i love jeopardy. and vodka.: cupcakes to california

Inspired by Rachael and her poignant look back at her 2008, I decided to jump on the bandwagon. While everyone else has made top 10 lists of movies, music, books, I declare myself completely incapable and un-knowledgeable on any of these things. Therefore, I making a top 10-ish list of my favorite moments, ideas, people and places from my 2008.

cupcakes to california.

1. Cupcakes.

I ate a LOT of cupcakes this year. Especially Billy's cupcakes. I don't even like cupcakes that much. This was a box that my co-workers bought for my birthday. I think I ate the chocolate one on the upper left. Ironically, almost six months later to the day they bought me another box of cupcakes on my last day of work. Smartly, in addition to the many physical and emotionally healthy decisions I made in 2008, I also quit my job one month before the market turned and 1/2 the people I know got laid off.

2. Patrick, Amelia and Marc.

Months ago I captioned this photo as "one my favorite nights in a history of favorite nights." That has not changed. The four of us ransacked Williamsburg with cereal boxes on our head to protect us from the rain. At one point Patrick turned to me and said "Take the box off your head and take a look around, it's just BROOKLYN!"

3. Caroline, Bloody Mary's and Cafe Dumont.

This was from last winter when Caroline came to visit. Four months later she was living in Harlem and going to Columbia Law. Besides Caroline, I love this photo because it was taken at Cafe Dumont, one of my favorite brunch spots in New York and it features a massive Bloody Mary, something I love so much I devoted a party to it.

4. Going places with Rachael & then taking a picture of our heads.
Bimini, Bahamas:

Brooklyn, NY:

Staten Island, set of Gossip Girl:

5. Music
In addition to seeing some of my friends play (as it said in last weeks NY Mag "Eventually every band, every friend, every person I want to see eventually comes to New York.") I also got the chance to see some of my absolute favorite bands and musicians play this year including:

I took this picture of Kevin Devine at Music Hall of Williamsburg sometime last Spring. The otherwise amazing show was marred only by the fact that a man burped in my face.

6. Chelsea
I worked in Chelsea for a while and it has become the backdrop of a pivotal time in my life. I do believe there is nothing as beautiful as Chelsea in the Spring:

7.Family Portrait.
I'm not sure who came up with family portrait but it basically involves taking every picture like you're in a cheesy 1970's Sears portrait. These were my favs:

My actual family doing family portrait:

8. Friends that make me laugh so hard we get a noise violation.
This summer at her beach house, Lindsay and I got reprimanded by the police for laughing. It was just the two of us sitting on her front porch laughing and singing "Jolene" at the top of our lungs. This happened after the police left:

This was Lyle trying to go to the bathroom at el rey del sol. Rather than go around the table, he jumped on top, pretended to be a tiger, jumped off and continued to walk to the restroom. He and I also like to get together and talk about how funny we are.

And that pitcher of margaritas was split between just the two of us.

My third favorite picture of 2008:

Some of my favorite people, my apartment, Queens, NY.

9. Barack Obama
I took this during his acceptance speech following the election. Unfortunately, Minou, Lyle and I had to ring in the election after the sound at Pianos broke.

Sometimes I wish I could relive that moment over and over again. Magic.

10. California
I went to a psychic a few months ago with Chrissy and Rachael. She said "California is all around you." Strangely, that seems to be coming true. In September I went out to visit some friends in LA and San Diego.

I took this picture on a train that went down the Pacific Coast from LA to Encinitas. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

I love this picture because it looks like it was taken with a poloroid camera and aged about 25 years. It was in fact taken with an iPhone through a train window.

A few weeks ago it came full circle when the Californians came to visit me. Instead of balmy 75 degree weather and picturesque views of the Pacific, they got snow and a picturesque view of the Williamsburg Bridge:

After walking around all day in the snow (and falling on the ice on Broadway and 42nd), we went back to my friend's brother's apartment where we stood on the roof, brown bags in hand, faces freezing staring at this beautiful view.
My second favorite picture of 2008: