2010.
Best Concerts of 2010:
- Sufjan Stevens @ the Schnitz, Portland
- Hanson @ the Wonder Ballroom, Portland
- Sarah McLachlan & ladies at Lilith @ the Gorge Amphitheater, George, WA
- The Avett Brothers @ McMenamin's Edgefield, Troutdale, OR
- Billy Joel & Elton John @ the Rose Garden, Portland
Albums I listened to the most in 2010:
- The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga
- I and Love and You, Avett Brothers
- Shout It Out, Hanson
- Give Up the Ghost, Brandi Carlile
- Sigh No More, Mumford and Sons
Best Movies of 2010:
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Inception
- The Social Network
- Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
- Toy Story 3
Best TV of 2010:
- Modern Family
- Parenthood
- How I Met Your Mother
- The Colbert Report
- Project Runway
The Most Upsetting Thing of 2010:
- The rise of the Tea Party.
The Best Thing That Made Me Hopeful For Humanity & Politics:
- The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
The Best Things I Did in 2010:
- Starting GTEP; student teaching. Without a doubt, student teaching has been the best thing.
- Continued volunteering at the library even with a hectic schedule
- More gardening, more hikes
- Read, read, read a bunch of kids & YA lit
- Became part of two book clubs, even though they are not very official and one may be pretty much done already
- Tried yoga for the first time
- Started making monthly goals on here; feels surprisingly satisfying and good
- Quit Little Clippers.
The Absolute Most Fun:
- Trip to Massachusetts in the summer for Chip's 60th birthday; hanging out with so much family and so much friends.
- Trip to Southern Oregon & Crater Lake with dad
- Trip to Vancouver, BC with Kathy's parents
- Visiting Austin for the first time for Ellie & Andy's wedding
- My brother's wedding in Virginia
- Various visits with Meredith, our favorite bi-coastal friend
- Cocktail Club nights with Meg & her great friends; in particular the one where Annie showed up
- The walk from the the parking garage to the Sufjan Stevens concert with Zoe and Ashley
- Taking Toby to the beach for the first time
- Trips with Kathy: to the Gorge for Lilith and to Seattle.
States I Spent Time in in 2010:
- Oregon
- Washington
- Massachusetts
- Virginia, & DC
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- British Columbia, Canada
Things I spent too much money on:
- Taco Bell
- ice cream
- beer
Best Books I Read:
- Elijah of Buxton, Christopher Paul Curtis
- After Tupac & D Foster, Jaqueline Woodson
- The Surrender Tree, Margarita Engle
- American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
- 19 Varieties of Gazelle, Naomi Shihab Nye
- Parrotfish, Ellen Wittlinger
- Rules, Cynthia Lord
- The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians books (1-4)
- The Wall, Peter Sis
- When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
- We Are the Ship, Kadir Nelson
- Reaching for Sun, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
- Tiger Moon, Antonia Michaelis
- Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Arrival, Shaun Tan
- Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes
- Freak Show, James St. James
- King of the Mild Frontier, Chris Crutcher
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- Jim the Boy, Tony Earley
- The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt
- The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo
- The Vast Fields of Ordinary, Nick Burd
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
- The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
- Does My Head Look Big in This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah
- Dark Dude, Oscar Hijuelos
- They Called Themselves the KKK, Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2011:
- Continuing my student teaching; continuing getting to know my students.
- Finishing GTEP; getting my teaching license.
- Student teaching in library in the fall.
- Our last summer in Portland, and making it rock really hard.
- Ellie and hopefully Matt moving back to Portland in the spring.
- Reading, reading, reading even more!
- Kathy's cousin's wedding outside of Philly in June; my cousin Greg's wedding in Connecticut in the fall.
Things That I Really Want to Happen But Who Knows:
- Extending those hectic weekend wedding trips to the East Coast by even just a day or two for each one, to be able to spend more time with family and friends.
- Having Toby with us for another full year.
- A lot more daytrips with Kathy. Going to the beach more - we didn't do an overnight trip to the beach ONCE this year, which seems crazy.
- Trying to knock off at least HALF of the unaccomplished Things I Want to Do in the Northwest list which hangs on our fridge.
- Seeing Brandi Carlile again.
- Figuring out at least SOME wedding plans.
- Really progressing in Spanish.
- Getting a good, fun, fulfilling summer job involving working with kids.
- Sufjan Stevens @ the Schnitz, Portland
- Hanson @ the Wonder Ballroom, Portland
- Sarah McLachlan & ladies at Lilith @ the Gorge Amphitheater, George, WA
- The Avett Brothers @ McMenamin's Edgefield, Troutdale, OR
- Billy Joel & Elton John @ the Rose Garden, Portland
Albums I listened to the most in 2010:
- The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga
- I and Love and You, Avett Brothers
- Shout It Out, Hanson
- Give Up the Ghost, Brandi Carlile
- Sigh No More, Mumford and Sons
Best Movies of 2010:
- How to Train Your Dragon
- Inception
- The Social Network
- Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
- Toy Story 3
Best TV of 2010:
- Modern Family
- Parenthood
- How I Met Your Mother
- The Colbert Report
- Project Runway
The Most Upsetting Thing of 2010:
- The rise of the Tea Party.
The Best Thing That Made Me Hopeful For Humanity & Politics:
- The repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
The Best Things I Did in 2010:
- Starting GTEP; student teaching. Without a doubt, student teaching has been the best thing.
- Continued volunteering at the library even with a hectic schedule
- More gardening, more hikes
- Read, read, read a bunch of kids & YA lit
- Became part of two book clubs, even though they are not very official and one may be pretty much done already
- Tried yoga for the first time
- Started making monthly goals on here; feels surprisingly satisfying and good
- Quit Little Clippers.
The Absolute Most Fun:
- Trip to Massachusetts in the summer for Chip's 60th birthday; hanging out with so much family and so much friends.
- Trip to Southern Oregon & Crater Lake with dad
- Trip to Vancouver, BC with Kathy's parents
- Visiting Austin for the first time for Ellie & Andy's wedding
- My brother's wedding in Virginia
- Various visits with Meredith, our favorite bi-coastal friend
- Cocktail Club nights with Meg & her great friends; in particular the one where Annie showed up
- The walk from the the parking garage to the Sufjan Stevens concert with Zoe and Ashley
- Taking Toby to the beach for the first time
- Trips with Kathy: to the Gorge for Lilith and to Seattle.
States I Spent Time in in 2010:
- Oregon
- Washington
- Massachusetts
- Virginia, & DC
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
- British Columbia, Canada
Things I spent too much money on:
- Taco Bell
- ice cream
- beer
Best Books I Read:
- Elijah of Buxton, Christopher Paul Curtis
- After Tupac & D Foster, Jaqueline Woodson
- The Surrender Tree, Margarita Engle
- American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang
- 19 Varieties of Gazelle, Naomi Shihab Nye
- Parrotfish, Ellen Wittlinger
- Rules, Cynthia Lord
- The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman
- Percy Jackson & the Olympians books (1-4)
- The Wall, Peter Sis
- When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
- We Are the Ship, Kadir Nelson
- Reaching for Sun, Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
- Tiger Moon, Antonia Michaelis
- Chains, Laurie Halse Anderson
- The Arrival, Shaun Tan
- Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes
- Freak Show, James St. James
- King of the Mild Frontier, Chris Crutcher
- Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston
- Jim the Boy, Tony Earley
- The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt
- The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver
- The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Kate DiCamillo
- The Vast Fields of Ordinary, Nick Burd
- The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, E. Lockhart
- The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, & Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins
- Does My Head Look Big in This?, Randa Abdel-Fattah
- Dark Dude, Oscar Hijuelos
- They Called Themselves the KKK, Susan Campbell Bartoletti
Things I'm Looking Forward to in 2011:
- Continuing my student teaching; continuing getting to know my students.
- Finishing GTEP; getting my teaching license.
- Student teaching in library in the fall.
- Our last summer in Portland, and making it rock really hard.
- Ellie and hopefully Matt moving back to Portland in the spring.
- Reading, reading, reading even more!
- Kathy's cousin's wedding outside of Philly in June; my cousin Greg's wedding in Connecticut in the fall.
Things That I Really Want to Happen But Who Knows:
- Extending those hectic weekend wedding trips to the East Coast by even just a day or two for each one, to be able to spend more time with family and friends.
- Having Toby with us for another full year.
- A lot more daytrips with Kathy. Going to the beach more - we didn't do an overnight trip to the beach ONCE this year, which seems crazy.
- Trying to knock off at least HALF of the unaccomplished Things I Want to Do in the Northwest list which hangs on our fridge.
- Seeing Brandi Carlile again.
- Figuring out at least SOME wedding plans.
- Really progressing in Spanish.
- Getting a good, fun, fulfilling summer job involving working with kids.