Reflections On 2011 >> My Year in Photos (Part 1)

I really can't believe that 2011 is over in less than 2 weeks.  That's just bananas.  I know, I know - everyone always says they can't believe how fast any given year went by.  But for some reason, this one seemed to go by even more quickly than those in the past.  Maybe that's because it was a pretty magical year for me.  2010 was the hardest year of my life: I lost my best friend one week after losing another close friend, Bubby dog started to get sick, and a terrible economy left some pretty massive marks on my business.  But 2011 was a whole different ball game.  It was bad ass.  I got engaged AND I got married, among many other bits of awesomeness. 

It's a funny thing, 2011.  This year was the first in probably ten years that I didn't travel somewhere at least twice every month  for either business or pleasure.  I left a handful of times at the beginning of the year, but I only took one trip between May and December.  As a wanderluster with a husband who travels for half the year for his job, this was difficult for me.  But looking back through photos, I'm realizing that somehow, I was able to make my own fun.  When I was traveling nonstop in the past, it was almost like I was constantly searching for something new because it was too much work to figure out how to be content in my own surroundings.  In 2011, I learned the art of finding happiness and adventure in being home, and how to appreciate those small things in day-to-day life that I never had time to notice before.  I'd say that alone made this year pretty amazing.  I'm not going to lie - this doesn't mean I'm not hoping for more travel in 2012.  It's just nice to know that one can actually survive staying put for a while, and that it's possible to overcome the need to constantly be doing exciting things in order to feel validated.  Maybe I'm just getting old. :)

Okay, enough with the deep thoughts.  I thought it would be fun to share a little summary of my year with you through our photographs.  To save you the agony of an obnoxiously long post that would inevitably take several minutes to load, today is reserved for the first half of 2011. I'll post the other half next week. 

And without further adieu, welcome to my 2011 >>>

Did you have a good 2011?  Did it go by quickly for you too?  (Pssst...  4 days 'til Christmas!)

Wedding venue photo by Bliss Studio.