(I am laughing WITH you, not at you.)

( I swear it!)

(I love Mommy Bloggers!)

(I have been a Mommy Blogger!)

(xoxox ?)

Me to husband: Why do men get all freaked out that I wrote this piece?

Husband: Because they think it’s about hot girls licking each other’s feet and then they think about you thinking about hot girls licking feet.

Me: But it’s really not about that.

Husband: So you say.

I’m afraid I write some type of chick-lit, then.

But apparantly I need to remind myself of all that I’ve been doing in 2010 since I found spittle coming out of my mouth and my eyes rolling into the back of my head when family members asked basic questions of me over Christmas like, “What have you been up to?” and “Have you read any good books?”

Instead of staring slack-jawed at an aunt or cousin I should have answered, “Well, side from working in an office part time and raising two insanely energetic boys, I have been running quite a bit, working one-on-one with writers through Our Stories, and reading more than two books a month. I’ve also resolved the major plot/character problem in my novel that has been keeping me from writing, and I plan on pounding away at that now that the holidays are behind me.”

So there.

I compiled a “by the numbers” last year too.

33: Books Read (10 more than last year)

Underlined = favorites; Starred = very disappointed

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Steig Larsson

2. When You Are Englufed in Flames, David Sedaris

3. An American Requim, James Carroll

4. The Gurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

5. Open, Andrew Agassi

6. Born to Run, Christopher McDougal

7. The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver (reread)

8. Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl

9. Grace Eventually: Thoughts on Spirituality, Ann Lamott (reread)

10. The Girl who Played with Fire, Steig Larsson

11. And Give You Peace, Jessica Treadway

12. A Short History of Women, Kate Walbert

13. Ladder of Years, Anne Tyler

14. The Help, Kathryn Stockett

15. Women, Food, and God, Geneen Roth

16. The Commoner, John Burnham Schwartz

17. The Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood

18. American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld

19. The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Steig Larsson

20. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (reread)

21. The Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle

22. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Harper Lee

23. Crying at Movies, John Manderino

24. The Blind Assasin, Margaret Atwood

25. A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore

26. Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

*27. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Michael Chabon

28. No Impact Man, Colin Beavan

*29. The Beginning Place, Ursula LeGuin (reread)

30. My Lobotomy, Howard Dully

31. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling (reread)

32. Nurture Shock: New Thinking about Children, Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

33. Hand Wash Cold: Care Instructions for an Ordinary Life, Karen Maezen Miller

4: Rejections from Literary Magazines (Ah well)

6: Races Completed (1 more than last year)

March: 10K Mini Marathon Training Race

May: Indianapolis Mini Marathon Half

July: 5K neighborhood race

August: GoGirl Mini Triathlon

November: Monumental Half Marathon

590: Miles Run (257 more than last year)

240: Days I Exercised (40 more than last year)

2: Major Journeys

Boston/MA

New York, NY and Southern NJ

+ Multiple trips to Chicago