if dreams were lightning & thunder was desire, this old house would have burnt down a long time ago.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you had never done before?
i married the swooniest man alive.

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
i didn't make any last year that i can recall right now, but i am certainly developing a lost of expectations of myself for the next year, which i'm going to be posting on here.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
my cousin madison, who i grew up next to and is closer to me than a sister, gave birth to the first baby of our generation, willow olivia goodrich. she is truly breathtaking.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
i can thankfully say no.

5. What countries did you visit?
dan and i went to grand cayman, cozumel, honduras, and belize on our honeymoon. grand cayman was my favorite.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
more nerve to stand up for myself, and the chance to continue my education.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 22: our wedding. June 28th: our reception. August 14th: Willow's birth. September 28th: the day we left for our honeymoon.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
thriving in new york for another year.

9. What was your biggest failure?
trying to build up my credit. this seems to be an impossible task.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
some colds here and there, which are part of my job as a nanny. otherwise, i've been very lucky this year!

11. What was the best thing you bought?
my new macbook, who i have named olive gomerrybuttons. she's a dream!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Both mine and my husband's. We have come through almost an entire year of marriage, and we make a really incredible team. we're both learning so much about how to love each other and people around us, and we help each other so much. i'm so proud of him for making the decison to start medical school and following through, and succeeding during his first semester, and i'm proud of myself for working harder than i've ever worked in my life and still keeping up with everything else. i love you, bear!

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
we've had our issues with some people, but nothing that wasn't resolved and improved.

14. Where did most of your money go?
RENT. ugh. bills in general.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
getting the puppy, the wedding, the receptions, the honeymoon, and CHRISTMAS!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Mr. Violin and Dancing Bear, by Page France

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? oh so much happier, though last year i was pretty wildly happy, too.
b) thinner or fatter? a little thinner, woo hoo!
c) richer or poorer? slightly better off.

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
spent time with family, saved money, and rested.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
working, hands down. i can't believe how much of this year was spent at work, or commuting to and from work.

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Christmas morning we opened presents with dan's dad who stayed with us, then in the evening we made a HUGE dinner for our friends who were stuck in nyc for the holidays, and it was amazing.

22. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I was already in love. I am lucky.

23. What concerts did you attend this year?
too many to even count. lots of stationary set shows, jeff taylor shows, one decemberists show, and tons of others sprinkled here and there.

24. What was your favorite TV program?
House. and dan and i made our way through the entire 6 feet under series, so we were obsessed with that for a while.

25. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn't dislike this time last year?
no. if anything, i like more people now than i did last year.
although, dan's ex girlfriend, who i didn't like simply on principal, moved in downstairs this summer, and became my best friend. that's kind of nuts.

26. What was the best book you read?
water for elephants.
right now i'm reading a book called then we came to the end, and i'm completed sucked into it. i love it.

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
jeff taylor.

28. What did you want and get?
more pay, a new camera, a juicer, a laptop, a dog, and a husband. KACHING!

29. What did you want and not get?
a winning lotto ticket. not to say we didn't try!

30. What was your favorite film of this year?
wall-E!

31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
i turned 24 on august 3rd, and i spent it with dan and my othersis, casey, who dan flew out to visit me as my birthday gift. it was marvelous. we went to my favorite restaurant for brunch and spent the day shopping in soho.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
starting school.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
i gave up on trying to look new york, and finally started to look katie. i feel fabulous.

34. What kept you sane?
my husband, though some days he made me insane, too. ha!

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
robert downey freaking jr. dfjakjghsldfkjghldskjgh

36. What political issue stirred you the most?
the election of barack obama, of course...but also proposition 8 in california. my stomach still hurts when i think about how far we still have to go. i can't believe america is still struggling with civil rights. which brings me to another favorite film of the year: Harvey Milk.

37. Who did you miss?
my family. oh, i miss them.

38. Who was the best new person you met?
Kate, my new neighbor/bestfriend/dan's ex. haha.

39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Life is what you make it. Be the change you want to see in the world.

40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
"I am humbled in this city
There seems to be an endless sea of
people like us, wakeful dreamers,
I pass them on the sunlit streets
In our rooms filled with laughter
We make hope from every small disaster
Everybody says "you can't, you can't, you can't, don't try."Carolyn
Still everybody says that if they had the chance
they'd fly like we do."
Painting By Chagall, by the Weepies


I tag:
Bear, Mandy, Yeags, and Carolyn!
Eels (the band, not the monsterfish). The possibility of getting a van to drive around the city (a car in the city, what??). My dog and my wife (not necessarily in that order). Being back in school (except not for finals which are next week). Playing a show in Philadelphia tomorrow night, randomly (anyone out there wanna come see?)

oh and parentheses.
i miss a lot of people today.

i wish new york city had a cider mill.

i want to have so many children so my house is full of the sounds of life all the time.


so much happens here, but i feel like i'm missing out on so much happening elsewhere.
i wish it was possible to do everything, to be everywhere, always.
though i'm sure i'd be exhausted.
sometimes when i have a bad day, or month as the case may be, it helps me to make a list of the things that make me happy.

so here:

-the giant bowl of halloween candy next to the couch.
-takeout chinese for four bucks a person.
-a husband who does the dishes.
-the beautiful fall bouquet of autumn leaves and eucalyptus and cattails and wheat on our end table.
-my new patterned socks.
-the new rubber boots i have coming in the mail.
-feeling thinner than i have in years. 140 and holding steady. (thats 35 pounds since my college days. yee-ha!)
-peeling off nailpolish.
-watching episodes of six feet under.
-the popcorn i'm going to eat for dinner.
-the sight of the empire state building from my living room window.
-my midnight pomegranate candle.
-clean laundry. i don't have any, but it makes me happy when i do.
-a clean house. i don't have one, but it makes me happy when i do.
-the promise of weekend freedom. just two days away.
-a mug of tea, which i will have to accompany my popcorn for dinner.
-the way my dog sleeps on his back with his paws stretched all the way out, in between Dan and myself at night, even though he's "not allowed" on the bed.
-watching my stupid dog tries to catch leaves blowing in the wind with his teeth.
-this musician i just started listening to named greg laswell.
-being friends with my ex-fiancee's girlfriend. she is great. this makes me VERY happy.
-really delicious harmonies.
-knowing thanksgiving is just around the corner and that we get to host dinner for dan's mom and stepdad.
-pumpkin bread.


...there. that's better.
i started my day off with a mug of theraflu and ten extra minutes to sip it and relax and try to begin my day on a positive note.

that was great.
but then the G train was fifteen minutes late, causing me to miss the E train, causing me to be very late to work, and i forgot my umbrella at home and it was raining.

and then max was still sick and then his school was cancelled so he had to stay home with me and we went to barnes and noble and he accidentally fell asleep in the stroller for all of ten minutes and when he woke up, he did not go back to sleep. once. for the rest of the day.

and then dan called and said steve escaped his cage and that stupid mutt demolished our apartment.
but my darling bear cleaned it all up.

and then i kept working, and max was a terror, and made me pull out all my hair.
so now im bald.


sigh.

i'm home now.
i don't have the energy to make dinner, or clean the bedroom, or do anything but watch episodes of six feet under, which i cant do because husband has to study so he can be a good doctor and i can be a stay at home wife.

can't wait.
so tired.
want to punch my job in the face.

goodnight.
better luck tomorrow.
It is so hard for me to get out of bed each morning and watch the pup steal my spot next to my husband in my warm, cozy bed.
Even harder now that mornings are darker and darker each day.
I don't do well without sunshine.

Work today was manageable- Max is very very sick so he had to stay home from preschool, and went all manic on me whoch was not much fun. But I gave him benadryl and let him run up and down the hallway in the apt building until he crashed...and he napped FROM ONE UNTIL FIVE. amazing.
Micah is starting to walk, so I spent the afternoon chasing him around the living room, setting up little obstacle courses and seeing how far he could make it without falling down or reaching out for support. He was such a little cruiser.

When I got home, husband informed me that he bought me new rainboots from target and they will be arriving very soon in the mail. Gosh, he is darling. This weekend is our dating anniversary, but we're not technically supposed to celebrate that anymore cuz we're married and stuff. But we are anyway. I need a good fancy date.

I'm in a slump.
Everyone please keep their fingers crossed that at least one of the three schools i applied to takes me in.

i want to be a teacher.
...and i really want summers off.
i suppose i need to be better at updating this little guy.

i have to admit, i'm so tired every night after work, and dan is usually using the laptop to do his homework, so the ol' bloggeroo really gets neglected. i promise to get better at this.

and dan, quit getting all political in here. post it on your facebook. this is a marriage/life in nyc/turning into grownups blog.
i looove youuuu...

right now i'm sitting at home, watching old episodes of home improvement and looking at the various blogs of people i was once close with, feeling very homesick and very disconnected from the world.

i'm hoping to get my life back when i start school in january. working fifty hours a week plus devoting two hours of every day to riding the subway to and from work is taking a serious toll on my well-being and general zeal for life.

i just need to get back on track with making my dreams come true, and nannying is not cutting it.

just a tiny vent.

on the bright side, it's autumn. i live in new york city. it's almost halloween.
all of these things bring me joy.

i miss everyone.