It’s New Year’s Eve, so put on something sparkly, and let’s take a look back at 2010. My landmarks of the year: Ben and I became engaged, my 4th anniversary of designing children’s books, 2nd anniversary of living in NYC, moved into my 3rd apartment after college, and 3 years of eating vegan (excepting those maybe 10 times I had to try someone’s cookie/cupcake/sweet bread/Kit Kat.)
Ben proposed on my birthday weekend. He, a few friends, and I took the A train out to the Far Rockaways in Queens. We chilled out on the beach. I opened gifts. Ben and I wandered off on our own, and he told me there was another gift for me. He pulled out Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, and I immediately recognized this as one of Ben’s favorite authors. From the title I knew it was just the book for me. Thanking him, I flipped it open. Cutaway in the pages was a diamond ring. Ben bent down onto a knee, told me he loves me, wants to spend the rest of his life with me, and asked me to marry him. Surprised and teary-eyed, I said yes! Ben has since landed a job and moved to NYC, and I need to give a special shout out to his vegan cooking skills. His jambalaya, chickpea curry, black bean patties and spanakopita are exceptional!
Work projects have been exciting. Revamping jackets for picture books, rereleasing books as board books, designing YA novel interiors, and assisting where I can to help get these stories out in other formats: ebooks, international printings, and preview videos. I’m learning a lot from our Design Department and Art Director. My coworkers are talented, fun, and interesting. Brown bag lunches with our publishers, other publishers, authors, and publicists are all interesting, and those events are a special perk to being in NYC.
Moving to a new apartment means adjusting my shopping routines, and it’s working out well. To report in on reducing my carbon footprint: I grocery shop before work so I can pick up organic romaine for my daily lunch salad, (they sell out by the time I’m off work,) and I also pick up organic celery, apples, avocados, quinoa, canned tomatoes, and peanut butter. Ben and I don’t buy exclusively organic, but we’re working it in. Still running errands by foot or public transportation, excepting a trip every 2 or 3 weeks by car to Target now that the cold, 2 mile walk with groceries is TOO MUCH. Our light bulbs are all CFLs. We store food in reusable containers, and use reusable napkins. Still use some paper towels and sandwich bags now and again, though. Trying to cut down on that, and our Seattle friends Allie and Nick are helping. They gave us nylon pockets with velcro to replace the sandwich baggies. Place your votes here. What should be my next step to reduce my carbon footprint?
My favorite event of 2010: The repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
I’m headed out now to pick up groceries for Kym’s New Year’s Eve dinner party, but I’ll post again in the next few days with resolutions for 2011. Happy New Year!
