Top 12 of 2012

2012 is coming to a close, and with it comes best of lists. So, without further ado, and in randomly numbered order, here are 12 of my favorite things that happened in 2012.  Predictably, many of these things have to do with my daughter. 

  
1. My little girl turned 2.  Here's a picture of her at her birthday party wearing a dress sewed by me.  Yes, I'm proud of the dress.   Now, she's 2 and 8 months; she grows and learns every day.  She's a wonder to watch. 
2. We had a trip planned to Washington, DC.  Anticipating a meltdown or 2, I had knit a sock monkey to give to Star on the plane.  Just as a tantrum was developing and naptime was being resisted, I gave Star the sock monkey.  She immediately hugged sock monkey and loved it.  Then, she peacefully fell asleep on Daddy.
3. One of our neighbors was having her bat mitzvah and we were invited.  Star wanted to wear her sneakers, but I wanted her to wear fancy purple shoes.  She didn't want to wear the purple shoes.  I said, "but the purple shoes want to go to the bat mitzvah!"  She looked for a few seconds at the purple shoes, and then hugged them and said "OK, you can come."
4. One day, I was snuggling Star and I said, "Star, I love you."  She, very sweetly, replied "and I love daddy."
5. Potty training was both one of my most favorite and least favorite moments.  There were parts that were totally awful, but I'm so glad that it's over.  The environment has breathed a sigh of relief, and it's given my girl so much independence and made her very proud. 
6. Obama was re-elected for a 2nd term.
7. In my entrepreneurial life, I'm very proud of how I grew KinderCycle and then sold it.  Prior to KinderCycle, I had started 3 other businesses, but this was the only one that "succeeded" by many different definitions. 
8. I'm totally late to the party here, but in 2012 I became passionate about Pinterest.  Before I tried it, I didn't understand it, but now I don't know how I lived without it.  I can sort all my random craft projects and recipes without having to print them out and maintain some sort of paper organizational system.  I also "pin" non-crafty things that I want to remember - like, I have a "board" of after school programs that may be good for Star in a few years.
9. I switched to Kaiser.  I resisted for years.  I didn't want to give up "my doctors", and I thought that a PPO was way better than the Kaiser HMO system.  But, a few months ago, my employer made it fiscally irresponsible to stay on my PPO plan.  So, I did some investigation, and then switched over to Kaiser.  And, I love it.  I feel taken care of.  Their systems make sense and are relatively easy to navigate.  They have an online component that makes it easy to communicate with my doctors and track my appointments.  And, it's cheap!  They seem to have figured out that many people have similar medical issues, and they've figured out how to be efficient and deal with those issues.  Also, with Kaiser, they are both the insurance company and the provider, so it is in their interest to focus on the preventative side which I think is great for the consumer.  I am loving Kaiser and I'm beating myself up about all the money I wasted for years before I switched.  
10. I started the tattoo removal process on tattoo #1.  This is a long story which I may get into at another time, but I also may just leave it at this.
11. I got tattoo #2 which is the tattoo that I should have gotten in the first place. I totally LOVE tattoo #2. 
12. We started paying for a food delivery service.  Through the year, we moved through a few different services and over the past few months, we've settled on one that we're really happy with.  Seriously, this is a LIFE CHANGER for me.  Maybe I don't have the capacity that other moms have, but I can't work 5 days a week while commuting an hour each way, run a company on the side, then make dinner while being a pleasant mom and wife.  And, being a pleasant mom and wife is a goal of mine (which I sometimes achieve!)  So, getting dinners delivered is fabulous.