February: I went to California to attend my uncle’s memorial. While everyone was very sad about the loss, that sadness was balanced out by the joy of finding many awesome cousins.
March: Our friend Brett joined us on the Washington Coast. It was — it always is — breathtaking.
April: I worked. A lot. I landed a gig at one of Seattle’s most prestigious organizations. And you know what? It didn’t go well. It’s been a while since I have failed so miserably at a project and it was not a good feeling. Failure. It keeps you humble, right?
May: I went to Washington DC with the crew from Gadling, one of the sites I write for. We had a backstage tour that was, well, Indiana Jones fantasies, anyone?
June: I was invited to Bordeaux to attend the Bordeaux Wine Festival. Ridiculous, right? A piece I wrote about my time there ended up in the San Francisco Chronicle.
July: I got on a mega cruise ship. (It’s okay, I got off again a few hours later.) Have you been on one of those things? They’re insane.
August: I returned to teach for a second year at Book Passage. This conference is, without question, the most inspiring event I’ve attended as a writer. I love it.
September. We drove around central Oregon and then, I went to Spain where things made me mad. Though the three hour gourmet lunches and roof top cocktails with Jessica and Christine? Yeah, that was all right.
October: I traveled solo to Kauai and to San Antonio, Texas. Kauai (and that day out with Kim) was the perfect lethargy I’d expected. And San Antonio, well, I had no idea. I had a tour of the Alamo that kind of blew me away and my friend Sheila drove over from Austin to join me for lunch and hey, San Antonio is a cool place to visit!
November: I rode my bike a lot and took a lot of pictures while doing so. I worked almost full time on technical projects, more successfully than I had in the spring. Whew.
