2007 Recap

With all of the sleeping and client work I’ve been doing, my resolution and my recap have been a little delayed.
(Plus, James is sick! Super sore throat! Sleeping all day! Orange Juice IV drip!)

But here we go. On the recap part. The resolution part will come tomorrow.

You’ve already heard about the whole pregnancy thing, but other items of note from 2007 include:

An amazing South by Southwest.
This year, I was able to share the trip to Austin with husband James. He had just as good a time as I did. SXSW blew my mind and opened a whole new future for my company. I learned so much about the future of the online space.

We went to Quebec for a week!
We took a great trip to Canada for gorgeous Jorge and Julie’s wedding. I finally got to see Niagara Falls and it was awesome.

Cheesewhizzes.org
With a new direction from my talented friend Natalie, our little Cheesewhizzes group has taken on a new life. Burgundy, Champagne, Piedmont — new places, new cheeses and new dishes have grown our little group from 10 to 40. We’ve taken it on the road and taken it home.

Cheesewhizzes rocks.

This week’s Cheesewhizzes is our fanciest yet. We’ve even hired transportation!

A summer Midwest tour
I was able to take a summertime trip home whereupon I visited my family, went to BlogHer, crashed my 10 year college reunion and made it to my gorgeous friend Alyca’s wedding reception on the lake. I love going back to Wisconsin in the summer and this trip was no exception.

I quit my job and started my own company!
Probably, the biggest, most exciting part of 2007 finds me pushed out of a job that was a terrible fit for me.
And thank God for that.

Maplevine has been a joy and a joy and a joy.
I absolutely adore my clients,
I love the work that I get to do and
my blood pressure has been normal for the first time in ages.

Bocce, bocce, bocce
This year James and I got even more involved with our bocce team, Joanie Loves Bocce. Between our team track jackets and food themes, everything got better. Our playing got better and our team is even more tight. Go Joanie!

Yes, there was heartache this year. Yes, I spent a good deal of it crying.
But I’m tougher, I’m more sympathetic and eagerly anticipating all the changes to come.

After all of that, am I sure I want to write some resolutions?
(Of course.)

Nice to be your neighbor

Holy guacamole, those were some week-making well-wishes you sent me over the last few days. Thanks!

Up until this week, pregnancy has been very difficult for me. I woke up with pounding headaches, alternating between extreme nausea and knee-quaking hunger and have been crankier with the people I love than I would like to admit.

This disappoints me, as I always thought I’d be one of those shiny earth-mother types, for whom pregnancy is a breeze and growing a fetus means glowing and yoga and essential oils.

The funny thing is that after both reaching this point and sharing the news, my symptoms seem to have decreased.

I’m pleased to report that the morning sickness has mostly abated. And when I say morning sickness, I mean an all-afternoon nausea. I’m also pleased to report that the exxxtreme Dan Cortese-type sleeping, in which I slept 12 hours a night and enjoyed another 3 hour nap, has also eased.

I still seem to need 12 hours a night of sleep, but am not nodding off at my monitor.

Maybe that earth-mother lady still has a chance.
Om.

Year of the first trimester

Three first trimesters in one year is hard enough for anyone.
Looking back at 2007, I have a hard time believing that was me.

Last Christmas was the first time we found out we were pregnant. We were so excited, so hopeful. But at the first doctor appointment, it was not to be. The miscarriage happened during what was to be a party trip to Las Vegas.

That time seems so surreal. I existed, I was so sad.
I took the time to feel awful, I grieved.

Memorial day, that was the second pregnancy. At the time, I had a new boss I irritated by being within 50 feet of him. This meant daily insinuation of HR meetings and an immediate and ominous “30 day review.”

Screw that.

I quit that job for July Fourth. My going away party included hemorrhaging. So while everyone congratulated me on my new endeavor, I doubled over with pain.

I drank too much that day.
I drank too much for the next many days.

But see, I had a new business I was starting!
New business! New business!
No time to mourn these petty losses!

Busybusybusy with new clients and new work and an exciting future!
Let’s put this behind me! Onward!
New business!

Except see, that two miscarriages in one year don

Telling tales

James and I threw our annual holiday cocktail party and true to form, the costume box emerged. We served a cranberry/orange/tea/vodka punch and a Lillet cocktail and by far, the cranberry/orange/tea/vodka punch won out.

We made some awesome appetizers. Bloody Mary crab shooters, cinnamon chocolate cookies and curried pecans were crowd favorites. My favorite part? All had been eaten by the morning.

My sister bought James fake mustaches for Christmas this year and yea, the crowd delighted.

The wigs needed a good brushout, but we’ll save that for the next party.

The next week, Natalie and I took our cheese tasting group, Cheesewhizzes, on the road. We headed to California’s Central Valley and showed ‘em how we roll. Tasted some delicious cheeses and enjoyed some of the most delicious Tuscan food this side of the Atlantic.

After the cheese party, it was time to get sick again. And that’s where I’ve been since, oh, say December 19. It’s recently settled into an awesome sinus infection which recently got into a tooth. Like I said, AWESOME.