Best of the Best 2011

It's the end of the year and I though I'd post my 2011 Best of the Best to help charge me up as we prepare to enter 2012. It has been a mixed bag year for us with a few losses, some injuries, much work travel by Hubs, and finding out our little man  has an anaphylactic allergy to tree nuts. So I needed to remind myself of what some of the best moments were this year and hopefully it will help put me in a positive mood as we usher this year out and the new one in.

My Best of the Best List for 2011...

Best Volunteer Moment:

After volunteering at Kids Kottage we sat down with their volunteer coordinator and I heard one of the Because Edmonton Cares volunteers say "so, how else can we help you?" It is the EXACT reason I do what I do.






Best Mr. Cole (AKA Ham) Moment:

Seeing him play Joseph at his preschool Christmas concert. He was just so sweet in his little costume singing his songs! He LOVES school, the teachers and other students love him and I love seeing him enjoy school this much.

Best Turkey (AKA Miss Jocelyn) Moment:

Her first day of Kindergarten. She looked so independent and confident I felt such pride in knowing she was going to do great. The other best part was when she came home and told me about all her new friends

Best Moment Spent With Hubs


Funny enough it wasn't our trips together but it was just a date night we had a couple weeks ago. We went for dinner at D'Lish and then went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. Everything about the night was enjoyable and relaxing. We haven't had a night like that in ages! I think my runner up was watching Hubs take our Turkey skiing. It was so cute to watch the two of them on the hill together :)





Top 10 Books I've Read This Year (in no particular order)

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin

The Hound of the Baskervilles - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Emil and the Detectives - Erich Kastner
Little Princes - Conor Grennan
The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
11/22/63 - Stephen King
Bossy Pants - Tina Fey
A Storm of Swords - George R.R. Martin
Prisoner of Tehran - Marina Nemat


Best Trip I Took

Jasper with my sister-in-law in January and I went again in May with Hubs. Both trips were memorable and it reminded me why I love Jasper, and the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge so much!


Best Concert I Saw



photo from http://www.chriscornell.com/

 This is tough as I saw a number of great acts this year but I'm going to have to go with Chris Cornell singing acoustically. Especially when he sang Hunger Strike and then threw us a wild card and sang Better Man by Pearl Jam. Simply awesome.  I'd say my runners up are U2 and seeing Cake/Metric/Joy Formidable at Sonic Boom.




Best New Restaurant We Went To

Vivo. Awesome little Italian place that opened up just a few minutes away. It's all served family style which makes it more fun when you go with a group.

Best Times Spent With Friends

There's so many good times with friends this year but I'd have to say it was spending my birthday, and numerous other occasions, at Guru Indian Restaurant with my girlfriends. The food is always AMAZING and so is the company.


Best Personal Moment

This is a hard one!  I'd have to say that I have 2 moments which really stood out for me. One was when my friend designed and emailed me a logo for Because Edmonton Cares. It was the moment for me when everything felt real, like it was all more tangible because we had a logo. And yes, I cried a little.

My other personal best was winning the Graceful Goddess FIERCE award. I honestly, honestly didn't think I'd win. I even picked who I thought would win and showed Hubs her work. I didn't prepare a speech, I didn't wear sensible shoes to make that walk to the podium, and I didn't ease up on the wine as I didn't think I'd need to speak to an audience...all of which I regretted when they called my name! It still amazes me and makes me feel that people do actually get what I'm about.

So, those are the Best of the Best Moments that stood out for me this year. What were your special moments?