2011: A Year in Review.

Ah, the yearly tradition of recaps. Probably boring for you, but I am forgetful, so I must! 2011 was a wonderful, if incredibly fast, year. After years of moving apartments and changing jobs every summer, we stayed put this year for the first time since getting married. Guess we’re growing up?

While still dreaming of a creative career, I was happily working at Starbucks. A job at a high school in a super-flexible position that was twice the pay fell into my lap unexpectedly at the end of the month.

I started my new job on Valentine’s Day and had my very first paid photo shoot this month. Oh, and Gabe got baptized, which meant my college roommate and Gabe’s godmother came to visit!

I did some major decluttering during spring break, which actually changed my life. I took a much-needed break from my Twitter addiction. Gabe started teething, which was awful.

April was the month where Gabe went from being our baby to being our buddy. It was a quiet month, but really lovely.

May was our road warrior month! We traveled to our alma mater, New York City, and Asheville, North Carolina, where we ate tasty food and saw wonderful friends.

We started the month with spending a week at the beach in South Carolina with Mike’s family. After nearly three weeks away from home, we settled into a nice, quiet month.

We started growing veggies in our first garden, and traveled to Western Massachusetts to spend nine days on a farm – stopping to see our friends in Ithaca on the way there and back.  (All this traveling resulted in a ‘how to’ baby travel post, naturally.) I also rebranded and launched Little Leaf – my photography and design business.

We returned from our farm vacation, celebrated four years of marriage, Gabe had his first emergency room visit (WORST EVER EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE), and we ended the month with a golden birthday party for Mike and Gabe.

Gabe turned one (!), there was a street fair on our block, and I had my first engagement photo shoot.

I turned 27, we gave Gabe his first haircut, I gave myself yet another blog makeover, and talked a lot about not using shampoo.

I had a work trip to DC, which meant I left Gabe overnight for the very first time. I felt overwhelmed, then felt glad I’m not 17. We also put up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving because I just couldn’t wait to share Christmas with Gabe.

We celebrated Christmas with toddler Gabe, which was way more fun than infant Gabe last year. New Year’s Eve was spent at home with sushi, champagne, and a ‘Noon Year’s Eve’ celebration for Gabe.

It just keeps getting better.

[Recaps from years past: 2009 | 2010]