HAPPY 2012!! A look back at 2011...

Happy New Year!! I rang in 2012 in my hometown (Philly suburbs) with my best high school friends and a sparkly dress. Apart from lots of dancing, it was nicely low key. How was your new year's eve? I'm already feeling chummy with 2012, but I have to acknowledge that 2011 was very, very good to me. This was the year that I graduated from NYU and started work full-time in brand marketing at L'Oreal. 2011 was a transition year, but also super liberating and fun. Here's a recap, if you'd like to see....

January marked my 4th year as a New Yorker, and I began to feel really confident about my place in the city.

In February, I threw a Chinese New Year party and celebrated my friend Liz's trader's trophy win. It was a chilly month, so I also spent a lot of time in the Pop Up Park, my favorite winter retreat :)

In March, I hung out in neighborhood coffee shops and went to see the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. I also visited California for the first time (Newport Beach to be exact) for spring break!

April was the best month EVER. My friends & I won a national business competition for Dannon (which included making this goofy video) and went to Paris for a week, for free. I also turned twenty-two the day before the Royal Wedding.

May meant going to the Hester Street Fair, Alexander McQueen "Savage Beauty" exhibit and a little thing called COLLEGE GRADUATION!! (Officially a real person now, whoo!)

In June, I went to my first blogger meetup in Brooklyn and became an avid fan of the online decor magazine phenomenon.

July was a crazy month. We went on family vacation in Prague/Berlin/Vienna for 2 wks (an amazing trip that I still need to post pics up of!), and I started asking people for their summer to-do lists.

In August, I showed off my new East Village apartment, ate fancy donuts at the Brooklyn Flea, and shared my favorite entrepreneurship books.

September was so work-busy, I turned to my comforts: Chinese food and nature. I also asked my high school girlfriends for their autumn to-do list.

October included a girl's brunch back in Philly, a guest post by Mary Kate, and TWO costumes for Halloween.

In November, I went to the Quidditch World Cup, which blew my mind. Then I went home to a yummy Thanksgiving.

And finally, in December, I was more of a foodie than usual and put together 3 Holiday Gift Guides for Christmas!

Phew! It's so amazing looking back at these little details which made this 2011 a year full of rich memories. I don't blog about my personal life very much, so I'm especially glad I have these posts to remember the year by. Life is full of ups and downs, but I'm always reminded that for every sick week or heart break, there's a great big surprise (like a free trip to Paris!) just around the corner! That's how life works! No matter how many lemons get thrown at me, I'll always be swimming in lemonade, and I'm thankful. I'm also honored to have sponsored 5 giveaways this year and honored to have such sweet readers like you.

Now tell me all about YOUR 2011! And if you like, feel free to check out my recaps of 2010 and 2009. Have a great 2012 my dears! Take it by the balls! :)