2010, The Year In Review

Sorry about the delay in getting my annual "Year In Review" post up, I had really intended to do it yesterday, then the letter "i" broke on my laptop keyboard.  Do you know how hard it is to get by without the letter i?  Pretty darned hard.  So today when the shops opened up not only did we do the grocery shopping, I got a new wireless keyboard, wireless printer (silly me though its not compatible with the air print on my iPhone... shoulda done my research first but it was dirt cheap!), and a new laptop.  Did I REALLY need a new laptop?  No, my old one has been performing beautifully but all of you know I do hit the roads quite regularly and you loose the point of a laptop when you have to have a keyboard, it kinda becomes a glorified desktop computer.  The reason we did get the new keyboard for it is so that Todd can inherit it.  He's been using a really old laptop for sometime now and I'm tired of hearing him curse and swear over it so in the end it will reduce my stress level.  I've moved up in the world to a 17.6 inch monitor and I quite like it.  I'll probably change my mind when I lug it with me!

Let's get to the interesting stuff first....

The ceremonial emptying of the Ort Jar on New Year's Day!  I've noticed many of my online stitching friends have adopted this annual tradition as well.  Doesn't it feel great/therapeutic to dispose of all of those orts to start fresh?  I think this year I'll have to hit some of those neat shops I went to in the fall with my friend Tracey to find myself a nicer, more interesting ort jar than a plain old Mason Jar.

The Ort Jar stuffed full by December 31, 2010

Emptied and awaiting 2011 orts!

Stitching Year In Review :

I completed 30 projects in 2010 all of varying sizes from the tiny to the very big!  The finishes I'm most proud of are :

Tour des Marques by The Silver Lining

(psst I have another SL waiting in the wings)

Celestial Dragon by Teresa Wentzler

I had hoped to finish Art Deco Spirits as well in 2010 but I got close, with finishing up 3/4 on New Year's Day ( I didn't quite make the midnight deadline, but I was backstitching as the clock struck midnight at Rebecca's).

3/4 of Art Deco Spirits completed

Air Panel finished on New Year's Day

So this year there's not big New Year's Day start as there has been in previous years. My good friends Bonnie and Christin (she's got a pic of the flower frog I bought her on her blog go take a look!) indulged themselves by starting Ink Circle's Cirque des Cirques. I may join them later in the year.  For now I'm going to carry on with last year's focus, to empty out what's left in my stitching basket!  I did very well this past year with finishing off Tour Des Marques and Celestial Dragon, both very big projects!

Here's what's left to stitch up in 2011

Art Deco Spirits by Mirabilia

The Accolade - Timeless Designs, Gitta's

Delightful Dragon Fob by Teresa Wentzler

Enchantment of Winter by Dimples Designs -- my next focus piece

This little kit I started on my DR trip last year and I've had no interest in picking it back up

Byzantine Ornament #3 by Teresa Wenztler

I of course will be continuing my ornament a month which I have been doing for years!  I think this year I'll be stitching up all the JBW mittens to match the stockings I gave the girls in the office for Christmas this past year, and I'll finish up the Teresa Wentzler Byzantine Ornaments.

Personal Highlights of 2010....

My Dominican Experience Trip for sure!  What an amazing experience (see my posts from March 2010), and to share it with teenagers just made it so much more rewarding.  I'm very fortunate and my Principal has allowed me to run the trip again for 2011 and in a few short weeks I'll be back in The Dominican Republic again, this time with 12 different students!  I'm looking forward to my trip February 18-25th, and of course I will have photos for you!

My summer vacation was just so wonderful this year!  I got to spend a couple of days up in the gorgeous Georgian Bay area with my friend Sheila, it was a treat for sure!

Then I got to spend 3 days in Quebec City with my Mum.  If you're ever in Canada or are a Canadian everyone should make a trip to Quebec City once in their lives!  I definitely want to go back and explore it some more.

Of  course there have been the wonderful retreats and get togethers I've been lucky to attend this last year!  I enjoy and cherish each an every one of them.  There's nothing more pleasing than being in a room full of people intent on one purpose that's to stitch!!!  I of course am looking forward to more of these great days with friends in 2011!!!

Billy Talent

Nickleback

Concerts!  There's not been too many of them in 2010 here in Ottawa but I did get to go to two great shows with Christin early on in the year, Billy Talent and Nickleback!  Two of my favourite bands!

I got to see a once in a lifetime show this fall with my Mum when Roger Waters went on tour with Pink Floyd's The Wall from start to finish.  Wow!  What a show!

There was a hurricane named after me this year!  However I do think it was a fairly well behaved hurricane... as well as a hurricane can be.

I participated in my 3rd Run For the Cure and thanks to many of you I raised $1,410.00 for breast cancer research.  I'll be running again the first Sunday in October of 2011.  Speaking of running I've set two goals for myself this year and they're BIG!  I've already registered for the 10K in the Ottawa Race Weekend on Saturday May 28th.  This will be my first official timed race!  I'm hoping this will lead to registering and completing the Ottawa Army Run Half Marathon in September (not yet registered for).

Despite running this blog for 7 years, in July I stared a second blog : Battle of the Bulge, I wanted to separate my stitching blog from my weight loss experience.  Over at my new blog I'm sharing my weekly progress, Weight Watchers meeting topics, ideas and insights.  Speaking of my weight, I rung in the New Years 2lbs lighter than before the Christmas holidays started!  I was so happy to come out of this holiday season with a loss (very hard to do).  Ideally I'd like to loose 6 more pounds to get within my "healthy" BMI.  This year has definitely been a challenge to maintain my weight loss, back in March I gained about 6-8 lbs and it took me until August to get those pesky pounds off... they went on in 3 weeks and took me MONTHS to get off again.  Since then I've maintained my goal weight and have even dipped a little bit below every once in awhile.

This fall I was back to teaching at Taekwon-Do after a very long break (like 3 years!), its great to be back at the front of the class again.  I'm teaching the "Little Tigers" 4-6 year olds and loving it!  They are so much fun and life is just so simple and straightforward to them.  I also competed for the first time in just as long, coming home from a friendship tournament with a gold and bronze medals.  I look forward to competing some more this year.

I was very proud this year to remember to and fully participate in NaBloPoMo!  I posted once a day on TWO blogs for the whole month of November.  Imagine doing 60 blog entries in 30 days?  Yup I'm that crazy!

I've enjoyed getting back to sharing my PhotoHunt pictures with you in 2010 and I intend to continue in 2011.  I've got some catching up to do!!!

Finally on the fun side of life, I got to drive a Corvette for the first time ever!

So I think that covers EVERYTHING!  What I have done and what I hope to do both in my stitching life and my personal life.  I hope everyone has a fantastic New Year!