Thursday, December 31, 2009

Goodbye 2009

2009 was a very good year for me.

In January, I started a new job, which has been awesome. I love the type of work I'm doing, the people I work with and for, the overall atmosphere of the office, and the flexibility in my schedule. Those are the big things, but there are lots of little things too: I decorated my office in fun, bright warm colors, with a vintage desk and modern chairs. We have a coffeemaker that makes individual cups of coffee and we keep a variety of good coffees on hand. I have a laptop computer instead of a desktop. Our office is right in the Chicago loop. I no longer have to drive to work; I only use my car when I want to (or when I have court in the suburbs) and take the bus or the train the rest of the time. The dress code is much looser and I can experiment more with my clothes. This is not the first full-time job I've had, nor is it my first post-law school job, but it's by far the best job I've ever had. It's amazing how much of a difference a good job makes in my overall attitude towards life.

My boyfriend and I have been together for close to 2 years now. 2009 was our first full year together, from January 1 through December 31. I feel very lucky and blessed to have him in my life.

I've travelled more this year. A trip to Mexico. A trip to Washington, D.C. Several trips to see my family in Pennsylvania. A few weekend trips to nearby locations outside of Chicago. Hopefully, I'll keep travelling at least that much or more in the coming years.

I've been reading more this year. I used to read a lot when I was younger, but during my 20's, I got out of the habit. This year a finished at least 4 dozen books, probably more, and I joined a few book clubs.

I started this blog in July, which has been a lot of fun. The blog also signals a change in my approach to decision-making and action-taking. I used to be someone who deliberated for quite a while before taking any steps. I wanted to make sure I was making the right decision, and that I would do the absolute best that I could from day one. With this blog, I just jumped right in. Very few decisions are irreversible, so I didn't need to meditate on whether I wanted to devote the time to taking pictures and posting regularly. I just did it, and I enjoyed it, so I kept doing it. If I hadn't enjoyed it, I could have stopped blogging around week 2, or month 2. My photo-taking skills were not great, but they were good enough, and they've continued to improve as I went along. I hope they will continue to improve the longer I do this. Same with my technical blogging know-how and photo-editing skills. They have improved already, and I hope to continue improving them as I go. Hands-on learning. On-the-"job" training.

The blog has been a lot of fun and a learning experience, and there's no reason that my approach to the blog can't be applied to many other areas of my life.

So, those are just a few ways in which 2009 has been very good to me. I'm optimistic heading into 2010.

Without furher ado, here are my favorite outfits from 2009:
















































7 comments:

  1. I do so love how you use color! You really know what looks good on you!

    xx

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  2. Happy New Year Gina! I love the selected photos in this post. :-)

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  3. Sooooooo many super fun looks! LOVE the cuffed jeans with the red boyfriend blazer and the purple boots and green scarf. So fab! Happy new year!

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  4. Great recap! So many awesome looks.
    www.antiquatedtreasures.blogspot.com

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  5. Nice post! We have lots in common with the boyfriend factor. We have been together for nearly two years now and we were together the entire year of 2009 since we are in college together. Great post!

    www.thejoyoffashion.blogspot.com

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  6. This is a great recap of the year. I love how you use color!

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  7. These are some really great outfit! I especially love the pink argyle but there are so many good ones.

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