The flavors of New York are insatiable: the business, people, food, and parties never fail to attract. With the insurmountable list of activities to conquer, it’s important (and difficult) to take time to reflect. The dichotomy of New York is laughable: on the same block of the popular neighborhood bar and club is a yoga studio, tea shop, and therapist. You don’t have to walk far to indulge at night and be healed in the morning. New York can be a culture of indulge, reflect, repeat…if you let it.

Reflection can be difficult in a city that values noise, attention, movement, lights, and status. What attracts me to the city is its energy, passion, and opportunity.  While these are variations of similar attributes of the city, the latter allows you to maintain and grow in tandem with your values instead of subscribing to the city’s values. I’ve invested my time and passion in the NYC because I believe that the energy of the people & city can inspire and lead to good.

I took a step back from the goodness 2012 has delivered and wrote my 2011 review. As I dove into my 2011, it was difficult to look at the past 365 days without looking at the past four years, so….

The Past Couple of Years

I thought about the stories of the past 4 years of my life and how I could succinctly describe each time frame.  ‘Transition’ seemed like too weak of a descriptor for any of the years—life is about change, hence the constant daily transition of relationships, work, and love. But, the past four years have definitely been a transitional period into something larger which I have yet to define.

From a bird’s eye view, here’s the summary of the past four years:

 2008: Moving On, Moving Up

•  Healing from heartache
• Graduation from college
• Moving to Boston for my Master’s

 2009: Hustle, hustle

•  Full time graduate student
• 2 jobs: Teaching Assistant and part-time social strategist
• Blogging, blogging, blogging
• Dove in and moved to NYC 

 2010: NYC infatuation

•  Worked and played in NYC

 2011: Pursuit of Life

•  Try to balance, find out my true hobbies and passions
• Travel!

Life

I made a vow to myself to do, do, do this year. I wanted to dabble in different activities that would challenge my mind, body, and spirit. I set out not knowing exactly what those items were, but didn’t let any opportunity pass me by. Here’s a couple highlights:

 HTML class with Girl Develop It: I took a 4-week HTML class with Girl Develop It where I learned the fundamentals of HTML and CSS. It  is a great organization if you are based in NYC and interested in learning code. They host classes for all levels.

 Tennis class: My grandparents always played tennis when I was growing up and I never took a stab at it. I took a class through TennisTip to learn the basics of the sport. Let’s just say I can now volley the ball across the net twenty-or-so times, but not too much more. Working on it :)

 Biking: I’ve always been infatuated with competitive running, but after I had a stress fracture in 2010 I decided to pick up biking. I bought a Specialized from Sid’s in Chelse and named her Samantha. She’s all white and purrs in the wind like a little kitty. This spring and summer I would wake up around 6:30am and take her for an hour-long ride up and down the West Side Highway. There’s nothing like the warm summer air mixing with the morning dew and the NYC sunrise to welcome your morning.

 East Village Church: Meghan and I have always been involved in Trinity Grace Church, and when the East Village location opened we decided to join the community there. I enjoy the TGC community because they stand for love & joining God in the renewal of all things, especially New York City. I’ve met many loving, passionate people through the East Village location. 

 Picture a Day: I started the 365 project where the plan was to take a picture a day for a year. I started to take photos and ended up stopping in the spring. I decided to stop because it turned into something I ‘had’ to do instead of something I was looking forward to doing, which was not the point of the exercise. Maybe one day I’ll pick it up again, as I liked the daily mini creative challenge. I was ok with letting it go.

 Get it Off the Ground: This could and will take up much more space down the line. I have an idea that I will be launching in a larger way in 2012, and Molly Mahar’s Get it Off the Ground series allowed me to crystallize what I wanted to do and how to take the steps to do it.

She’s the First

In January 2011, when I hosted the She’s the First Campus Leadership Summit at the Mr Youth offices, I knew that I had to be involved in the organization a much larger way. I joined the She’s the First Leadership team as an Ambassador, spreading the word about girls’ education and STF through social networks and NYC-based events.

For my birthday in April I hosted a birthday brunch and fundraiser. About 20 friends joined me on the West Side Highway for an outdoor brunch picnic, even in the wind and cool breeze! We raised enough money to sponsor a girl at Arlington Academy of Hope, and I decided to sponsor a girl in the Starfish One-by –One program to celebrate my birthday as well.

Travel

With 2009 and 2010 being so work and NYC focused, I decided in 2011 that I wanted to TRAVEL. And I did. With the exception of October, I was on a plane, train, car, or bus every month:

·      Jan: Vermont

·      Feb: London, Oxford, Barcelona

·      March: Seattle, San Francisco

·      April: Philadelphia

·      May: New Jersey

·      June: Seattle

·      July: New Jersey

·      August: Maryland

·      September: Bonn, Prague, Munich

·      October:  ——home sweet home, NYC

·      November: Philadelphia

·      December: Virginia, Seattle, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Tampa

I have great memories from my Europe trips in February and September which included travels with close high school friends to Barcelona and to Oktoberfest celebrations. They are memories that will last a lifetime, and I have the pics to remind me!

Friendships

I am the type of person who believes in deep, close friendships. I have a handful of incredibly close girlfriends, many of which live around the world. This year we made it a priority to chat or skype frequently. They are my support network, and I am incredibly blessed to have them in my life.

My roommates for two years moved out in August and I found via Craigslist two outstanding new roommates. We’ve quickly developed close ties and are a little brunette family :)

I’ve made and strengthened great friendships through work, STF, and different friendship groups. I’m thankful for forgiveness, compassion, and love that my friends and I have shared this year.

Work

In 2011 I worked exclusively on the Microsoft business at MRY including MSN and Bing. May ‘11 I was promoted to Senior Account Executive, which meant that I oversaw our team’s community management, social campaigns, and brand ambassador programs for Bing. My work this year allowed me to still manage community work and make strategic recommendations, but also gave me the ability to understand the inner workings of agency and business development.

2011 was about figuring out what I enjoy. I have clear goals for 2012 that are challenging and exciting. Cheers to a great year and making the world a better place!