It’s not 2009 yet, but I’d like to take a moment here and highlight the roller coaster of a year I’ve been through, so that in a future entry, I can highlight the steady ground I’m hoping to be on. I thought about the best way of writing all of it down, and although I’d love to write a long-winded and perhaps boring to some essay on my 2008 adventures, I think a list is in order.

This year I…

-Spent the early hours of New Year’s Day at Disneyland, despite tickets being sold out. We managed to get in to the park because of the good graces of a stranger with extra tickets. That day will never be forgotten.

- Was hired as a full-time editor for a social media company

-Began doing freelance work as a journalist, which led me to write about some incredible and some not so incredible films, interview Ben Kingsley and a bunch of others and meet a lot of other great writers.

-Accidentally deleted this blog, which caused me to lose almost two years worth of entries

- Went to Montreal with my boyfriend, had great food, did great shopping and met Charles Aznavour

-Co-hosted an edible gardening internet radio show

- Saw Adele perform at The Roxy

-Took sessions with a personal trainer and enrolled at a new gym

-Watched my sister graduate high school and enroll at my alma mater

-Went through a luxating patella surgery with Henry and nursed him back to health for about five months

-Witnessed the incredible and miraculous election of 2008 and cried when Obama won

- Became a member of the Society of Professional Journalists

-Revisited the Magic Castle after my initial outing there to interview a magician

-Dyed my full head a single color for the first time ever

-Started to regularly attend the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market

-Wasted so many hours of my life sitting in the horrendous traffic of Los Angeles

-Made some amazing online friends through this blog

-Broke my camera, fixed it only to have it break again

-Tried to resist the phenomenon that is “Twilight,” but fell victim to the dazzling story of Edward and Bella, which marked my regression into adolescence.

-Worked my first red carpet, where I met Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Doug Jones, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Julie Benz

-Took my obsession with Bollywood to a whole other level by managing to watch at least one film almost every weekend for the better part of the year

-Went to work on developing a new online publication gear towards the Armenian community (still working)

-Found amazing online tools such as Twitter and StumbleUpon, which I now use daily

-Became progressively more obsessed with Anthropologie

-Prayed for snow that never came

-Didn’t spend enough time in bookstores

-Took the GRE, a rather painful experience that I will most likely repeat again sometime in the future

-Did a lot of baking and found some recipes I really loved

Do you see this beautiful tuft of spinach above? I am shedding tears right now knowing that I grew this in my garden. No not really, but I am really proud of myself. I can’t believe I didn’t kill my plants! But wait, there’s more.

Tomatoes! Can you believe this? It looks like I do have a green thumb after all. I was so excited when I saw these little tomatoes. Currently, I have about 10 that will hopefully grow into nice, red robust tomatoes. It’s quite exciting. This is all it takes in life to make me happy. See how easily pleased I am?

Pomegranate! Oh wow so many exciting fruits and veggies. Unfortunately, this was the only fruit that the tree gave, but I don’t mind. Hopefully I can spend some time caring for it so it bears more fruit.

I was so excited about my edible garden that I planted oregano, basil and arugula, which have all sprouted. I honestly love the idea of growing my own food so much. If I had the time, energy and money, I would have a farm. I would love to grow sugar pumpkins to make pumpkin pie with and peppers. I have to say, that growing food is the only reason I love Southern California weather. Fruits and vegetables that regularly have a ‘season’ can be grown year round here because of the weather. It’s nice.

My spinach and tomato plants from almost a month ago have blossomed and grown more than I ever expected them to. I hope to plant more, as this was just a test run to make sure I’m not a plant-killer. I absolutely love the idea of being able to grow my own fruits and vegetables to eat. I’d churn my own butter if I could and sew my own clothes and spin yarn out of alpaca fur. Maybe I was Amish in another life, I’m not sure. I could watch For Richer or Poorer any day of the week.