Hard to believe this year is already over. But the great thing about a blog is being able to take a look back at all the wonderful things that happened.
Adventures
I tried my luck at creating a raw dog food recipe … which went over like a lead balloon.
I got overwhelmed with raw products and information while stuffing my face with raw chocolate samples at the Whole Foods Raw Foods Fair.
I drove for 3 hours to get to the Raw Health Expo to listen to amazing speakers, try new products and receive a startling reality check of the dangers of being deficient in vitamin B12.
Hubby and I took a much needed weekend getaway to Napa Valley for a lot of wine tasting!
And some fabulous eats. We need to go back soon because we’re running low on wine. :-)
I was lucky enough to attend the Foodbuzz Festival in San Francisco and met many wonderful bloggers on day 1.
Attended a few cram sessions and stuffed my face on day 2 of the festival.
And enjoyed the formal dinner finally.
Awesome Eats
I pulled off a pretty daring move taking Gena’s raw burgers and raw jicama fries to our family’s meat loaded super bowl party, but it went over pretty well.
Took on a Paula Deen recipe to raw-ize with success!
I had an amazing meal at Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley that I hope to repeat many times in 2011.
Then I got to experience the awesomeness that is Gracias Madre, amazing vegan Mexican cuisine in San Francisco.
I also discovered Ani’s Chocolate Cake is a wonderfully simple way to impress at family gatherings.
This pic makes me so grateful I have better camera now!
And I had an amazing weekend of fabulous eats at The Green Boheme and The Fix
I experienced the amazing Ubuntu in Napa.
And made perhaps the best raw chocolate cake ever from Jennifer Cornbleet’s book.
Running
I really got into running races this year starting with the No Excuses 5k in May.
Then PR’d at the Women’s Fitness Festival 5k a week later before months of training and gearing up for my first half marathon.
Where I didn’t do as well as I was hoping thanks to an ankle injury halfway through the training – hard lesson learned!
For Halloween, we had a blast becoming a muddy mess during the Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run!
Crawling through 2 gloppy mud pits, treading through freezing cold lake waters and scaling many military style obstacles while running a 5k was a toughening experience that we’ll do again for sure. But I don’t think we’ll be moving on to the Tough Mudder anytime soon!
And I finished out the year of races doing a 7-mile relay leg of the California International Marathon.
Wearing the same top I did for the mud run and it only took 14 wash cycles to get all the mud out! A great experience to feel out the marathon scene and I’m still debating if I ever want to attempt an entire marathon.
Despite the ups and downs, it was a great year for running and I plan to continue running in 2011 with two half-marathons, another mud run with plenty of 5ks in between.
To Summarize
Whoa, this has been a busy year actually – I could have made this post a few times longer! ;-) After my first full year of blogging, I had a blast looking through the year and how I’ve grown as a blogger. So grateful my photography is getting better, especially after looking at some of the earlier posts – yikes! I’m looking forward to cramming 2011 with many wonderful adventures and accomplishments while seeing how much I can grow in another year blogging and reading so many wonderful blogs. Thank you to all the readers that have stuck through the ups and downs and I hope everyone has an amazing New Year!
Anna @ Newlywed, Newly Veg says
That first picture is priceless :-)
You’ve had a busy year!! Happy New Year! Can’t wait to read more in 2011!
JL goes Vegan says
First, I’m laughing so hard at the pic of our poor dog!
Second, I found your blog this year when you wrote about Ubuntu and your stay at Avia. I will be in Napa Valley next weekend, staying at Avia and dining at Ubuntu! So thank you.
Finally, I updated my blogroll and your site is included. I’ve learned so much from you. And in 2011 I’m going to try to build up to 50 – 60% raw. Thanks for the inspiration!
So glad you had a great 2010! Happy New Year!
christine says
Aw, thank yo so much for the sweet comment! :-) So glad my posts helped for the Napa trip and I hope you love the hotel and that Ubuntu is short walking distance from it. :-) Happy New Year and I look forward to keeping up with your blog too!
Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga) says
Christine, loving this post!
i remember most of them from the 1st time around and i love the trip down memory lane!
the raw choc cake, your trip to napa w/ your hubs, oh those are good ones! I remember drooling over your napa trip and am doing it again now!
foodbuzz..wish i had chatted with you more when i was there…but there will be another chance, someday i hope :)
christine says
Thanks, a total fun trip down memory lane. :-) True on the Foodbuzz fest, hopefully we’ll have the opportunity at the next one or on our next trip south!
Lisa says
Wow—so much beautiful food!
I love Uli Mana chocolates, and I try really hard not to buy them very often—they cost so much, and I eat them way too fast!
I’ve made Ani’s raw choc cake before too—it is so fab…and I’ve even frozen them in mini cake (or pieces) form, and you can take them right out of the freezer and eat them (they don’t get hard).
Happy New Year!
christine says
Oh, I ate so much great chocolate that day and Uli Mana was amazing – pricey, but worth the splurge to savor.
Interesting, I need to try freezing Ani’s cake, that’s an awesome idea – Thanks!
Happy New Year!
Pure2raw twins says
Wow what a year!! All those eats look amazing! We want to try to make raw dog food, one day…Happy New Year!
christine says
I definitely need to re-visit raw dog food in 2011, a raw instructor I know says her dogs have gained so much energy on a high-raw diet only eating meat occasionally. Happy New Year!
Tori @ FIToriBLOG.co says
LOVE the dog expression! My dog will eat anything…or so I thought. I was soooo excited about this new raw, special dog food for our dog and he looked at me just like that! :) ahahah!