I could list about 55 billion new food blogs I’ve discovered this year. And maybe about 22 billion celebrity blogs I’ve discovered (for work research purposes!). But I’m only allowed to pick one favorite. ONE! Actually, nobody is really enforcing any hardcore rules over here, so I’m sure I could combine those new faves and pick 77 billion favorite new blogs in 2009. But alas, I don’t really have the time for that. You know, I’ve got other things to do. Like write my own celebrity news. And go to bed before 1 a.m. for once. Huh.

So, I’ll simply choose one.

And that one is: Frugal Fashionista

Honestly, the only thing I really don’t like about this blog is that it’s called Frugal Fashionista, but the blog address is FrugalfashionistaS.com with an “S” there on the end. Yeah, stuff like that really bugs me.

This blog basically takes a celebrity (yay celebrities!) and tells you how to get their look for less. Yeah yeah, you’ve seen it on just about every other blog, but it’s different here. Why? Well, they just do it SO well. Like honest to goodness here, you could dress like every single one of your favorite celebrities for no problem at all. Sometimes I have to write “steal her style” type pieces, so I know how hard it is. And that makes me really admire how Frugal Fashionista does it!

I mean, check this out. It’s goooood. Real gooood:

And now I’m off to continue to steal every one of my favorite celebrities style. But on a budget. Also, that above purse? Only $44.95?? Heck yeah! I’m definitely not feeling the jeans, but that jacket? I think I could attempt it. Maybe.

Not only is this little Best of 09 challenge is not only causing me to repeat myself a million times, but it’s also making me realize I’m really forgetful. Either that or I’m simply super boring. Ugh, I hate that.

However, it is the 6th of December and I’m blogging, which means I’ve blogged here for 6 days straight. And to that, I say, GO ME! You should say it to (to me) too because it will make me feel good and continue blogging. Positive reinforcement FTW.

The best conference I attended this year was, no doubt (unless I’m forgetting something major, which is quite possible), the FoodBuzz Festival. I’m not even completely certain Foodbuzz Fest would be considered a conference, but for the purposes of this post, it was indeed.

I mean, it was pretty awesome.

The food was, of course, perfect. ALL WEEKEND LONG.

I’m still dreaming about this yogurt, no lie.

I sipped on olive oil at 9 a.m. Who knew that was such a good way to wake up?

And we saw some awesome sights as well.

And now I’m convinced this whole challenge thing is making me boring. Maybe that’s the point of it? To make me realize that I can come up with my own perfectly entertaining blog material than following prompts and being boring. If that’s the point, well my friends, I do believe it’s working. Of course, now that I’ve started, I feel like I have to finish. Blahhh sometimes I hate being a non-quitter.

Guess what bloggies? I had about a billion nights out in 2009 with friends and loved ones that rocked my world. OK, so a billion probably isn’t believable as there have only been about 330-something nights in 2009, but whatevs. You get the point. Yes?

Really, my #1 favorite night has to be my sister’s wedding because it’s the night she married the love of her life. And I was surrounded by my family and loved ones and total and complete happiness. There is no beating that.

But there were more too:

Every night in Hawaii rocked my world.

Every night I spent at blogging events worked my world.

Every night I spent with my friends rocked my world.

Every night I spent sitting in my parents’ kitchen rocked my world.

Every night I spent with my love just hanging out, drinking wine, and watching bad reality TV rocked my world.

And you know what? Even the nights I spent alone working my butt off until 2 a.m. rocked my world.

Basically, 2009 was a year full of nights that rocked my world. And I hope 2010 has even more!

(Gosh, this Best of 09 challenge is making me totally sappy and stuff. I need to start writing about questionable fashion trends and my vapid wants again soon. Also? Hawaii is pretty much the answer to all of these questions. All of them.)

Back in a college literature class I had to read Lorrie Moore’s Birds of America. I had never heard of Moore before, but instantly fell in love. Like before the book even started. Mainly because she started the book with a quote from Charlie Smith’s “The Meaning of Birds”:

” … it is not news that we live in a world
where beauty is unexplainable
and suddenly ruined
and has its own routines. We are often far
from home in a dark town, and our griefs
are difficult to translate into a language
understood by others.”

Wow. And that wasn’t even Lorrie Moore writing, but it set the tone for the whole book. Anyway, I’ve since read Birds of America about a billion times and FINALLY realized I needed to read another Lorrie Moore book. So, I picked up Self-Help and yup, I fell in love again. Honestly, I generally dislike books of short stories, much preferring a good novel, But Moore’s short stories are to die for. They make me feel like I opened a box of chocolates and ate every single one. And everyone had something delicious inside (peanut butter, toffee, fudge…)She’s one of those writers who says basically everything I’m thinking, but ten times more beautifully. Her writing makes me so emotional- happy, sad, and everything in between.

This excerpt is from a Self-Help story called “How to Become a Writer, Or Have You Earned This Cliche?”

“First, try to be something, anything, else. A movie star/astronaut. A movie star/ missionary. A movie star/kindergarten teacher. President of the World. Fail miserably. It is best if you fail at an early age – say, 14. Early, critical disillusionment is necessary so that at 15 you can write long haiku sequences about thwarted desire. It is a pond, a cherry blossom, a wind brushing against sparrow wing leaving for mountain. Count the syllables. Show it to your mom. She is tough and practical. She has a son in Vietnam and a husband who may be having an affair. She believes in wearing brown because it hides spots. She’ll look briefly at your writing then back up at you with a face blank as a doughnut. She’ll say: ”How about emptying the dishwasher?” Look away. Shove the forks in the fork drawer. Accidentally break one of the freebie gas station glasses. This is the required pain and suffering. This is only for starters.”

OK, I’ll admit it. I want to be Lorrie Moore. Nothing would make me happier in life than if I could put my ideas on paper like she can. I’ve said it before, but one of the most joyful and most painful things about being a writer is reading other writers who can say things a million times better than you.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way. Lorrie Moore played a big part in my year and will continue to play that part throughout my entire life.

Sometimes I hate myself because I read too much. OK, so I don’t hate myself because I read a lot, but because I talk about it a lot. I swear to God at least once a day, I’ll find myself saying in casual conversation, “I read an article…” To the point where I cringe when I say it. Because I am that girl. And nobody really likes that girl. Because where is she reading so many articles? And where is she getting them? And for goodness sake, why does she believe everything the articles are telling her? She needs to get a life!

So, you can imagine my surprise when I saw today’s prompt on The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge: What’s an article that you read that blew you away? That you shared with all your friends. That you Delicious’d and reference throughout the year.

And I COULDN’T THINK OF ANYTHING. Not a single article I read in all of 2009 was popping into my mind. I read articles all the time. I think about them non-stop and talk about them in situations where nobody else cares? So, why can’t I think of anything now? But then I remembered one article that I think of every day and try to implement into my every day life. Sort of.

It’s called 50+ Ways to Improve Your Productivity as a Freelancer (It’s really 51 ways, but I think they decided 50+ sounded better. I get it).

When I first saw the article, I though, “Pshh, like you can tell me something I don’t already know about productivity? Riiight.” I figured this article would actually decrease my productivity because just reading it would be wasting my time. However, I’m coming away from this saying it may have increased my productivity by about 2%. But with the potential for SO much more. And potential is what counts here.

Here are some of the article’s major gems:

#5. Organize Your Email Inbox (also related, #9. Empty Your Inbox When Possible): I’ve actually attempted this twice since reading the article. After my most recent attempt, I got one account down to 943 and the other to 324. But if you had seen the state of my e-mail accounts before this, you’d be giving me high fives all around right now. Anyway, give me two more sessions, and I’ll have my e-mail boxes empty. For at least 12 hours.

#11. Have a Daily To-Do List: I know, everyone already loves lists. I did too. But this made me realize I should start them again. So then I also decided to do this: #12. Evaluate Yourself at the End of the Day. But this all led to several problems because I NEVER finished the items on the list. And I’d get a pretty harsh self-evaluation. And end up going to bed crying. And when I woke up in the morning, the list was still there piling up. Until I ran out of room on the paper and had to just rip it up and throw it out. Only to start again. As you can imagine, this was good for nobody.

#23. Identify Your Most Productive Times of the Day: This is totally important to do! But my most productive times are early morning and late at night. Herein lies the problem. Please refer to #36 for more issues.

#27. Set Aside Time for Networking: Oh trust me, I DO.

#36. Get Enough Sleep: GREAT advice. And I’ve been trying. Getting more sleep means less time to do work, but it means you’ll hopefully be more productive and awake while doing so. Hopefully. However, there is no way to prove this. That I know of.

#38. Change Up Your Working Environment: It works! I can’t work in the same spot for more than 2 days in a row. I’m so much more productive if I go to Bruegger’s and stare at all the creeps that come in. No, really, I am.

And here are the things I just didn’t even bother trying:

#7. Work with Your Email Closed (OK fine, but can I keep my Blackberry next to me?)

#15. Allow a Specific Amount of Time for Surfing Online, but Keep it to that Amount of Time (But what if someone says something interesting on Twitter?)

#17. Reduce Your Feed Subscriptions (But where will my distractions come from? And what if I miss a really great article??)

#19. Reduce the Number of People You’re Following on Twitter (Oops. Can’t help it?)

#30. Hire an Assistant (OH REALLY? An assistant will help me be more productive. Well then, by all means, hook a girl up)

#42. Keep Your Workspace Clean (There will be absolutely no photos in this post. I repeat, no photos)

#50. Set Working Hours (Oh, you mean other than 24/7? But how will I ever be productive then?)

See? This article is chock-full of useful advice. I may not use all of it, but I think about all of it. A lot. And I talk about it too. Which all likely makes me less productive. But at least I have the information in my head. You can lead a horse to water…

You’d think choosing my favorite restaurant of 2009 would be easy… I am a food blogger after all. But it’s really not. Especially since I hate writing posts with no photos. And I don’t have photos (especially good photos) for all my fave restaurants. I can’t pick just one… I have to choose a few!

Exhibit a) The Fireplace

If you follow me on We are not Martha (or have ever had a conversation with me in real life), you know how obsessed I am with The Fireplace. If my wallet permitted, I’d be eating here every single night. And then just sipping martinis and hanging out by the fireplace (the actual fireplace). But alas, I’m a freelance writer and my income doesn’t allow for such extravagances. However, I was lucky enough to dine here several times in 2009 and every meal was an amazing one. I even had my birthday dinner here and indulged in the cheese plate for the first time (omg I want one every night). Here are a few pretty photos from one dinner with my mom:

Exhibit b) Top of the Hub

I have no photo evidence, but my birthday dinner with my family was at the Top of the Hub. My mom told me I should take a break from photographing everything since it was my birthday, so I did. But I wish I didn’t heed her advice because dinner was heaven and so pretty too. Basically this restaurant has a bad name because people think it’s an overpriced tourist trap. But, if you haven’t been in a couple years, I’m begging you to head back because it is SO worth it. Yes, it’s expensive and yes lots of tourists love the view. BUT IT’S WORTH IT. The service is always impeccable, the food is amazing and pretty and perfect. And the drinks? Well, they have a huge and unique drink menu and I’ve never ordered a drink I didn’t like. Worth it. The following photo is not of me nor my family (come on, like I have 90s hair like that?), but it’s kind of what eating at the Top of the Hub feels like (in 1993 at least):

Exhibit c) Don the Beachcomber

Maybe it was the setting. Or maybe it was the company. Or maybe it was just the fact I was totally relaxed and on vacation, but this was definitely one of my favorite restaurants in 2009. I seriously think I melted a little as I was eating the Caesar salad with crabcake. In fact, I could have one every day for the rest of my life and it wouldn’t be enough. If they delivered, I would happily pay the delivery fee from Hawaii. YUM. The following photos don’t do the food justice. Just yum.

I’m totally leaving out about 2497 million other amazing restaurants I’ve been to this year… there have been tons. And even more awesome home-cooked ones (Rattlesnake’s Chef Poe cooking at Chels’s apartment? THE BEST). And now I’m crazy excited for 2010 because I will hopefully have tonnnns of new restaurant experiences. Yay food! 2009 was definitely a good one for that.

I actually took several amazing trips this year. Including a cruise to the Bahamas for my sister’s bachelorette party, a few days in NYC, an awesome work trip to Chicago, and a fun food blogging festival in San Fran. Yup, life was pretty amazing this year.

But nothing can beat Hawaii… Visiting my sister and her husband in such a breathtakingly beautiful place. Not to mention, being with my love on our first realll vacation together.

Some of my favorite moments from that trip? Because even though I’ve been trying, words really can’t describe.

And that’s not including the actual swimming with the manta rays part and the actual seeing dolphins jump out of the water over and over again part. Ahhh life was so good for those 10 days. And now I’m back in reality. Which is still really good, don’t get me wrong. But busy and a bit stressful. I don’t know when I’ll be on a vacation quite like Hawaii again. And these pictures are going to be MUCH needed to get me through.

Anyway, hello December, it’s nice to see you. 2009 has been SO good to me and I’m actually a little bit sad to see you go. Which is why this whole month of looking back and reflection is going to be oh so good. Now… let’s see how long I can last