2011: Year in Review

Dear [Your Name Here], I sincerely hope this note finds you and yours very well!

I am writing this at the very end of the year and taking comfort in the fact that technically the twelve days of Christmas don't end until Epiphany, on January 6. So what if my cards are going out after everyone else's?

For me, 2010 had some big changes, but overall much is still the same. The year got off to an amazing start, with the birth of my niece Annabel on January 4. All the Terrys gathered in New Haven at my sister Amy's house to celebrate Christmas 2010, and my parents and I stayed on into the New Year. Big-sister-to-be Lucy kept all of us entertained as as we waited for the new baby's arrival. Getting to meet Annabel only a few hours after her birth was such a special experience. I'm happy to report that as she closes in on her first birthday, she is blonde, smiley and sunshiny, and just starting to walk and talk.

The second big change was at work. After nearly two years as a communications consultant for the IDB's Opportunities for the Majority initiative, I moved upstairs to join the communications team at the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund. Like OMJ, the MIF works with the private sector to benefit the poor and excluded populations in the region. But it's been around much longer and does a wider variety of projects. I could go on for ages telling you about the great work we do, but am trying to keep this short. My dad, Don Terry, managed the MIF from its founding until he retired a little over three years ago, so it's been especially interesting to now work with many of his former colleagues and to see how the organization has grown and developed. I got to go to MIF's annual microfinance conference, "Foromic," in Costa Rica in October, where I wrote speeches for our general manager, saw a few of the projects we have funded there, and celebrated my birthday.

But overall, I still live in the same home, still drive the same car, go to the same church. I wrote several more "Date Lab" columns for the Washington Post Magazine (click on each word here for examples). I again vacationed in Sanibel, Fla. and Falmouth, Mass. with my parents and sisters and their families. I did have a really unusual and special experience this summer -- I was one of the leaders of a week-long San Francisco area "pilgrimage" with a dozen teens from St. Columba's. Our group had worked toward this trip for nearly two years, meeting on Sunday mornings, raising money and making plans. It was a wonderful journey, very intense and profound for me, and I think for the youth as well. The photo on the postcard you received from me is of one of the churches we visited, St. Gregory of Nyssa, which incorporates chanting and dancing into its services. Here's a short article I wrote about the pilgrimage, if you'd like to know more!

Wishing you much happiness and many blessings for 2012...

Love, Elizabeth

2010: Year in Review

Dear [Your Name Here],

So I'm doing this for the second year in a row now. Not sure how many people read it, but it's fun for me, anyway.

2010 has been an excellent year for travel. The highlight has to be my first-ever trip to Africa. In the fall of '09, I won a 5-night trip for two to Ethiopia by filling out a form on a radio station website. I invited Ellie, my youngest sister, to accompany me, and we went in late March/early April, during her Easter break (she's a teacher). Ethiopian Airlines provided us with international and domestic flights, hotel rooms, meals, drivers and a fantastic guide, Wonde Girma (if you're planning to visit Ethiopia, and you should, I'll put you in touch). We visited the sprawling capital of Addis Ababa, the fascinating and lovely Lalibela with its famous "rock-hewn churches," and Axum, which has enough ruins and relics to rival any ancient city. Ellie and I also took the opportunity to hop over to Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania, for a few days, which, wow. Beautiful beaches, twisty old streets, dolphins, monkeys, spice plantations. It's also someplace that should be on your to-do list. And while we're at it, put Ellie on your must-travel-with list. She's friendly, game for most anything (well, not eating raw goat meat) and takes great photos.

I got out to the West Coast twice. In July the extended Terry/Broadstone (sister Meghan and family)/Sheehan (sister Amy and family) clan headed to northern California. The headline event was cousin Kerri's wedding near San Jose, but first we spent a few days in Yosemite National Park. My parents visited there a couple of times when they were in graduate school, and have wanted to take the rest of us there ever since. It did not disappoint -- we had beautiful weather and saw all the sights, from El Capitan to the giant sequoias to a mother bear and her cubs. Kerri and Dave's wedding was great fun, and made us wish we could see our California cousins and aunties more often. Then, in November, I popped back out to California, this time southern, just for a few days. I got to see the home my aunt Nancy and her family recently bought in the Tehachapi Valley north of L.A., visited high school pal Kaile Shilling, who was days away from giving birth to a beautiful baby boy, and spent time with good friends Lisa and Rick Porter, who are very skilled at finding great places to eat.

Add to the mix a few days in Sanibel, Fla with the folks (which was fun once the two-day road trip necessitated by the D.C. Snowpocalypse was through) and, of course, a handful of visits to Cape Cod, and it was a better-than-average travel year. I don't have a lot of firm plans for 2011 yet, but I know I'll be in San Francisco in August with a group of St. Columba's teens, and would very much like to return to Paris at some point to meet my dear friend Agnès' new baby girl.

My work year continued to be eclectic, yet somewhat more stable than the last years have been. I did contract work throughout the year for the Opportunities for the Majority initiative at the Inter-American Development Bank, writing and editing content for their website as well as working on a variety of other projects including press releases and brochures. My Spanish comprehension has slowly improved, and it's been a terrific place to work. Besides the Bank gig, I wrote a few more Date Lab columns for the Washington Post Magazine, edited a few more issues of the St. Columba's Newsletter, and started on a project for a U.N.-related agency -- I'll let you know how that turns out next year...

I still love living in Washington, am still cooking a lot, have seen lots of great plays this year, and am so lucky to have great friends in D.C. and beyond.

As 2010 draws to a close, I'm looking forward to heading up to New England with my parents to spend some time with my sisters, brothers-in-law, nephews and niece. The exact itinerary and length of the trip will depend on the arrival of my niece-to-be--my sister Amy is expecting a baby girl toward the end of the year! Friend me on Facebook for further updates about that, and everything else 2011 will bring.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a happy, peaceful and blessed New Year.

Love, Elizabeth

2009: Year In Review

Dear [Your Name Here],

So, since I’ve been doing a million different things this year, I thought it would be interesting for you and possibly for me to write up a brief summary of my 2009.

First – the year in work. As of the end of 2009, I am not working in journalism, save for the odd freelance piece (mostly Washington Post Date Lab columns!). At the beginning of the year, I had a contract job with the Washington Post’s website, mainly producing online chats. And it was great fun. I took that job in early 2008 hoping it would be a foot in the door for a full-time job there, but as we all now know, this wasn’t really the year for that to happen. My position there was eliminated in the spring. One friend tried to cheer me up by saying, “Just think, someday you’ll be able to tell the story of how you got laid off in 2009!”

Fortunately, I am a freelancer very rich in friends if not always in cash. I managed to stay mostly busy and usually happy through the rest of the year. I worked with the National Building Museum and 4Site Interactive Studios on two series of video tours for the NBM website (one on DC’s Great Green Places, the other on green roofs). I filled in at the St. Columba’s communications office for several months while Anne Stone was on maternity leave, and loved editing four issues of the newsletter (Aug-Nov). And since mid-October, I’ve been working at the Inter-American Development Bank writing and editing content for MajorityMarkets.org, a new satellite website showcasing ways the business community can engage with the world’s poorest people. In each workplace I’ve learned new vocabulary words, met dedicated and smart people and have been very proud of what I’ve produced. I’m still figuring out the exact mix of gigs for 2010, but I’m looking forward to it.

So that brings us to the year in friends and family and fun. I am the doting auntie to nephews Henry (5) and Noah (almost 3), sons of my sister Meghan, and to niece Lucia (18 months), daughter of my sister Amy. I’ve seen them all several times this year and was especially honored to serve as Lucy’s godmother at her baptism in May. In between visits I spoil them with postcards and care packages. Other highlights of the year included a vacation in Paris and Barcelona with my sister Ellie, my 15-year college reunion at Yale, another reunion on Cape Cod in August with my dear Parisian friend Agnes and her wonderful family, and getting started with a new group of teenagers as a youth leader at St. Columba’s. And then there’s just happy regular stuff like my yoga class, shows at Wolf Trap and 9:30, and great friends to eat with and watch cult TV with and so on. I already have some great travel plans for 2010, including a trip to Ethiopia I won in a radio station drawing… seriously! So I guess radio is still doing good things for me.

Wishing you and your friends and family all the best for Christmas and the new year.

Love, Elizabeth