I read Gigi\u2019s entry on this topic and decided I would give it a go. Partly because I love a countdown at the end of the year (I remember being glued to the TV to watching a countdown of music videos on MTV back when MTV actually played such things) and I also love a montage. Sitting down to think through my year is like a mashup of both. Also, who doesn\u2019t love talking about themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. What did you do in 2016 that you\u2019d never done before?<\/strong> 2. Did you keep your New Year\u2019s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I\u2019m just gonna re-set the same goals for 2017. How\u2019s that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Did anyone close to you give birth? 4. Did anyone close to you die? 5. What countries did you visit? 6. What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016? 7. What dates from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory? 8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? 9. What was your biggest failure? 10. Did you suffer illness or injury? 11. What was the best thing you bought? 1 \u2013 Our house, purchased in November 2015. Even though it\u2019s not 2016, it *almost* is. I had to include it because it\u2019s hands-down the best thing I\u2019ve ever purchased in my life. I also think it counts because Sterling and I spent most of the year saying to each other, \u201cI love our house\u201d and \u201cI love where we live.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 \u2013 For something truly purchased in 2016, it\u2019s the Garmin watch I gave Sterling for his birthday. We make it a practice not to give gifts on the standard occasions, instead getting a gift for the other when we feel like it. (This makes gifts an unexpected delight.) In this case, I knew he wanted this ridiculously expensive watch to add to his collection, so I bought it for him. I decided his birthday would be a good time to give it to him. This way I could tell everyone at his party that I am a cool wife. Kidding. Kind of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 12. Where did most of your money go? 13. What did you get really excited about? 14. What song will always remind you of 2016? Also, \u201cMy House\u201d by Flo Rida. I know what the song *really* means, but to me and Sterling, it means that all our friends are coming over to celebrate. We had a huge group over to the house for his birthday in January, and then we went to Cl\u00e9. We walked outside and every person\u2019s exotic\/supercar was parked all over the neighborhood, including a Lambo hard-parked in the neighbor\u2019s driveway. It was like we had our own entourage. That\u2019s the rally life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 15. Compared to this time last year, are you:<\/strong>\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 happier or sadder? <\/strong>Sadder. I am having a really hard time getting past the election results and what it means for our country and my relationships with some of my friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 thinner or fatter? <\/strong>I am just about the same. However, I hate this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2013 richer or poorer? <\/strong>About to be poorer because I have to pay property tax in 30 days. But it\u2019s worth it, because have you heard I love my house?<\/p>\n\n\n\n 16. What do you wish you\u2019d done more of? 17. What do you wish you\u2019d done less of? 18. How did you spend Christmas\/Hanukkah\/Major Holiday of your choice? 19. What were your favorite TV programs? 20. What were your favorite books you read this year? A Much Married Man, Wicked Pleasures, One Fifth Avenue, Crazy Blood, Leaving Time, Orange is the New Black, More Than You Know<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can see that I enjoy a very high brow type of literary greatness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 21. What was your favorite music you heard this year? 22. What were your favorite films you saw this year? 23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Saturday, we drove to Austin and stayed at the W with our Race Armada friends. I met up with a group of people\u2014Gigi and Madame V included\u2014at Lavaca Street Bar downtown. Old school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sunday, back to Houston for brunch at Cyclone Anaya\u2019s. Sterling and I continued the party after brunch. The night ended with a shopping spree at CVS that included three flavors of Ben & Jerry\u2019s ice cream. The next morning we discovered toothpaste on the cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not a bad showing for 39.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? 25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016? 26. What kept you sane? My husband is worth of mad love for many, many reasons. He\u2019s handsome, smart, funny, sweet, hard working. He takes care of me. He\u2019s a true partner in our relationship. He makes me feel like I\u2019m the only woman in the room. But the best thing about him? The reason I married him and am happy to go through this mad journey called life together? He lets me be me. Every day. Not only does he let me be me, he loves that version of me. Even when it\u2019s not the best version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 27. Share a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016. (I am not sure these are life lessons, but two significant things I learned in 2016:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If my husband leaves me or dies, I am selling everything I own and moving to Colorado to ski as much as possible. Basically, I am a true alcoholic\u2019s daughter, which means I create backup plans constantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My husband thinks I am one of the strongest people he knows. I think that is fucking cool.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I read Gigi\u2019s entry on this topic and decided I would give it a go. Partly because I love a countdown at the end of the year (I remember being glued to the TV to watching a countdown of music videos on MTV back when MTV actually played such things) and I also love a … <\/p>\n
I went on five ski trips in 2016 \u2013 between the two of them, I was able to ski the penultimate weekend in Arapahoe Basin (A-Bay to me and my buddies) in May, and then the second weekend A-Bay opened in October, meaning there was barely five months during between trips. How freaking amazing is that? Skiing in October also meant that I did something else I\u2019d never done before \u2013 watch my beloved Longhorns play football between my laps around the mountain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I never make New Year\u2019s resolutions, but Sterling and I decided on financial, physical, professional, personal and relationship goals. I just looked back at the list and uhhhh\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Not in 2016, but my friend MaryAnn gave birth on Christmas Eve 2015, so that\u2019s pretty close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>No, thank goodness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I didn\u2019t leave the U.S. in my travels this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Confidence. And a manual transmission Aston Martin Vantage V8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>November 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>One of the attorneys on our very small team left in April, and I had to do my job plus hers for several months. I am extremely proud of the way I handled it. I received multiple awards and shout-outs from colleagues over the course of the year, ranging from a formal plaque in my office, to a gigantic box of Godiva cookies, to emails and instant messages saying some version of \u201cThank you. You\u2019re the best.\u201d The best compliment by far might have been when my boss said: \u201cWe hit the jackpot with you.\u201d (I almost fell out of my chair. And here\u2019s hoping that\u2019s reflected at review time in April.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Sterling and I utterly failed at curbing our spending going out. However, see #12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I took a spill one night at a bar while dancing. There may have been booze involved. I was also kind of making out with my husband so that\u2019s still a win. My knee is a little wonky but it doesn\u2019t impact skiing so I\u2019m rolling with it. I also endured the annoyance of a colonoscopy because I learned that colon problems may run in my family. Clean bill of health, but I will have to get regular colonoscopies every five years. Wooo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I\u2019m going to cheat a little bit on this, and give two answers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Again, a little embarrassing, but true. Going out to eat and drink. Being DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids) means that you spend stupid money doing stupid things just because you can. But sometimes being stupid is really fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Every vacation, especially skiing. Aside from skiing in Angelfire and A-Bay, we went to Dallas on a Race Armada poker run, Boston for a wedding, Scottsdale for Friendiversary with Gigi and Madame V, San Antonio on a Race Armada rally, Austin for various visits\/holidays and Tulsa for Christmas. (Okay, I admit, I was not that excited about Tulsa, but at least it was cold for a day and felt like Christmas. And I got a bottle of Bailey\u2019s in the white elephant gift exchange. Winning.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>See #21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Writing, meditating (I keep trying to learn), doing new things like riding bikes or going to see a play, and trying things that take me out of my comfort zone. I read an article yesterday about Mischa Barton (yes, random, but I just downloaded the first season of the O.C. to re-watch and so when an article about her popped up in my twitter feed, I had to see how Marissa Cooper was doing as she approaches 30) and she said she heard somewhere you should re-invent yourself every seven years. Because my law career started in 2007, I\u2019m overdue for a reinvention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Being hard on myself, stressing out about work, worrying about the future. (Again I am copying Gigi somewhat, but it\u2019s true. Therefore, Gigi, you and I have some work to do. Perhaps another Friendiversary is in order.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I spent Christmas Day driving back from a visit to Tulsa to see Sterling\u2019s family. That\u2019s about seven hours in the car. That time was spent asking each other dumb questions, gossiping, sipping a Starbucks coffee (to pretend it was still cold outside, like Christmas should be, but I digress), listening to music, exchanging texts with Gigi and Madame V, and reading the Internet. All of it. Once we got home, we turned around and went to our new favorite neighborhood bar, Clutch. We walked in and immediately found a group of our friends, who yelled merrily and gave us hugs. It was a pretty good day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Designated Survivor, Timeless, Botched by Nature, Marriage Boot Camp<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>These are all the books I gave five stars on goodreads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>\u201cFive More Hours\u201d \u2013 Deorro and Chris Brown. Sterling became obsessed with this song around January sometime, and it became our theme song for partying all year. I requested it from DJs, turned it on in Ubers, played it while baking and meal prepping on Sundays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Film-watching is not one of my strengths, but Sterling and I watched a psychological thriller called The Invitation a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I celebrated all weekend because my birthday fell on a Sunday. Friday night I was supposed to have dinner with the in-laws, but my flight from Chicago was delayed until 6:30. Pretty sure we were the last ones out that night, due to the weather. We had to de-ice before takeoff, as it was snowing pretty steadily. Poor Sterling worried about me from the moment I flipped my phone into airplane mode until we landed. I should have paid for wireless and emailed him\u2014oops. When I did get home, we went out for drinks at Clutch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>I am going to echo Gigi on this one: The first female president being elected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Classy and hip for work. Refusing to act my age, sexy bordering on slutty when I go out. Wait, Gigi told me on my birthday to stop talking like that (slutty). Okay, sexy and fierce when going out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>My husband. I kept a diary of my happy moments on this blog, starting in February. Here\u2019s what I said about him on our anniversary, and this pretty much sums it up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>Our country hasn\u2019t come as far as I thought we had in terms of civil discourse, racism and respecting others who are different. All the more reason to be involved, keep the faith and speak up for what we believe is right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n