2012: The Year in Review

By far, the best thing we did this year was to adopt Spice.  After so much hemming and hawing and hesitation we acted at the right time and got the right cat. We got our cat and he’s a little love of our lives. 

I had a wonderful, relaxing and soul-fueling opportunity to travel to the Mayan Riviera with BFF Erin in the spring. I feel so lucky that I got to go with such a perfect travel companion. The trip also relieved me of my ignorant bias about traveling to Mexico.  The people couldn’t have been nicer or the surroundings more beautiful. I will go back.

Hubby and I got to tour Arizona by Harley this year and see those Wile E. Coyote cacti that grow about 40 feet tall.  It was my first time seeing the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Flagstaff and about my sixth trip to Vegas. Maybe 7th.  The early trips are hard to recall!  I also took the motorcycle road test and got my full M license in September.  Who would have thought?

I appeared on CFRB to promote my ebook, The Naked Truth.  Going back to that building after so many years (and after leaving in an unhappy manner, albeit not fired) was not only surreal but a bit of a confirmation that I sort of possibly know what I’m doing. Maybe!

The ebook experience definitely dominated my off-radio activities.  It alternated between exasperation and fun and gave me the opportunity to talk to so many fascinating people including fellow writers and journalists. Every sale is delightful and I’m so grateful that people are interested enough to want to purchase it.  Creating the audiobook version was satisfying, too and something I hadn’t even considered until a few readers asked me to do it.

The low point of the year came when a long-awaited trip to Michigan International Speedway to take in our first ever in-person, live NASCAR race turned ugly because of a silly tweet I sent out that pissed off driver Carl Edwards’ camp. My joke about “stalking” my favourite driver was perceived as a very real threat even though I had tweeted it directly to the driver himself, the Speedway and NASCAR.  Not to mention that I’m a media personality of some three decades whose background can be easily checked via Google.  They humiliated me publicly and I will never, ever pass up the chance to steer people away from attending MIS. A pox on them and their ilk.

Free-FM continues to be more than just a job. I love the radio station, have an absolutely terrific boss and colleagues and I feel very strongly about the company’s success. They’ve given me a tremendous opportunity that got even better this year with the creation of The Big Show with Botten, Blair and Brandt.  I get to do all of the things I love about broadcasting each and every morning, from the ridiculous to the sublime.  I’m a very lucky gal. My home recording studio was busier than ever this year with several new clients on board. I invested in new equipment that made the process of recording commercials and voice-overs much easier and faster and it has been well worth it.

One of my goals for 2012 was to do more “London” things and I did.  I explored museums and legendary sites I’d overlooked such as Kingsmills department store (in business since 1865) and enjoyed events including The Lost Soul Stroll. I made more of an effort to get downtown instead of popping out to a mall or big box store. I love my city and the more I get to know it the more in love with it I fall.

More than anything I’ve really tried to live a purposeful live, to live in the moment and to enjoy the people around me and to try – more often than not successfully – to embrace the ups and downs of life as a part of my life, not something to get past. I really feel I’m where I should be, with whom I should be, and I’m grateful each and every day.

We did have a major, irreplaceable loss this year.  Derek’s Mom, Audrey, a sweet little British ray of light, left our lives in April. She was a wonderful, optimistic and very funny wisp of a woman who was all of those things despite being nearly incapacitated by chronic disease.  Life truly isn’t the same without her and we miss her every day. I love to hear stories about what life was like when my husband and his siblings were kids and both Audrey and Reg (gone more than a decade now) were parenting them.  It’s as close to the Cleavers as I’ve ever heard.

My aspirations for 2013 are modest. I hope to write and publish another ebook which I have already started on. I have to get to Toronto more than just once. There are people there about whom I care a great deal and I need to get back there and see them.  And I hope to continue with good health for me, my family and friends.  Thank you for coming here, leaving comments, sending emails, buying The Naked Truth and just for being supportive in general. I don’t take it for granted. Here’s hoping all of your wishes come true! Happy New Year!