I’ve always figured that if I’m going to be a copycat, I might as well focus my efforts on emulating the cool kids (copying regular folks is clearly not a good use of time).  And  dude, the cool kids don’t come much cooler than Colleen Wainwright (raising  $61,517 in 50 days for a worthy charity AND shaving her head makes her an easy favorite for coolest-woman-in-the-history-of-the-blogosphere-ever).

Since I love Coleen’s “100 things I learned in…”  series and I’m feeling even more reflective that usual (this having been one hell of a year to reflect on); I decided I’d take my self-indulgent ramblings and my love of lists to a new level.

I give you my very own 100 in 2011 list (in four easily digestible, 25 item, chunks).  I feel cooler already.

100 Things I Learned in 2011 | Part One:

1. If we are at a party and you use the words pejorative, succinct and superfluous in one conversation, I will end up sitting in your lap and nuzzling your neck*.
2. Words turn me on.
3. Ditto that for people who know how to use them.
4. Sometimes I think I might need slightly stricter criteria.**
5. The road from lust to trust is a long and twisty one indeed.
6. You may not make it all the way to the end of every story.
7. Knowing what you need but not insisting on it is a recipe for disappointment.
8. Tightly held expectations are also a recipe for disappointment.
9. Therefore; the secret is to know what you need, be sure to insist on it and then not expect it to be delivered.  Or something like that.**
10.  Ego bruises seem to heal faster than others, but they hurt like a sonofabitch in the interim. Adele helps.
11.  There really is no place like home.
12. After you’ve given up dairy, going veggie is easy-peasy.
13. The otherwise effortless twenty-pound weight loss makes it a complete no-brainer.  Consuming cow flesh or rocking a bikini?  Hmmm….no contest.
14. Exercise really can change you.
15. I do my best writing while I run.
16. Unfortunately I seldom remember any of it.
17. This has taught me much about impermanence and non-attachment.
18. I still come home and try to frantically scribble out all the brilliance before it escapes my brain.
19. Clearly this is another thing for me to work on in 2012**.
20. I still just want to make pretty things.
21. It’s all too easy for me to stop owning it; this year it was often like I just had it on lay-away.
22. Pinterest is the most delicious time-suck ever invented.
23. You will not always get picked for the team.
24. This will always sting just as much as it did when you were 12.
25. We’ve all got dragons to slay.

*My apologies to the cute boy at Jill’s New Years Party.  While your vocabulary and your lap were lovely, the nuzzling may have been a bit much.
**In certain instances further life learning will be necessary in 2012.

Find Part Two Here
Find Part Three Here
Find Part Four Here