Lemonae Life

This is my last blog post of 2011 and so it’s fitting that I spend it looking back at some memorable moments of the year. I have done recap posts most years that I have blogged at Lemonade Life, although I didn’t do a Year in Review recap post last year because I spent almost the entire month reflecting on 2010. I saw this format on Stephany’s blog this week and I really liked it. I also liked the top 10 list that Lisa and Amber did. Some months were busier than others, but overall, it was really great year full of amazing moments.

• January

I rang in the New Year with the wonderful news that I had been hired as Assistant Editor at DiabetesMine. After 10 years of diabetes advocacy, I started my first day of gainful employment as a professional blogger on January 3.

I launched Round Two of the 101 Things in 1,001 Days Challenge. So far, I’ve completed 9 items. Hmm. I have a lot to do this year!

I discovered the concept of clean eating and actually managed to lose some weight using the diet, which isn’t so much a diet as a healthy, normal way of eating.

I shared my awesome Save the Dates for my wedding! They were created by the ever-fabulous Erica. I also successfully found the perfect purple bridesmaids dresses!

I celebrated 17 years of managing my diabetes, living a mostly healthy, happy and well-adjusted life. Hey, no one’s perfect.

Erik and I drove to Washington D.C. to attend the JDRF Research Summit, and we also spent some time with one of Erik’s college friends.

• February

I celebrated Valentine’s Day with my fiance! We had a lovely dinner at Tribeca Grill.

A couple weeks later, we traveled to Seattle to attend a family wedding, and then I took the train down to Portland so I could continue wedding planning with my mom.

Erik and I experimented with clean cooking. We also invited some friends over for the Super Bowl and everything we served was made with organic ingredients.

I had to deal with idiots in charge of my COBRA benefits.

• March

I spent four days in Washington, D.C. with other diabetes bloggers for JDRF’s Government Day. We also had a big diabetes party at Chevy’s. Mexican and cupcakes. What else would you expect?

Right after that trip, I went to Boston to film the Artificial Pancreas clinical trial for work, where we met up with Jeff and his wife, Lisa, and indulged in cannolis at Mike’s Pastry. You can’t say you’ve been to Boston until you’ve been to Mike’s Pastry.

• April

I went to Los Angeles for the Medtronic Diabetes Advocates Forum and spent the day touring the sights with my friends Leighann and Lee Ann.

I hit a big milestone in my weight loss: I dropped a pant size and was back under 200 lbs. Big moment, people!

• May

I traveled to Raleigh, NC for the DiabetesSisters Weekend for Women conference. I had fun meeting lots of new women and hanging out with old friends, like Stacey Divone.

My friend Cara came to town and we saw Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe in How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. We also had a great brunch at Marseille with a bunch of our NYC D pals!

After weeks and weeks of search, I finally found the One. Pair of shoes for my wedding, of course. I also shared our beautifully designed wedding invitations, also designed by the talented Erica.

I did a dumb thing and fell down a flight of stairs while wearing stockings. The pain was so severe it caused a vasovagal syncope reaction and I passed out.

Over Memorial Day, Erik and I went to Chicago for a friend’s wedding. We had a lovely time visiting with friends and having cocktails at the top of the John Hancock building.

• June

Erik and I finally took our engagement photos with talented photographer, Ryan Brenizer.

I started on Invisalign, although I didn’t wear them for very long before getting my teeth bonded for the wedding.

I met the Duggar Family!

I celebrated four years of being an East Coaster.

I also had my bachelorette party.

I spent four days in Oregon finishing wedding plans before traveling to San Diego to participate in the third annual Roche Diabetes Social Media Summit, followed by the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions. I flew back to New York for three days before flying all the way back to Portland where…

• July

… I got married!

Erik and I spent our week-long honeymoon in Central Oregon at a resort called Sunriver. I highly, highly recommend visiting.

My blog turned 6 years old. Wow!

That was pretty much the entire month, actually.

• August

I turned 26! A very fun birthday with eating copious amounts of chocolate with friends who share my lack of a functioning pancreas, along with their significant others.

I went to the Top of the Rock (the observation deck of Rockefeller Center) for the very first time.

I attended the annual conference for the American Association of Diabetes Educators in Las Vegas.

I got a tattoo!

Hurricane Irene. Ugh.

• September

Spent the entire month living in hotels. I did not party like a rock star. Although I did enjoy not having to make my own bed.

Erik and I traveled to Quebec City and Montreal over Labor Day weekend. Turns out, it was Labor Day there, too, so not as fun of a vacation as one might think with everything being closed and whatnot.

We also went to Maine, where we visited The Other Portland, had dinner with some friends, and ate a Travel Channel award winning lobster roll. It was pretty tasty.

I also went to California for four days for work. The weather was beautiful, our event was a success and being on the Stamford campus made me want to go back to school.

• October

Erik and I took yet another trip (hey, if you’re forced to live in a hotel, you might as well live in a hotel some place interesting) and this time we went to Vermont. We ate pancake with maple syrup and cinnamon baked into the batter (yum!), visited Ginger in Burlington, and photographed some of the devastation of Hurricane Irene. We felt very, very lucky indeed.

The following weekend, Erik and I flew to Kansas City for Simonpalooza, the biggest diabetes meet-up I’ve ever been to! And it was awesome!

I found out that my panel was selected for SXSW!

While in San Diego on business and also to visited my grandmother, I found out that the evacuation order had been lifted on our apartment complex! We could go home!

We made friends with the couple who live next door. They are very nice people and we feel lucky to finally have neighbors who are also our friends.

On Halloween, we celebrated my husband’s 28th birthday.

• November

I celebrated World Diabetes Day in NYC by watching Team Type 1 runners arrive on the Upper West Side, followed by some quality girl time with my friend Caroline.

Erik and I spent a day exploring Brooklyn (where we hope to move to next year), and we had Lebanese food for the first time. We also accomplished an item on my 101 things list when we went to see the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy show in Chelsea.

We had Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law’s house, where we made our famous Butternut Squash Casserole. Well, OK, someday it will be famous. Right now it’s just damn tasty.

• December

Erik and I traveled to Utah for Alliance Health’s annual holiday party. We also went skiing in Park City, and even though I cried and I wanted to quit, I still had a good time.

We hosted a holiday party with our next door neighbors and had almost 20 people in our apartment! It was very fun and festive. The only downside is that I cut my finger trying to bake cookies for the party and ended up needing a tetanus shot. Which hurt like a mofo for a week!

Erik and I went to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in concert, which was a dream come true!

We also celebrated our third date-aversary by having dinner at Brick Lane Curry House (the restaurant where we had our first and all subsequent anniversary dinners). We also crashed a private event at 16 Handles by telling them the sob-story of how it was our anniversary and all we wanted was frozen yogurt. So they gave us free frozen yogurt!

We celebrated Christmas with a trip to the city to see the sights, had Christmas Eve dinner with my sister-in-law, and continued our Christmas tradition with Chinese and a movie.

And now we’re closing out the New Year with a trip to California to see family, and on Monday, we head to Vegas to celebrate the wedding of one of my best friends!

I can’t think of a better way to end 2011 and launch 2012: with family and friends, good food and good times, and lots and lots of love and laughter.

 

This time last year, I was finishing up the month long Reverb project, which had me reflecting on all kinds of questions about the past year and what I had planned for the next. One of the questions was on the word I would give for the next year, and I chose love as my word. Love for my then-fiancé, now-husband. Love for my family and friends. Love, I suppose for my work and my community and my city.

For the most part, this year has been filled with love. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t some very trying times. I did not love planning a wedding. I did not love airport security. I did not love being exiled from our apartment because of an oil leak caused by Hurricane Irene. Even people in my life, both an intimate part and tangentially related, caused some stress and grief this year that I did not particularly love or enjoy.

But through it all, I also was reminded that love is above all a choice, a choice that is expressed through day-to-day actions. Sometimes it’s easier to act and feel love, but this year taught me that most of the time you have to rely on your choice to give love. That’s the only way it will really survive the hard times, because I think if you were only able to love during the good times, most of us would end up alone. It’s loving someone even when they make it difficult that can end up being the most rewarding.

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So that’s one thing I’ve learned about love this year.

In my Stratejoy Joy Council this month, we were asked to pick a them for 2012. A lot of women either chose something that was a kind if action, like being mindful, or they picked an attitude, like joyful. Or a combination of the two.

I gave my theme a lot of thought, but when I finally picked it, it seemed rather obvious.

Healthy Choices.

Honestly it doesn’t seem quite as exciting as some of the other themes I read, but my fits me so well. I think so often in my life, I pick what is easy. Its easier to stay home and not work out. It’s easier to eat what I want and not worry about calories. It’s easy to stay home and not make an effort and risk rejection. It’s easier to watch TV than get creative with writing or photography. Its easier to feel sorry for myself than try to improve myself. It’s easier to fester with emotions than to bare my soul with someone and get help for issues I’m struggling with.

But easy rarely means healthy and I want to be healthy, physically, mentally, emotionally. I want to know that what I’m doing is best for me, not just what feels good in the present moment, or what is easy or less threatening. The choices you need to make in 2012 might not always be what you want to make, but that doesn’t make them any less right or important or healthy.

So that’s what I want to learn and explore in 2012.