Here is a true fact about 2011: a lot of it sucked.
And I'm glad it's over.
JANUARY
The year started off terribly when my grandfather Jason died on the 5th. We're still not over it.
I attended Sarah's baby shower for David the first weekend in January. Malvina and I drove down there to surprise her, and while we were there, we went to Disneyland, dined at the Blue Bayou (the restaurant in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride), ate frozen pineapple smoothies in freezing temps, coined the term "shittle" and generally had a hysterical time – one I'm thankful for, it helped me get through the early days of Jason being gone.
This was also the month that Margie came to visit from San Antonio – she was doing training in Sacramento, and had two weekends free. Naturally we got together and visited San Francisco and Sacramento.
FEBRUARY
Hung out with Margie some more, and went to Stitches West, where I bought a bunch of yarn.
Went to a wedding show with Malvina and Sam.
MARCH
At 30 years old, I finally learned to curl my hair in March, using this method.
APRIL
I had the flu for three weeks.
I went to Disneyland again with my sister. And forgot my bag of shoes, necessitating an emergency trip to Payless to buy me some flip flops! On our way down, we stopped to see Sarah's new baby David, who was born at the end of February.
I made the Rainbow Cake for Easter:
MAY
In May, tragedy struck again when my grandfather Verne passed away at 88. Everybody seemed to think he would be okay, but when I heard A) he had sepsis and looked it up and B) they moved him to the Third Floor (aka the floor Jason died on), I knew he only had a limited time left with us. The last picture ever taken of him has the rainbow cake in it, and I find that weirdly comforting. We buried him at the VA cemetary and later had a memorial service for him at church.
I locked myself out of my car at a busy gas station in the middle of rush hour.
JUNE
Janelle, my wee baby cousin, whom I have LITERALLY known since the day she was born (I saw her in the hospital in her baby bed that very day!), graduated high school.
I'm sure other things happened this month, but I apparently didn't document them. I did go and stay at Malvina's for her birthday, where we partook of the annual Chevy's on the River dinner, and then drank our faces off at their house. Jade martinis!!
JULY
I conquered my fear of crockpots by making carnitas for a summer friends gathering with Malvina, Sarah, and Bill and S&B's kids. Since us three ladies all have our birthdays within a month of each other, we exchanged gifts and apparently proved to Bill we can never see each other without giving each other presents. 🙂
I turned 31.
AUGUST
Margie was out again this month and we were able to meet up for dinner in Vacaville. It was so awesome seeing her again!
I attended the CA Young Republican Convention with my sister, which turned out to be a clusterfuck of bad planning on their parts, but I DID get to hear Andrew Breitbart speak, which was pretty amazing.
This is the month I started to get back into nail polish in a big way.
SEPTEMBER
I got into resin in a big way.
I participated in the Bead Soup Blog Party, which was super fun!
I joined Weight Watchers.
OCTOBER
I participated in the Limabeads Challenge.
I randomly was super sick one week – a cold topped off with the vomits. Good times.
I went up to see Malvina and dragged her to her first bead show!
I took some time off work and visited Sarah down in LA. We went to the LA Zoo, my favorite restaurant down there called New Moon, and to Il Forno in Santa Monica, where we met up with our old friend Rhoda from high school, who I hadn't seen since Sarah's wedding! (I don't think.)
NOVEMBER
Bay Area Bead Extravaganza!
Goats R Us was in the field outside my house for a week – that was pretty neat.
I also participated in Nanowrimo for the tenth straight year, earning my seventh win. Over Thanksgiving I went to a Brazilian steak house with my sister and her boyfriend (!) and even did a little Black Friday shopping late on Friday.
DECEMBER
Epic office Christmas party.
Christmas Eve was at my house this year since we sold Jason's house over the summer/fall. I unfortunately set a precedent apparently and now everybody expects to come back next year; won't they be surprised when I'm not home! hahaha, joking! … sort of.
Because of Christmas my house is super clean (for me).
I hosted Sam and Malvina for a late Christmas exchange (yesterday, 12/30) – normally Sarah is up and they come too, but this year they weren't able for various reasons. She was missed! I made a stew and corn bread/pudding and we watched a Daryl Dixon centered episode of the Walking Dead and played the Walking Dead board game, wherein Sam and Malvina were eventually turned into zombies and killed my ass. It was fun! While they were there, Sam schooled me on my Wii (how long have I had it??) and showed me how to turn it into a Game Cube, haha – so now I am finally in the process of completing Legend of Zelda – Twilight Princess, so I can start the new one, Skyward Sword!
Today, the last day of this oh-so-crappy year, I headed out to the Peninsula with Abby to see her new house. The last time I was there was at Thanksgiving, the day before she moved all her stuff over from the apartment (my timing was excellent! haha). The house looks good with new carpets and all the furniture moved in (sans my help! hahaha). We went to lunch at Coconut Bay, my favorite Thai restaurant, and then popped over to Target and Ulta where I bought some – you got it! – nail polishes. I even found one I wanted really bad – Orly's Fowl Play! Most everything was on sale, so I got out of there with only doing $20 worth of damage on seven nail polishes, including the Orly which wasn't on sale. Go me! On the other hand, two of those polishes were clearanced Bieber polishes, but whatever, they are pretty. After that, we went back to the house where Abby made ice cream in her new ice cream maker (it was delicious!) and then I got dumped on Bart for the ride home and here we are.
2012
All I ask of 2012 is to go easy on me. I've had a rough couple of years, and I really would like a relaxing one, do you hear me, The Universe? Let's stop with the kicking Melissa while she's still down from 2010, okay?
And also, don't end on December 12. The Mayans – their calendar is circular, not fixed, right?
…Right?
Well, I didn't MEAN to not write in here all month, but hey, it's November – at least I had a good excuse. It was budget season at work, and I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo)… and I successfully finished my novel! This was the tenth year I've participated and the seventh finish. This year I wrote a straight up science fiction story, which I'd never done before, and man let me tell you, it is pretty ridiculous. It needs a massive overhaul – plot threads, characters, etc. were dropped willy nilly in favor of others, there's a kidnapping and a space kraken, telepathy and a cliffhanger. With no explanation. It's terrible. I kind of love it. If I ever go back to it and am able to fix its many, many problems, it could actually be pretty cool!