Rochelle's Blog ::: Subtitles Included

December 10 Album of the year. What’s rocking your world?

I used to be super into music in college, what student isn’t? But then I grew up and worked hard and did my thing and music took the back burner. I still listened to music while working of course and in my car, but not much at home. But that all changed a year ago when I started writing. Music is a requirement while I write, and so I’ve spent a good chunk of time (and money) finding new (to me) and inspirational pieces this year. Therefore, I had to go through and actually check to see when my favorite albums I discovered came out. Here’s my favorites of 2009:

No Line on the Horizon – U2. I feel like even listing this one is like cheating. Of course I liked it. Of course it’s good.

Strict Joy – The Swell Season. A recent release and oh so good, from the musicians in the movie Once.

500 Days of Summer soundtrack. Great movie. Great soundtrack!

Music from Glee. A surprise. I usually don’t like things like this, but I love listening to music from Glee. Especially while I’m cleaning.

But my favorite album of the year is….

Sea Sew-Lisa Hannigan. I am a huge Damien Rice fan and so I felt like I had to wait forever for solo debut. I’m so glad it came about. The album is quirky and fun and romantic. The lyrics are unique and her voice is spectacular. It may not be for everybody, but I sure love it.

Listen to it once for free at Lala.com.

Watch this cute live version of “I Don’t Know”:

December 9 Challenge. Something that really made you grow this year. That made you go to your edge and then some. What made it the best challenge of the year for you?

Challenges! I love challenges. There’s the emotional kind that are quite serious and not as fun, but then there are the ones you make for yourself and those are the best.

This year, I started the process of getting divorced, and that has been challenging at times.

I also had to work harder at the office than I’ve ever had to with little support or help, and that has definitely been challenging.

But besides those things, I have taken on some other fun challenges.

For example, I did the Project 365 challenge and while I have been sucking at it recently (almost massively), I still feel like I succeeded.

And then there was NaNoWriMo, which was the most fun challenge I did this year. And one that I met with pleasure and achieved. It made me a better writer and it pushed me into a whole new realm of writing that will help me in the future. Also, it just felt nice to achieve something. To meet a goal that I set for myself. I am so happy about about this! So this was my best challenge.

I’m already thinking about new challenges for 2010. And a couple of those are:

• Read 30 books. New Kindle should help that along.
• Lose more than 20 pounds (which I have never done. I can never reach that 20 pound mark).

December 8 Moment of peace. An hour or a day or a week of solitude. What was the quality of your breath? The state of your mind? How did you get there?

This one moment sticks out more than others and it was when I was in England. On the first full day we were there, we took a train to Bath. It was ambitious of us to try and attempt that on our own and we actually almost missed the train. I mean, we barely got on the train in time and when we did get on it, we weren’t sure we were on the RIGHT train. It was scary and rushed and full of panic. But it was the right one and we had to take our seats.

Since I was with my mom and sister, and there were only two front facing seats left, I volunteered to go on my own. That’s just how it goes. I’m sort of the loner and they needed each other much more. So I found my own seat, and that’s when I had the best moment of peace.

I found my seat a few rows away and turned on my iPod. As the train sped toward Somerset and the English country side, I was able to reflect on what it took to get there and how my very own eyes were seeing the place I had done so much research on and dreamed so much about. In the book I’ve been writing, my characters travel to Somerset, and so to be there, where my characters went and what initially motivated for me to make this trip happen, well it all came full circle and I was so happy.

If I remember properly I turned on one of my favorite playlists that I use for writing and I listened to the likes of Radiohead, Regina Specktor, and Damien Rice. And that just enhanced the experience. It was one of the best moments I’ve all year.

I actually snapped a picture of myself with my iPhone, which felt silly at the time, but I’m so glad I did, because that moment means more to me now than I was able to process at the time.

December 7 Blog find of the year. That gem of a blog you can’t believe you didn’t know about until this year.

This one was very hard for me, because I found so many cool blogs this year and I rely on my Google Reader like no other.

I’ve also made some great bloggy friends this year and people that I’ve gotten to know through their blogs and that has been the greatest gift.

For example, my friend Jen in Massachusetts. I have no idea how I found her blog, somehow through scrapbooking, but now I have to get my Jen fix. She’s a  really cool person and I look forward to her tweets and status updates on Facebook.

Another one is another person named Jen. I actually met her through the EJami fan board I go to, and she does these great things called “Play By Plays”. See, she lives in Canada and gets Days Of Our Lives a day ahead of the U.S., so she would essentially live post what she saw on screen. It’s such a fun experience and she is truly hilarious. But when I found that she was doing Project 365 this year too, I got a glimpse into her day-to-day, with her three adorable children. Her posts became a part of my day that I looked forward to, and now I feel like I know her much better than I would have ever just through the board.

And finally, my old college buddy Danielle. A friend from a long time ago. Because of blogs we’ve been able to reconnect and it means so much to me to see her life through her blog, where without it, I wouldn’t.

So often, people say “step away from the computer and meet people face-to-face,” but I truly believe that life is way too busy and complicated to keep up all connections face-to-face, and so having this medium fills that gap.

So besides those three that I’ve found this year, I’d have to say that my favorite find was Le Love. Great stories and images about love could never be bad. Always inspirational and always one of my first click items on my Google Reader.

This year I attended a monthly leadership seminar and a few conferences, one I even helped organize. While all of those were helpful, they weren’t inspirational or motivational, which is sad. So it’s hard for me to pick from those. Instead, what’s been one of the best things for my job is getting serious about CSS, and I can thank a few things for that, but mostly CSS-Tricks. I did a few of the tutorials that Chris publishes and I can’t tell you how much it helped CSS really click for me. I’m really grateful for that, and it’s actually inspired me more than ever to do a better job and take the time to code pages well. Thanks Chris!

I never read as many books as I hope to each year. This year was rather dismal, since I spent way more time trying to write a book than reading any. Here’s what I did finish:

• The Alienist, by Caleb Carr
• Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner
• Love the One You’re With, by Emily Giffin
• Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
• Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
• Living Dead in Dallas, by Charlaine Harris

All of which, I enjoyed, with the Harris books probably being my least favorite. Naturally, I started so many more books that I just haven’t been able to invest in quite yet.

Of those books, I’d have to say that Pride and Prejudice was the best. It was long overdue and a fun thing to read. Thankfully, I finished it just before I went to Bath, England and visited the Jane Austen Centre.

Before the year ends, I hope to have finished reading A Christmas Carol, because I say I’m going to do that each Christmas season. I started yesterday and will be reading more here shortly. It’s only 50 pages, so it shouldn’t be a problem. And then, I have it on good authority that I’m getting a Kindle for Christmas, and I’m hoping that will make reading even easier.

This one was hard for me to come up with. I definitely ate some great meals out, especially while on vacation. But I think one of the best restaurant moments I had this year was when I went to Asian Fusion with Brian back in July. It was one the last times we were really happy together, and sort of carefree. He had started to date his fiancee then, but it wasn’t too serious. Don’t get me wrong, I am okay with what is happening between us and that our marriage is only going to last a couple more weeks before the divorce is final, but for that one meal, everything was fine between us and there was the slightest feeling that everything was going to be fine and that we maybe still had a future. But today, it is much more black and white. We will not be getting back together. He’s moved on completely and in every way. He’s become a different man and is going to have a family. He’s doing all the things that I had hoped we could do together, but it apparently never felt right to him and not right to me either, honestly. He couldn’t be the man I needed him to be, and apparently I couldn’t be the woman he needed me to be either.

But for that one last meal, we were able to get lost in the moment and feel happy with each other. I’m glad our last one on one meal was like that. Thankfully, for me, I was camera happy back then and took pictures to remember the occasion.

So a couple of cool bloggy divas that both live in Boulder, Gwen Bell and Ally B, are doing a best Of 09 blog challenge, that was started by Gwen Bell. I love this idea! So I’m totally going to do it too, because it sounds really fun and will be a great record of the year (as if my Project 365 wasn’t enough).

The notion is 31 ‘best’ prompts…read more about it here.