Holy crap, 2012 was a doozy. I think I spent most of the year taking things one step at a time, which is a change for me. I’d like to get a bit more purposeful in 2013, especially in exploring all the great natural beauty of western Washington. It’s time to get out and really explore all the mountain ranges, parks and forests around these parts. We have a bunch of things penciled in, including a reason you may want to come visit us in 2013, but here’s how 2012 stacked up in the meantime.
- We moved into more permanent digs in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle. We like the area as it’s a great combination of quiet and access to the rest of Seattle, although I don’t think we can afford to own anything worthwhile or rent something bigger. We’re going to renew our lease for another year and go from there.
- Melissa left in August to spend four months back in Virginia. I’m glad we’re halfway through.
- Family – Mom sold her house and moved to New Jersey to be closer to my nieces. She was also diagnosed and treated for uveal cancer. Dad made South Carolina his official residence for the foreseeable future. I don’t think it’s a coincidence everyone in my family GTFO of the DC area.
- Friends – Eric had a baby; I met her for the first time around Thanksgiving. Mikey got married in Richmond; we bachelored it up in NOLA beforehand.
- Visitors – We hosted my mom, my dad, my sister and nieces (with my mom) and a couple of CouchSurfers from Canada. A few friends talked about coming towards the end of the year, so hopefully we’ll see them this spring or summer. With any luck, we’ll convince a few to never leave.
- Travel – California x 2, New Orleans, Colorado, Vancouver and the east coast three times. This list surprises me as I tend to think of 2012 as a year we didn’t travel much. I guess I’m just used to going overseas for vacations, versus all the domestic short trip/family visit stuff we were doing. 2013 will probably be much of the same but hopefully we can go big in 2014. Backpack SE Asia? Russia for the Olympics? Who knows.
- Life List – I managed to cross three things off: Fly a Helicopter, Skydive and Gilroy Garlic Festival. There are 4-5 candidates to get crossed off in 2013; I’m thinking cycling 100 miles in the day is most likely.
- CrossFit – I got serious about being healthy and have had a decent amount of success doing it. It turns out I was off the mark about commuting on a bicycle every day, but I’m really happy with my bus to work then CrossFit arrangement. While I love the fact that I’m visibly building quite a bit of muscle, I’d really like to get down to my goal weight (one I set like six years ago) in Q1.
- 20 blog posts – I think this is about the right amount for me. It’s amazing how much less I write when I’m not writing them at work. 😀
- 98 Yelp reviews – I knew I was approaching 100 a few weeks ago and intended to write two more, but I forgot over the course of the last 10 days at home. I have 75-80 places bookmarked to review, although I’ve actually gotten to a place where I delete businesses and never review them. That was previously unheard of for me. Progress!