Odds and Ends

* I surpassed my Walk for Hunger fundraising goal. :D

* I've seen a few movies since the summer. Contagion, The Hunger Games, The Artist, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Avengers and Snow White and the Huntsman. I've enjoyed them all to various degrees. Meant to do a little review on some of them, but I was lax. Maybe at some point.

* After all these years I finally made it to the Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl. Lots of delicious ice cream for a good cause! I was super excited to have gone. lol My sister estimated I probably consumed over a pound of ice cream. (oops!) But it was yummy! (heehee) One of the new (to me) flavors I tried was Mission Fig from SoCo Creamery. Quite delicious! I couldn't decide whether or not I cared for Ben & Jerry's Blueberry Graham Cracker Frozen Greek Yogurt, but it was an interesting combination, not too sweet; I'd try it again.

* I've discovered I have a higher tolerance for sugar and milk than previously thought. (see my mention of ice cream above) The only side effect I encountered was an odd dream involving googlie eyes, but those who know me well know my (usually vivid and strangely detailed) dreams tend to be full of oddities anyway. ;)

Walk for Hunger in Less Than Two Weeks!

In 12 days (Sunday, May 6) I'll be once again participating in Project Bread's Walk for Hunger. This will be my 21st Walk, and as you can probably guess, it's something I look forward to every year.

The money that I raise by walking the full 20-mile route supports more than 450 emergency food programs in 129 communities in Massachusetts. Every dollar counts for the children, elderly, and disabled individuals who do not have enough food to get through the week.

• $20 provides 40 people at a soup kitchen with a bowl of hot soup and a sandwich.
• $50 provides 100 people at an emergency food program with a bowl of hot soup & a sandwich.
• $100 provides a week's supply of groceries for five families.
• $500 allows a community health center to provide immediate food assistance to 25 hungry families.
• $1000 permits a food pantry to give a week's supply of groceries to 50 families in need.

I've committed to raising $500 for Project Bread, and I hope you will be able to help me reach my goal by making a donation. Visit my Walk Page to learn more. From there, you can donate to me, or sign up to Walk! Thank you very much for your support. http://projectbread.org/goto/ctegan

My 2011 Review - The Good, The Awesome, The Bad, The Ugly

In no particular order, here are some of 2011's highlights:

* major face failure in January; one year later, and I’m still haunted by the mystery person
* I took a chance. Twice. Both times it paid off in the short run but not the long run. I don’t regret taking either chance at all. :)
* I sold a lot (for me) on etsy. :) Unfortunately I didn’t make enough new items to sell. All my crafting/creating plans seemed doomed to remain .. unfinished.
* Walk for Hunger! :)
* reconnected with old friends :)
* made a new friend :)
* met new people :)
* attended a film screening for P7D :)
* said goodbye to NHS
* went hiking on Blue Hills :)
* realized I was falling into the old oubliette/limbo/holding patterns and tried unsuccessfully to break the patterns before it was too late
* spent too much time online
* my writing suffered; it was basically nonexistent for 2011
* got my copy of P7D! :)
* gave up coffee for awhile :) but drank too much coffee for the remainder of the year
* got into a Facebook habit in February because I had a reason to play on there
* long walks in the nice weather :)
* went on an actual date (go me!) :)
* failed NaNoWriMo
* enjoyed the beautiful weather as much as possible :)
* realized early on that my crush wasn’t crushing on me after all and that he was just being nice because he’s a nice person; of course, it didn’t make the realization any easier and so I lived in hope & denial for a while; “Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.” (Charlie Brown)
* saw a movie at Legacy Place (holy cow! that place is big!)
* was disappointed to discover I wasn’t as high on someone’s friend list as I thought I had been and spent too much time trying to figure out if I was a friend, a sometimes friend or just an acquaintance
* was amazed to meet someone who was actually excited to spend time with me :)
* was called cute (yay!) :)
* Duck Tour! :)
* visited with family, including a visit with my Dad :)
* Found two pairs of pants that actually fit! :)
* Joined PostCrossing :)
* Got some pen pals! :)
* won a gift basket :)
* had a visit from Missy :)
* NYC! :)
* was beyond tired (exhausted!) in the beginning of the year and in the end of the year
* had lasagna (December) :)
* too many strange, random comments made to me than I can recall
* 101 in 1001 failure! but I made a new list so it’s all good
* cancer in the family .. again :(
* R.I.P. Ray LaPierre - December 23, 2011 - sad Christmas :(

I think that was pretty much it.