as the year draws to an end…

… it’s time to wrap it up and look back on what’s happened. I did this meme exactly one year ago too, and looking back I realize how easy it is to forget. So here we go, 2007 summed up in 39 questions.

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before? Get a professional degree, sign and work on a full time contract, start a business, go abroad with my family, play Guitar Hero, put together a 1000-piece puzzle, wash my hair with conditioner only, wash my face with oil, buy a crosstrainer (exercise equipment), visit Rome and the Amalfi coast and Pompeii. Lots and lots of things were new this year, perhaps more than ever.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I promised to lose the weight I had put on. I did, and then I put it back on, so I’ll make the same promise this year. I also promise to start working out more with the help of my new crosstrainer.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Not unless I count blog friends such as Miss Tango!

4. Did anyone close to you die? Mom’s aunt and my husband’s grandmother passed away.

5. What countries did you visit? Italy, for the second time!

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007? Muscle tonus. Inner calm. A driver’s license.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? April 11-12 (my final exams), April 13 (graduation day), April 21-30 (our trip to Italy).

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Becoming a licensed hairdresser, which was crucial for getting a secure job and starting my business.

9. What was your biggest failure? Finding it so difficult to combine my inner self with the person I show the world. It took a long time to readjust to (or rather create a) ”normal life” after the crazy schedule in hairdressing school and the strange years before that.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nothing worth mentioning.

11. What was the best thing you bought? The laptop I’m typing on right now.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Lots of love and gratitude to Nicki, Carlo and Poppy who opened their door and welcomed us to stay with them in Positano. I’m still trying to figure out how to thank them properly.  

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? I have tried not to let anyone bring me down this year. Life is too short to be depressed. I did find our blue kitchen walls appalling at one time, but I overcame that by painting them white.

14. Where did most of your money go? Once again, to travel. I also think I spent too much on crappy lunch boxes but that’s got to end.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Getting my degree and going to Italy with my family. Finally getting to visit Amalfi, if only for a day.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007? A Little Bit Of Love with Andreas Johnson brings back happy memories of the last weeks in school. I listened to the radio on my very early morning runs walks to the train. It was early April, the air was crisp and the long darkness had given way for bright pink dawns. Happy feet danced their way downhill to the station, knowing that it was all finally coming to an end: The early morning train rides would end, Italy was only weeks, days away, and a brand new life was about to begin.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: (a) happier or sadder? (b) thinner or fatter? (c) richer or poorer? Once again I’ll answer happier, fatter and richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Eating healthy food, keeping the apartment from being a mess. I wish I had exercised more and done more fun things with my loved ones.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Eating chips and fast food, messing up the apartment I wish I had stressed less.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? We spent it at my mother in law’s.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007? Over and over again. I fell in love with my curls, Italy, my husband, our son, the entire Grey’s Anatomy and What About Brian casts, the fresh white kitchen walls… Or, you could also say that I fell in love with life.

22. How many one-night stands? Oh puh-leeeze! That time is looooong gone, thank goodness.

23. What was your favorite TV program? Grey’s Anatomy. What About Brian. Am I repeating myself?

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? I don’t hate anyone.

25. What was the best book you read? Oh… I read so many books. I fell head over heels for Marlena Blasi’s books; A Thousand Days in Venice and A Thousand Days in Tuscany. I also learned invaluable lessons from The Alchemist and Finding Your Own North Star.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Not sure I made any discoveries…?

27. What did you want and get? To walk the streets of Amalfi, and to visit Pompeii before it gets buried again. A steady income.

28. What did you want and not get? To live in Italy…

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I don’t know! I saw Fracture starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins last night and liked it.. I also really enjoyed Stardust at the movies, and Saw IV… I’m not as into movies as I used to be.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I turned 28 on a Wednesday so I was at work as usual. I celebrated the weekend after with lots and lots of chocolate cake.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Better weather.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007? Practical and comfortable with a few more elegant highlights.

33. What kept you sane? Who said I’m sane? But yeah, there is one thing that stands out, and that is the trip I’m planning for me and Alexander for next summer. I booked the apartment back in June already, 13 months prior to the actual trip, and to know that I have an apartment in Amalfi for two weeks has definitely helped to motivate me through a cold summer and a dreary autumn with long work hours.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Oh I had a huge crush on Brian in What About Brian.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? Nothing really…

36. Who did you miss? My dog, who died seven years ago.

37. Who was the best new person you met? It was amazing to finally meet Nicki in real life, I only wish we lived closer together so that we could hang out more often!

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007. That our lives really are in our own hands and it’s up to us to create the reality we want for ourselves.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

A whole new world
A hundred thousand things to see
I’m like a shooting star,
I’ve come so far,
I can’t go back to where I used to be! 

A whole new world
with new horizons to pursue
I’ll chase them anywhere,
there’s time to spare
Let me share this whole new world with you

from Aladdin