A Look Back Of 2011

 

The end of a year always amazes me; I can never believe how fast the months go! 2011 was an incredible year for me with many ups and a couple of downs. The most memorable and obvious "up" was my study abroad experience in the first half of the year. I still look back fondly on my time in Italy and exploring the different countries and cities in Europe. I also had a great summer interning at a national magazine in the city and moved in for my senior year with my best friends. Another absolute favorite and once-in-a-lifetime moment was meeting the cast of Harry Potter, both at the New York premier for Deathly Hallows part 2 and at Daniel Radcliffe's Broadway show. The "down" times such as the flood in the beginning of the semester as well as figuring out my next academic moves were difficult but provided me with the sense that the bad times help you appreciate the good ones and that things will always get better with a positive attitude and a hopeful mind.

To be perfectly blunt... :P

Putting pictures of all of the great times from 2011 would make this an extremely long post and even trying to decide on a small few of my absolute favorites was really hard! And so I used pictures that I found on tumblr. I was so blessed and extremely lucky with this past year and am looking forward to another exciting, memorable, and fun year and will try my bestest to appreciate all of the good times and embrace any bad ones that come along. 

I love list-making: to be honest, I am a list aficionado! I find that writing things down in bullet points and crossing them off helps clear my thoughts. Resolutions for the new year are no exception and so I am currently creating a list of small attainable resolutions for 2012 and will post them in the New Year. However, if anyone noticed on my right side bar, I had a list of big "To-Do's" before the end of the year and am delighted at finding that I accomplished most of them.

"Exploring The World" was an obvious one though it was contained to just Europe. Being a study abroad student, I got bit by the wanderlust bug and can't wait for another big adventure overseas. While I would love to return to the countries I've visited, I have my sights set on Eastern Europe and countries further East. I haven't gotten a "Drastic Makeover" yet, but I did cut my hair to a shorter length (you can see the before here and the after here) and am trying to convince myself that dying my hair to a red hue is a good idea. I've never dyed my hair before so technically, this would be considered drastic for me. As for "Hosting A Party" I had some friends come over for my 21 birthday celebration, but I would hardly consider that hosting - my mom helped me with most of the planning and cooking. So that will still remain on my list, as well as "Be In A Photo Shoot" - that hasn't happened at all unless you consider me begging my friends to take pictures of me in front of historic building abroad! I felt as if I "Made the Most Of My Wardrobe" by limiting my spending of new clothes and re-wearing everything differently. As for "Organizing My Living Space" I try my best to keep my room and apartment clean and will continue to do so!

What are everyone's New Year's Plans? I'm going down to Jersey to celebrate New Year's Eve with my old roommates and then on New Years Day, I'm going to a family friend's house for our traditional dinner. Anyhow, peace, punch, captain crunch, I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend!