2011: A Random Handprints Year in Review

Last year I made a list of New Year's Resolutions. I did an astonishingly good job at keeping none of them. One of them was to make my bed, which I made exactly zero times.

So how did I spend my time in 2011 instead of making my bed, cleaning the house and staying off The Twitter? And hanging with these party people:

I'll tell you:

January was snow. And more snow. And snow days off from school. We built snowmen. I saw The Pee-Wee Herman Show on Broadway with Jill of Glamamom.com. We had an awesome time.

February we celebrated Valentine's Day and Magpie went to her first Rutgers basketball game. I attended the Toy Fair as a member of the press. It's a great trade show and I can't wait to go back again this year.

March had its fill of big events - Purim, the Supermoon, St. Patrick's Day and my brother's wedding.

April I attended the phenomenal Rated P... for Parenthood which premiered here in New Jersey, and will soon be playing an off-Broadway run in the coming months. Counting the days until I can see the show again.

May sent me to Bloggy Boot Camp in Boston and BlogWorld in New York. I also got in some puddle jumping fun with Ziggy and the kids took a bunch of kindy photos.

June and July were uneventful, spent mostly at the beach eating ice cream, strolling the boardwalk and being pirates.

August will be remembered mostly for just one thing: Hurricane Irene.

September my kids became obsessed with Duck Tape.

October was an entire month of Halloween - and while I do loathe the holiday sprawl, I decided to embrace it instead of hating on it this year. Oh, and there was a Sno-tober snow storm, too.

November I participated in NaBloPoMo which was such good times that I'm inspired to try it again in 2012. My adorable niece Rosie was born. I was published in a print magazine for the first time. Thank you, New Jersey Family.

December was all about holiday celebrations and I had fun putting together my first gift guide, featuring all non-commercial products.

What else happened this year?

• I left twenty-six instructions for my husband on everything from how to cook to how to clean. Nothing has changed.
• I guest-posted at The Fordeville Diaries and Take 2 Mommy. Thank you for having me over to your fantastic blogs.
• I wrote over 100 posts for NJFamily.com, Momtrends.com, ShePosts.com, and JerseyMomsBlog.com. I am so grateful for these opportunities.
• I curated three shows at Kirtsy.

And does any of this really matter? No. Not just no in the larger scheme of things, but also no in that almost all of the traffic to my site comes from people searching for Handprint Crafts. So I am happy to provide the people what they want - and this year, don't worry, I am going to add even more - and then even more! -handprint crafts.

So what's next (besides the new selection of handprint crafts) now that it's 2012?

I'm not sure, but unlike last year I'm not putting any plans on a list. Though I might try and squeeze in a visit, or possibly even two, to the gym.

And you? Are you resolving, or resolving not to resolve?

Our Most Excellent New Year's Eve

We had a super-fun New Year's Eve day today. First, we braved going for dim sum in suburban New Jersey. There is was, China Gourmet, a non-descript and ramshackle building with two crumbling lions standing guard out front. The parking lot was empty, and we almost didn't go in.

Thank goodness we didn't turn back. Because the Golden Panda has totally Chinatown-quality dim sum. The parking lot was even packed by the time we left. So for all of you who thought good dim sum in the suburbs was the thing of myth, I can tell you... it's not.

Then we took the kids for "ice cream" - which was really frozen yogurt at Red Mango. They were super-happy.

Once it was night out (which my son calls medium-dark) we went on a tour of the holiday lights around town ending up at a surprise destination, which we managed to pull-up to at the exact right time - just as the fireworks started. We let the kids stand-up and watch them out the sunroof and they were flipping out at how cool it was. The huz and I were quite pleased too - it's not often we get to keep a surprise from our three kids.

Now we're back home, hanging out and watching TV. I promised the two big girls they could stay up till midnight. The rational part of me knows this will not seem like the best idea tomorrow when they're tired and cranky.

But the even more rational part of me knows there aren't too many more New Year's Eves the kids are gonna want to spend with their mom, even with the promise of watching fireworks out the sunroof.

And now if you'll excuse me, my daughters tell me it's time now to dress-up to watch the ball drop.

Happy New Year!

Note: Post totally uncompensated in case it sounded otherwise with the Golden Panda and Red Mango mentions.