive spending her Sundays with her cousins, aunt, and uncle, a real treat for Olive and a huge favor for Rob and me.
8. New friends. True friends. The kind of friends who you'll still be friends with even when they move far away, because that's what friends do. Katrina, who was only in my life here in Pittsburgh for barely five months, is the real deal. Some people you have to take however you can get them because to not would be a real shame and an opportunity sorely missed. There are many more but she's the big one and the one who moved, but the one who'll never really get away.
9. A new Cramer family Christmas tradition. It was good. I thought I'd be nostalgic and weepy over not being with my original nuclear family this year, and I don't know if it was my groggy state of mind numbing me, but I wasn't. Not at all. It was wonderful to not feel swept up in the madness that accompanies an otherwise lovely time of year. Staying home, laying low, and reveling in all the gifts that we already have in abundance: this is what I think I can be very content doing at Christmas time.
10. We bought an olive oil stand! As outlandish as this is, it's probably the biggest change that the last year brought and will be an even bigger deal in the new year. It's a whole lot of work (I'm so thankful that Rob not only doesn't mind crunching numbers, he enjoys it. This will help keep me on track and always know where we are financially), but mostly it's fun. That's how any good job should be.
The one blight on 2011, the one thing I'd have gladly done without, was the September 21st (9/21, my own personal 9/11) disbanding of R.E.M., my longtime favorite band. My disappointment was quelled within hours of the news, however, their amicable split nursing my understanding of the decision. So even that wasn't all that bad.
So long, 2011, and thanks for the good times!
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