Monday, January 12, 2009

LIVESTRONG.COM Diet Face Off



I'm never going to get used this.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

The year that was...

Well there it is. 2008 is gone and we're welcoming 2009 with open arms and the promise of change. But before we get too ahead of ourselves let us look back on what was promised to be an historic year.

January


It seems like it was only yesterday that Mariana came to visit. January was an up and down month. A month filled with family, fun, and heartbreak. Or maybe just...car break. My car was broken into on New Years Day, not a great start to 2008.



February


2008 was the much-anticipated election year, and February was when the election debates really started to heat up. I stirred up some controversy with friends and family by supporting Ron Paul, but other than that February was a relatively quiet month. Boyan started working at Newegg at the beginning of the month, and we enjoyed each other's company at lunch.



March

March was the month we said goodbye to Bill Dotta. I can't say again how loved this man was. He is missed by many and forgotten by none.

We also said goodbye to Stephanie. She moved cross-country to tackle the Big Apple.

I made owesome cupcakes and read...a lot.

Oh, and I found this amazing animated food fight.



April
April slugged by. Boyan celebrated his 25th birthday on the 18th. We had a bunch of Elysee people over and it was a lot of fun.


May
In May a bunch of us girls traveled down to Temecula for a weekend of drinking and spa-ing for Ruth's Bachelorette Party!




June
June was a very happy month. On June 8th Boyan and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary, and at the end of the month I left the god-forsaken offices of Newegg for the bright and shiny offices of Demand Media by the sea. It would mark the beginning of a daily 80 mile commute, but it was well worth it to get far away from the People's Republic of NE. Boyan and I invested in a little scooter, so Boyan could get to and from work without me and we looked towards July as a month that would start a new chapter in our lives.

July

July went by quickly and painlessly. Boyan and I adjusted to our new schedules and we wished a Happy Birthday to Mom, George and Grandma. I prepared for my trip to Chicago in August and decided that I would cut off all my hair!

August


I had a blast visiting Chicago for the short amount of time I was there. Ruth was a beautiful bride, and it was fun having all us girls together!



August was the month that I begun reading Twilight. Enough said.

August was also the month that I had to bid goodbye to my dear friend and fellow bibliophile Emily. It was a very very sad time indeed.

September
In September was I blessed enough to stumble upon Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games. My appetite for books was as voracious as ever and I continued my spree by reading a total of six books in September alone.

October
The month began in Las Vegas. Or rather, I began my month in Las Vegas for Stephanie's Bachelorette Party. We did what people do in Vegas, and generally had a good time.


I slipped into my 24th year of living rather quietly without fuss or frenzy. The friends that matter called me to wish me a happy one, those who forgot quite simply forgot and that's fine.

I decided to take some initiative with my writing and started taking a class at UCLA extension.

And finally I said goodbye to the rest of my hair. Dawning a new shorter do a la Michelle Williams.

Boyan and I went to New York to visit my dear friend Janea and her boyfriend Jon and we had a wonderful time despite New York being "filthy" as Boyan would call it. We walked more than six miles not including miles tracked inside museums, shops and the like in one day, but we had a blast.







October was also the month that Stephanie got married!




November
I went to Louisiana to visit Emily and it was owesome!


We ate Benoits, and didn't care when we got powdered sugar all over everything.


We saw the Twilight Movie. Then bitched for the rest of the weekend about how god-awful it was.


We went to a plantation and desecrated the Slaves quarters.


I rang a really old bell...I don't think I was supposed to...EMILY MADE ME I SWEAR!


We went to Pat O's in New Orleans and got way drunk off of one Hurricane.

When I got back, I followed Britta's lead and cast my life as a movie.


December
December was a great month. My short story, "The Second Time" was published in The Broadkill Review! I couldn't be happier. I finished my class and got ready for the holidays. Britta was up from San Diego so she accompanied me to my Holiday Party.



And finally the year came full circle on December 30th, when my car was broken into again. Instead of stealing my iPod, they stole my CD's and attempted to steal my stereo but failed. I'm grateful that they didn't break my windows again, but I'm starting to wonder if these thieves really like my taste in music or are just incredibly stupid. Either way, Boyan and I aren't going to stick around to find out.

2008 was a good year as I predicted it would be. Ups and downs and small achievements here and there. I lost about 25 pounds since the beginning of the year, got a new job, got published! And, not to brag but just for my own personal satisfaction, here is a list of all the books I read from January to December:

A Wrinkle in Time (re-read) Madeleine L'Engle
The Secret Garden (re-read) Frances Hodgson Burnett
I Wanted to Write Kenneth Roberts
The Penguin Who Knew Too Much Donna Andrews
Interview with the Vampire Anne Rice
Old Man's War John Scalzi
Murder Melts in Your Mouth Nancy Martin
The Vampire Lestat Anne Rice
The Ghost Brigades John Scalzi
The Queen of the Damned Anne Rice
Xenocide Orson Scott Card
Children of the Mind Orson Scott Card
The Last Colony John Scalzi
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A. Heinlein
Middlemarch George Eliot
The Seduction of the Crimson Rose Lauren Willig
Twilight (x3) Stephenie Meyer
Marked (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Betrayed (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Chosen (re-read) Kristin Cast and PC Cast
New Moon (x2) Stephenie Meyer
Eclipse (x2) Stephenie Meyer
Breaking Dawn (x2) Stephenie Meyer
The Gunslinger Stephen King
The Drawing of the Three Stephen King
The Host: A Novel Stephenie Meyer
Hunger Games Suzanne Collins
Battle Royale Koushun Takami
Untamed Kristin Cast and PC Cast
Uglies Scott Westerfeld
Pretties Scott Westerfeld
Specials Scott Westerfeld
Extras Scott Westerfeld
Revolutionary Road Richard Yates
On Writing Stephen King

That's a whopping 35 for those of you keeping count. And thats not including the books I read more than once (which would bring it up to 40, an average of 3.5 books every month. That's about a book a week!).

2008 was a very successful year. I only hope 2009 is bigger and brighter.

Oh! And one last note. I just want to say...Happy Birthday Joanish! Happy 25th! And congrats on Law School, I'll be seeing you soon in San Diego. Love you.