2010 was one of those roller coaster years (as all of mine usually are) with its highs and lows just like normal. but to be honest, i think it was probably one of my best years yet. after the disaster that was 2009 (minus the trip to south america), 2010 didn't really have much to compete with, but i have to say it exceeded my expectations and made a little competition for 2011. here we go!
to be honest, the first few months of 2010 are quite a blur to me at this point. it was probably my lowest point of the year, having spent a solid amount of time unemployed and still living at home with the parents which is every 24 year-old's nightmare. i wasn't in a good place. but looking back, there were a good amount of fun times that were had.
january: one event that i thoroughly enjoyed in january was the winter beer-lympics hosted by some friends of friends. our team of six headed up north to participate in a rather rowdy number of events all involving ingestion of a solid amount of delicious hoppy beverages. my favorite had to be "flip balls", a combination between beer pong and flip cup that our team dominated. our team ended up taking third place which was a great feat for new-comers. but let's be honest, my friends and i know how to do it up big.
february: february was probably one of the more low key (read: boring-as-shit) months of 2010. seeing as though the photo above is one of only two photos i have from that month, there wasn't a whole lot going on. those are fried pickles that i made for our superbowl party and, although i looooove the superbowl, for some reason the game wasn't exciting this year and i ended up napping at the half all the way through the third quarter. one thing that i remember better from february and that kept me going was the winter olympics. being unemployed gave me time to watch pretty much every minute of them, and while i didn't get to travel up there to see anything in person, i got to live vicariously through a friend who was working there and would text me every happening that he saw/did/tasted/heard, etc. it definitely provided me with some much needed entertainment during those long days without anything to do.
march: i got to attend two free shows in march. the first was the temper trap at the new seattle hard rock cafe downtown. i didn't know a whole lot about this band before seeing them live, but ever since that show, they have become one of my most listened to artists on my ipod. (download 'soldier on' and you will not be disappointed.) i was also able to see crash kings at a free end session out at snoqualmie casino. i was in complete awe during the show that i needed to see them again later when they opened for jet at the showbox market. it was an early start to my summer concert series.
april: this month is when things really started picking up. it started off with a big bang when my friend sara and i attended the muse/silversun pickups concert. without a doubt the best concert that i've been to which, i mean c'mon, it was my two favorite bands! the concert was so epic and we are anxiously waiting at the edge of our seats for the next tour dates to be revealed. i also traveled to washington d.c. for the very first time to visit
ms. ramey and see what the heck she'd been up to for the past year or so. having been stuck in a seattle slump for a few months, it was such a release moment to be able to leave for a little while. i absolutely loved the city and had a great time that it rejuvenated my spirits to get back and have another go at seattle.
may: may was the perfect kick off to an awesome summer. me, sara and miss monica attended an appropriately themed "i'm on a boat" party. yes, the party was on a boat. basically my dream come true seeing as though i fell in love with that song and the lonely island mere months before. well, actually my dream come true would have been in mr. samberg was actually on that boat too, but whatever. i'll take what i can get. it was a great time and we met some awesome new people which is always a plus. not only that, but in may i
finally landed a job!! it was a short, three-week assignment working with commencement at uw, but a job was a job and i was psyched to be working again. summer was setting up nicely.
june: i did not take one picture in the month of june. what the heck was i thinking on that one? it was still a fun month though. i worked at uw commencement when it was a blistering 88 or so degrees outside and got my first sun burn of the season. first one is always the worst! after that job was over, i was able to land another temporary position that was, well, not fun (read: boring-as-shit). but it was money coming in and sometimes it felt good to wake up and get fancy.
july: july was definitely one of the high points of my year. so much happened and it all just flew by. part of me wishes i could relive it. it started out with one of my favorite yearly events: seattle international beerfest. i went with a group of friends down to seattle center to enjoy the various beers from around the world and i think each year it gets better and better. i also attended the capitol hill block party (again with sara who is my concert-going partner) to see mgmt. while they were fun live, the atmosphere and crowds didn't exactly match up to previous concerts we'd seen. we said goodbye to a friend in late july who got a job and had to move quickly to new york and we were sad to see him go, but the going away party had to be one of the more epic nights of the summer. people should leave more often, as long as they come back. and my favorite part of july was definitely seeing silversun pickups again, but this time as the headliner instead of the opener. their performance brought me to tears and i'm not sure if anyone will ever overtake them as my favorite band. (of course i said that about incubus too, and look what happened.)
the first day of august, i headed out to sahalee country club to catch the final day of the u.s. senior open. despite what some of you might think, golf is an awesome spectator sport and i always have fun when i go. although they don't encourage loud noises and standing, they do encourage beer drinking and hot dog eating. score. i also went on, not one, but two rafting trips in central washington. the first was a fun crowd and i enjoyed leaping off a rock probably 30 feet above the water. i always feel like such a badass when i do stuff even some of the guys wont do. the second trip didn't exactly end well and therefore left a bad taste in my mouth, but i enjoyed the parts before it and getting back out on the water! i sometimes miss outdoor activities. on the last day of august, me, my friend jess gathered together with 12 of our guy friends to participate in our very first fantasy football draft. holy crap, that day was fun too and i immediately got sucked into the world of obsessing over player stats and games.
hey-yo!!!! one of my favorite times of year: the opening of husky football season! every year, september can not possibly come fast enough. this year was going to be our season (and it turns out, it was!). also in september: one more concert with sara. this time we saw the national out at marymoor park in redmond and it was the perfect end to our summer concert series. looooove them. every day i am more and more inspired by what they sing.
october: always a favorite of mine, but this year it was extremely exciting for me as i embarked on new journeys. october first marked my orientation for going back to school and learning graphic design at the art institute of seattle. it was a decision that took a long time to make (mostly for my parents, i was all in), but it is totally paying off so far. on orientation day i was able to pick up my graphic design kit which was a giant portfolio full of art supplies. this makes carly a happy girl. the very next day i headed out to a bar to catch the uw versus usc game and celebrate my 25th birthday. that was another completely epic day with another husky win and getting to celebrate the day with my closest of friends and people i love so much. a couple weeks later, jess and i took off for washington d.c. it was her first visit and my return trip. we had an amazing time with ms. ramey and even caught the colts play the redskins at fedex field. october ended with a halloween party at my brother's new pad and dressing up as tequila while i tried (failing) to hand it out to other patrons.
the beginning of november started off with the wrong kind of bang and one i felt i would have trouble recovering from, but low and behold, it turned out to be the best month of the year and i hardly remember that first event. just days after "day of crap", i attended my first seahawks game at qwest field. i'd been to a seahawks game before, but we're talking when i didn't know a lot about football and when they played in the kingdome. this was an exciting day and they were playing the giants, another favorite team of mine. although the seats weren't great and our team played like poop, i still had a great time. shortly after this day came the utmost of epic events in 2010: the trip to vegas. (read down a few posts to get the whole story.) oh, but we're not done. after returning from vegas, the next weekend brought on another evening that cannot be described with words. a group of us went to see daniel tosh live at the paramount. somehow, i scored second row seats from a girl off craigslist for a ridiculously low price so me and jess sat in the spit zone while we laughed at all our guy friends as they sat farther back. (note: tosh is even hotter in person than he is on tv.) after the show, i took off with the boys for quite the adventure. definitely one of my favorite nights of the year. and one that erased my frown from the first part of the month.
this year ended wonderfully. december started with apple cup, a do or die situation for the huskies to make it into their first bowl game since 2002. about 40 die-hard huskies fans gathered together at a friend's house to watch magic happen as jake locker took down the cougars and brought the bowl realization to truth. after school ended, i was free to enjoy three weeks of relaxation which somehow translated into marathon evenings with my favorite boys and holidays with the family. we had an awesome monday-funday with a new friend and even a short return of our friend who left in july. the year ended with a house party up north with a similar crowd and the same amount of amazingness (read: alcohol). while i always imagine new year's eve going a certain way and it never does (that happens to everyone, right?), i feel very good about the happenings of this one and am glad to have gotten closer to someone in a different way. it was a great way to start the new year.
2011 has already been very good to me, and we're only on day five! it's already consisted of attending another seahawks game (nfc champs and into the playoffs!), taking third in my fantasy league and hunting for my first apartment! so keep tabs on me in 2011 and see where life takes me, cause i bet it'll be pretty exciting.
