Dec
31
Whoomp, here it is, just like in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Became the mother of two boys.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Here’s what I wrote last year: I hope I get back in a fitness routine, I hope I take on lots of exciting new writing assignments, and I hope I can embrace the new level of parenting we’re about to experience . . . but I also want to stay sane in the process. I think my only resolution is to try and go with the flow and do my best.
Depending on how you interpret “lots” and “exciting”, I’d say I did okay on those admittedly half-assed resolutions. My resolutions for 2009? I’d like to maintain my commitment to healthy eating and exercise, make an honest attempt to create more meaning in my career, and find the balls to step outside my comfort zone more often.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yes, my friend Jen had a ridiculously cute baby girl.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No.
5. What countries did you visit?
Can we list counties instead? Because not so much with the exotic travel in 2008.
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A little more serenity and contentment.
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
February 4th, the day Dylan was born.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Being able to (mostly) carve out space in my life for parenthood, work, side projects, exercise, AND US Weekly.
9. What was your biggest failure?
A common theme is emerging where I give the same general answer to this question each year, and here it is again: rather than one particular FAIL, I have myriad regrets for the moments when I have fallen short on the parenting front.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Macbook Pro, my iPhone, the 30 Day Shred DVD, a membership to a kickboxing gym, and this necklace.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Oh, how about Barack Obama.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Occasionally, my own. But let’s go with Spencer Pratt, just because I so badly want to nad-punch that shitweasel.
14. Where did most of your money go?
The mortgage, daycare, and groceries.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Have there always been that many “reallys” in this question? I’m not sure I got so urine-sprayingly excited about anything to warrant three reallys, but — oh yeah, there was the whole Birth of My Second Child Thing. Although the more accurate term may have been “terrified”.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Gah. Well, maybe that “Paper Planes” song.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier, because I now have my two boys outside my body
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner
c) richer or poorer? Both, I think. More money coming in, more expenses going out.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Staying more fully connected in the moment with my kids.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Snapping at people around me when my patience was stretched too thin.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Here at our house, which is where I hope we spend the holiday next year.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Yes, there’s another man in my life, bringing the total to three. OH BABY. Uh, no really: he’s a baby.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Mad Men was my favorite, but also: Battlestar, True Blood, Fringe, 30 Rock, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, The Wire.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.
24. What was the best book you read?
Definitely not the best, but maybe the most enjoyably addictive: the first three Twilight books. The fourth one can huff a leprous goat dong.
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ha. “Discovery.” Like I ferreted out some little-known indie band because I’m so hip and shit. I’ll go with Bishop Allen.
26. What did you want and get?
A perfectly healthy, beautiful baby.
27. What did you want and not get?
The world’s most killer pair of tall boots? Nothing major comes to mind, which tells me how lucky I really am.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Just one? Suck it, quiz. Dark Knight, Wall-E, Burn After Reading, Slumdog Millionaire, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which I just saw tonight.
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
It was my second day alone with both kids after Dylan was born, and I was nursing a strained back. But I think there was a big-ass chocolate cake. I turned 34.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
A stay-at-home wife of my very own.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Reveling In the Weight Loss But Still Pretty Much Clueless About Fashion.
32. What kept you sane?
This blog, as always. Exercise. Laughing kids.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Can I say Clive Owen? I always say Clive Owen. CLIVE OWEN.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The terrifying combination of ignorance and aggression coming from Sarah Palin.
35. Who did you miss?
My kids, at certain times during my work days.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
I’ll say Miss Lucy, our wonderful daycare teacher who is also turning out to be a wonderful babysitter. I also met a ton of very cool people at BlogHer last July.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Having two kids was a fantastic idea. Working out changes my brain chemistry for the better. Never underestimate the power of a blowjob.
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Ugh. Well, how about:
“I know more than I knew before
I know more than I knew before
I didn’t rest, I didn’t stop
I feel it all, I feel it all
I feel it all, I feel it all
The wings are wide, the wings are wide.” — Feist
Comments
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Happy New Year!
Happy New Year, Linda! Hope 2009 is even better for you than ’08. Love the pics; you look great. I got 30 Day Shred for Christmas and started it 2 days ago (all ’cause of you, tyvm!). It is killing me, but I also love it. How’s that for dichotomy? I just hope I end up looking a tenth as good as you.
Happy new year! That last photo is fantastic!
Happy New Year, and can we get that in the snow?
Oh how cute those boys of yours!
Happy New Year! Oh my god those pictures are cute!
You are just damn fabulous! And inspiring. Happy New Year!
Wow- Love the idea of the questionairre every year. I love reading your blog, one of the only ones I ever read.
HOWEVER I was super disappointed to find such a negative thing on your questionairre about Sarah Palin. Dude, why did you ahve to go into the negative political realm? I KNOW it’s your blog and you can write WHATEVER you want….I was just disappointed I guess.
Happy New Year!!!
Ha, you better watch what you wish for on the stay at home wife of your own – if my husband ever wished for it, he probably regrets it now. You’d be better off wishing for a maid and a cook and a nanny, all in one! :) Happy New Year!
I love reading these things, thanks.
Happy New Year!!
Ooh, good point on the stay at home wife of your own. I know what to wish for when I blow out birthday candles this year!
Also, I’m thinking Jen will want to make sure not to blog hop reading questionnaire answers today. If she didn’t like your Sarah Palin response she certainly isn’t going to like mine, and we are hardly alone in feeling negatively in that regard!
I look forward to reading this every year. I missed the big day ‘o links, but if you are still feeling nosy, mine’s at:
http://mdwestmom.blogspot.com/2008/12/year-end-questionaire.html
Happy 2009!
Happy New Year! I love all your answers. I should have put on mine that your blog has kept me sane. Your boys are about the same ages as mine and it’s nice to come here and be able to say “Whew! So it’s not just me feeling that way!”
2009, thank God!
After almost 10 years of trying, the chances finally look very good that we’ll become parents this year (ivf procedures have already started and things are good so far). As with your writing and humor, I look at you as inspiration for the parent I hope to be. The lesson I’ve learned from you: it’s hard as hell but worth everything. Which can also be applied to your hot bod this year, but I’m not making any commitments in that area.
Happy New Year! I always enjoy reading your annual questions/answers (however, am far too lazy to answer them myself). Great pictures!!
So glad I’m not the only one who hated the last twilight book >:P
I love every one of your damn answers! Here’s to you and your delcious writing! You and yours have a fantastic New Year!
I’m always just read but I today I also want to say thank you. Since I followed a link here (and started reading from the start) you have provide a wonderful distraction and inspiration during a couple tough months. Thanks so much for the funny, and heart warming stories. Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!
What a great way to look back and see what you’ve accomplished one year, and a great way to plan for the new year!
Thanks for sharing it!
OT – but I’ve been enjoying your lovely beigey-tan wall color in your living room as I look at your photos. I am in search of the perfect non-white-neutral for my wall… please share what color that is?
And I super love your grey kanga-pocket sweatshirty thing… way cute.
Jen- My guess would be that Linda went into the “negative political realm” because the QUESTION was “What political issue stirred you the most?”
Anyways. To Linda, just wanted to say that I freakin’ love your hair in those pictures! And, you know, the kids are pretty cute too I suppose.
Awesome. Happy new year
“Never underestimate the power of a blowjob.” Heeee Heeeee!
Happy New Year!
Is it my imaginaton or do those two boys of yours get cuter every day???
[…] I’m nothing if not a lemming, so when several other bloggers posted nice re-caps of their years I figured it would be a good way to break my posting hiatus. So here it is, iKate’s year in review (in no particular order): […]
Oh, guess I should add mine too… was not finished until today!
http://www.cloverblather.blogspot.com
I knew you had a weird cult following, but your responses blew my mind. Apparently you have enough to at least buy your own island with a huge supply of kool-aid. Happy new years Linda, and the same for your family.
Speaking of weird culty followers, you’ve been a huge inspiration to me, in my pursuit of both a non alcoholic lifestyle, and the pursuit of my more artistic abilities. It may sound weird to hear, but your every day sharing with your readers has had a big impact on my life in a very tangible way, so thank you for posting what you post. I hope that 2009 brings you even more good things, and that maybe my interaction with you can give you the kind of positive and happy shit that your interaction with me has brought. Thanks for not being dull,
Josh W.
1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Actually went on a vacation for no other reason than to have some time off – no visiting relatives, no attending a wedding, etc.
2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I believe so, I am not 15 lbs heavier after the holiday season like I was at the end of 2007, so I think that is a pretty amazing achievement!
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
No.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Yes, my neighbor, unexpectedly in a car wreck on December 12th.
5. What countries did you visit?
USA, Australia, Fiji, Mexico …. and Kentucky (it’s like another country). Oh, and Disney World (which is like another planet; a recession-proof planet). And Talladega, Alabama for the Spring Nascar Race, need I say more?
6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A bit more stability in my life!
7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
August 9th – Charlotte’s first day of kindergarten … how did time fly by so quickly?
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Coming to terms with the fact that sometimes the expectations your parents impose on you your whole life long aren’t always the best thing for you once you grow up and get your own life.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Taking until about October 2008 to realize the above ….
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I got a sinus infection in Mexico which was pretty miserable – especially on the plane ride home when my ears wouldn’t pop. Now I know why babies cry on planes.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Wow – right now I would have to say the Wii for Charlotte for Xmas … my right tricep is going to be enormous if I don’t get over my Wii Tennis addiction!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The American public for actually voting.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
I am SO with you on Spencer Pratt. Try the whole Government of the City of Memphis, TN.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, groceries … Macy’s. :(
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Taking Charlotte to Disney World in October – just the look on her face when she sat in that tea-cup ride, when she saw the Princesses, etc. Oh to be a kid again and BELIEVE.
16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Unfortunately Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl”.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner
c) richer or poorer? Richer
Damn, I had a good year!
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Livign spontaneously instead of thinking every little thing through …
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Spending money on things I really didn’t need.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Rushing between my ex-husband’s (his family was in town) and my house; trying to share an almost six-year old.
21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Just more with the same man from 2005, 2006 and 2007.
22. What was your favorite TV program?
Hmmm – Invention – I think.
23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No.
24. What was the best book you read?
Read? I don’t have time to read …. :(
25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Well, I didn’d find a hidden, long-lost Mozart sonata in the Black Hills of Bavaria or anything …. did discover that Charlotte loves AC/DC!
26. What did you want and get?
Troy back home.
27. What did you want and not get?
To get over some guilt that’s probably unwarranted.
28. What was your favorite film of this year?
Burn After Reading
29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 36 and I was photographed for an online project called 33 Faces where 33 people represent the face of 33 different countries … I am Australia.
30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
My house spontaneously, miraculously growing another bedroom.
31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
If you like it, buy it in every color they have …
32. What kept you sane?
Working out.
33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Was Joaquin Phoenix in a movie this year? Who cares …. Joaquin Phoneix.
34. What political issue stirred you the most?
The fact that I became a US Citizen in September and got to vote in one of the biggest Presidential elections of my lifetime.
35. Who did you miss?
My sister – she’s almost 30 and I left home when she was 11. She’s still in Australia.
36. Who was the best new person you met?
Dana.
37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Just because you had a plan for your life 15 years ago, doesn’t mean you have to follow it now that those fifteen years have past …
38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
“I wanna do it again” …
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2008 : All & Sundry