What Are Your Favorite Things From 2011?

 I want to wish all of my blog readers a happy holiday season!  Thanks for your support this past year.  I've been thinking about what I loved about 2011.  So much happened to me this year.  My art career jumped to the next level - I entered art shows, sold paintings, juried into two art organizations, joined an art gallery.  I worked really hard to raise the bar.  My bar.  Anyway, there are other things I just loved about this past year.  For my 60th birthday, my kids surprised me with a present.  We don't give one another presents, so this was a huge surprise.  I got an Ipad.  Wow, do I love it!  I lug it around the house, surf stupid sites constantly, check my  Etsy shop way too many times.  Last night I crawled into bed and watched a terrible movie on Netflix.  It's great!  I put a ton of apps on it that I don't really use, like Kindle.  I haven't downloaded any books, but I do like to browse through them to see what's new.  I read the book blurbs and reviews.  Which leads me to tell you about a book I loved this past year by Stephanie Kallos, Broken For You.  What a fantastic story, kind of quirky, lots of levels and metaphors.  It was a juicy book for our book club.  We talked for an hour about the main character, an older woman who lives in a mansion in Seattle.  She has a huge collection of porcelain and meets a younger woman who ends up living in her mansion.  Both women are guarding dark secrets and look for redemption.  Sounds way too serious, but it's also funny and sweet.  Talking about sweet, I love looking at Foodgawker on my Ipad.  I'm addicted!  People post their gorgeous food photos, mostly from food blogs.  I had no idea there's a whole world out there of food blogs!  I'm not a real foodie, but these photos and blogs are amazing.  Well, there you have it, some of my favorite things from 2011.  I'm looking forward to writing more blog posts, creating more art and getting to know more of you.