My Year in Review

I’ve not really been known to think reflectively (or much, for that matter). I’ve seen people like Alex and Joe post a “year in review” and Matt always does one on his birthday. As I read them I thought it was valuable, if not, fairly interesting. So here we go…

• Rachel and I experienced our first full year of home ownership (technically we took control in December 2010) which included plenty of projects (replacing attic insulation, planting trees) and plenty of purchases (couches, new bed, desk).
• We got married in July.
• We visited the best Colorado dude ranch for our “staycation” honeymoon, it was amazing.
• I turned 25, which almost seemed like a “quaterlife” milestone but turned out to be just another year…
• At Crowd Favorite, I helped work on dozens of web design, development and other consulting projects. Notable launches included the AMC and WEtv websites, and the Annotum WordPress theme.
• I helped contribute very minor patches to WordPress versions 3.2 and 3.3 and released my own plugin, small steps to contributing to open source development
• I started blogging a bit more regularly again thanks to the soon-to-be-released FavePersonal theme from the team at Crowd Favorite.

This past year I also traveled, what I would consider to be, the “right amount” for both business and pleasure. Although Dopplr has been abandoned since Nokia bought the site, it’s still my favorite way to visualize my trips:

• Visited San Francisco a couple times for client meetings and the WordCamp San Francisco conference, it’s still a fun and novel place to stay
• Spent a few days in New York, twice, for client meetings
• Slept through the SXSW conference in Austin
• Experienced Vegas for the first time as an adult
• Spent a few days in London for a client project and had time to wander around and take in the sights
• Traveled to Portland (Maine) to experience the Monktoberfest conference (and beer tasting)
• Rachel and I visited Monterey and Carmel where we surfed for the first time, spent time on the beach, and visited some vineyards
• Spent a quick weekend in Florida (my first visit) to participate in WordCamp Orlando

Overall it was a good year but I think there’s room for improvement in 2012, here are some things I’ll try to track towards:

• ski a lot more and be more adventurous (less ‘routine’)
• spend more time traveling with friends and family
• continue working on interesting projects and products at Crowd Favorite
• explore our neighborhood and the surrounding businesses
• work on the landscaping projects in early Spring
• participate more in the WordPress community and give back where possible
• average reading one book per month (I slipped this year..)