Hey oh! Another year is over and I’ve come a long way since celebrating the new year in Baghdad. This was the year I became reacquainted with life in the U.S. after eight months in Iraq. This was the year I married my boo in the most awesome wedding ever.
Most importantly, this is the year we moved to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now if you’re a regular reader).
Here are some highlights in my year of blogging:
One of my first posts of 2010 was about my November 2009 vacation to Malaysia, more specifically, the night Farrell proposed!
On our way back from Malaysia, my new fiancée and I were diverted to Sulaymaniyah, in Northern Iraq.
I celebrated one year of blogging in February by posting a recipe for empanadas.
In March, I took a break from 12-hour work days to watch the U.S. ambassador play lacrosse on a beautiful Baghdad spring day.
On my final journey out of Iraq, I had a short and sweet intro to Istanbul.
I didn’t waste any time once I was back in DC to make up for lost baking time with a batch of “oatmeal cookie” cupcakes.
April was totally focused on food-blogging and making sure I was baking (and eating) every kind of treat that I wanted. There were pretzels, scones, pies, and cupcakes (to name a few).
By May, I was starting to go a little wedding crazy and it spilled onto the blog. I asked you to help choose my wedding ring, and I showed you how I made my own wedding invitations (still one of my most popular posts). I also celebrated the marriage of two wonderful people in Charleston, SC.
June was filled with my best attempts to enjoy a carefree summer life. Farrell and I hosted a BBQ (on very short notice), had a lovely DC weekend, attended the coolest shabbat dinner (hosted by a dear friend, I miss you so much!), and I made progress on my DIY wedding bouquet.
In July, I got married! At the Rock and Roll Hotel in Washington, DC. Short dress, big heels, cheap bracelets, good cupcakes, homemade playlist, lots of style and fun and love. I sadly neglected blogging except to complain about my job, but I posted lovely pictures from my Baltimore engagement shoot.
One day before quitting my job, I made about a billion things with blueberries. Like brownies.
Oh, August. What a busy, busy, stressful, busy month. But I still managed to visit new family in Nashville, make ice cream, and completely rearrange my life before landing in Kyrgyzstan.
September came and went, we got a cat, we got robbed, I completed my grand thesis on the law of shwarma, and I adjusted to life at an “English-speaking” university.
Eh, October was the month without pictures. I settled into life in Bishkek and took pictures of Mamajan with my web cam. I rambled about elections, watched a guy almost get stabbed in my courtyard, and had my name changed in Russian class.
A camera was again in my hands by November, and I snapped like crazy around town and around Osh Bazaar. I reflected on three months in a foreign country, I searched high and low to find ingredients for an American-style Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, and a bomb exploded.
And December. It seems a bit strange to do a round-up of a month that’s still happening, though I will repeat that Christmas in Chon-Kemin was spectacular.
A look at 2011: a whole lot more Kyrgyzstan, my continued presence at AUCA as either a writing tutor or a photography teacher, a new design for the blog (as my custom CSS is about to expire, I think I’ll finally make the switch to wordpress.org), and who knows what else?