The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 8 (2011 In review)

Amy Cissell
December 30, 2011
Adventures of a Domestic Goddess, Friends & Family, Gin, Cheese & Other Necessities, Made of Awesomesauce, Oh, Baby!, PBR, Run Away!, Woot!
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First of all, I need to mention that I fell asleep about 11:30 pm last night and then: I slept until almost 7 AM! I woke once & briefly about 5, but did not need to get up. I’m sure those of you who aren’t/have never been pregnant (or closely associated with a pregnant person) are not sure why that’s news-worthy, so let me enlighten you. This is probably the 3rd or 4th time since late July that I haven’t had to get up to pee at least once. I don’t know if you remember me bitching about remodeling our bathroom in August – the month of no running water in our upstairs (read: bedroom adjacent) bathroom. I know you didn’t know I was pregnant, but I was, and holy balls, that sucked the big one.

ANYWAYS – looking back! Such an interesting year. A lot of surprises – mostly good ones. How did I do with my 2011 goals, you (probably don’t) ask?

Well – let’s just look at that, shall we?

Run a half marathon by the end of June. – FAIL! In fact, I didn’t run a half marathon all year. I only had one run over 13 miles, even. Boo! However, it took a LOT longer to recover from my foot surgery, and just as I was getting into the swing of things, I got myself all knocked up.
Read 52 non-paranormal romance books, including at least 12 from my Nobel Prize list. – FAIL! I only read about 50 books (not counting textbooks) total in 2011, and only 2 were from my Nobel prize list. There’s no way a majority were not brain candy.
SIRASANA! With no wall support. – SUCCESS! Albeit, briefly. I did hit this pose a couple of times, for short periods of time. This is something I will never stop working on.
Take fencing classes. – FAIL! Due to school/work/pregnancy, this, too, was put off.
Achieve contentment with my body (which may be a combination of weight loss and muscle gain) – EH??? I don’t know. Pregnancy has really thrown this off.
Take a few risks that may lead to happiness. – SUCCESS! Job risks, Toast risks, getting knocked up risks….
Secret Goal that I don’t want to talk about – FAIL! Job changes really got in the way of this (btw, it involved a career switch, and I did interview for a new job in January/February 2011, and was a finalist, but it was not to be….)
Finalize my capstone paper topic and get ready to finish grad school! – SUCCESS! I have only 7 weeks left until I’m done with grad school! YAY!
5K PR – FAIL! Again with the recovery from foot surgery + getting knocked up. 2013 is my new year of the runner!
Successful cheddar cheese! – SUCCESS! I love cheese.
Eliminate all non-mortgage & non-student loan debt. – EH….I am in much better shape now than at the beginning of the year. Of course, I’m sure that having a baby will make all my financial dreams come true, right?

Overall – even though it looks like I had an approximate 50% fail rate for goals, I am okay with the ones that are fails. I failed for good reasons (i.e. not pushing too hard during surgery recovery, getting pregnant, getting a new job that changed a few of those goals), and I am pretty happy with my 2011 overall.

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for – both here in PDX, back in South D, and in the internets, as well as the best architect in the land. I’m having a great(ish) pregnancy, I’m almost done with school, I got a promotion at work (and no longer feel one step away from failure at work), and life is pretty damn good. There are still changes I want to make with my life and my job and all sorts of things, but overall, I’m generally pretty content.

***First the song, and then I will reward (punish?) you with a photo recap of the year!***

On the eighth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

January 2011: