2012, Year In Review

Time seems to accelerate as I get older. I can't believe 2012 is over and 2013 is upon us already. I am so thankful for this blog because occasionally Mike & I will go through and revisit our past and 2012 was a particularly good year for us. Sure, it had its ups and downs, but for the most part all the change, good and bad times were initiated by us, which feels good.

As I prepared this Year In Review post I realized how lucky I am to have married such an amazing man, how terrifically curious my family is (and how fortunate I am to have inherited that curiosity) and what an incredible life I have. And of course, how truly blessed I am to have been raised and continue to live in Portland. So here we go our 2012, Year In Review!

January we traveled to Seattle for a little sight seeing (ok, mostly eating), visiting my talented and beautiful sister, her zany husband and their two fur babies (French Bulldogs, who couldn't love them?) Seattle truly has superior Asian food and we gorged ourselves at the best dumpling house in the country and at the craziest Thai Restaurant that we would gladly hand over every hard earned dollar to have Thai Tom open up shop in Portland.

February we celebrated my brother's birthday with a terrific seafood dinner, attended an amazing motorcycle showcase, discovered a riverside restaurant that has a self-serve Bloody Mary and Mimosa bar, ate more bowls of ramen than we have ever and discovered there is really good sushi out in the woods.

March we discovered our love of cocktails, found that yes, Portland does have awesome Mexican food (even if it's a bit of a trek), discovered a great fish monger who has terrific fish & chips for a steal and was aching for the spring to start.

April we celebrated my birthday in sunny San Diego, had the best sushi and fish tacos of our lives and decided to always celebrate birthdays traveling, a true gift to ourselves.

May we saw Portland explode in color and got out and about more than usual because the next 6 months the city really showcases why we love living here.

June we both switched jobs and found ourselves on our bikes EVERY DAY and we loved every minute of it. There was lots of late evening and night bike exploring, garden parties and enjoying our lush backyard we worked so hard to get established just for this time of year. It was glorious.

July we discovered the joys of Instagram and started documenting over lives on the fly, went on a crazy Sparkle Boat Party along Lake Washington in Seattle, ate a ton of delicious burgers, was introduced to the best swimming hole, began buying furniture like no other and celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

August was all about my BA's birthday. We tried to surprise him with a week long beach getaway, which was just glorious. Portland experienced a heatwave and we shivered on the coast.

September was a busy month, we found ourselves tripled booked every week and we loved it, starting with a very low-key-art-filled Labor Day Weekend, frolicked in the Mt. Hood National Forest, had dinner with friends every weekend of the month, re-discovered the unique neighborhoods and architecture of our beloved city Portland and if that wasn't enough, enrolled in some personal enrichment classes. September was a sunny glorious blur.

October the incredible, and dry, weather continued as we got out and tried more restaurants, hitting up old favorites, as well as knocking off many must try spots. Mike experienced Oregon's fantastic wine country for the first time and had some family issues that took him home to Arizona for a few days. We celebrated Mike's Halloween birthday with a stroll through the beautiful Lone Fir Cemetery, some yummy Korean Fried Chicken and an unforgettable Japanese dinner, just before he got sick for nearly 2 weeks!

November the gorgeous fall colors showed up just as we were dreading the winter, reminding us how lucky we are to live here. It was an awful beginning to the month as Mike got sick for nearly two weeks, but we got to spend lots of time relaxing and eating comfort food, and like a champ Mike bounced back just in time to smoke his best Turkey yet for Thanksgiving and help celebrate a friend's birthday.

December found us hunkering down for the winter with twinkling Christmas and candle lights, the best pizza in the city, lots and lots of sandwiches, Peruvian food and soaking up our enjoyment of strolling our neighborhood. This year we really settled into the holidays once they got into full swing, the enjoyment of our jobs really made a difference this year and the holidays weren't just something we tried to survive, but really got into.

There's our 2012, Year In Review. Thank you all for coming along for the ride, 2013 looks to be a terrific year and we hope it will be filled with nothing but the best for you all!