2009: The Year in Review

Hello, and Happy New Year! I will soon get back to blogging about Hawaii, but in the meantime I went back and reviewed 2009. What a year! Here are some of the highlights:

January 20th: Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama

February 5th-17th: Tomkin and I traveled to Madrid, Spain, and spent a week doing the Vaughan Town program in Salamanca. We met some cool and interesting people, learned a lot about Spanish culture and customs, and gained a whole new appreciation for ham.

February 27th: Heidi & Chris's small and beautiful wedding in St. Paul. Tomkin officiated, and I was the photographer.

March 28th: Tomkin's 40th birthday! We celebrated with a small get-together at Pizza Luce.

April 9th-11th: Tomkin and I celebrated our first anniversary with a weekend trip to Northfield, topped off (upon our return to St. Paul) with dinner at W.A. Frost--the site of our engagement--on our actual anniversary (the 12th).

April 13th: Work began on our new patio (half stone pavers, half poured cement). It took a few weeks to complete, but it was well worth it!

April 15th-18th: My friend Heidi came to visit from Chicago, and we had a fabulous time catching up and exploring the city.

April 24th: Our friend Juliet (also from Chicago) spent the night with us before her audition for the Minnesota Opera.

April 27th: Tomkin and I started taking a five-week-long swing-dancing class.

April 30th-May 2nd: I attended the ACES (American Copy Editors Society) conference in Minneapolis, though declined their invitation to be a speaker at the event. (Since then, I have stopped doing freelance editing--except for one ongoing client--and am now doing grant-writing. So far I have completed two foundation grants and two federal grants.)

May 1st: Tomkin and I made our way to the western 'burbs to hear my high school friend Eric Kalenze perform (sing/play the guitar).

May 10th: We attended my brother Alex's graduation from St. Cloud State University. (He has just completed his first semester of grad school, where he's getting a master's degree in statistics, with a 4.0 GPA!)

May 22nd-24th: Had a mini high-school reunion here in St. Paul with my friends Kristen (who now lives in Arizona) and Sarah (who lives in Colorado), who I hadn't seen in 17 years, and my friend Heidi (who is local). It was amazing to reconnect after so long.

June 4th: Tomkin and I attended a Twins game at the old Metrodome. (His parents gave us tickets that they had won.)

June 25th: We helped our friend Helena move into her beautiful new house, just a couple miles away from us!

June 26th-28th: I drove down to Iowa to see my friend Lisa and meet her fiance, Richard, and their daughter, Kaya, who was born in January. We'll be back again in February for Lisa and Richard's wedding!

July 3rd-12th: Our first-annual Staycation, in which we took time off from work and explored our wonderful hometown. We picnicked at Fort Snelling, toured the governor's mansion, shopped at the Elko Flea Market, explored the Midtown Global Market, rode our bikes to Minnehaha Falls, found some treasures at the Ax-Man store, got drinks at Brit's Pub and Juicy Blucys at the Blue Door Pub, and spent some fun time with friends.

July 6th: Chloe passed her Canine Good Citizen test, the first step toward becoming a therapy dog.

July 7th: We met with Jessie Marianiello, the local artist who we commissioned to paint portraits of Scout and Chloe (Tomkin's 40th birthday gift to me).

July 8th: We attended the Minnesota Bride (magazine) awards, since Tomkin was a finalist for Best Officiant.

July 16th-19th: My friend Carrie D. visited from Chicago, just in time for our Surly-themed Third Thursday party. We also toured the Surly Brewery and had a fun weekend hanging out, exploring, eating, and talking.

August 11th: Chloe and I started a ten-week training course so we could become a registered therapy dog team.

August 14th-17th: I drove to Grand Forks, where my mom and I hosted a birthday bash for my friend Brenda, her mom Barb, and my aunt Candy. We also spent time with Grandma Tack and played Rock Band at Mike and Renee's.

August 20th-23rd: Jenny & Allison came to town so we could all celebrate Tom's 80th birthday. At his party, we read a list of "80 Legends About Tom Coleman." A good time was had by all.

August 29th: Tomkin and I hosted a party at our friend Jim & Roxanne's house for Chloe's 9th birthday. We had a beef-flavored cake with potato frosting for the dogs, as well as a pinata filled with dog treats. All the dogs (and the people) were very well-behaved.

August 30th: Tomkin and I attended the MN State Fair and had a great time, expect that we were supposed to see Kelly Clarkson in concert and she canceled because of illness. :-(

September 1st: My friend Marcus joined me for the American Idols Live! concert, primarily because we both wanted to see Adam Lambert. (I'm not sure which of us is a bigger fan!)

September 5th: We attended a record-release party at First Avenue--my first time there!

September 13th: Tomkin and I did the 15-mile route of the St. Paul Classic Bike Tour. This was a big deal, since a few months before Tomkin had fallen off his bike so hard that he cracked his helmet and had to get ten stitches on his leg. His elbow was sore for a long time, but a cortisone shot eventually helped him feel better. We rode our bikes regularly while it was warm, and Tomkin continues to ride during the winter. Next year, we're planning to do the 30-mile route of the St. Paul Classic Bike Tour.

September 25th-27th: My friend Carrie Mc. came to visit from Chicago. We had a great time catching up and stayed busy eating, drinking, and talking.

September 28th: Chloe passed the Delta Society evaluation, and we became a registered therapy dog team!

October 2nd-3rd: I attended a Couples Communication conference in Minneapolis. I've had a busy year leading premarital education classes and am always looking for ways to improve.

October 7th: My 40th birthday! We celebrated by having dinner at the 112 Eatery and then attending the So You Think You Can Dance live tour.

October 10th: We had some friends over for another birthday celebration and served Indian food from a wonderful local restaurant. We also had cake and ice cream. It was lots of fun, and I didn't even mind turning 40.

October 17th: Tomkin and I had a combined birthday celebration with Sandy and my dad. We get to see them for lunch or dinner every month or two now, which is a definite bonus of living back in Minnesota.

October 21st-November 5th: Our belated honeymoon in Hawaii--probably the vacation of a lifetime. We stayed on a working coffee farm, went horseback riding on an open range and on a trail around the Waipio Valley, rode in a helicopter, boogie-boarded, were surrounded by dolphins while we kayaked, went snorkeling, rode a submarine, went ziplining over a forest canopy, attended two luaus, hiked through a volcanic lake, and biked down a volcano. We also met some really cool people, ate amazing fruit, drank incredible Kona coffee, did some interesting shopping (Tomkin found machetes at a Japanese general store), and even managed to relax a little.

November 20th-23rd: Tomkin and I went to Boston for the weekend to see our friend Scotty and meet his fiancee, Brenda (who is awesome!). We also got to spend a night with our friend Jake, his wife Regan, and their son Kyle, and got to see our friends Christopher and Pam. We'll be back again in May for Scotty and Brenda's wedding!

November 26th: We hosted Thankgiving at our house, with our now-traditional ham from Widmer's. Tomkin's parents were here, along with my dad, Sandy, Phillip, and Alex, and we all had a lovely day.

December 4th-6th: I flew to Chicago, where I threw myself one last 40th birthday party (this one with lots of Chi-Town friends at In Fine Spirits in Andersonville) and co-hosted a bridal shower for my friend Lisa. It was a fabulous trip, though much too fast.

December 7th: I got to meet Tomkin's friend Opie, who was in town from Alaska.

December 11th: My Profitlancers group (all freelance editors/writers/artists) had an "office party" by meeting for high tea.

December 20th-26th: Traveled to Texas (and, thankfully, avoided all the horrible blizzards) to visit my mom and Dick. We made lefse, looked through old photos, played Skip-Bo, went out for Mexican food on Christmas Eve, and had a fun time together on Christmas Day.

December 27th: Celebrated Christmas with Tomkin's parents. Went out to dinner with the Ansaris and Sheldons.

December 31st: Rang in the New Year with Kris and Dave at W.A. Frost.

Also this year, we had a number of friends who gave birth or adopted babies (congrats to you all!). Tomkin's wedding business is thriving, and we both feel very lucky to be working from home and doing work we enjoy. We also enjoyed another year of great shows at the Guthrie, and (for the first time) we got season tickets for dance performances at the Northrop, plus we got to see some other cool and interesting performances around town. We were blessed to spend time with so many awesome friends, by getting dinner, playing Rock Band, going to late-night happy hours, attending parties, etc. We also had another successful year of Third Thursdays parties, serving up a different drink each month, and Tomkin continues to play poker almost every Wednesday night with a great group of friends. And we got a GPS, which has truly been life-changing for me--no more getting lost! Other than Tomkin's bike-related injuries, we both stayed healthy all year. We both feel really blessed and fortunate to have had such a wonderful 2009, and we wish all our friends and family a healthy and happy 2010!