Well, 2012 is officially here. 2011 was quite a year, if I do say so myself. Set backs, downturns, and sad occurances aside, it was a darn good year. The the first bummer of year came in the spring, and it was a doozy. BUT, through it, I learned a great deal about myself. I learned things so pivotal and important about who I am and how I respond in certain situations (good and bad), that I can only be grateful for the experience. I’ll definitely never be the same again now that my eyes have been opened. I worked my butt off in 2011, which I don’t regret, but I probably should have taken a few more days off. And I also had a lot of FUN in 2011.

Here’s a look back at the things (and people) that made the year memorable:

The gang's (mostly) all here

 

I went to SEVEN other concerts: Florence + The Machine, Avicii, Kylie Minoque, Sade w/John Legend, Ray La Montagne w/Brandi Carlile, The Clinton Foundation Concert (Juanes, Bono + The Edge, Lady Gaga, Usher), and then closed the year out with Feist. Musical brilliance all year long.

 

(Sade, sexiest show of the year hands down. Love when she breaks it down about 3 mins in…)

 

(The crazy chick who jumped on stage needs to be removed from my town, post haste. And so do people who can’t clap on beat)

 

(I flipped for this amazing rendition of Mushaboom)

 

(My favorite song off her new album. This show was just so…raw. I loved it.)

 

(Not going to talk about his unbelievable sexiness factor. Not gonna do it.)

 

I got the opportunity to travel: San Francisco to see old friends and new, Palm Springs to chill under the desert sky in a hot hub, San Diego for BlogHer where I got to meet Karen Waldron and Jess Weiner in person, and Cancun for a little R&R with my Down South family. Went parasailing!! I also went to Vegas twice, which confirmed what I already knew – that Vegas isn’t for me in terms of the partying. But the food rocks!

Cancun

I ate a burger that had pastrami AND bacon on it. It was good. Don’t hate. Speaking of bacon, I ate a lot of delicious bacon, courtesy of Whole Foods. Who knew?!? I also had a bacon cupcake. Surprisingly NOT good.

I produced my first one-day conference, At the Helm: Women in Biz 2011

I climbed the Culver City Stairs.

It was a long way up

Brought back my dinner parties. I cooked and ate two vegetables that I’ve never even tried before: Brussels sprouts and butternut squash.

I went on my first camping trip. I also kayaked for the first time. Boy were my arms tired!

The great outdoors..

I spoke at the West Hollywood Women’s Leadership Conference where my co-host and I had one of the highest rated workshops of the conference! (!!!)

I attended the Virtual Sx conference and wasn’t afraid to tweet about it.

I celebrated my birthday at Benihana. That was fun!

I had an Awesome People Party. There was a lot of snake petting going on, and not by me. And no, I’m not joking.

The Black Version has revived my faith in live local comedy shows. Word.

I drank more water than I ever have in my entire life (October – December anyway). Unless we’re talking mineral water. I drank that stuff like a fiend.

Coordinated the largest tech events in Los Angeles.

Big crowd...

I think I ate my body weight in grilled zucchini.

Incredibly good.

I got my hair braided for the first time since 2004. Wake up and walk out the door kind of hair. Just how I like it…

I ate my first turkey dog AND I put sweet relish on it (I am not a condiment person). It wasn’t half bad. So I ate another…

Played with the cutest babies around. WIN!

 

Had the best ribs I have ever had in my entire life.

I learned to shoot a bow and arrow (poorly).

Ate eight (ha!) latkes on Hanukkah. This might make it my new favorite holiday. Sorry, Flag Day.

Chilled in the VIP Lounge at the House of Blues.

Rocked out this new curly ‘do, officially making it my first dramatic hair experiment. I think it suits me, what do you think?

I like it!

Oh, and I walked across L.A., from Downtown to Santa Monica, without stopping. All glorious 19.5 miles. Couldn’t walk the next day. Minor details…

        

The long and winding road... Ok, not so winding

Made it to the coast by sunset

 

I’m excited for 2012. Today marks a brand new week in a brand new year. Double fresh start! Here are some of the things I have planned for the coming year:

• Improve my photography skills
• Take a dance class or two
• Read A LOT more books
• Have an adventure (I don’t know what it is yet)
• Try new things (my goal is 52. More on that later)
• Have more dinner parties
• Finish my family tree project
• Go on a retreat/take a personal sabbatical
• Get rid of HALF of my possessions
• Wear dresses more often
• Launch my semi-secret new project.
• Start making sweet potato pies again

Thanks to each and every person who helped make 2011 a great year. Here’s to more goodness in 2012!

 

- Alaia

If you could live forever, would you? Why or why not?

My answer? Heeeeeeee….ck no! It may sound negative, but seriously, there is no way that I would want to live forever.  Sure, there are moments when I think “wow, this is so amazing/perfect/fantabulous, I wish this moment could last forever.”  But actually living forever? No thanks, I’ll pass.

First of all, just getting older and older wouldn’t be fun. And I don’t mean turning 40, 50, or even 70. But do I want to be 95? 105? 150 years old? Um, no thanks. Doesn’t appeal to me. But honestly, kudos to the people who keep ticking happily until they are 112. We should bow down at their feet to seek their wisdom and ask how they made it so far.

A friend of mine said he’d like to live forever if he didn’t have to age. Yeah, see, I don’t know about that either. That creeps me out. And in a way, I’d feel stuck, like I wasn’t progressing. Eventually I’d go “Sure [age at the time aging stopped] was great for the first 10 years…but what’s next?”

Anyway it is sliced for me, living forever just doesn’t interest me. What about you? Would you want to live forever? Why or why not?

What’s going on in your life right now that’s driving you nuts?

Word to the wise: Be smart when you blogging about people in your life, as you never know who is reading. Be clever enough not to use names or other obvious characteristics of people who will be angry if recognized as the target of your venting. There are clever ways to vent without crossing this line.

That makes me laugh SO MUCH because I feel like all I have done over the past couple of weeks is vent! And doing it in writing would not be smart, so now’s not the time to start, due to the sensitive nature of the rants/venting.

I think venting is incredibly valuable – to a certain extent. Holding in your emotions is not healthy, so it’s good to get out what you feel. I’ve been careful who I’ve shared with for a reason, and I appreciate their support, advice, and attention.

It’s important to set limits though. There’s a certain point where all you’ve done is vent and no action has been taken. If something is pissing you off, annoying you, upsetting you, or just making you flat out unhappy – do something about it! Complaining endlessly won’t get you anywhere. Pinpoint what is wrong and come up with solutions to change it.

Now, sure, I can talk the talk, but am I walking the walk?  Mostly. I’m continuing to vent as new annoyances crop up. But I’m also making plans, playing out possible scenarios and evaluating all of my options so that I can figure out what the best course of action is to take.  I’m working on complaining less, but at least I am getting geared up to make (hopefully) a big change!

I think that’s progress, don’t you?

Thanks to Trop 50 for sponsoring my writing about fabulous bloggers. This year Trop50 is granting 50 fabulous wishes. Click here to enter for a chance to win $1,000 to help grant a friend’s wish!

As some of you might know, I have been a blogger for over 10 years now (wow! Time flies!). Back then, I just had a LiveJournal and a dream… Blogging has been a great tool for me to express my thoughts, opinions, and knowledge. I’ve not only been dishing out content for over 10 years, but I’ve also been digesting the content of other great bloggers out there.

The blogs I read regularly shift with what’s going on in my life and what I’m most interested in learning about. I wanted to take a moment to share with you Five Fabulous Bloggers I currently love and regularly read. Enjoy and tell them I sent you!

Nailah Blades – Polka Dot Coaching – Nailah and I found each other a few months ago on Twitter. I started reading her blog and I love it! Nailah lives here in L.A., just like me, and is a Quarter Life Coach. She helps women connect the dots of their 20-something lives. Doesn’t that sound awesome? Goodness knows in years past I could have used A LOT of her help. I still need some nuggets of wisdom these days, so I always check out her site when I’m getting my blog fix. You can check out her groovy site here: http://www.polkadotcoaching.com/blog/

Lizzy Shaw – Lizzy Shaw Public Relations – Lizzy is an awesome publicist that I met almost two years ago, when she joined my networking group. She’s got a great blog going that every small business owners who wants their business to be seen needs to read. Not only does she share tips on PR, but she’s got a lot of great business advice, generally speaking, that any savvy small biz owner needs to know. http://www.lizzyshawpr.com/blog

Lifehacker – Those who know me know that I love getting stuff done. Though this isn’t an individual blogger, I do have to share Lifehacker with you (if you don’t know about them already!). Lifehacker is a great site – there’s a consistent stream of great new content centered on getting things done. Most of it is tech focused (and incredibly useful). Everything from great browser plugins for Firefox and Chrome to things like the Hipster PDA (which was the first post I saw on their site, back in 2005) and other DIY tricks. Hey they’ve even got recipes!  If you haven’t checked out Lifehacker before, do it today! www.lifehacker.com

Behance – I love their team blog! Also focused on getting things done, Behance sways more toward creative professionals, but there is good information that any professional can draw from their site. I don’t check in on a daily basis, but when I do check in every couple of weeks, I’ve got amazing content lined up that keeps me busy for hours. http://www.behance.com/Team_Blog

Life By Me – perhaps I am a little biased because I spent some time working for them, but I love Life by Me! The site launched a few months ago and there’s already enough content to keep you glued to your seat. Life by Me is all about meaning and meaningful conversations. The team there has pulled together contributions from AMAZING people. Yes, many are famous, like Seth Godin, Jack Canfield, Desmond Tutu, and Deepak Chopra, but what I love is that they pull in amazing people that you might not otherwise know of (at least not yet) like Frank Gjata, Jane Grossman, and Darrell Gurney. Check out the site and tell them I sent ya! www.lifebyme.com

I hope you take some time to check out some of these awesome blogs. Hopefully they’ll get you inspired and motivated!

Don’t forget to enter the 50 Fabulous Wishes contest for a chance to win $1,000 to support a friend’s wish. I was selected for this Tropicana Trop50 sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do. I received compensation to use and facilitate my post.

…and it is true. I really have no excuses. As stressed as I might feel, as limited as I feel my time might be right now, I have no excuses for not doing the things I want to do. I just need to be more careful with the time I have, think creatively, and figure out ways to accomplish my goals and get things done.

No excuses. I can make it happen.

Which excuses have you allowed to hold you back?

I recently learned about Heart of Haiti, a project that supports Haitian artisans and their families and communities that are suffering after last year’s devastating earthquake.

To be completely honest, I’m really glad to see the support efforts continuing. I think it’s so easy, especially with today’s short attention spans, to just move on to the next thing and forget the devastation that occurred and the people that are still hurting. What I love about Heart of Haiti and projects like it is that it gives each one of us another way of showing our support. Not everyone could serve in Haiti, not everyone had money they could donate at the time – and many people wanted to do both – I know I did!

You’ve got to check out the amazing stuff these artists have created. I love it:  http://bit.ly/HeartofHaiti-ShopforABetterWorld

These are a couple of my favorite things:

I can't resist a good jewelry hanger

LOVING this tray!

There’s lots of great stuff of the site to check out. If you’ve got some birthday shopping to do, want to get a heads up on Valentine’s Day, or are attending a housewarming party any time soon, why not get a great unique gift and give back at the same time.  (And if you feel like buying me those napkin rings, you know, just because, I will totally accept them)

You can also check out this article about the awesome woman behind this movement, Willa Shalit.

—

I was selected for this very special “CleverHaiti” opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.

I couldn’t resist

I’m making one of my goals to update this blog *at least* once a week in 2011.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

- Alaia

I don’t know about you, but my year has been….interesting so far.  I will say that the very end of 2010 and the very beginning of 2011 were pretty awesome.

If you haven’t caught on by now, last month, I participated in reverb10. I tried to anyway. December is always an interesting month for me. It usually starts out dead quiet and then ends up being so busy I don’t know what to do with myself – and it has nothing to do with the holidays.  This year WAS interesting though, because I actually did special things for all three of the holidays (well, four if you count Hanukkah) . Even if you stripped that away, things were pretty hectic at times.

When I initially signed up for Reverb, it seemed like a great idea. Plus, with my slower schedule, I was pretty confident I would complete all 31 entries.  Life’s different this year though and I haven’t been around my computer much on weekends – so I immediately started falling behind during those times of the week. And then I got busy. The last thing I felt like doing was digging deep to write some good content.

What was nice was that I actually wasn’t hard on myself for not participating 100%. I gave myself permission to do a little make up work, and I didn’t overdo it, trying to prove something to myself. I am curious though, how many people completed all 31 entries – one a day, without falling behind. It would just be an interesting stat I think.

Some of the entries were really thought provoking, interesting, and pulled a lot out of me. Some were kind of “eh.” I’ve saved all the prompts and I may go through and write on the remaining ones that capture my attention and aren’t TOO 2010 focused (there’s no looking back now people – 2011 is underway in full force!).

So, all in all, it was a nice idea. If they do it again in 2011, I’m pretty sure I will participate – and hopefully be just as kind to myself as I was this time around!

Prompt: Beyond avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)

A few months ago, I wrote about how I’m somewhat of an avoidant perfectionist. It’s kept me from many things – mainly when it comes to expressing my creativity. So much so that I sometimes wonder if I have any creativity left in me. So in many instances, I’ve avoided creativity. I’ve tried to shake that somewhat by launching this blog in the fall. It’s a step – and we’ll see where it takes me.

Another thing I avoided doing was taking a cold hard look at my finances. I think most everyone knows what they have in their bank account at any given moment, but it goes deeper than that – how much money did I actually make with my business. What were my expenses? Did I profit at all? What are my goals for the future? Have I started saving money to help push those things along?  I don’t believe that money is the end all be all. I actually don’t care much about money at all. I’d give my last dollar to a friend if they needed it. In fact, I’ve done it before. But more often than not, money is the currency for many of the experiences we want to have. Large or small, it doesn’t matter – dance lessons, vacation, going back to school, buy a car, moving, food….I could go on, but you get the point.

So the thing I avoided doing was taking a deep look at money – my relationship with money, my budget, and creating a solid plan to help me achieve my goals. I’ve taken some steps along the way – changing my lifestyle in certain aspects – but I haven’t done enough.  I’ve already taken steps to make wiser decisions in 2011. I’m working on a budget and I’ve got my documents gathered for this year’s taxes. I also have appointments set up with financial professionals. I’m walking my talk – I often preach the value of outsourcing and delegating. It’s time I start doing it for myself.

What have you been avoiding this year?  Will you make a chance for 2011?