2010 Recap

Happy New Year!
In lieu of a photo collage, here's a recap of my 2010 in blog form...

January
I went to Egypt! I still need to post more photos, but there are a few HERE. Thanks again to Bette and Dawson for a wonderfully memorable trip!

February
Snowpocalypse! See photos HERE of the back to back storms that dumped a ton of snow on DC.

Once the snow started to melt, I headed to Pittsburgh for a weekend with friends to eat donuts (see blog post HERE).

March
I ran the Canyonlands 1/2 Marathon with friends in Moab. I had a series of blogs on this trip: see HERE for part 2 which has pictures from the gorgeous course. Check out the other parts to see my adventures getting there, hiking in UT, and my trip to New Mexico afterwards.

April
Cherry Blossom season in DC! The best blossoms are in Bethesda (blog post HERE). I ran the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, and I got to meet my running idol Joan Benoit (blog post HERE) who ran the race also.

I also headed to Boston to cheer on friends running the Boston Marathon (blog post HERE). While there, a friend got us tickets to a Red Sox game (blog post HERE).

May
There were Embassy open houses two different weekends in May. Check out my blog posts HERE and HERE.

June
I got a garden plot in a little park down the street. HERE is one of several blog posts about my attempts to grow veggies in the city. Seems the rats got to enjoy it more than I did, but I'm still going to try again this year.

My biggest purchase of the year was this month - a new condo! I've yet to post pictures, but hopefully will soon now that I'm finally settled after lots of travel this past fall.

July
I started to get lazy with my blog posts. So here are a few pics from my activities this month...

I went to the AIFA National Championship with family - my brother's team (Baltimore) was playing my dad's team (Casper). Baltimore won.

My first of several work trips...this one to Dallas. I was only there for two days, but managed to find Wyland's Whale Wall:

Also went to a few concerts...Cracker at Rams Head on Stage in Annapolis:
Pietasters at a free show in Alexandria:

August
Another work trip...this one to Chicago. A friend joined me for the weekend prior:
Of course we had to try several deep dish pizza places. Here's my favorite from Lou Malnatis:
Me at the "Married With Children" Fountain:

One of my biggest adventures of the year was a four day 'Chesapeake Bay Expedition' that I participated in with coworkers (blog post HERE). Check out my blog on EPA's Greenversations about our kickoff event HERE.

Expedition Day 1 - we kayaked about 6 miles from Ft. Washington, MD to Colonial Farms/Accokeek, MD:
After our day on the Potomac, we got a tour of the Accokeek Foundation's EcoFarm:
Expedition Day 2 - we biked from Accokeek, MD to Calloway, MD (~40 miles):
Expedition Day 3 - more biking from Calloway, MD to Pt. Lookout, MD (~30 miles):
We stopped off for a break in St.Mary's City to learn about the oyster planting that incoming college students were participating in that day:
Our first glimpse of the Chesapeake Bay:
Expedition Day 4 - we ran a 1/2 marathon...I'll spare you the pictures. Although I'm a runner, this was by far the hardest part. After 3 days of activity and camping, it was pretty tough. Here we all are at Pt. Lookout State Park afterwards:


September
Yet another work trip...to San Fran. I got to see my cousins who live there, who I hadn't seen in as many years as their kids are old:
I spent a day at the San Fran Zoo...they had baby flamingos, which were adorable fuzz balls!
A friend met me there for Labor Day weekend. We went to the Sausalito Art Festival and saw Modern English (pictured below), The Fixx, and The Bangles:
We also went to Pt. Reyes Lighthouse:
(I saw my first whale in the wild off the coast here!)

We went to the infamous vegan restaurant - Millennium - I highly recommend it if you're in San Fran:

A second work trip in September took me to Denver. I visited my dad in Casper while I was there...check out my blog posts HERE and HERE. Then went hiking at Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs with my coworker after we were done working (blog post HERE).

There's more, September was a busy month! I also went to the National Book Festival with my mom when I returned from Denver:

October
Even though I grew up in the area, there are still many things I haven't done. October was a month to cross some of those things off the list.

First, I hiked Old Rag in the Shenandoah Mtn for the first time:

Then I went to Luray Caverns with a friend (blog post HERE).

The end of the month brought the Rally to Restore Fear and/or Sanity to DC. Check out my blog about my favorite signs HERE.

On Halloween, a friend organized a simulated "water walk", to raise awareness of the women in developing countries who have to walk many miles a day to fetch water for their family. Check out her blog HERE.

November
To continue with the water theme, in November I organized another hike-a-thon to benefit Water For People. Thanks to my friends and family who came and hiked! It was a great success and I look forwarded to planning another one this year:

I also went to Philly with my mom to visit a friend in town for a conference, and to watch another friend (who organized the above mentinoed water walk) run in the Philly marathon (she was running to benefit water projects!).

Strawberry Mansion:
Marathon:

December
Check out my recent posts to see what else I was up to this month.

But one of my favorite things about my condo is having a bigger kitchen again (and an oven that doesn't set off the smoke detector!). So I was able to make lots of holiday cookies, including the much requested Pfeffernuss cookies:

Santa brought a new bed for my kitties:

And I couldn't pass up going to Zoolights again this year with a friend. This was the day after Christmas and it was snowing!

Wishing you and yours a very happy new year!

Stay tuned for my adventures in 2011...