Adios, 2011!

Oh, 2011, I wasn't sure that 2010 could be topped, and then you came along. This was a big year, Texas big. Big decisions, big changes, big milestones, big rewards. I'm reflecting on the extraordinary last 12 months of my life, and I'm feeling lucky and grateful to be spending this last day of the year with my CameraMan, the Bossy Folks, and my adorable Bossy Cat here in our home sweet Houston. What a year it has been.


I opened and closed Le Comte Ory, Madame Butterfly, Don Giovanni, and Rodelinda. I can be seen for slightly longer than 5 seconds in an Associated Press video.

I started a 365 project…again. Then I ended it long before the year was up…again.

We settled in to our life in Vienna and found time to travel in Europe: to Florence, to Paris, to the Austrian countryside.  We locked love padlocks in Florence and in Paris. We figured out our travel style.

I continued my Home on the Road feature with Elise Sandell and Katharine Goeldner. Then I forgot about it. Perhaps it's time for a revival, no?

I became an aunt to our beautiful niece Josee, which did absolutely nothing to temper the baby kraziness.

I did some wedding planning.

I crossed off exactly ONE item on my Bossy List: #44. Ack!*

Best day of the year/my entire life: we got married. While we made merry with our friends and family, and then without them on our honeymoon, I posted about happy marriages I know.

We moved back to Houston after almost exactly a year in Vienna. We immediately began the Great Acquisition of 2011 (not to be confused with the Great Purge of 2010) and haven't let up since.

I spent 200 days with CM—a big improvement on last year's 165.

I got busy and stopped blogging entirely. I'm thinking about changing that.


If the past two years are any indication, it would be presumptuous on my part to make too many plans for 2012. Anything can happen, and no day is too ordinary to bring life-changing news. I'm staying open to possibilities.

Happy New Year, y'all.


Tschüß, 2010!
Addio, 2009
Adieu, 2008

*UPDATE: CM has pointed out that actually, I should have crossed off #64 quite a while ago, round about the 9th of July, in fact. Need I say more about that?

Home sweet nervous breakdown

I'm back home in Houston, this time for TWO WHOLE MONTHS. I've been here since Sunday. Predictably, I've already had approximately two and a half nervous breakdowns, of both the "What am I going to do for two whole months?" and the "What am I doing with my life?" varieties. I look forward to vacation time so much, but I always forget that I'm actually not that great at not having a job, particularly when everyone I know (including my hardworking husband) has one they go to every day. I'm thinking maybe I need some similarly unemployed Houstonian friends. Who's with me?

In the meantime, I'm throwing myself into the role of Suzy Homemaker. The other night (and by night I mean ALL DAY LONG), I braised short ribs for the first time. Oh lord, were those good. They were on a bed of creamy goat cheese polenta, accompanied by mustardy brussels sprouts, and followed by homemade nutmeg maple cookies and Nespresso. Trust me, CameraMan is not complaining about me being home.

Our house is finally coming together, and I'm excited to show you some pictures, once we've gotten some art up on the currently completely bare walls. Also, I've only posted half the wedding—there's so much more to show you! I've actually been getting motivated to blog again, but my computer has been killing me softly with his song, a song whose repetitive refrain is "I've lost all your Firefox bookmarks and iTunes purchases—what are you gonna do about it?" I know, I know, #firstworldproblems. Without a job, though, I have a lot of free time and brain space to spend cursing the good people at Apple. Everyone needs a hobby.

In other news, there is lots of fun on the horizon: a trip to Vegas, the Bossy Folks in Houston for a visit, a girls' vacation with Legs McGee, and an exciting contract just arrived yesterday for me to sign. Nervous breakdowns aside, all is well. Let's get to know each other again, shall we?