Hello, goodbye (part 1):

Hello internet friends! It's good to be back into a normal routine now that the holidays are over (although, I do love me some Christmas; and this year the entire Christmas/New Year's week seemed especially laid back and relaxed). Some reflections on this past year...

This past year, I think the biggest lesson I learned was to separate work and life. I realized that my business was not going to crumble apart and fail if I let the intern play with her friends for a half hour after school. People weren't going to stop calling if I took a week off in August (which is typically slow anyway). The world wasn't going to end if I took some time for myself and my family; and even though in the back of my head I knew that, it was still reassuring to find out first hand.

I also blogged more. Probably wasn't as much as I would have liked, but this year had more posts than any other year. Looking back on that, it makes me feel good. Still striving to blog more often... so this is a step in the right direction.

I rode in my first big group bike ride. I bought a bike this past spring, and really made a commitment to riding it. So much so that I signed up for the CT Challenge, and completed the 50 mile route. The Challenge was a great way to force myself to train, and the feeling I got at the finish line was sooooo worth it all. I rode my bike 50 miles! All in one ride! Yep, that's one to shout from the rooftops.

I participated in my first gallery show. Last summer, I was asked to be part of the Hang in There Poster Show, which was a group of posters with a positivity theme. Even though I was terribly nervous leading up to the show (holy cow, it was like a who's who of graphic design in CT!), I was really proud of my work (and incredibly honored to be included).

I saw Derek Jeter's 3000th hit. OK, not really a personal accomplishment so much as stupid luck on my end (we had bought the tickets really early in the season, and had he not been injured, or had the previous night's game not been rained out... it would have been just another Yankee game), but still: cool.

My work won some pretty cool graphic design awards. That's always a good feeling. As Sally Field said it best: "You like me! You really like me!"

Stay tuned, tomorrow's post is my goals for 2012.