If I had to give it a label, I would call 2011 The Year of Growing Pains. In this past year I graduated college, moved to San Diego, and attempted to start a career in book publishing. Lots of crazy has happened for better for worse, and these have been my favorite moments of 2011.
11.) My last night in Arizona
My last night in Arizona was a blast. All of my good friends from the past 4 years showed up at La Bocca for salami, brie, hummus, mojitios, pizza, and pita. We toasted, we laughed, we got a little tipsy, and it was one hell of a send off before my move to San Diego. Oh, and I almost forgot, just before I took my taxi ride home my best friend in college and I hit up everyone's favorite local sex shop one last time. Oh, ASU.
10.) Day 37-- Love
This day was the first day that I felt like I truly lived in San Diego. Walks along the beach, holding hands, and a sweet piece of dark chocolate rocky road.
9.) Trips to SF, SJ, and LA
Ok, I may be cheating a bit by including all three, but my favorite trips this year have all been interstate weekend hellos that cleared my head and inspired me again. The visit up to SF was the quickest. It was to see an old friend for the night and we got hilariously saddled with (1) her roommate breaking up with her no-good boyfriend and (2) a guy friend who didn't take the hint that it was time for him to leave. We drove around the city belting out Adele and walking around The Exploratorium's patio and columns. I sincerely debated moving there and applying for an internship at Salon Magazine, but instead I drove to my new home in San Diego listening to Jack Johnson with the windows down and speakers up.
I've had several good visits with grandma and the one in November was my favorite. She's always so encouraging in my life and wants to me to move to New York and talk to Oprah.
LA was a real blast as well. I had been feeling blue from lack of job and direction, and seeing The Actress was just what I needed. We got some dinner and a movie (Horrible Bosses) and headed back to her place to eat sour gummy worms with her roommate and watch Love and Other Drugs before the tranny hookers came alive in the night. It felt real to be around one of my friends again. And I really needed that boost.
8.) Day 107--Postal Service mornings
I love mornings that start with The Postal Service and the latest chapter of fanfiction. That morning I was feeling high from an author event the night before, and getting the 'ok' from my publishing house to start researching a contest to get a high school student published. I felt alive and filled with promise.
7.) Halloween potluck
Halloween was a lil weird this year since I had to work that Saturday night, and I didn't get home until around midnight when everyone was already home and puking in their Rainbow Bright and Pimp outfits. Sunday was planned on being more mellow and tasty. We all participated in a potluck of chili, potato salad, green bean casserole, and some shrimp pasta--oh, and some wine and iced cream. We cooked, we ate, we took a ton of pictures, we capped the night off with Evil Dead 2, and I felt like I had found myself a group in San Diego to call my own.
6.) Kayaking on a lake
I have wanted to kayak for about 4 years when I first started visiting San Diego and would watch the kayakers journey along the calm and scenic Mission Bay. This 4th of July weekend my boyfriend and I joined his family for a family reunion at the brand new Arkansas lake house. As soon as I could, I hit the kayak, and it was everything I hoped it would be: easy, serene, and playful. I went out kayaking everyday I was there.
5.) My 23rd birthday party Ho Down
For my 23rd birthday, my boyfriend and I got to spent the night at his folk's really nice desert house away from everything. Some good sex and champagne later and we were relaxing outside with him and his pipe and me with my Sylvia Plath looking out at the desert landscape. We came home for my Ho Down party where everyone had to dress up like a country ho (flannel, short shorts).
It started off with my closest friends all looking a lil' country trashy happy for some hot dogs and the hotub. As the night progressed it turned into a dance party, with a very vocal rendition of everyone singing "Fuck You" by Cee-Lo at some point around 1. It mellowed into a smoke out in my room and another dip in the spa. The best part was the morning after when all of those easter egg party favors I left out in the baskets (my birthday's in April) ended up in the most bizarre hidden Easter egg spots, like in the rafters and in the butter container. We were still finding eggs weeks afterward, haha. Sorry, roommates.
4.) Picking up a Mexican Gentleman of Leisure from the border
Next to the patrol cars and dusty gas pumps he was standing there in his starched pink suit shirt, khaki slacks, and pale straw hat with a leather band around the middle--the kind of hat my grandfather wore so many years ago. It may not have been a limo to pick him up, but our 2010 Honda was a welcomed site for the humored gentleman.
The best day at my internship at the publishing house was when me and my co-worker picked up our "Mexican Gentleman of Leisure" author (as I dubbed him) from the border. He came over to deliver a lecture on writing tips to a community college in the area and with his wit and old age, I fell in love with story-telling, writing, and publishing a little bit more.
3.) Running into the ocean in a little black dress at 3am
And so I ran across the sand and into the ocean with my little black dress on and my black heels in hand, and let the 3am calm coolness hit me as my feet made it into low tide. Never in my life have I seen the ocean more beautiful. It was a slightly overcast sky that meshed well with the mellow waves, making that edge beyond the white crests look like the most peaceful place you could ever reach.
I thought for a moment that it was the absolute perfect place for a surrender.
It was one of the best moments of my life, without exaggeration
2.) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 movie premiere
For 10 magical years of film and 13 years of readings, Harry Potter created a family between strangers and imagination in those still willing to believe. At midnight of the July 15th, we, in our cloaks, robes, and glasses, said goodbye to our hero. It was a shining moment, and as silly as it sounds, it felt like a salute to our childhoods as well as to Harry.
1.) Graduating college
Ok, so my degree hasn't amounted to anything yet, but I can say without hesitation nor reluctance that graduating college was one of the most (if not the most) important moments in my life. There was never a doubt that I would walk in the robes and cap for my graduation day. There have been and still are simply too many women in this world who will never get the chance to be where I've been to not accept the honor of walking.
My family came from farmers, drunks, and a few too many regrets, so this was a moment for them as well as for me. This was for my mom who dropped out after a year. This was for my dad was hid his illiteracy for his whole life. But mainly it was for me and the feeling of finally achieving a dream I harbored since I was a little tiny kid.
The two day ceremony was quite something. There were thousands of maroon-clad graduates at commencement, and I chatted with my classmates knowing I'd probably never see them again. We wished each other well in poverty and spirits in having an English degree in 2011, and slammed our shitty professors one last time for good measure. And then it was time to stand up and be congratulated for entering the club of educated men and women of Arizona. We crossed over our tassels started screaming and laughing as "Firework" by Katy Perry began and surprise fireworks popped over the open stadium.
My mom was there, and my boyfriend of the past 4 years, and my best friend and favorite roommate in college, plus her boyfriend who's friend of mine too. So many hugs and pictures, and the most beautiful purple flowers I've ever seen. Some grads go out for drinks, I wanted to go out for lava cake. Mom went home and the 4 of us headed back to where the heart of my college was: the outside of my favorite apartment at Domino's. The 4 of us had a life in that apartment. At various times and who was home: we loved there, fought there, nearly broke up and broke up and made up, had girl time watching Sex and the City and making margaritas before class, we had parties there and dinners there, we had alone time there procrastinating in our global studies or literature essays--we lived there, and on my graduation day there was no other place I wanted to be but home.
The next day I received my diploma around 8am. I texted my mom as I sat down, "I just graduated college, Mom." And when I was alone outside before we all huddled together for some Ihop, I spoke quietly, "I just graduated college, Dad" and smiled while a few rebellious tears slipped out. I did it.
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