I did not move, take any tests or intern in 2010. I did lock myself out a few times, but that is a given in any year. I dated a guy for ALL FOUR SEASONS, a major miracle. My furniture matched better. My TV spent more time off. I finally plunged into the road bike trend and accomplished my first sprint-tri. I skied only once. I understood the federal budget process in a less-than-hazy manner. I learned a lot about buffalo, pronghorn and wild horses. My knee worked fine. I registered as a federal lobbyist. I tried to save redwoods. I had to look up on Wikipedia which hand the engagement ring goes on. Life became a bit more stable in a year of a shaky economy.
I started 2010 in a DC blizzard and ended it on the Florida beach.
Here a 5 things that sum up my 2010:
5. FLTFA and the West. I spend a majority of my time trying to convince Congress to pass a conservation bill called the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (FLTFA). I've been working on it for 2.5 years. It doesn't have the catchiest name, but at least it's a good, noncontroversial bill. I don't have enough blog space to discuss all the emotions that go into becoming "the FLTFA girl" and trying to bring up the benefits of FLTFA in 95% of my conversations with Members of Congress, their staff, and other non-profit staff, but overall I'm proud of the work, the identity, and the chance to run a campaign.
I continued to work on Western conservation, trying to secure funding to protect Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota, Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area in Colorado, Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon and a dozen other places. I spend a lot of my time looking at maps and photos of pretty places in the West, and for a legal job, it doesn't get much better.
4. Camping. I camped more this year than in a long time. I'm not sure I've camped with my brother since we've had double-digit ages, and it was a great treat to meet up with him in Ohiopyle, PA and raft the Youghiogheny River. I hope to continue the tradition. Tom and I camped at state parks in most of the surrounding states: Seneca Rocks, West Virginia, First Landing, Virginia, Ohiopyle and Laurel Hill, Pennsylvania. I'm not sure I could choose a favorite, though I was a big fan of the beach front at First Landing in Norfolk near VA Beach. We spent the last week of the year camping under a palm tree in Everglades National Park. I was glad that alligators don't camp, and that they stayed by the bay and the river.
3. The View from My Office. DC does not have mountains, but it does have monuments and the Potomac River. I moved out of a cubicle and into the office with the greatest view: Memorial Bridge, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Jefferson Memorial and killer sunsets over the river. Worth the wait. I've also been increasingly afraid of flying over the last few years, and since I now see planes fly over the river and land at Reagan airport every five minutes while I work, this has provided a great comfort to be reminded of all the successful flying.
2. Family. It's always a banner year when the Cotters wear Thanksgiving hats. We're pretty spread out now, but I cherished the time visiting Colorado to stay with Kevin and Lisa's family, Ohio for Grant's baptism (Chris and Cathy's hospitality for all of us), and KC for Dad's 60th birthday and two amazing events in one Thanksgiving week organized by Mom.
1. Tom and the Snowpacalypse. The blizzards of early 2010 were the beginning of the romance between me and Tom. We had days and days of time off work, and we snow-shoed the city, watched Cold Mountain and never tired of each other. We've hardly spent any days apart since. I can't believe we ended the year engaged. It's been the greatest year of my life.
Other Items
- Podcasts: Still hooked on Slate Political Gabfest, Slate Cultural Gabfest, and Mars Hill sermons by Rob Bell. Sometimes I listen to Sierra Club news
- Books: loved Jonathan Franzen's Freedom and Steve Martin's An Object of Beauty. Spent all year reading Douglas Brinkley's Wilderness Warrior about Theodore Roosevelt's triumphs in conservation, and am still not finished, but TDR was such a theme to the year that Tom considered proposing in front of his statue at Roosevelt Island that we often run to, but decided against it because he wasn't sure he could compete with Teddy's greatness.
- Bands: Tom is still stuck in '90s music, so we listened to a lot of Eddie Vedder, Oasis, Crash Test Dummies, 10,000 Maniacs and Cranberries. really.
- Blogs: Besides reading friends' blogs, I enjoy Design Sponge, Leading with Purpose by Michael Hyatt and Awkward Family Photos. I was so addicted to my Google Reader that I had to give it up for Lent.
- Best conservation event: Dedication of the Department of Interior as the Stewart Udall building. See this post.
- Best Gaff: When I gave a speech on public lands policy to a small group at a conference in Nevada and didn't realize former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt was the distinguished, older gentleman sitting in the back of the room. Oops. That's like giving a speech about defense policy and not realizing Donald Rumsfeld is in the room. I was soooo embarrassed. At least that night Babbitt told everyone during the keynote that "FLTFA" is a great program!
- Favorite National Park: Zion, in Utah. Go there.
- New state: Idaho, floated the South Fork Snake River for work.
- New country: Jamaica, vacation to Sandals with Tom's company
- New animals: Saw alligators and manatees in Florida
- New nephew: Grant!
No comments:
Post a Comment