Top Ten of 2011

So, 2011 has come to a close and the looming dreariness of January is close at hand. I'd like to take this opportunity to chronicle the last 12 months of my life with a top ten list of milestones. In preparing for this blog, I realized that some pretty important things happened to me this past year and that 2012 is likely to pale in comparison. Unless of course I finally meet Ryan Reynolds.

1. New Car- It ain't no Lexus, but my cute little Silver Pontiac Vibe makes me happy every day. As a crossover, it allows me to not feel like a mouse on the highway while still getting awesome gas mileage. In fact, it gets only two MPG less than my old car (The Corolla got 33 MPG on the highway). It has folding back seats for all my shit (or in most cases my friends' shit)and a regular three-prong outlet in the front seat for phone chargers, hair straighteners etc.

2. Movin' Out- September 5, 2011 marked the day I started referring to the house on Flourtown Ave. as "my mom's house". I now am the proud renter of an overpriced one-bedroom apartment in upstate New Jersey. Included in the rent is heat and hot water. Other amenities include horrendous parking and elephants upstairs.

3. Graduate School- With the economy in such great condition, the best move for me career-wise was to go back to school this fall. I was blessed enough to be offered full tuition at Montclair State University and now am pursuing a Masters degree in Counseling. This will be the next two years of my life, so it's a good thing that the school is so close to New York City where I might run into Kourtney Kardashian.

4. Taylor Swift- compared to moving out or graduate school, seeing Taylor Swift might seem like a silly "milestone" to include. Sadly, I think I was more excited the day her tickets came in the mail than the day I got the key to my apartment. Judge me. Go ahead. I have no fear of sharing my girl crush on T Dizzle and I'm including the concert in this list because it was one of te est days of 2011.

5. BFF Wedding- you know you're old when you have your own car, your own place and your college roommate is married. November 19, 2011 was my first time as a bridesmaid and an all-around awesome time. I am so happy for her and am so glad someone else is pioneering the ways of marriage and home ownership so she can show me the way in the year 2050!

6. Camp- on a whim, I decided to work at a sleep away camp in New Hampshire this summer. That whim ended up bringing me to some of the most wonderful people I have ever known. Looking forward to the summer of 2012 more and more every day.

7. Cruise- a Cosmo article last January highlighted a website that offered discount cruises booked less than a month before the departure date. In May, two of my friends and I ventured to South Carolina via road trip (never again) and then to the Bahamas by way of Carnival Cruise Lines. I snorkeled, drank out of a pineapple and fell in love (briefly) with the cruise director.

8. Quit the worst job I ever had- one of these days, I'll do a whole post about horrible jobs I've had, but for now let's just enjoy my most recent departure. The job itself was thankless and awkward, but the work environment was somehow worse. The blessing of this experience was meeting a girl who turned into my only reason for going to work every day. We've since both left and also led a mass exodus of 7-10 others who just couldn't handle it anymore. We planned to glitter bomb the place on our last day, but glitter is just too expensive.

9. Finally went to the south- Some girl I hardly know or like invited me to come visit her in New Orleans last May and I accepted to be polite. I've always wanted to go to the south and this was a perfect time to go and see what it was all about. Saw the landmarks, enjoyed a lazy river and of course ate my weight in Cajun spices.

10. OBX vacation- after nearly ten years of friendship, my high school crew and I finally orchestrated a successful trip that was father than our neighborhood Friendly's. We rented a gorgeous house in North Carolina and spent the week between Christmas and New Years eating, drinking, beaching and laughing. I am ready to sit in a room alone for at least 24 full hours, but after that I think I'm gonna wake up and really miss the sound of FIFA coming from the basement.