finishing strong.

It was 59 degrees in Des Moines today. I walked outside and smelled fresh rain, and I could have sworn it was March. In fact, I went to lunch with a friend today and neither of us wore coats. We also drank Corona Lights (I only had one seeing as I went to work right after), which is an obligatory summer drink. However, it is obviously not March, and definitely not summer. No, instead it is the 30th of December, which means 2010 is almost over. Following that trend of logic, it is time for my end of the year reflection. So, drumroll please. 2010 was... fantastic.

I started off the year with a bang as I followed my beloved Hawkeyes to Miami for the Orange Bowl. I drove 27 hours with my friends Anne and Jake, stopping only once in the parking lot of a janky motel in Georgia to sleep for a few hours. It was altogether a terrible idea and exactly the type of thing you should do on a college roadtrip. We stayed in a hostel in Miami and met a lot of interesting people, most memorable being a guy named Beethoven from Finland. Beethoven lived his life according to the roll of the dice. Seriously, he would write down a list of 6 things and roll the dice, doing whatever corresponded to the number he rolled. This practice is what led him to Miami on his world tour, as well as doing other unsavory things that made us happy he wasn't in our room.

Shortly after that trip, I started student teaching in a freshman English classroom. Student teaching is the culminating "assessment" of your teacher training, and I was immensely excited to have actual students to give my lessons. I had a young cooperating teacher and we got along famously. I also contend that I had the absolute best students possible. They taught me a lot about myself and gave me plenty of good stories. My mom enjoyed my student teaching almost more than I did because she got to hear everything after school during our routine chips and salsa binge. I looked desperately for a teaching job throughout the spring, and left for England in May unemployed. I had faith that everything would work out, so I tried to take it in stride.

England was absolutely the experience of a lifetime. I studied abroad there before, so in a way it felt like returning for round two even though this time I would be working as a teacher. I was on the Southern coast of the country, which is a much different experience than being in London. It was quiet and slow, but nice because I experienced a type of British culture I hadn't before. I met some amazing girls who took it upon themselves to show me a good time, and a good time it was. After two months abroad, I was ready to walk on American soil again, mainly because I have an atrocious iced coffee habit, and iced coffee is non-existent in Europe.

The summer closed out with the realization that I would not have a teaching job for the fall, which was depressing and exhilarating simultaneously. How's that for conflicting emotions? It was depressing because nobody wants to be unemployed and living with their parents, but exhilarating because it meant that I had a wide open palate for life and could do whatever I wanted. The latter realization didn't come right away, I admit, and I had a certain amount of depression regarding the situation. But I'm not one to sit on the sidelines of life and let things happen to me. If you know me, you know I am much more of a proactive person who is more likely to take my destiny into my own hands.

I spent the fall readjusting to living in the same bedroom I had in high school. I spent a good amount of time giving it a face lift and refining my belongings. (Not that anybody cares, but it has a more vintage feel to it now: from the thrift store find Italian pewter dish which holds my favorite jewelry, to my grandma's 1939 edition of Wuthering Heights, to the vase of dried flowers I've been collecting since I was 15.) I also tried to refine my relationships and my habits. I dedicated more time to cultivating my relationships - both old and new - and took it upon myself to learn as much about my dad's law firm as possible. As a result, I have a good base of people surrounding me and I've gained a lot more responsibility and respect at the office. By spending so much time at the firm, I also realized how much I enjoy working in the law and helping people in that way, which led to my decision to take the LSAT.

That brings us to this winter, which has thus far been surprisingly satisfying. I say surprisingly because I generally don't like the Christmas season for reasons I don't care to blog about. I would rather be generous and kind year-round, but that's just me. So, that I've met some really amazing people even within the last few weeks is satisfying and exciting as 2011 rapidly approaches.

I am planning on bringing in the new year one of a handful of places, exactly which I'm not entirely sure of yet. This uncertainty would normally stress me out, but if there is one thing I have learned in 2010, it is that everything happens for a reason. My, does it ever.

So, to you and yours, may you have a very blessed new year... and welcome, 2011. I am very exciting for what you have in store.