2010 Highlights

For the most part, 2010 was a great year... I am so blessed to have this amazing life full of great people.

Some highlights of my year:

- We bought our first home in February and settled in. I LOVE our house, it is just perfect. It's a little big still but we'll grow into it eventually. I can see us living here for a long time and it's better than I imagined.

- I completed my Oregon Reading Endorsement. This 24 credit endorsement program is required to be a Reading Specialist. I took all 24 credits between August 2009 and June 2010 which was a ton of work. When I was in kindergarten, I went to a reading group with Mrs. Peavy at Edgewood Elementary. Ever since then, I wanted to be a Reading Specialist. Then, I started the program and thought, "crap, this is a lot of work in a short amount of time, I hope it really is my dream job"

- I got a teaching job in Oregon! In August, I was called for a temporary assignment as a Reading Specialist. It was only until November 30th but since I didn't have anything else, I took it. Turns out I LOVE teaching reading and it really is my dream job. In November, I found out that the lady I was working for was taking the entire year off (maternity leave) so the job is mine for real!

- I ran. In Dec of 2009, I went to Vegas to cheer on two great friends while they ran the Las Vegas Rock n Roll half marathon. It was so amazing to me and I was telling them how I wish I could be a runner because I don't run. They convinced me I could and I started running the next day. Dave and I signed up for the Portland Half Marathon a few weeks later. It wasn't until October 10th but I had time to run.

- I ran a bunch of races the first half of the year after picking up running. I did the Shamrock 8k in March, a 10k for autism in April, Tualatin River Run 10 miler in May. The 10 miler really showed me I could do anything I wanted to. I also went back to Colorado and ran the Bolder Boulder over Memorial Day- ugh that altitude was horrible but I was glad to run with Tree again.

- Our 4th anniversary, June 3rd was celebrated in the airport and on a red-eye to NYC. My dad was having surgery and we wanted to be there. We still managed to celebrate with a great dinner and the Broadway show Wicked. It was a great performance.

-Dave and I hiked the Inca Trail in June. It was the hardest physical thing I've ever done in my life and an amazing experience. I still can't believe I did it. The Inca Trail is around 26 miles and the one pass takes you up over 15,000 feet. The altitude is killer and the long days don't help. Completing the trail and arriving in Machu Picchu was an amazing morning.

- I always wanted to do a sprint triathlon. It was on my bucketlist, my 30 before 30 list, etc. but then I signed up for the half marathon and thought I could just replace a tri with a half marathon (since I never thought I would do one of those)! Well, I found a beginner tri in July. It was a sprint distance and the swim was downstream in the Columbia. Since I was petrified of the OWS, it sounded like downstream was a good way to go about it. I did the race and fell in love with sprint triathlons! I ended up completing 3 this season and although they were challenging and I'm slow, it's an amazing accomplishment of mine.

- My running goal of last summer was to run an entire 5k by the end of the summer. I always do interval runs so I still walk a good bit. I had my heart set on Race for the Cure because it was in September and was really the end of the season. In August, we did the Crawfish Crawl and I ran most of it (I walked through water stations). I knew I could do it at Race for the Cure and I DID!

- The half marathon was 10/10/10. I slacked on my training when school started and didn't do any long runs. It showed, the half marathon was tough. It was harder than my other races and I just wasn't trained. The weather didn't help, it was pouring rain and cold the entire time. But, I did beat my goal time of 3 hours (2:50) but didn't reach my "reach goal" of 2:45. I had amazing friends come to run Portland with me- Jordan and Carol came from California (Jordan ran the full- amazing!) and Teresa and Emma came from Colorado (Teresa did not leave my side the entire 13.1 miles although she should've).

- Thanksgiving was celebrated in our new home with both sets of parents. It was nice to be able to have everyone at the table. My mom, dad, and sister came, as well as Jerry and Deb. Unfortunately, Paul and Jess couldn't make it but they went to Massachusetts and got engaged instead so that's ok :) We are thankful for so much

- December 17, 2010 brought my much anticipated 30th birthday! We celebrated the week before with a party. I'm so glad my local friends could all make it, it was a great night. I felt so loved, I love my friends here. On my actual birthday, Dave took me to el Gaucho and I had the most amazing meal, topped with tableside flambeed bananas foster- it's a must have for sure!

- we spent Christmas of 2010 in Florida with Dave's parents. It was a very relaxing trip, we didn't do much but it was nice to be in the sunshine and eat good food.

- New Years Eve was spent with good company over our friend Jason and Caitlin's house. As Caitlin's invite read "New Year's Eve party! (and by "party," I mean sitting around trying to keep each other awake)" I love her! the fact that it was a sweatpant party made it a definite win.

So, as you can see 2010 was an amazing year for us. I'm excited to see what 2011 will bring.