Tag: year in review

2012 Year in Review: Pura Vida

Posted on by Elise
last sunset in costa rica. an amazing way to celebrate my 30th this year.
Last sunset in Costa Rica. An amazing way to celebrate my 30th this year.

 

What a year. We didn’t go a moment without a GIF, said final farewells to Andy Griffith, Neil Armstrong and Big Tex (tear) and the S&Mish Fifty Shades of Grey staved off publishing’s decline. (I wasted money on two of the books before totally losing interest.) In other news, I paid more attention to Twitter outrage over the Olympics than the actual games and all my post-election day reading was rudely interrupted by General Petraeus’ soapy sex drama.

I guess the dominant headline of my year was spending 75% of 2012 in a state of pregnancy, oddly appropriate during what often seemed like the Election Year of the Womb (Uteruses up, y’all!). By fall, Baby Eva arrived. There are finally the same number of humans in our house as cats.

Great ’12 Distractions: The return of animated .gif’s. Spotify. Soups. TripIt Pro (continued). Breaking Bad. Blogging about Mad Men after it finally came back (check out my ’08 distractions to see how little has changed), pub trivia at The Argonaut (we still haven’t won), being on airplanes (again), The Accidental Chinese Hipsters Tumblr, which might be the best Tumblr ever.

Fave YouTube Finds: Aaron Paul’s appearance on The Price Is Right many moons ago. The 11-year-old Ryan Gosling’s amazing dance moves.

Recurring Themes: Not drinking alcohol, OMG. Motherhood. My denim jacket, originally purchased in 12th grade. Turning 30. Being unsure whether I’m ready to be an adult. Being unsure whether I should be doing what I’m doing with my life. Watermelon.

Noteworthy Discoveries: Weather.Ericson.net, @PimpBillClinton, Uber, Hipmunk, Dr. Weissbluth, the amazing baby sleep doctor

Happy Places: Those starry nights in Costa Rica. Trivia at Nellie’s with the gays. My pals Virginia and Keith’s badass renovated house in Austin.

Disappointments: Not visiting all the countries I wanted to in my New Year’s Resolutions. Fantasy Football performance in both leagues. Not getting to go see my parents — sure, they came to us, but it’s more fun to visit them in Europe.

Most OUTRAGE-inducing people and situations of 2012: The entitled Washingtonians who just cross Rhode Island Avenue at any point and in any place. DC Water. I STILL GET A PHONE BOOK, WHY!!?

Biggest Victories: Delivering Eva without meds. Winning the battle against DC Water. A 3.2% interest rate on the house.

Continue reading “2012 Year in Review: Pura Vida” →

2011 Year in Review: Up in The Air

Posted on by Elise
In transit at the Warsaw Airport. (October 2011)

 

My friend Patrick Terpstra wrote this of his year: “‎2011 was like riding a tilt-a-hurl after eating seven corn dogs. But it sure beats watching from the ground.”

I can’t disagree. I did plenty of plane riding, which is the most consistent memory of this year, besides saying goodbye and hello to a lot of people I really love. To rewind:

The Year I Flew Around the World, Twice: After saying goodbye to Texas and The Texas Tribune, I spent 99 days this year away from home, logging 78,931 miles in the air to 29 locations including places like Warsaw, Poland (for fun) and Boise, Idaho (for work). Not proud of the carbon footprint but I can now glide through security like Ryan Bingham.

Don’t Look Back in Anger (I Heard You Say): It felt like a pretty angry and destructive year, didn’t it? My second favorite emotion*, outrage, seemed to abound. I write this as tens of thousands of Russians protest in the streets, Egypt, Tunisia and Libya take their shaky steps toward self-rule, and socioeconomic dissatisfaction continues at home. We said goodbye to Osama bin Laden, Amy Winehouse and Steve Jobs (none of whom were picks in my clearly talentless celebrity death pool), an earthquake-tsunami combo led to radiation disaster in Japan, and we experienced a rare earthquake in my new hometown of Washington, D.C.

Favorite Video of The Year Is Also My Favorite Song: “Ching Chong (It Means I Love You)”
After a UCLA student went on a crazy rant about Asian people in the library, she faced a backlash so large she had to quit college. But Jimmy Wong turned his rant response into art — one of the catchiest songs of the year, and an instant viral video. It will get stuck in your head, so if you haven’t seen this, you’ve been warned.

Speaking of Asians, My Most Memorable Welcome to Washington: The Crazy Guy in Starbucks
There was one morning after the devastating Japanese earthquake when I went into Starbucks in Chinatown, natch, when a random guy off the street wandered in, started yelling at people in line, stopped at me, and said this, to me: “Fuck you, go home. You deserved the earthquake.” Then he told the rest of the line we were all going to die. Yep.

Continue reading “2011 Year in Review: Up in The Air” →

2009: Hu’s Looking Back

Posted on by Elise

As we prepare to celebrate a new beginning, let’s continue the newly-old tradition of looking back at the year that was. (I don’t think I’ll ever achieve the same pair of “new experiences” from 2005 — the Daytona 500 and that one KKK cross burning. Oh well). We’ll start chronologically and then lose all sense of chronology since my memory just isn’t that stout.

Skipping stones on the Danube River with brother Roger

 

Never made any new year’s resolutions.
Covered the election of a new Texas House Speaker.
Bought April a fat, happy puppy after scoundrels broke into her house and stole (or let escape) her Maltese, Frankie.
Met two beautiful newborns in the same week.
Got engaged.
Quit my job.
Found a new job.
Helped launched a public media brand with some of the coolest geeks around.
Embraced my love of Twitter.
Spoke at  a dozen panels, meetings and college classes, mostly about Twitter.
Won an award for using Twitter.
Took a trip to Washington, D.C.
Took a trip to Philadelphia.
Took three separate trips to Europe.
Got my home burglarized (again).
Got a photo with Kevin Nealon.
Got a photo with Cheryl Hines.
Got a photo with the dude who played Lawrence in Office Space.
Saw Pearl Jam live, finally.
Celebrated the beagle’s 11th birthday.
Hosted my friend Drew from New York three times.
Said goodbye to my friend Craven, who moved to New York.
Led my Fantasy Football league, until a five game losing streak at the worst time in the season.
Co-hosted two baby showers for my girlfriends.
Got car broken into (again).
Made a bunch of videos.
In a rare fit of motion, ran two half-marathons at the beginning of the year and a full marathon at the end of it, miraculously without getting injured. Well, besides those two times I tripped and fell on concrete – one time in my neighborhood, the other time down by the Danube River.
Finished 2009 with full resolve to not make any resolutions next year, either.