Picky and Healthy

Just in case I don’t make it home from the holiday party in a state to write a post I thought I’d have the first part of my 2009 recap go up today. Enjoy!

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2009 has been a crazy year for me. It started out with chaos at work and it’s pretty much ended with chaos at work and I feel like everything in between has been kind of a blur. Which, I don’t know, seems kind of sad to say, but I really don’t feel as if my life has revolved around work.

I thought it was be fun to do a year recap as 2009 draws to a close so here we go.

In January I headed down to DC for the Inaugration. It was probably one of the craziest experiences of my life. Above is our view at the concert that was held on Sunday.

Here’s Bono performing. (Note my view is different, I made the mistake of going to the bathroom and then waiting on line for food and by the time I tried to make it back to my friends the crowd was so huge it was just walls and walls of people and I couldn’t get through, that was probably the worst moment.)

Obama speaking

Visit to Georgetown Cupcake (food is always important)

They were really f’ing good.

There were lots of amusing things to see and do. (BTW, I wish these pants still fit me, J. Crew’s matchstick cords. They were so comfortable and so cute and this year’s version of the “same” pants are just different. Oh well, there are worse things than losing weight.)

Yummm, Potbelly, one of my favorite sandwiches ever.

Cardboard cut out, not the real thing.

Obama room spray, “Yes we can eliminate odor.” I totally would have bought one but it was $5.

We stayed at my friend Becca’s (pictured right) parents’ house in Old Town Alexandria. To get to the Inaugration in the morning we had to take a boat across the Potomac at about 5am, here we are on the boat.

Sunrise over the Captiol

This woman is one of my favorite memories. She had this book and she was going around getting everyone to sign it with their name and city. I just thought it was a great idea and an amazing project.

This is how we stood. Becca’s mom had the brilliant, amazing, wonderful idea of buying us these folding stools. They’re the only reason we were able to see anything.

Here is Obama being sworn in.

And here he is giving his speech.

And here we are, after it was all over, freezing our asses off.

This is the George Washington University Inaugural Ball I attended that evening.

They had an amazing array of food.

I was so tired at this point I don’t even know how I was functioning. I think I was running on pure adrenilan.

Ok, that was a lot of Inauguration pictures, but it was a big thing in my year. On to other events.

Here’s Central Park on a gorgeous spring day. This was in April, shortly after I decided to start doing Weight Watchers and really committed myself to losing weight. One of the best things about living in NYC is all the parks. I rarely go to Central Park since I have Prospect Park so close to me, but I met friends from NJ and we had a great time that day.

Same day in Central Park, this guy blew up this giant balloon, everyone was watching, and then it broke any everyone sighed and then appalauded his effort.

In May I took a trip for work to Phoenix. We had some extra time one of the afternoons so we went over to Scottsdale.

Here’s a great NYC tradtion: the street fair. This was the one on 5th Ave. in Park Slope.

Here I am at my two year college reunion (yes, we have them). This is the Laurel Parade, which, according to Wikipedia is:

The Laurel Parade takes place the day before commencement. Graduating seniors wear white and carry laurel garlands, in a parade to Mary Lyon’s grave. They are escorted by approximately 3,000 alumnae, also in white, who thereby welcome them into the Alumnae Association. Once at Mary Lyon’s grave, the garland is wound around the cast-iron fence, and the Mimi Farina song “Bread and Roses” is sung by all in attendance. White is a tribute to those who fought for women’s suffrage

This is one of my favorite memories from reunion. This is the group of seniors from the Laurel Parade. The older woman in front was in several of my classes (MHC has a program for older women to come back to school later on) junior year and then my senior year she got cancer and had to stop attending classes. I always wondered what happened to her, but apparently she came back and graduated!

Here’s the class of 1959, one of the things I’m most excited about in life is continuing to go back for reunions as I get older.

If you look in the front row you can see the class of 1939. How crazy is that? I love seeing these elderly women come back.

This is the dorm, South Mandelle, where I lived my junior and senior years of college. I LOVED living there. Honestly, I still miss my rooms.

After reunion my friend Alexis, who lives in Texas, came back to visit me in NYC. One of the things we did was go to the newly renovated Amercan Wing at the MET. It was very cool.

And here are my paternal grandparents celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. My materal grandparents will celebrate their 60th anniversary on Chritmas Eve. How crazy (in a good way) is that? It’s so amazing.

And that’s my January to June review. Stay tuned for July to August.