1. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I think I did a pretty good job! I wanted to go to the mountains more and to find more fun, cheap and sober activities for my best friend and I. I went to the mountains a ton to hike, eat, snowboard, visit family and hike more. With the addition of yoga and board games into my life, that brought in the fun and (relatively) cheap activities. As for resolutions for next year, I really want to get into personal finances and really start a savings fund (likely for a down payment for a house … someday).

2. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

The day that Kate told me she was pregnant. I don’t recall the exact date, but I will never forget the way I felt when she told me. I dropped the phone, yelled for Tim and cried. It was magical, and from that day forward I stopped living for myself and started living my life for the little, tiny baby growing inside my sister.

3. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting a raving review and growing immensely at my full-time job and also picking up a part-time job on the side, planning for my future. Becoming closer to my family in Calgary. Really communicating my needs to the boyfriend and keeping in touch with my best friends. Becoming the maid of honour for my best friend’s wedding. Making friends.

4. What was your biggest failure?

Beng very, very messy.

5. Whose behavior merited celebration?

I want to say the same as last year – the boyfriend, Natalie (my best Calgary friend) and Stef and Leah (my best Ontario friends), but though true, that doesn’t challenge me. I am going to say my cousin, Emily (see her beautiful mug here). Em and I have gotten close since I moved here (she lives in Calgary) and she not only excelled at school, she got two amazing co-op jobs that will both help to propel her to greatness. I have seen her become this amazing, intelligent and smart young woman, making great life choices. Plus, she reads and comments on the blog regularly. Bravo, Em!

(Also – all of my visitors, Including Mom and Micaela.)

6. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Erica’s wedding, Micaela’s wedding and  Raspbaby. Though the weddings seem like a lifetime ago now.

7. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Happier, though a wee bit apprehensive for the future.
ii. thinner or fatter? The same.
iii. richer or poorer? Richer.

8. What was the best book you read?

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg.

9. what did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 23 and had an amazing birthday. My Mom surprised me and came to Calgary for the weekend, I had a birthday party at my house, and all of my friends came and celebrated with me. I drank champagne and wore a really sparkly shirt. It was perfect.

10. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Being able to see and touch Kate’s belly and watch it grow in person, not just through pictures.

11. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Casual, lots of boots, leggings, and a lot of sequins. I acquired a lot of colourful, statement shirts which make me feel like a million bucks. I bought a lot of secondhand and vintage clothes.

12. What kept you sane this year?

Blogs and budgets and therapy.

13. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

That not only do I have personal boundaries, I have energy boundaries. My energy boundary can have a positive effect on other people, but is impermeable by other people’s energy. I don’t know how much sense that makes to everybody, but it is how I keep myself and my anxiety in check when dealing with high stress situations at work.

A lot of people guessed so I thought I should give away the answer!

Leah: Hey pretty girl! The suspense is kind of killing me. You know I don’t do well with suspense (example: our Costa Blanca conversation of this week). What are you holding!?

I texted Leah (my sister) one day asking her if there was a Costa Blanca in her area and never did explain why. Over the course of the next few days I got a few texts from her, all increasingly frantic, asking what was at Costa Blanca that she needed to see. It wasn’t really a big deal because I decided not to get it (and I’m not wonderful about replying texts/phone calls when I’m busy) so I didn’t reply. I finally replied when I realized it was sending her over the edge. Bit of a shopaholic, that one.
But Leah, you didn’t even take a guess.

Allison: It’s a retainer! Or a lime! haha then I asked Matt what he thought it was and he said retainer too!!

Dear Allison, you had the right shape with retainer, but unfortunately you and Matt will not be quitting your job to become detectives any time soon.

allison: I think it is a toy dinosaur, like Rex from Toy Story, and the part we see is the tail.

That was quite the unexpected guess! Unfortunately for you, I don’t really carry Toy Story toys around very often. Points for creativity, though!

Connie (our mom): It better not be a pregnancy test…..but what a way to start a rumour!!!!

Megan: A pregnancy test??

Ladies, that would be the weirdest way ever to announce my pregnancy. Sorry mom, only one grandbaby for you in the next nine months! Far as I know, anyways.

Rachel: I guess a piece of green pepper!

Connie: By the way, What you are holding is a piece of green pepper. gotta be.

Kate: I also thought green pepper.

You are all sooo… right! Congratulations! Good to know I am related to two of the smarties.

Thanks for playing along!

First things first, I love you. I really, really do!

But I have some things to explain to you. Specifically, the part of my life that I call the internets and you call DANGER.

In a way, I don’t blame you and I can understand where you are coming from. And I do feel that in the past few months it has gotten a little out of hand. That is why, for you AND me, I have privatized my Twitter (permanently, this time) and reduced the number of people I follow by a lot. Hundreds, even. (Sorry to all of you. You are all wonderful people, but, as I said, I was just getting out of hand).

One thing that is NOT going to change is the friends that I have made because of my blog and because of Twitter. I have met some great people and they have become my friends in this new city of mine. And you know what? I am not going to stop hanging out with them because it scares you. People meet online all the time. People meet their spouses online, probably on a daily basis! (You know that because we often watch those happy eHarmony commercials together.)

I do not hide these bloggy-friends from you, nor do I place myself in situations that could be potentially harmful. But my new friends are wonderful! They are funny, like-minded, single, not single, happy, and sometimes not happy, employed (and sometimes briefly unemployed), kind, and most importantly, REAL people who have become an integral part of my social network in Calgary.

I’m not replacing you, or Natalie, or the used-to-be-distant relatives that I can now call my friends. I need these people as an addition to my social network. I am a social being! I love talking (usually really fast), dancing, getting advice from, teasing and just hanging out with these people (WHO ARE REAL). I need to have someone I can call if I don’t want to be alone on a Friday night when you are working. I like talking to them about relationships, dancing, clothes, gossip, the meaning of life, knowing how to be happy, and ZOMG YOU! I talk to them about you! And way-more-things-than-that-but-I-can’t-specify-because-Hi, Mom!

So please, accept these friendships as a permanent part of my life. Encourage me to continue to go out of my comfort zone and meet new people. Do it because you love me, and because your job forced me to move to this great city where I want to be happy and fulfilled. (Just kidding about the forced; I made an informed, adult decision which I am very happy about.)

In closing, I love you (even your monkey legs and your pterodactyl alter ego) and probably will for the rest of my life.

Leah.

P.S. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt you to try and do the same?

Do you have any “rules” you abide by when meeting people off the internets to ward off potentially dangerous situation?

Do you have any advice for Mr. Leah to satisfy his (reasonable) wish for me to be safe?

1. I live in Calgary, Alberta. I moved from Guelph, Ontario in May.

2. I work in social work, although I am not a social worker and never will be.

3. I work with mental health and some days I think dealing with my clients will make me go crazy. It happened today. They drove me crazy, and now I have problems

4. I feel bad for you, because if all of us do this then you will have to read 500 things about Five Blondes.

5. I am “living in sin” with my boyfriend, and despite my Catholic family and Catholic upbringing, my entire family is okay with it. Even my grandparents – thank you!

6. I love skinny jeans.

7. I secretly love Hannah Montana.

8. I am not a morning person, but I wish that I was.

9. I love to get mail, but I am really bad at sending it.

10. I felt that I had to do this, because sometimes when I am just living my life and I do something weird that I realize is actually a habit, I think to myself that I would totally write that on my 100 things list.

11. All of those aforementioned weird habits? I forget them now.

12. I don’t need music or noise when I drive. I can be driving for an hour and not realize that the radio is off and I am just happily thinking about nothing or singing to myself.

13. I am supposed to be picking up beer for my boyfriend right now, and this is my way of procrastinating.

14. I accidentally just wrote husband instead of boyfriend. WHAT!

15. I am a very perceptive person.

16. I am very bad at keeping secrets. Very, very bad.

17. I like to wear non-matching bathing suits.

18. I drink either beer, or rum and cokes at bars.

19. I’ve never had a job I have hated, and I think it speaks to my ability to make any situation a good one for myself. My motto? “Fun is what you make of it.”

20. I dated a lot of duds before I found Tim.

21. I am not a very tidy person.

22. Hershey’s Hugs are my favourite type of chocolate or candy.

23. I love, love, love reading.

24. One of my eyes is slighty smaller than the other, a trait I inherited from my father. (Leah are you sure dad doesn’t just always squint one eye when he smiles and that’s what makes one look smaller? Because I think he does, haha. -Lau)

25. I am a total wino.

26. I have control issues, and get in a state if things aren’t done the “right” (aka my) way. I am working on this.

27. I don’t get homesick very often, but when I do I get it really bad.

28. I get in food phases, where I will only eat one thing for a really long time and then get sick of it really quickly. Most recently, bacon and egg sandwiches.

29. Throughout University I paid the bills by working at a Pub, a job I grew to love.

30. I want to get a Blackberry, but I love my dinky old cell phone so much that I can’t bear to part with it.

31. I am terrified of horror movies, and even scary tv shows. I like to watch them with my eyes closed and ears half covered with one of my sisters sitting beside me telling me what is happening (hahah like Ghost Whisperer!-Lau)

32. Cuddling is my favourite thing in the whole entire world. It can fix anything.

33. I love to cuddle with either Tim or my sisters.

34. When I was younger and people used to give me the whole “FIVE girls? Your poor father…” I never knew what they meant. I loved my life, we had it great. Now, I get it. Poor, poor daddy-o.

35. We have a big fireplace in our kitchen on the farm and it is my favourite place in the whole house to stand. (Mine, too! -Eri)

36. Tim and I were too poor to buy a mattress when we got to Calgary, so we slept on a suped-up air mattress for four months when we got the best mattress known to man. I sleep like a baby every night.

37. I love the feeling of putting on a new pair of socks.

38. My favourite smell is that of clean laundry.

39. I won the midget MVP for track and field in gr. 9, and I didn’t even go to the awards ceremony because I didn’t think I won anything. Apparently I underestimated my skills.

40. Running is still my favourite form of exercise.

41. I applied for Canada’s Next Top Model this year, it was an amazing confidence booster when they called me to request that I re-upload my video because the audio wasn’t working and that they really wanted to see the video.

42. I l buy my sunglasses at Value Village and they never cost more than $2.50.

43. I am an extremely optimistic, positive person and it is often my saving grace.

44. My favourite form of candy/chocolate is Hershey’s Hugs.

45. I can read my favourite books over and over and over again. These books include “Summer Sisters” by Judy Blume, “Practical Magic” by Alice Hoffman and “The Time Travellers Wide” by Audrey Niffenegger.

46. Sometimes I like to go out wearing crazy outfits because it makes me feel more me, even though I am not the worlds most adventurous dresser.

47. Three years ago I bought a long black coat from Jacob for $60 which to this day remains my favourite item in my wardrobe. Mic bought the same one, and it is impossible to go out in public without getting at least one comment on it.

48. I love the colour of my eyes.

49. I love my body, but for some reason do not have a great overall body image.

50. I am not a very mathematical person, but I loved to study for my statistics classes in university.

51. In a previous life, I think I was a doctor or a healer of some sort.

52. I like watching hockey games, on TV or in person.

53. The perfect mixture between brains and braun is what I look for in men.

54. I am an idea person, but sometimes I have a hard time putting those ideas into action.

55. I am a very creative thinker.

56. I worry too much, a trait I got from my mother.

57. I love, love, love my family and the supportiveness within it.

58. That is also what I love about my boyfriends family.

59. I am always on the lookout for a song that can be the first dance song at my wedding.

60. I am not looking forward to the planning that is involved in a wedding, and a lot of me wants to elope. (Good idea. -Eri)

61. I have very vivid dreams and they can be wonderful but they can also be so scary and so real. It is not uncommon for me to wake up either crying, laughing, or screaming.

62. I love to travel.

63. I surfed when I was in Costa Rica two years ago and fell in love, both with the place and the sport.

64. Often I feel more balanced and comfortable with my feet strapped to board while whizzing down a steep mountain or lazily carving across a hill then I do on my own two feet.

65. The fact that I have no idea where I will be in a year from now excites me greatly.

66. Wherever that place I will be in a year is, I hope it is near the ocean.

67. I love fishing.

68. But I get freaked out if I am fishing and there is the possibility of me touching fish with my feet so I kick really, really hard.

69. On that note, I am not a very strong swimmer.

70. I have been told (lovingly, by my sisters) that I look like a drowning rat when I swim.

71. I love to water-ski.

72. My sisters are my best friends, and I hope it will always be that way.

73. I am a pretty independent person, but I would always, always rather be doing things with Tim than be doing them alone.

74. My favourite sound is the scratch of Tim’s keys on the inside of the lock and he is home from work.

75. When I was sixteen a summer work program in Quebec, I accidentally killed my host family’s pet bird by slamming it in the bathroom door while running away from it in fear. I called home crying hysterically, but they could not stop laughing. Now I can finally see the humour in it. (added by Mic)

76. In second year university, I sleepwalked outside and walked down the street in my pajamas, still asleep. I wouldn’t even have known it except that my roommate had seen me leave and asked me the next morning where I had gone. (added by Mic)

77. I am always the best person to call: for advice, for ideas, for a laugh, or just to see what wild, crazy, horrific, or wonderful thing has happened to me today. (added by Mic)

78. A few years back I worked at my small town’s (only) variety store and I got fired for “flirting with the customers.” In reality, the customers were all of my friends, and the owners were craaazy! (added by Mic – who also thinks there may have been the occasional flirting taking place).

79. One time Micaela and I went on a few dates with two boys just because we liked that they were best, inseparable friends. All of our dates were double dates and they were so much fun. Totally worth it. (added by Mic)

80. I have a fine appreciation for wine. (added by Tim)

81. I am more of a cat person than a dog person.

82. I LOVE babies, but am not around them very often so I am so very awkward when the time comes to care for one.

83. I am terrified of big dogs and horses because I feel like they have personalities and that scared me.

84. During University I accidentally moved in with a girl who was dating one of my ex-boyfriends. Oops.

85. Honeycomb cereal is my favourite kind of cereal. I always have a bag of it with me when I leave the house.

86. Some people tell me I look like Claire Forlani. I take that as a huge compliment!

87. I love to play Spider Solitaire.

88. I grew up in a trailer on the lawn of my grandparents farm with all of my sisters and my parents. I don’t remember living in it, but my Dad has told my best friend that they were the best days of his life. This is her favourite memory of my family.

89. That best friends name is also Leah, and throughout University we lived together and worked at the Pub together. Our saving grace is that we appear VERY different from each other.

90. I am not a very good golfer. I am very inconsistent, I will either par a hole or give up after 10 or 12 swings.

91. If I lend an item of clothing to a friend and it looks better on them I won’t accept it back. If it a favourite item of clothing I have to warn people of this and have to make them promise to give it back before lending it out.

92. I have very original toes. (added by Tim) (I think he means ugly.)

93. I give good back rubs and back scratches

94. I love to be scratched at that place at top of my neck, where my scalp divets. It is an orgasmic feeling, and I could never get enough of it. I think this makes me like a cat.

95. I am not a very organized person, but am becoming more organized as I age. This makes me very happy, because I have often worried for my childrens sake.

96. I am dating a brunette, and I am worried that I will not have any blonde children. Tim reassures me and tells me that his brother was blonde as a baby.

97. I have a perky butt. (added by Tim) (I think by this, he means my butt is out of proportion with the rest of my body. In high school, my nickname was “Bubble Butt” because I was 100 lbs. soaking wet until University but maintained my boot-ay always.)

98. I gained a freshman 25 lbs, and I loved every pound of it.

99. I love to shop at consignment stores; I think it is my way of being environmentally conscious.

100. I don’t mind driving in traffic jams, I secretly kind of like having that time for myself.

Here is what has been brainstormed so far:

• Go to/rent movies (this may seem like a giveaway, but honestly I don’t go see many movies or rent many either)
• Go for a walk with my best friend twice a week (Calgary has beautiful walking trails downtown along the river)
• Tea parties
• Glenbow Museum (and if this is enjoyable, others as well)
• Go up the Calgary Tower, both during the day and at night
• Go to the mountains (Banff – Erica lived there for one winter!, Canmore, etc.)
• Go showshoeing or cross country skiing (you can rent equipment in Kananaskis for a low price)
• Visit Bragg Creek
• Board game nights (Settlers of Catan is hands down my fave, but I need more awesome TWO PLAYER games)
• Visit my best friends sister and brother in law for free meals and to fawn over their newborn
• Go to real estate open houses (you know, check out our options in case either of us decides we can afford to buy a house, and check out our options)
  
• Volunteer somewhere
• Cook/bake together (i.e. I will take any excuse to eat chocolate chip cookie dough)
• Have postcard writing nights to help us to be better long distance friends (I think this one is my favourite)
• Go to the library (I am a book worm!)
  
• Buy a cheap secondhand guitar and learn how to play it
• Use my new Wii Fit twice a week

This is where you come in – I am looking for your suggestions! I am not necessarily looking to take up a new hobby (i.e. Erica – don’t suggest knitting) but what do YOU like to do with your partner and/or best friend that could be included on my list? I appreciate your recommendations! THANK YOU!

Also – One little comment I left awhile ago really paid off! You must check THIS awesomeness out. If you want, skip to the 1:20 mark to see the goodness.