“There is always the temptation in life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for years on end. It is all so self conscience, so apparently moral…But I won’t have it. The world is wilder than that in all directions, more dangerous…more extravagant and bright. We are…raising tomatoes when we should be raising Cain, or Lazarus.”- Annie Dillard

My mantra for 2011: “Life is short, but by God’s grace, for most of us it is also long. This gives us a great deal of time to follow Samuel Beckett’s famous imperative to fail, fail again, and fail better. To succeed, we have to fail. To fail, we have to try.”- Kathryne Young

I loved 2010. Ups, downs and every single minute of 2010 was fun, engaging and a huge learning experience for me.

Here are some of the highlights of the things I loved about 2010:

1. Starting 2010 off with a bang- My Dad and I headed to Pasadena to watch the Longhorns play in the Rose Bowl. Even though the longhorns had a tough 2010, seeing them play was still a highlight of my year.

2. Traveling- In 2010 I managed to visit Seattle, Vancouver, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta (12 times this year I believe), Turks and Caicos and a few other places I’m sure I am missing. I love the adventure that traveling brings to my life and I’m excited that I already have a few 2011 trips planned! (Pic below is from Vancouver!)

3. Family- In 2010 I spent a lot of time with my family and I saw a lot of people start new families (Pics below are my brother’s wedding, baby Shilah and baby Ridley). Family was, and will continue to be, a focal point of my life in 2010.

4. Love and support- This year was full of love and support from my friends, boyfriend, family and coworkers. Everyone was amazing in providing me with the love and support I needed and I hope in 2011 that I can repay everyone with just as much in return.

Now you can see why I loved 2010. What did you love about it?

“How do you go from where you are to where you want to be? I think you have to have an enthusiasm for life. You have to have a dream, a goal, and you have to be willing to work for it.”- Jim Valvano

Over the past 23 years of my life I’ve made quite a few messes. No mess as terrible as the BP oil spill, but let’s just say that I didn’t always make it easy for my parents when I was growing up.

I can remember a night where I had to create a diorama of a native american reservation and I hadn’t started it until the night before it was due. My dad sat with me the entire night (after he got home from work) and helped me glue dirt to the bottom of a shoe box and create little native american men. I can also remember the day before I started high school and swore that I had nothing to wear. My dad spent the entire day with me at the mall while I tried on every single outfit in the stores. Basically I was (and still sometime am) a huge pain in the butt growing up, but my dad is awesome and never lets me down.

So…

Happy Father’s Day, Dad! Love you!