2011 Review Extravaganza: Part 1

I’m very excited to be taking part in the 2011 Review Extravaganza! 

Please visit Emmymom, CA Girl, Emilisq, Grumpy Grateful Mom, Impulsive Addict, Janette of Johanson Journey, MiMi Living in France, or Runner Mom – all are lovely hosts of this 2011 Recap-a-thon, and if you decide to take part, there are prizes to be won!!  Go check one - or all!! -  of them out, and get all the details!!

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I remember on New Year’s Eve 2010 making a drunken threat to 2011 on Facebook: 

“Dear 2011:  If you’re not better than 2010, I’m gonna kick your ass.”

Yeah. 2010 was a bad year.  A really bad year.

And when I woke up on New Year’s Day, January 1st 2011, I felt as though my threat had fallen on deaf ears. 

On New Year’s Day, my mom announced that she was taking my grandmother to the hospital.  She had grown increasingly sluggish and weak during the holidays, and it was time for her to get checked out.  So 2011 didn’t get off to the greatest start, as my grandma was entered into the Intensive Care unit at the local hospital.

Despite Grandma’s failing health, I did have something to look forward to:  CUBA, BABY!  Assured by my mom and the doctors that Grandma was getting better and not to worry, I flew with a big group of friends to Cuba on January 14th.  We spent a week enjoying the sun, the beach, the ocean, the drinks, and we were there to see Kerry & Jeff get married…

What a fabulous trip!  I was able to cross so much off my 101 List while in Cuba!!  It was my first time South, and I can’t wait to go back someday.

I also launched my Single Girl Files idea in January, and I’ve had so much fun writing these posts all year long!  (Even if it does emphasize the fact that a year later, I’m STILL single…whatever…)

By February 2011, I came down with a really strange illness…one I didn’t think possible for me to catch.  Yes, that’s right.  I had suddenly fallen victim to this little thing called BIEBER FEVER. 

Seriously.  When I go back to my February posts, they’re almost all about the Biebs.  What was up with THAT?!?

(Okay, okay, I still think he’s the shizz and I love him to death.   So what if I listen to “Under the Mistletoe” 20 times a day.  Get over it.)

I also apparently wanted to shoot laser beams of death out of my eyeballs at Carrie Underwood after she lured our hunky hockey superstar, Mike Fisher, away to Nashville.  STILL NOT COOL, CARRIE!!!!

Mike’s departure from Ottawa marked the beginning of a significant re-build for my beloved Senators.  (It wasn’t a good year for the Sens…at all.)

And by March?  Well, by then I seemed to be all wrapped up in American Idol and Survivor.  I became a big fan of James Durbin on Idol, and of Grant on Survivor.  And most of my March posts revolved around them…

Of course, neither of them won.  *sigh*

March also brought wonderful news when my friend Lindsay got engaged and asked me to be her Maid of Honour!  Linds & Ryan’s wedding on May 12, 2012 will I’m sure be a highlight of next year’s re-cap!!

And of course, what would March be without a romp around Gavan’s to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day, decked out all in green??

Unfortunately, March closed on a very sad note for my family, when my grandmother passed away in hospital on March 27, 2011 at the age of 95.   Through the tears and the farewells to our family’s matriarch, we could be grateful that we had her with us for so long, and up until the holidays, she had been in great health.  Truly a remarkable woman.  We all miss her dearly!

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So that’s my first installment in the 2011 Review Extravaganza!  Stay tuned next Friday for the recap of April, May, and June…