2011 Year-In-Review: Part 1

I wrapped up my 2010 year-in-review with this very truthful comment: I feel like a lot of 2010 was spent running in place.

Praise God, that is not the case for 2011. While 2010 was the breaking of old ground - and it took an entire year - I feel like 2011 was the year that things were finally able to grow again in that soil.

This was a great year for me.  At the end of 2011, I feel healthy & strong (which, as I half-joked to my aunt the other day, probably means I have cancer) and I'm just left a little taken aback by the focus and (mostly) normalcy that occurred this year. I know it's a total blessing.

But its the end of the year! And that means.... lists! (Ooo, I love end of the year lists!)

We're breaking this down into two segments since I want to get some sleep tonight. 

12) Work: Weddings, Weddings, Weddings
Seriously, wedding work completely exploded at work this year. We even had three awesome large ones that were just beautiful, gave us lots of great pictures and gave me a couple opportunities to go onsite and help set up. In terms of design, I really solidified a lot of the basic technique (I hope), feel confident on casket pieces and am finding myself wanting to stretch my design skills this upcoming year in sympathy work and strengthen my weaker points (mrr, corsages....). I guess you could say that should be your goal every year, but I feel more focused on not only what particular areas of design I want to grow and develop, but also how.

11) Weather to the Extreme
This was an insane year for weather. And indeed, that goes for all around the world, but what a crazy year for the Midwest! I mean, we started out with a historic blizzard, our state saw a 100 degree temperature difference in one day in February, then we had a huge tornado outbreak in May, and then a complete drought and heatwave through the entire summer. Now, for the moment at least, we appear to be in a mild winter. It'll be 70 tomorrow. If its too windy to rake leaves, I am seriously considering going to the Zoo. In December.

10) Secret Church
In October of this year, my church hosted a simulcast of Secret Church: Family, Marriage, Sex & The Gospel. (Though the session covered practically every form of relationships.) The session was seven hours long, but honestly, a lot of what I had been looking for. I've been wanting an in-depth study, but not necessarily a six or nine week course. Just a lot of time spent in the Word. If you're interested, all their videos are at the link above, broken up into (about) two hour segments. The only other one I've started was Who is God? in which the segments I watched went over the names of God. The next simulcast will be Easter weekend over the Cross & Suffering.

9) The Return of the Elephants!
SO HAPPY.
Not only did this even herald the return of the Zoo's fantastic elephants, but this time they also brought back a baby, Malee, and a beautiful new exhibit. Seriously, I can't rave over the new elephant habitat enough - its large enough to house several elephants, has already been the reason for their newest bull elephant Rex (from Canada!), has a breeding center and auditorium. The Zoo is also starting work on their new Asia exhibit which will also feature a breeding center for red pandas. I'm so impressed with the steps the Zoo has been taking to improve and grow and I absolutely cannot wait for 2019 when they break ground on a new Aquaticus. In the meantime, they've released their Master Plan so we can keep up with their latest ventures. (New Giraffe Habitat! Since they're in the oldest part of the Zoo, I'm excited they're on the list.)

8) Sudan Becomes a New Country
"South Sudan took a seat at the world's table early Saturday as citizens of the new country took to the streets to celebrate."
That sentence still blows my mind as much now as it did then. The fact that South Sudan was allowed to even vote on a potential separation, much less for it to actually be honored, is just never something I thought I would see. Sudan has managed since then to stay out of the news for the most part - or at least I haven't caught anything - so I definitely need to go back and do some follow up research to see how things have continued to go.

7) The Movie List
Favorite Movie: Hmm.... probably Thor, although Muppets & First Class are close behind it.

Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Harry Potter Deathly Hallows: Part 1
True Grit
Unstoppable
Tangled
Suckerpunch
Thor
X-Men: First Class
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Larry Crowne
Harry Potter Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Captain America: First Avenger
Cowboys & Aliens
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Muppets
Arthur Christmas
Alvin & the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

Whew! Six more to go!

A Fresh Breath of Christmas

There's a reason I've only posted three times this month so far. Honestly, I've just been enjoying the season so much. I haven't given hardly any thought to blogging - or even checking blogger since so many have been out - or most other types of social media. I've been pretty consumed with the entirety of Christmas and that's been awesome since it's the first time in over a decade I've been so wonderfully wrapped up in all the cheer.

I've wanted to see Christmas lights, watch Christmas specials, hang decorations everywhere, send Christmas cards, wrap gifts...  And while there have been times in the past I've wanted to do those things as well this is the first season there has been no doubt, no dark cloud of grief, nothing that usually at least tempers my holiday spirit. It is purely incredible to me and incredibly lovely as well. I'm fully aware this could only be a gift from God's own hand and I'm left speechless by it. And this is a very precious gift as I've been praying and praying for complete healing and restoration and love and not just the feeling of getting by. I've been praying for wholeness and while I'm certain this isn't the end of it it's a beautiful breath of fresh air in between.

However! I do certainly plan on wrapping the year up in review within the next few days. My family has headed back home, and things are settling down post-holiday, so it looks like a return to normal. Nevertheless, this is a Christmas season I pray I never forget.

I hope yours was as beautiful as mine and that your Christmas spirit continues well into the new year. Love to all.

We built this city....aw, now I have it stuck in my head.

Sporadic thoughts:

I am incredibly excited for Christmas this year. Incredibly.

The shop is doing well, we're just about perfect on our poinsettia count which is phenomenal considering we always have to throw out quite a few. We've also sold out of grave blankets, which is also unusual. While its true we have cut back on both, we've also just been selling well too so we're pretty happy.


I'm finally on the final season of LOST and.... oy. First episode, you were rough. I'm just really confused and I'm not sure how you're gonna drag it out a whole season, because right now you really only have one thing going for you anymore. Though Sawyer's line "Did we get captured by the Others again?" made me laugh a lot.

So.... the Rock of Ages trailer came out tonight.
What? There's a movie?
Yeah. Don't worry, I forgot too. Someone else needs to watch that though and tell me what they think. The musical has always sounded completely preposterous to me and I think its ridiculous to be chosen for a movie. And after reading the full synopsis of the musical, it sounds even more...ridiculous. (I do realize most of the silliness is intentional and all in fun and that's a good thing. I'm not knocking that.)
I actually can't decide if it looks awful or like a lot of fun. I don't really like aspects of it. And I suspect this may be one where the trailer is better than the movie, due to some of the scenes they flip through. (Catherine Zeta Jones leading a dance charge down the church aisle to We're Not Gonna Take It made me laugh, and I can't decide if I was supposed to.) I do like the smash up of We're Not Gonna Take It with We Built this City, but honestly I don't really care for the arrangement snippets we hear of the other classic songs.
 Anyway, it comes out summer 2012 if anyone's interested. The trailer bizarrely fails to mention that (or I just kept missing it?)

I haven't really had a lot to blog about recently, truthfully. Did I ever tell you I saw the Muppets? I saw the Muppets and it was really well done. You should go see it. But if you're planning to you might want to avoid spoilers! Just go and have a good time. It's very fun. :)

Eh, I need to talk about something besides movie junk....

I plan on doing a countdown to New Years with my end of the year list. I love end of the year lists! I wanted to wrap up 2011 with a one. So we'll see if that happens.

Dark Knight Rises Poster Reveal & Progression

 

 Seriously.... my breath caught tonight when I saw the DKR poster for the first time. Epic.

Hit me with a hot note....

I am rocking Christmas shopping. Yes, I am.

And I am covered in glitter from the shop. I feel like the Christmas fairy!

Hey, my tree is decorated! (Mmf, these pictures are pretty rough. My camera and I.... not friends.)

 

Oooo....aaaaahh....

Ta-da! Please note the awesome penguin statue in the background as well.

Hm. I promise it doesn't look quite that naked without a tree topper in real life. I haven't had any inspiration for what to use up there.

Also, it leans. But that's okay. I think all leaning Christmas trees always look like a swamp monster, so somehow it fits.

I've found I really, really like hiding in my room with all the lights off except the tree lights. Tree, you're very soothing. Good work. 

Quite by accident, I ended up with more of a rich fuschia/burgandy shade of bulbs rather than the hot pink I originally intended. In the store they looked so different. However, I think I'm much more pleased with this - it still provides a lot of color (and breaks up the blue & silver), but doesn't scream HI.I'MCOLORANDILOVEYOU.



This is my favorite ornament on the tree. It's also one of the oldest. It was originally on our tree when I was kid - in fact, I can't remember not having it and it has always been my favorite.  The one I always wanted to be sure and place. At least that's how I remember it.

I love the sand dollar and I love the way the Nativity scene is drawn. Also, it used to play Silent Night whenever you pressed the button on the back. Now, so many years later, it doesn't play but its still in great shape and makes me smile. It stands front & center on the tree.

I actually watched this movie for the first time in years the other day. It's still pretty cute. I still have to catch Charlie Brown Christmas sometime soon.

Good night, folks. That's all I have for tonight.