So here is a compilation of the biggest and best year in the life of Jen. A 'Best Of' list, if you will. Because of all the things I did in 2009, most of all, I enjoyed myself.
Best First Moments of the Year - NYE at the Av
Ringing in the new year in Angela's courtyard at the Avalon with people I love more than I can say - Mark, Angela, and Kaitlin. Fire in the fireplace, music piped in, and neighbors and friends spilling out into the courtyard, migrating from one apartment to another. That night was just a harbinger of the greatness that was to come in 2009. We were happy.
Best Collaboration - Don't Dress For Dinner
Don't Dress For Dinner, the comedy of errors that Mark directed at Mesquite Community Theater, in which Angela played the ditzy mistress, and I worked on costuming. It was hilarious, and just a blast to be a part of. Mark's directorial debut was a hit!
Best Travel Destination - Amsterdam
Now, this is a big one, considering the year I've had. Europe and Asia are in on the race, but I have to say, my best trip was a 3 day excursion from Barcelona to Amsterdam. Angela had come to visit me in Spain, which was a holiday all in itself, and we made a trip to visit my friend Ann, who had an apartment for a month in Amsterdam. It was just a fairytale place, so quaint and beautiful, and both Angela and I fell in love immediately. I was in the best place I could imagine with the best people I could imagine. So I guess in a way, it was a fairytale.
Best Concert - Lollapalooza
I'll tell anyone who asks that Chicago is my favorite city in the US (although to be fair, I haven't really been to that many of them), so to get to visit Chicago for the 4th year in a row was a dream. Johnny and I traveled there in August to go to Lollapalooza, a yearly music festival we had been to once before. I dropped the ball on the hotel reservations at the Sheraton, but was able to get a hotel at the even nicer Westin on the river - and on points, no less - so all was forgiven. It was four days of luxurious accommodations, delicious food, great music, hipsters dancing, and generally just having a good time. Because that's how we like to do things.
Best Day - Last Day at McAfee
Okay, I can't pinpoint just one day because there were just too many good ones. But one that sticks out at me, where I remember proclaiming it to be the 'BEST DAY EVER' repeatedly, was my last day at McAfee. Kaitlin's group was going to the Ranger game and had invited me along, so I left at noon. I remember driving out to the Temple, zooming down the highway in the Mini, I had the windows down, and I was just singing at the top of my lungs. Life was good. It was a gorgeous, crisp May day, I was done with working for the foreseeable future, I was with my best friend, and the Rangers even won a game. Then after that, we picked up Angela and headed out to Plano for the Ticket's Great Game. I had made us Ticket groupie shirts, and we got interviewed on the radio at the game. Best girls, best time.
Best Date - Champagne and 'Hot Air Balloons'
It was the Saturday before Labor Day, and I was leaving for Korea in a week. I went to the King Bucks show with Kaitlin and Jason downtown at City Tavern. Keith, one of the band members, came to talk to me, and asked me on a date for that Monday, Labor Day. To set up the story, we had met a few times before, and had a running joke about going on a hot air balloon ride. So the next day, Sunday, I meet Mandy, Craig, Trent, and Greg at Mi Cocina in West Village for some farewell margaritas. After that, they wanted to go to Adair's to see some other friends, but the King Bucks were playing there, and I was sort of reluctant because I had just been to see them the night before, and had plans to go on the date with Keith the next day, so I didn't want to seem too eager. But I thought, who cares? I want to hang out with my friends, and I'm leaving in a week. I needn't have worried, of course he was glad to see me. And I him. It was an afternoon show, so it was over by around 6 or 7, and Keith asked me if I would want to meet up later that night because he had something to do in the interim. So I said sure, I'd meet him a couple of hours later up at the Magnolia Theater, where he is the bar manager. I hung out with my friends for a couple more hours, and I headed to the Magnolia. When I got there, he had procured crab cakes and calamari from Cru, the wine bar next door, and a bottle of wine at a romantic little table in a nook by the bar. I thought, all this for me?, but I didn't know the half of it. We ate for a little while, then he wanted to take me on a tour of the theater, so we went back in the projection room and saw all that neat behind-the-scenes stuff. Then he had me climb the ladder onto the roof of the Theater. When we got up there, I saw that he had laid out a blanket, a bucket of champagne and glasses, with mylar balloons tied to the bucket. He said, 'It's not a hot air balloon, but it's the best I could do on short notice." And I just remember thinking, thanks Universe, I needed this. It was so kind and romantic and fun. He had me write down a wish to tie to each of the balloons and we let them go, floating off into the atmosphere. It could have been kitsch, but it was just awesome. And he had done all that without even knowing we would see each other that day. It was the best first date imaginable.
Best Trios - Me, Mark, and Angela, Me, Holly, and Elle, and Me, Marcus, and Sarah
I used to be of the mind that three-way friendships don't work because 2 of the 3 would be closer friends and the dynamic would be skewed, but I was wrong. This year I have found myself a part of some of the best trios life could bring me. In Dallas, Angela, Mark, and I were inseparable for a time. We'd be at Angela's apartment together just discussing life, with all 3 of our laptops out, watching funny videos or Intervention and making each other laugh, every day, without fail. I hated that those good times had to end, but we had to make way for other things. In Barcelona, Holly and Elle and I forged an immediate friendship in our TEFL class. Two more beautiful girls could not be found. We would get together to go on 'adventures' around the city, or just head to the beach a thousand times. I couldn't have enjoyed Spain nearly so much without my Vancouver gal and my Aussie lady. They are so fab. And in Busan, I am so grateful every day that Marcus, Sarah, and I had the good fortune to become friends. We are best friends, and we will tell anyone who asks - and a lot of people who don't. Without them, Korea wouldn't be half as good. I feel so lucky to know that you can still forge such tight friendships with people, even at adulthood. If you really want to call me an adult. I love you, friends!
Best Party - Valentine's Day Hat Party
Angela and I had cooked up this crazy scheme to become party planners, and our debut party was one for the record books. We even made a sash for the winner of Best Hat. The courtyard of the Avalon was the scene, and there were funny hats galore. And hats off to Craig (pun intended) for the best hat ever - he dressed as a bunny and made a gigantic top hat to wear around his legs. A rabbit in a hat. I loved it.
There are many more 'Best' things, and I could write a novel, but I'll just say that 2009 made me happy. It was a good one. So. Many. Changes. But overall, for the better. I can't even begin to imagine what 2010 will bring, but I know I'm going to love it. Life is what you make it, and I am making it worth living.
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