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Well here we are, folks.

The end of 2009 is finally upon us, even if it feels like just yesterday that we were celebrating it’s beginning.  This year has truly been an amazing year packed with festivals, traveling, and all-around good times, and since everyone else is doing it, I thought I would reminisce my top nine things/events/moments/trips of 2009 for anyone that’s bored enough to read it.

Here we go (in no particular order):

• Girl Talk at Rothbury Music Festival: Hands down my favorite festival moment of 2009. Before this year, I had never ventured to the land of Michigan, much less a camping-style music festival, and for both of those reasons, Rothbury was an amazing experience. The highlight of the entire weekend was seeing Girl Talk at the Sherwood Court stage at 2 in the morning. Every one of the thousands of people in the crowd was dancing big, but there was enough room not to bump into each other. The music and energy really sucked us in. ‘Til 5AM. It was nuts. My brain a-splode.
  

  Girl Talk making brains a-splode at Rothbury Music Fest

• Sonoma Wine Country: Another first for me. Before I visited and took a winery tour, I never truly appreciated wine. Learning the process up close and personal did that for me. And if you’ve never experienced the wine country, you need to. Its gorgeous.
  

  The vineyards at Ravenswood in Sonoma, CA

• City Museum in St. Louis, MO: Yet another maiden voyage for me this year. Other than Chicago (for Lollapalooza), I haven’t spend a great deal of time in the midwest, but work brought me to St. Louis for Life is Good Festival. I had a few hours to kill before hopping back on my flight back to Austin, so I chose to venture to the City Museum.  The best way to describe it is like a giant playground for all ages — tunnels, caves, slides, and other structures made from junk that are all seamlessly put together in the old 11-story International Shoe Company warehouse building. They have a freaking 10-story spiral slide made from the old package chute. Awesome.
  

  City Museum in St. Louis, MO

• Monolith Festival / Denver Trip: Back in September, a fairly sizable group of my Austin friends ventured to Denver to catch the Monolith Festival at Red Rocks, and despite the less-than-perfect weather (constant rain and cold), we had an amazing time. It was almost a religious experience to see some of my favorite bands (and some new favorites) at such a beautiful venue with the world’s best natural acoustics.
  

  Monolith Music Fest at Red Rocks Amphitheater

• Photography: I’ve always been a shutterbug, but this year is the first in which I’ve ever owned the proper equipment. Last winter, I got my hands on a Nikon D60 and haven’t been able to put the damn thing down. Since 1/1/09, I’ve taken over 16,000 photos, 5,500 of which were usable. Yeesh! It’s a time and resource suck, but its a hobby I’ve really come to enjoy.
• Music Music Music Music Music: 2009 was an awesome year for music. For me, it was more about new bands and sounds that I discovered either through events like SXSW or through recommendation of friends. Albums that were on repeat all year:
  • Matt & Kim - Grand
  • Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
  • Passion Pit – Manners
  • Rodrigo y Gabriela - 11:11
  • Thao with The Get Down Stay Down – Know Better Learn Faster
  • White Denim – Fits
  • T-Bird and the Breaks – Learn About It
  • Astronautalis – Pomegranate
• Twitter: The Twitterverse really took off this year.  I never thought I would allow myself to admit it, but, to be honest, Twitter has changed my life. True, I can admit that I’ve become somewhat of a social media whore, but I really believe that it has revolutionized the way people interact and exchange information. The kicker for me has been experiencing this medium translate social media in the online realm into in-real-life relationships, business-related and otherwise. This phenomenon leads me to the next item on my list…

• My friends (the #HTM): Never before have I met such an interrelated group of people who love life just as much as the next person. With a common interest in live music, we’re also all immersed in the world of marketing/promotion in some form or fashion. Looking forward to the future with these cats, and to think we all came into each other’s lives through some extension of social networking. That’s just silly.
• My Tea’m: Majority of this list wouldn’t have been possible without having worked for Sweet Leaf Tea. I know I sound like I’m just preaching the cool-aid, but I’m being serious. The people I work with are incredible, and I’m thankful every day that I get to promote a brand that I believe in. We’ve been through a lot of changes and faced some intense challenges, but its incredible to think about where we’ve come from and, even more so, where we’re going. The adventure continues!

So there it is: My Top 9 of 2009. Looking forward to another great year in 2010, even if I’m doubtful that I can ever get used to saying ‘twenty-ten’.

Happy New Year!

Sometimes there are events in our lives that are so gut-wrenching and ugly that they over-power the smaller, AWESOME things that have happened in a year. This theory basically sums 2009 up for me.

As opposed to reliving the not-so-cool-parts of 2009, I’d love to share some of my favorite things about the last year with all of you.

1. My 1st ACL Fest-Complete w/crew passes to better see Lorin from Bassnectar throw down the sickest beats and tracks this side of the Mississippi! Did I mention that he seriously rocks my world? I even got a response from him on Twitter. (Pitter-patter goes my music-loving heart!)

2. MS 150-This was THE event that helped clue me in that I belong @ SLT. A free entry for a bike ride that exceeded my expectations in every way possible. Is there anything better than doing something you love (riding bikes) while helping others?

3. HiMA Interactive Strategies Conference-True validation that Sweet Leaf Tea is on the right track in the social media realm. I was proud and excited to have been asked to represent and enjoyed every moment at this event!

4. Shiner Gasp-I had a calf injury that still didn’t stop me from riding my first century ride! It only took 12 (painful) hours to ride 103 miles and I hope to be ready for it again this year!

5. Fun Fun Fun Fest-I loved winning PIP status for this festival, but even if I hadn’t been given the golden ticket, it would have still rocked. So many great bands played, both old and new. Secret highlight? Seeing Danzig perform “Twist of Cain” and my husband saying, “I had NO idea you liked Danzig that much!” I let him know that there were several things he didn’t know about the 15 year old April. There’s more to me than The Cure, that’s for sure…

6. SXSW-Roller skating, legendary bands (Echo & The Bunnymen, Peter Murphy, Primal Scream to name a few..) partying till 4am, free booze, good friends, new music, and plenty of Sweet Leaf Tea to round things out.

7. Improved Blogging Skillz-Have you re-read my first blog post for SLT? Oh my! I have come a long way and I think I can speak for our whole Marketing Tea’m here that all of us have really grown our writing skills!

The highlights here are only a “taste” of the coolness that came with the rest of the 2009 shenanigans. The good and the bad all equal one thing: I’m looking forward to a new start and all that 2010 A Tea Odyssey may bring!!

**I’d like to dedicate this post to Happy who forced me to remember the bad-ass things that 2009 offered me this year. You’re totally right Happy, thank you!

I also wanna thank Home Slice Pizza for the lunch-time blogging inspiration today. I needed it!

What are YOU looking most forward to in 2010?

Have you heard about Gossip? This band is better than the rumors.

I first heard this Oregon-based group on Sirius radio and immediately downloaded several of their songs from iTunes. They have an awesome dance/ rock sound that blends Blondie, Janis Joplin and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and makes every day better. My favorite song right now is ‘Heavy Cross;’ perfect for singing, running, dancing, you name it. For a great play list, look for them on Pandora.

Looking forward to more Gossip in 2010… and possibly an American tour?

What have you been up to this year? Really think about it. What have you been doing?

If working is the first thing that comes to mind, you’re not alone. Work consumes most  of our lives.  But is that all you’ve been up to?

As  2009 comes to a close and you reflect on what went right and wrong, think hard about what you did for yourself this year. Did you make a new friend? Did you learn to cook? Have you run further than you ever thought you could? Overcome a fear? Take dance lessons? Did you volunteer in your community? If nothing comes to mind, you have some work to do in the New Year.

As life zooms past, we often forget to take time out to  look at the big picture. We move way too fast. It’s important we do what we can to balance and simplify our lives and make sure we  have something in our life we’re working on besides our career. Start now and commit to making 2010 different and more abou YOU.  Make sure the next time someone asks you what you’ve been up to you have something you’re very proud of to share.

The holidays are without a doubt known for being a time of tradition. Every family has one or six that must be done every year in order for Christmas to actually feel like Christmas. I have a few friends that insist certain ornaments must be placed next to each other on the tree or the whole thing is off kilter. Others I know, get to open one present on Christmas Eve and it’s always pajamas. And then there are others, who turn on the Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra Christmas tunes and proceed with busting out the flour, sugar and cookie cutters. Things just wouldn’t seem right if Santa couldn’t enjoy some cookies and milk upon his entrance from the chimney. Yes, every family has something.

And then there is my family.

While we do have some of the more “normal” traditions involved with the holidays like baking, decorating and gifting, we do have one tradition that takes traditions to a whole new level. So, here goes. Every year, my mother decides on a “food” theme for our family dinner. (Seems normal, right? Hold tight.) Well, that designated foodie theme then becomes the so called, inspiration, for a family sing-along of the 12 Days of Christmas.

So, it goes something like this. Let’s just say our theme is Mexican food (been there, done this). The torture (as my cousin puts it) begins with drawing a number from Santa’s hat with your part and then finding your place in line. If you know anything about the song, getting a higher number like 12 is money. Mainly because you only have to sing once. Getting number 1 or even 5 (due to the drawn-out singing of that particular number, aka “5 Golden Rings”) can be somewhat torturous. If you have the idea, try this one on for size.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me….(everyone sings this part)

1 fri-jo-le

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…(everyone sings this part)

2 chimichangas and 1 fri-jo-le

And it goes on and on and on….my mother mainly being the conductor.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I don’t appreciate this tradition. It is unique. My mom came up with the idea about 5 years ago. While doing the more sane traditions like cooking, we wrote the lyrics to our first ever 12 Days of Christmas—which just happened to be Italian (think about that one for a minute). In no time, we were rolling with belly laughs at the thought of my family performing our adapted rendition of the famed tune. I have to admit it was pleasurable seeing my cousins, aunts and grandmother wince at the idea or the number that they picked out of the Santa hat and then reading their lines.

As much as they might pretend not to like it, deep, deep, DEEP down, I think they love it. By the end, everyone is laughing, and surprisingly getting into character. Regardless of their pre-show nerves, they know it’s coming. It can’t be avoided.

So, what’s the theme this year….Meats. (Let that one simmer.) I’ll let you know how it goes, post festivus.

If anyone shares in this caroling of fun, be sure to let me know. I would love to hear the lyrics that you and yours create. Don’t be shy….

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