That same old year-end list, and my goldenrod dining room

It just won't fit in 140 characters. I'm at home as I write this, which is really strange. The last time I spent New Year's on the east coast was well before I was married. We were supposed to fly out to California on Monday Dec 27th to spend 8 days with my in-laws (like we do every year), but because of the snowstorm on Dec 26th, our flight was canceled. It was one of the last to be canceled, so we were behind thousands of other people trying to get rebooked. The best they could do was Jan 2nd, two days before we were supposed to come home anyway. It wasn't worth it so we postponed the visit until March.

I've never really tried the "staycation" thing. Actually, we haven't even had a regular vacation since our honeymoon. All our trips are either touring or visiting family... which is probably not all that healthy. It's possible that it reflects a strain of workaholism that we've managed to control on a micro level (taking weekly sabbaths, managing work rhythms and time together), but not on a macro level (long-term planning, taking time off just for fun).

ANYWAY. All that is to say, it's become a habit to write one of these list-type posts at the end of the year, but right now it feels weird because the context is wrong. Since there wasn't a trip to take my camera on, this post doesn't have the mass of fun pictures that I usually post. Instead, there are pictures of my dining room.

Speaking of workaholism, this is what we spent New Year's eve doing: painting the dining room. It's not yellow, it's not orange. It's goldenrod. The pictures don't do it justice. (We don't know what to do when we're at home with no work to do, so we create work to do... sounds sick when I say it like that). But it's also interesting because it's part of a process whereby I'm driven to improve our home, not because it's insufficient or I want to impress anyone, but because it's the physio-structural expression of my internal headspace. It's like if you come visit me in my home, you're inside my head (shoes off!).

After all that ado, here's the list of favorites from 2010, which was significantly better than 2009:

- US Tour. Beautiful. Highlights included frisbee, redwood trees, in-law hospitality, meeting Jordan Butcher, being well-fed, and City of Ships and other ultimate bros.

- Jakob's Solace

- Atomium Amplification

- My wife getting a cool new job (the perfect job, really)

- Healthy parents, for the first time in a while

- Snowstorms (highest winter snow total ever in Philadelphia)

- Living in Philadelphia (as always)

- Having enough to eat (sometimes it's the simple things - part of getting older)