2011 Year in Review

This year was chaotic.
January-March was pretty normal. Feb we did a trip to Tahoe.
March started interviewing contractors to add on to our house. Found out baby #3 is a girl.
April-Girl's weekend away to Napa. Submitted paperwork to the city for permits.
May- Ran a 5k at 28.5 weeks pregnant
June-Ran a 5k at 30.5 weeks pregnant and our house addition starts (end of the month)
July- E's 2nd birthday and his choking incident. Start maternity leave.
August- Baby Girl named A is born the day before my birthday. :) Also the wall between our kitchen and new addition is torn down a few days after we come home from the hospital. Talk about a mess in our crowded house! And M starts kindergarten!
September- E's back in the ER for stitches on his forehead. (Accident prone?)
October- By the end of the month the addition is done. We get to move in.
November- M turns 5 years old. Our house is finally complete. (Old bathroom and bedroom remodeled.) We host Thanksgiving this year in our bigger home.
December-Hubby's birthday and Christmas. As well as every weekend M has birthday parties to attend.

We survived through so much this year. It was rough at times. Especially during the remodel. The house was a disaster, dusty, crowded, loud etc and all the while with a newborn. Kindergarten was a transition for the whole family. We have now adjusted to being a family of 5, we have space in our house and we've established a good routine that works for us. I'm finally able to relax in the evenings though sometimes that means crashing early.

Though I wasn't able to reach my goals for 2011, I'm sure I'll more than make up for them in 2012. ;)

Running talley: 217.42 miles. Very short of my 300 mile goal.

Book talley: 37 books out of my 50 book goal.

End of the Year Music Playlist list

Realized I haven't updated my fav music since January!!

Here's on my running/spinning playlist now:
Give Me Everything by Pitbull/Ne-yo et al.
The Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga
Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO
Till the World Ends by Britney Spears
On The Floor by Jennifer Lopez
Hey Baby by Pitbull
Shake Senora by Pitbull
What the Hell by Avril Lavigne
The Time (Dirty Bit) by Black Eyed Peas
Tonight I'm Loving You by Enrique Iglesias
Born This Way by Lady Gaga
Stereo Love by Edward Maya
Yeah 3x by Chris Brown
Like a G6 by Far East Movement
Only Girl by Rihanna
We R Who We R by Ke$ha
Raise Your Glass by Pink
Marry You by Bruno Mars
Dog Days are Over by Florence and The Machine

Books Read 2011

Books Read 2011 (Items in bold are books I highly recommend)

1. Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood

2. Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls

3. Courting Trouble by Deeanne Gist

4. Women Who Run by Shanti Sosienski Loved this book! So inspiring to read about these amazing women who fought to bring women's running into theolympics or to fight a personal struggle. I truely enjoyed reading each story. And the interesting one was of the man who had a sex change to a woman. Reading how estrogen slowed him down was fascinating.

5. Without a Backward Glance by Kate Veitch

6. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

7. My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares Amazing book! I've recommended this book to everyone I know. Such a great story/plot. At first I was disappointed with the lackluster ending but later learned that this book is supposed to be Part 1 of a trilogy. I can't wait till the next book comes out.

8. Ape House by Sara Gruen (A little disappointing, I really liked Water for Elephants and had high hopes for this book.)

9. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier-Again I was hoping for an exciting story, it seemed a little slow. Apparently this book is historical fiction but I sort of wished it was spiced up a little.

10. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins This was a cute teen novel. My friend recommended it to me so I requested the book from the library. I didn't find it amazing, but a cute story.

11. The Book of Tomorrow by Cecelia Ahern. I liked the book, it wasn't as amazing as it sounded like it would be, but it was entertaining. There were some twists in there that I liked.

12. The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes. Very cute book! I thought it was creatively written and kept my interest throughout the book as it followed inhabitants of an apartment building.

13. Mile Markers: The 26.2 Most Important Reasons Why Women Run by Kristen Armstrong. I didn't like the layout of the book in that it wasn't chronological. So it took a bit to get used to kids ages changing etc. But for the most part it was a book about friendship and the bonds you make while running. I had an issue with Kristin saying she's not a runner, etc when she's super fast, spits out 2 hour runs on the weekends often, qualified and ran the Boston Marathon and made an ultra-marathon (trail one nontheless) seem easy. For me that is a super runner, something I don't think I'll ever be...so I was really mad that she says I'm not a runner and here I am saying I"m a runner but can't even imagine being at her level.

14. These Hidden Things by Heather Gudenkauf Very good book! I whipped through it in 4 days which recently is amazing for me. Some of it was predictable but it still kept my attention.

15. The Last to Know by Melissa Hill This book kept me guessing the whole way through. I loved that.

16. Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult It was interesting, didn't have the usual Jodi Picoult drama in the end. It was a good read though I was expecting a bit more to be played out.
17. The Boy Who Loved Tornadoes by Randi Davenport
18. The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain
19. The Pile of Stuff at the Bottom of the Stairs by Christina Hopkinson
20. Sweet Valley Confidential: Ten Years Later by Francine Pascal. I was a huge Sweet Valley fan when I was a little girl. I saw this book and was hoping to bring back those memories. Not so much. Total twist on the plot that I remember. Maybe if I had read the college years it would have made sense but all in all it was eh.
21. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
22. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen: I picked up this book because of the beautiful dress on the cover. I loved it. It's a young adult book and it's best described as Gossip Girl in the 1800's.
23. The Sleeping Beauty Proposal by Sarah Strohmeyer
24. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry
25. Rumors by Anna Godbersen Sequel to Luxe.
26. Bossypants by Tina Fey Funny easy read.
27. Envy by Anna Godbersen
28. Then Came You by Jennifer Weiner This was a great book. I felt I haven't read a really good Jennifer Weiner book in a while but this one was really good. I loved how it was a story about one baby told by several "mothers", egg donor, surrogate and actual mother. It was cleverly written and kept me captivated.
29. Splendor by Anna Godbersen Final Luxe series book. I really liked the series and would recommend it at a fun, easy read.
30. The Lies we Told by Diane Chamberlain
31. The Carrie Diaries by Candace Bushnell
32. Still Alice by Lisa Genova I loved reading the book in the affected patients perspective. Not that I'd know what Alzheimers is like but I felt it could quite possibly have portrayed the disease very well.
33. Forget Me Knot by Sue Margolis
34. Before the Storm by Diane Chamberlain
35. Is Everyone Hanging out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
36. Sisterhood Everlasting (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants #5) by Ann Brashares Wow, just wow. Not what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but a very good read. Like the twists Brashares did.
37. Secrets She Left Behind by Diane Chamberlain

Adding to my books read 2011:

Books Listened to in 2011

1. Love and Impossible Pursuits byAyelet Waldman

2. Between Georgia by Joshilyn Jackson

3. Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende

4. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
5. Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving