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I saw this meme done here at Leah’s Blog and thought that I’ve had such an epic year, it would be a shame not to join in!

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Where to start? Long haul flight to LA, enrol in a paper at Tech, work in race control at the ITM400 Street Race in Hamilton!

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I wanted to return to study, which I did, and I lost some weight (8kg) and I hope to keep up my good grades and continue losing weight, getting healthy and looking great. I started the year saying that this was going is my year, and I was so right!

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Nope! Not a single baby in sight.

4. Did anyone close to you die? We lost our little cockatiel, Lucky. We miss him heaps every day. He was our own little flying terrorist of crazy.

5. What countries did you visit? USA – California, Nevada and Arizona. I include Arizona, even if we were only in Arizona for a few hours, it was such an awesome day, albeit very long.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? Money. There just never seemed enough of it to go around. I’d like to have more time as well, but I know that isn’t possible. Time. I could use a few more days in the week!

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? 5th March – the day we landed in the USA for our epic holiday.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?  Getting an A+ on my first paper at tech. It took A LOT of effort and nobody could really fault my dedication. I hope to carry that on to my degree.

9. What was your biggest failure? I can’t really think of one actually. This year has been pretty successful and epic.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? my RSI made an epic come back post-exam and I’m still having on going problems with my knee (PFS). I had a terrible sinus infection which also took me two months to shake. I’m hoping my RSI doesn’t make itself the main feature over the next six years while I do my degree.

11. What was the best thing you bought?  The new laptop, the Marc Jacobs handbag, my iPhone 4 and my iPad. I can’t live without any of them! LOL!

12. Whose behaviour merited celebration? I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head.

13. Whose behaviour made you appalled and depressed? Ditto.

14. Where did most of your money go? Travelling in the USA and then catching up on all the bills when getting home and enjoying life for a while before getting our focus on for 2012. And getting laptops, iPads etc. Shopaholic much!

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Going on holiday to the USA for 2.5 weeks. And starting tech again. Both were such awesome goals and were both achieved and enjoyed.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? Anything by Adele. Her voice gives me goosebumps.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) Happier or sadder? Happier. Much happier.

b) Thinner or fatter? Thinner, yay!

c) Richer or poorer? Poorer. All the money saved up for the USA trip I had this time last year is now just memories. But I made some good decisions, like restructuring a small portion of the mortgage (5%) will be paid off in the next four years.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Travel, Photography, exercise. Read more actual books, not textbooks.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Freaking out over tech stuff. I am sweating the small stuff.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Spent it with my husband and our families. Then we met up with our awesome neighbours and started with drinks in their driveway and then drinks inside their lovely home.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Aside from being in love with my incredibly patient husband, I’ve fallen in love with our new Cockatiel, Chopper, who has his own different personality and is just full of beans.

22. What was your favourite TV programme? True Blood.

23. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn’t dislike this time last year? The Toxics. It was a friendship that turned pretty toxic towards the end and finished in a blazing argument. Even if they didn’t apologise, I wouldn’t have them back in my life. My life is too busy to waste precious thoughts and time on people who treat me like that.

24. What was the best book you read? I feel stink. All I’ve read in the last 12 months is textbooks. That’ll change. I hope. Does a cook book count? I’m working my way through the Healthy Food Guide 5pm Panic Cookbook and got some great, easy recipes out of there. Sad. I know. I do have two photography books on the shelf though that I will be reading in the next fortnight.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Didn’t really listen to much new music. I’m revisiting the classic artists My iPhone has seen artists like Bruce Springsteen, Meatloaf and Aerosmith loaded onto it in recent times. That is in addition to the Led Zep, Pink Floyd and David Bowie that was already on there. I was born a few decades too late, but, they wrote good songs back then.

26. What did you want and get? An iPad. Designer handbags.

27. What did you want and not get? A new camera. I’m undecided about which one to get. So until I’m decided, I’m not going to do a thing about getting a camera. The one I’m leaning towards will see me spending more money on getting SD cards and different batteries, where the other one is more expensive, but I can use all the batteries and CF cards that I have. Either way, it works out I’m up for the same bill regardless and the differences between the two are minor. I just can’t decide!

28. What was your favourite film of this year? Girl with a Dragon Tattoo (the original version). I also just finished watching Cars 2. That was pretty neat. Black Swan was another I enjoyed watching this year.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? We had my friends over for a BBQ to celebrate my 30th. It was really special in that my friend Telly and my Brother had flown up from Christchurch, and I’d found a stray Wellingtonian to rope in as well. It was a race weekend, so half the guests were too tired to misbehave. No more birthday parties for me now until I’m 42.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Its been a pretty awesome year. I don’t think it could have been any more satisfying!

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? It evolved from jeans and hoodies to pencil skirts and cute tops as I went from working in a signwriters to working in a corporate environment. Huge shock to the wardrobe and the pocket as I had to buy new clothes. I’m a huge fan of the chain City Chic. The majority of my summer wardrobe is their clothing now. It feels so awesome to look good in clothes, that I love.

32. What kept you sane? Cookie bird. I’ve had her in my life for 10 years. When things get stressful, I like to sit down with my girl and just have smooches. And being pooped on, which is a minor downside. There is nothing cuter or more awesome and grounding than the love of a parrot.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I honestly cannot think of anyone. I tend to admire people who love what they do, with a passion and they do it well. If you’re one of those people, then you’re awesome.

34. What political issue stirred you the most? I didn’t really get into politics much. I did vote. It “gets my goat” to think that people don’t vote. Excuse the shit rhyme, but if you don’t have your say, what right do you have to complain about the way things run!

35. Who did you miss? My sanity! No, I jest. I really miss my BFF and Sister-in-law. She is in LA with my nephew and her hubby. She leads me astray (shit, it doesn’t take much really) and we have a really great time in each others presence. I can’t wait to see her again in March 2012.

36. Who was the best new person you met? There have been a heap of new people who I’ve met this year. But I would have to say that getting to know my ‘Trolls’ even better is actually the best people I’ve met ever. The ‘Trolls’ are a group of ladies, whom, well, most are into motorsport, work in motorsport etc, but we’re also great friends. We pick up the slack when one has their world falling apart, we listen and don’t judge each others problems and it is such an awesome group. I love them to bits and that we have this bond is amazing. I’ve never felt so accepted in such a long time.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011. I’m only human and can only do so much. Take time out to just be. At the end of the semester and motorsport season I feel so completely exhausted that I slept for two days. I plan to pace myself and say ‘no’ more often. I cannot be everything to everyone and I won’t try to either. Also, random acts of kindness rock. A handful of people have been on the receiving end and I love giving randomly!

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year

Tonight I’m gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive
And the world, I’ll turn it inside out yeah
I’m floating around in ecstasy
So don’t stop me now
Don’t stop me
’cause I’m having a good time
Having a good time

- Queen “Don’t Stop Me Now”