Here I am, looking at 2011 in retrospect. I love that. It really does demonstrate how fast a year goes (I started this post on January 31st...haa haa!) I think for 2012, I might just do a "Best of..." post and jock this fabulous lady's style. Yeah, I might just. ;)
Without further ado...my *2011* is HERE, one month at a time...
favorite shot of
January 2011:
January of this year was categorized as the Snowiest January in New York City on record. For me, going out to substitute teach or work at the restaurant was that much more of an obstacle, and most of January had me feeling like I wanted to cuddle up under double-comforters in a corner with my two baby-cats.
In the picture above, the babies are watching the snow that fell on the evening of Tuesday, January 11. This shot was a surprise, and as soon as I snapped it, knew it'd be one of my favorites of the year. It was one of those pictures that happened right after I thought I was done snapping, and about to stop. I squeezed in a few more minutes of photography-time and look what resulted. Amazing.
In a month categorized by lows, extreme uninspiration, my father moving-out, and more snowthan I'd like to see in five years (let alone one month), this picture still has me smiling thinking back on January 2011. It perfectly depicts my two *boops* at their 8-month-old mark, as curious and together as ever. They send my heart to the moon, and this picture is why.
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favorite shot of
February 2011:
February 2011 had me wanting to focus on calmingmy mind, and settling my crazy and crackling inner-self down. Turns out I still felt quite the same ugh!ness as January, but an ever-so-slight, tad, minuscule bit better (I'd like to think).
Boston was a reason why. It was a last minute decision to go, the boyfand I and his parents, and I felt very comfortable there. I enjoyed exploring new territory, but one I felt familiar with even still.
My "favorite shot February" had to be this pic, snapped in the Boston pub The Black Rose. We had just come back from an adventure to the Sam Adams Brewery Tour and wanted nothing more than good clam chowDAH and fish n'chips. Man, oh Man, did The Black Rose deliver! ...and witha real-life Irish fella singing 'is jigs!
That calm, that peace, I talked about pursuing in the beginning of February was captured here, in this photographed moment. I found it sitting across from the boy, surrounded by the smell of dark, antiqued cherry wood, in the middle of a relaxed, yet adventurous Saturday afternoon in a new-to-me city, with live music playing, little rosy-cheeked Irish girls dancing in between tables, and the anticipation of a delicious lunch.
{{...deeeep sigh...}}
Ahhhh...I'd like to go back.
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favorite shot of
March 2011:
First. Real. Outfit. Post. Ever.
I like this shot because I remember what I was thinking while my face was turned up toward the sun. I was thinking a few things, actually:
"Damn, this is warm for first-week-of-March."
"Oh Lord, Sun, I friggin' LOVE you!"
"Hurry, Bitt, snap the pic already!"
I mean, those were some of the flowing thoughts, but the overall inside feeling was one of contentment. Contentment for being with my sister, for the sunny afternoon, for daylight savings time being on its way -- meaning we were closer to Spring, closer to Summer, closer to whole days spent with loved ones, under the sun...
...I chose this picture too because it was taken a few days before the disaster that occurred in Japan. Looking at it now reminds me that in one moment, you are content, and you are you in the Sun's happy light. In the next, it is gone. You are lost in the tumbling world around you, in the raging circumstances of circumstance, and there's no sister of yours taking your picture anymore.
The Japanese disaster was intertwined in everything else lovely that happened after it, for sure. So March, all in all, was a weird animal. Then again, it always has been, for one reason or another.
...and although with it came the first bike ride of 2011, pride in my making of a new healthy dish, and other goodies...
...I was happy to see April appear.
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favorite shot of
April 2011:
There were a lot of contenders for my "favorite shot April." I loved many of the shots taken on my mother's 53rd birthday. I really liked my self-portrait with fluffy hair taken at the start of Spring Break. The picture of the babies in their 1st birthday outfits was high up on the list, and I really love the shot at the end of this postwhere Jamina and I are laughing with each other.
All these shots were great, but the one above captured the essence of what my April was all about.
With this year's April came an sort of obsession and general fever of love for the cyclist side of me. I had a really amazing bike season of 2010 and because of that, I had missed it so much during the winter months. With the changing seasons winter-to-spring, the bike-bug bit me, and it bit me HARD. Everything became all about bikes and biking and wanting to bike.
I began to follow a lot of online//NYC//bikingactivity and gathered a strong interest in getting involved with my area's cycling events. I read BikeSnob. I commuted to and from work every chance I could.
My "favorite shot April" above features the Biria bike I bought myself, and then returned less than two weeks later. ...and even though I returned it, buying it in the first place proved that I wanted to bike to more places, more often, and have more bike options to do it with!
The point is, I realized in April, more than ever before, that I'm a proud, active cyclist from Queens, NY and am always game for new and exciting adventures on/about BiKE.
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favorite shot of
May 2011:
Actually, it's a tie.
May was National Bike Month, so I had to showcase two favorite shots having to do with my bike riding.
The first image, on left, was taken midway through the Five Boro Bike Tour. As explained in this post, it was a dream of mine two years in the making to ride that Tour. The Good, the Bad, and the Lovely was experienced.
The second image, on right, was chosen because while it shows an image of my riding of my other bike, my Schwinnie cruiser bike, it also was edited using my iPhone, and made into one of my Instagram photos.
This was a big part of my May.
I got my iPhone4 back in February, but only in May did I really start to understand its capabilities and its greatness. I learned how to use Instagram, and have been doing so ever since. I downloaded the app Labelbox and love what that adds to photos of mine.
I love my iPhone, truth be told.
But you know, my iPhone doesn't make me cool, I make the iPhone cool.
(NO, seriously...like, ten of my Facebook friends bought one right after I started postin' all the fun pics I made with it. Haa haa!)
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favorite shot of
June 2011:
June, you come and go too soon...
...but MAN, did you start with a bang this year!
This picture above was one taken amongst many of the strippers we had the three nights we were in Miami for this chick's bachelorette party. This was the first night we arrived, when her entourage of 16 was only 6 of us, and it catapulted us head-first into the crazy-fun-girl weekend-circus that was her bachelorette party.
In my favorite shot June, Elisa is getting man-handled by Romeo, after her mother, her two cousins, her sister-in-law and I were tossed all about. She went from meek and shy and insecure-about-the-whole-thing to what you see above. From this shot on, there was no stopping her!
The day after this vacation-of-all-vacations, June brought with it more Grad school even though I had already completedGrad school (whomp), my final days as a sub - yay - (although I didn't know it then), the rocking of white pants, the first real Father's Day with my dad since I can't remember when, and a Filipino Wedding Anniversary Celebration that kicked off Wedding Week.
June, you slayed me.
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favorite bunch o'shots of
July 2011:
July.
Usually July is my favorite month of the year, but this year it kicked off the weirdest Summer of my life. I mean...things I would categorize as 'weird' didn't happen, but the whole Summer -- although 'Summer' was all around -- didn't feel like Summer.
It was the first Summer since my dad and mom got divorced, so my mother (now all alone with two able-bodied daughters in a big house) was kicked into overdrive to get going what she's been wanting to get done with this house for years and years and years...
...we painted two rooms, cleaned out the attic, held her garage sale, did chores after chores after chores...
no beach-going
no BBQs, really
just working on the house and going to school
and getting yelled at by my mom, and biding time, and then...
...Grams came!
Grams came and stayed with us for ten whole days, and with her came family from every corner of the surrounding area! My favorite group of shots of July are from our Saturday July 23rd Family Reunion BBQ Extraordinaire! It was the hottest day of the summer by far and can be categorized by laughs, love, new and old faces, sweat, 6-foot long heroes, alcohol, and food.
It was lovely. Weird, but lovely.
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favorite shot(s) of
August 2011:
Well, HEY NOW!
There's me with Dottie & Trisha from Let's Go Ride A Bike and Julie from The Julie Blog on the left, and me with Sheryl from *Bitch Cakes* on the right!
Yep! August was metting-bloggers month 'round these parts. Let me tell you, I almost didn't meet any of these four lovely ladies above, who words I read on the reg. I almost chickened out of going to AdelineAdeline (see post HERE) and if my boyfriend wasn't so aggressive to bike to Sheryl during our Saturday bike ride on NYC's Summer Streets (see post HERE), I wouldn't have met her.
...and, of course, in the days between these two blogger-meetings, I got the job.
Wait, let me repeat: I got the job.
Man, that feels so good. It was such an amazingly long time coming. Now that I have it, I have the first piece of the puzzle to getting my real life started with. I have a vision in my head of how I want the everyday of my career-life to look like, and this job is the kick off.**
August was getting-into-teacher-mode month.
Plus, we had an earthquake (weird), and a hurricane zero-ed in on NYC (so weird).
August...so weird...but loved you. Lots of fun memories.
Lots of happenings I'm so grateful for.
See you in 2012.
**Those pink italic words were written at the end of August. To say that those are my sentiments now, four months later, would be a lie. There's been 'a shift', and I'll explain it in Monday's blog post. ;)
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favorite shot of
September 2011:
To call this my *favorite* shot is kind of deceiving.
It's a picture I took of my first day with my class of students as a real teacher. I think it perfectly captures my fear + excitement + what the heck am I doing feeling. While the fear and excitement has kind of fizzled away now that it's becoming 2012, the {what the heck am I doing} feeling has not. I honestly, truly, promise that I feel -- on most days -- completely clueless/helpless/anxious/exhausted being a teacher.
September had me bombarded by these emotions. My blogginglife, my social life, my Nikon-lovingself, my role as a girlfriend, my sleep, my happiness, ME feeling like ME ... all of it ... it ALL took a backseat to "the job". Saying it has been 'hard work' just doesn't sum it up.
I tried to launch a cute little teacher*blog, but after a week as a teacher, I realized that ambitious little gem of mine was impossible to maintain.
All in all, surviving my first month teaching deserved a parade, and I was hella happy to get to month two. However, October proved to be a daunting follow up.
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favorite bunch*o*shots of
October 2011:
October was the month of jam-packed sardine-ness.
My Nikon collected dust. My iPhone pics on the fly were all I have to show of October - but barely - because the whole month I was either planning or panicking or trying to catch my breath a bit.
The miages above stand out as October's hightlights: a Sunday brunch mimosa clank, carmel apple night, classic ice cream sandwiches of my youth (notice: no time for a manicure)...
...the middle row is comprised of shots from one of my last rides over the Triboroof 2011 with the boyf. It was a Saturday (oh, glorious Saturday) in Central Park together on our bikes. Ahhhh...
...and the last row was shots from the day of our Six Flags adventure. It was a day of roller-coasters, boyfs in capes, and much needed screaming.
Also in October, I saw Tangled (cutest Disney movie ever!), biked to a doggy Halloween dress-up event, watched over two inches of snow fall (?), fell in love with our fireplace, smooched and snapped my kitties a bunch, purchased a FABulous sequins dress, and was Miss Zam-SMELLY for Halloween.
The next day, it was sweet*November.
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favorite shot of
November 2011:
With November came hope. ...came reevaluation. ...came reflection.
...came my 27th birthday.
Maybe it was all hand-in-hand.
I think the changing seasons, the burn-out brain, the laryngitis, the still too-early mornings, the 'nother year older thing, the approaching holidays, and God, ALL had some role in the hope & reeval that November brought.
I don't know. I just decided some things for my future...I think.
I learned work was bogging me down. In September and October, work was ALL ENCOMPASSING. I started to think a little bit more in November about how I could sneak some chillaxtime in. ...how I could fit in rest. I got sick, I had a birthday, Thanksgiving was coming, and I really needed to stop. Just stop.
By the end of November, I felt I had set myself up to better feel like myself than I had since the school year started. I had taken the shots used for this blog, and took some time to edit them, and start this here new blog, and find. the. time. for myself.
I'm grateful November brought this along with it because December was a much roomier, lovelier space. Sweet November, and my 27th birthday, and the hope & reevaluation that followed nudged me forth in December withcrystal clear steadiness.
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favorite shots of
December 2011:
these pages are here, here, here, and here. :)
Ahhhhhh...December, December, December.
December -- this year, I loved you. You were medicine to my sick, struggling spirit. With you came flood waters of creation, inspiration, and relaxation. With you came new music, glitter*glue, this lovely little place to blog on, and you lovely readers reading.
With you, December, came the most beautiful Christmas tree, weekends at home with family planning holiday festivities, the joining of an online doodling community, and weekday night escapes of the art*journalling you see above.
With you also came a temperate trip to Rockefeller Center with friends.
As you can see, I also dusted off my Nikon and took it with me for some good shots. My photos this year were infinitely better than the ones from our trip last year.
This December, I felt a bit of holiday bliss. I knew 'holiday' meant a break from work and the schedule that's been killing me since the first week of September.
With today and tomorrow left to soak up of December, I plan to do just that until January hits, and the realization settles in that work will begin again.
There. My bubble is popped.
My bubble is popped and yet again I enter New Year's Eve with that feeling: "Holy Shit! What am I gonna do with my life?!?!"
I pray that some of the roominess of December sticks around in the next few months. I pray that I can work out something so I don't feel so suffocated.
Perhaps I'm being over-dramatic, but doesn't that come with New Years?
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Okay, you bubbly boops, have a happy day.
As always, thanks for reading and allowing me to share.
xOxO,
