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