2011 in Review

As I've mentioned before, 2011 has been rather steady, not all that exciting, but a good year all in all. Here are my highlights:

1. Icepocolypse 2011: 5 snowdays, bookended by 2-hour delays, this week in February was marked by mimosas with my roomies, lots of sleeping in, needing to call AAA just to get my car out of its little parking spot, venturing to Fresh Market on 5 inches of pure ice, and--once the roads thawed a little-- HOURS of round robin ping pong with friends. And I even won a round.

2. Permanent School Counseling Job. So grateful. And espcially thankful for two special girls, Mary and Jamie, who I got to work with. (They have both moved on to other positions now. But we had some good times)

3. Castaway/Young Life/Best Week of your Life. <--totally an overstatement. But I rather spontaneously agreed to be a counselor at a Young Life camp in Norther MN this summer. It was lots of fun climbing rock walls, ziplining into a lake, and tubing. And it was humbling to lead a group of precious and hurting girls for a week.

4. Spanish Class! My friend Stephanie asked me to take a beginning Spanish class with her this summer. I like to think of myself as a quick study, as I had markedly less Spanish knowledge than anyone in the class. But I learned....some...and feel that I have the basics enough, that I could study some more on my own, should I decide to.

5. Northern MI with the high school gang.

Always a highlight, and this year did not disappoint. I almost learned to water ski.

6. Random funness: Canoe-ing down Sugar Creek, Chinese Massage, picking sour cherries, listening to selections from Les Mis at the Hilbert downtown, Seis de Mayo en el partio part II, Christmas crafts, many many weddings, Keith and Kristyn Getty concert, going to a Colts game (my third one--who would've guessed that 3 years ago!), etc.

7. The 30-Day Shred.

So intense (for me...that's relative) I had to make myself a sticker chart just for incentive to do it. But now I can do (a few) guy pushups.

8. Spontaneously running a 1/2 marathon. Without training. And getting my 3rd best time ever

Here's how that went:

Me: Hey Carolyn, want to go run the Monumental tomorrow?

Carolyn: Sure.

9. Reconnecting with a friend from Jr. High

This one barely snuck in 2011. I was traveling to Marion, OH and detoured to the town where I spent my jr. high years, getting the chance to catch up with an old and dear friend. We were next door neighbors, practically attached at the hip. You could find us walking home in fur-trimmed puffy coats, singing along to the Lion King in my karaoke machine, practicing front handsprings on her trampoline, or walking to the convenience store down the street. Lots going on in NW Ohio. Jessica was also much wiser to the world than I was, and taught me about many things that I'd blush to mention today. I'm not sure she had the most accurate knowledge, but who was I to know the difference?

10. LIVE 11 at my church.

11. Serving at my church--I took on the role of co-leader of our Bible Study, I chair the social committee for a group of us in our 20s, I did crafts at VBS, and took part in a women's leadership class this summer. I also served homeless veterans, delivered bread to people in a local neighborhood in need, served widows at a Valentine's dinner, and helped plan a women's retreat. My Sundays in 2011 were often the busiest day of the week.

12. Deepening friendships with some quality people here in Indy.

13. Chaperoning Homecoming.

Ok, maybe it's a lowlight. But it was certainly a first

14. And speaking of lowlights--10 yr HS reunion.

But it happened, and I'm glad I went for 15 minutes or so. Quite literally. And I'm glad my sister in law and I were in the same graduating class because I would've checked out of there about 14 minutes earlier had it not been for her.

15. Meeting with a mentor for 7 months or so, and talking through the basics of my faith

16. Learning the process and pain of biblical confrontation. Fun? Nope. Humbling? Oh yeah Sanctifying? For sure

17. Taking on new responsibilities at work

18. Crafting endeavors with my friend Mary. We fell into a routine of hanging out once per week, BYOC (bring your own craft), and catching up over dinner or coffee, fabric pieces, hot glue guns, and felt.

19 CDL. Code name for Sunday-night cooking hangouts at my friends' house. Everyone brings an ingredient, and we cook and laugh and hang out. It's the perfect way to end a weekend.

There you have it! How was YOUR 2011?