Giving 2011 Credit Where Credit is Due

For the past month I can successfully say I have not been doing amazing. I find things that I let get me down and sad. On several occasions I have said to others, I cannot wait for 2011 to be over and 2012 to begin.

The other night while talking to Erin after a meltdown, I said it again. "2012 cannot get here fast enough".

On the way home I thought about it again. You know if I look back on 2011 it has not been all that bad. It has not been easy don't get me wrong but it has been a year of a lot of first for me.

Ran my first 5K with Erin and Kim.
Completed The Warrior Dash with Tara and Jessica.
Went to San Jose TWICE.
Went to San Diego TWICE, even met Chris Young.
Walk my second PTC with 11 other amazing women.
Ran my second 5K with Erin, Kim, Morgan, Tara and Lindsay. Which were Tara and Lindsay's first 5k.

The list goes on of all the great things I have actually done this year. After thinking about it the laughs, smiles, and adventures far outweigh all the tears I've shed.

My family is amazing. I love spending time with every single one of them.  I love getting random I love you text message from them. They always seem to come just at the right time.

I realized I have this amazing circle of girlfriends around me that I know will never go away. Some were old friends that became closer and some were new friends that became good friends. They will even give up Valentine’s Day with their husband to come sit and drink wine with you so you don't have to be alone.

One of the best weekends of my life was this year. That is hard to say since I will be turning 36 in exactly 10 days. I walked in Portland to Coast 2 years ago with some girlfriends and had a great time. We decided to do it again this year since everyone was done having babies and all. My expectations weren't high because we had so much fun the first year. Clearly this year FAR surpassed 2009. I don't think I laughed that hard ever. Thank you girls, Eric, Morgan and Chad for a great weekend.   All day, all night long, right here.

One Sunday night Zach and Lex decided we all needed to play telephone. After family dinner we all (except grandpa) got to played telephone. So imagine this, 6 adult and 2 kids playing telephone. It was what we would call AWESOME!

In July I made a decision with Nikki on a Wednesday that I was going to lose weight. We went back to the basics. We started counting every single calorie that went in and every single calorie that went out. Currently I have lost a total of 15lbs and 2 sizes. I love it!

Once PTC was over we applied for HTC. A few of us started picking up running but I decided I wanted to check off one of my bucket list item which was HTC. I kept telling myself, "12 months, you have 12 months to get this done". Our team didn't end up getting a spot but I kept up with the running. I found out that I can do it and I love it. I hope to run a 1/2 marathon the summer of 2012. I have not been consistent but do love it and it gives me this amazing feeling. Plus I have all these awesome running shorts. :)

After all that, the greatest part, I started to find myself and my happiness.