I wasn’t planning to do a Year in Review this year, because honestly, they’re kind of played out. But then I got a strongly worded email from the Blog Police demanding to know why I hadn’t submitted my YIR for approval, and I couldn’t afford to pay a $10,000 fine for noncompliance even if it weren’t Christmastime, so here we are.
And the truth is, stuff has happened this year, both in a professional and a personal sense. And clearly you have at least a mild interest in my professional and personal goings-on, or else you wouldn’t be reading this. So… here we are.
Below is my Blog Police-mandated 2019 Year in Review. This stuff is for real, so brace yourself for some uncharacteristic sincerity and sentimentality.
January-May
Must we? Let’s not.
June
I handed off leadership of AAF Birmingham to its incoming board and was granted the title of Supreme Benevolent Dictator Emeritus by the new president. (Okay, it’s not all sincere and sentimental.)
July
I celebrated my third anniversary as a full-time freelancer. Yes, three years doesn’t sound like a huge period of time. But consider that most three-year-olds are still mastering stairs, and mine is already paying its own bills.
August
I watched the entire Marvel Cine — you know what? Nothing big happened in August. August was boring. Who even likes August? Not me.
September
I started a blog. Finally. It might seem like a minor accomplishment, but it’s a fairly big deal for the uncontested master of self-doubt. (Mistress of self-doubt? That kind of makes me sound like a sorceress who controls the forces of self-doubt to do her dark bidding. Or like I’m waiting for Self-Doubt to leave his wife like he keeps promising he’ll do.) And I can’t overstate the extent to which you’ve been a part of this. Sure, I love shouting into the void as much as the next gal. But it’s nice to know that there are at least a couple of people out there listening.
Also this month: I dressed up like Jessica Simpson circa 1999, bare midriff and all, for a competitive lip sync with other AAFB board members, a video of which exists and will never be seen.
October
I was entrusted with two smart, talented, promising copywriting students to mentor and raise up in my image, (that’s what mentoring is about, right?) and I consider it to be a great honor. A little bit terrifying, but a great honor.
Also this month: I got my first creative director credit, which was more of a thrill than I expected it to be. Also-also, I found those blue coffee mugs I was looking for.
November
I learned to use a rowing machine. I honestly wasn’t sure I would, because I am comedically uncoordinated, but I did, and those things are no joke, y’all. You should check out my delts.
December
I failed to teach two friends to crochet because there was wine, I touched an anemone at the Georgia Aquarium, I earned a couple of marketing certifications, I lost a ridiculous amount of time to the “Gourmet Makes” series on Bon Appetit’s YouTube page, and I got through Christmas having only watched Love Actually twice. Big month.
By the Numbers
- Blog posts written: 15 (including this one)
- Blog posts half-written: 11
- Times I remembered to wash off my makeup before going to bed: 67%
- Times I made it to the gym more than once in a week: 58%
- UGA football team’s record: 11-2 (prior to the Sugar Bowl Jan. 1)
- UGA’s spanking of Georgia Tech: 52-7
- Hours spent trying to remember the 5 C’s of marketing: 0.5
- Hours spent knitting a Bama-themed blanket for the AAFB silent auction: I stopped counting at 100
- Hours lost to videos of really funny people overthinking food: 150, easily
Coming up: 2020
And what’s coming up in 2020? Absolutely no telling (particularly in the “no plan survives enemy contact” kind of way). The parents put a couple of lotto tickets in our Christmas stockings this year, though, and I haven’t checked them yet, so you never know. If this blog goes dark, assume I’m on a beach somewhere, and the beach belongs to me. Best of luck to you and yours in the coming year.