That time I shook hands with James Taylor.

I told someone the other day that when I'm old and gray I will write a book about the last year of my life. I think that I'm putting it mildly when I say that it has been one heck of a trip around the sun. Who knows if the book will ever come to fruition because let's be honest, in my writing I include far too many ellipses; I begin far too many sentences with conjunctions; and I write as if I'm carrying on a conversation. I would be an editor's worst nightmare. And I would probably cry when I showed up to my big book signing at Books-a-Million (I'm a realist...I would never make the Barnes & Noble circuit.) and only my grandma, mama, and 3 best friends were there to have me sign their free copies of my masterpiece. So, before I'm old and gray and actually forget some of the details of the trip, I will chronicle them here in Cliffs Notes format. In reading this post, you have just saved yourselves $4.95 and hours of boredom. You're welcome.

One doesn't have to have the same credentials as Dr. Phil to figure out that the tone of my posts has been a bit glum as of late. It's not that I intended to have Debbie Downer as a guest blogger, it's just that this particular season has been filled with more rain than sunshine and butterflies. Even though if there was too much sunshine, it would surely cause skin cancer (insert Debbie Downer sound effect here!). The thing about seasons of life though is that they change, and I am optimistic that spring is just around the corner. [Gotta' go, my future of writing greeting cards featuring Thomas Kinkade lighthouses is calling.]

Now if I went through every single "once in a lifetime experience" that has occurred during the last year, it would probably stir a myriad of emotions. You would potentially cringe, turn green with envy, curse, laugh, cry, and ultimately say "bless her little small-town heart" before it's all said and done. Or maybe you would be overcome with boredom and simply click the "x" in the top right-hand corner of your screen as you concern yourself with important matters like Nancy Grace's latest cold case.

I am dedicating today's post to the good things that have happened in the last year. I refuse to highlight the bad because here's the deal, life is made up of both. If you focus on the bad, you will only remember the bad. If you focus on the good, then the bad isn't really that bad after all. [You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and then you have...]

I don't even know where to begin. There's no way that I'm going to be able to include everything because there really has been THAT much good in my life. Should I start with going on a first date in Vegas? How many people do that and remember the details well enough to recount them all to their mama and grandmother the next day...without having to censor said details, no less. I'm willing to wager not that many. Speaking of wagering, I learned how to play Blackjack in a casino. I totally smoked the dealer with my $1.50 in winnings that one time back in March.

I qualified as a Delta Skymiles Medallion member. Do you know what you have to do in order to do that? Fly at least 25K miles in a calendar year. I don't see that that will ever happen again but at least now I can relate to George Clooney's character in Up in the Air. Speaking of Up in the Air, I saw that movie on New Year's Day this year. I've never been to the movies on New Year's Day. Did I mention that the theater was in Bloomington, Indiana? Had you told me on January 1, 2009 that I would be ringing in 2010 singing karaoke at some local place that I cannot remember its name for the life of me in Bloomington, Indiana I would have had your head examined. Nonetheless it was a great time with great people.

Regarding those great people, I am so glad that I know them. I have formed friendships with some truly incredible folks during this past year. Many of my once in a lifetime experiences would not have been the same if they had not been there to shape those memories.

I have had fun adventures with old friends too. Like that time in November when Valerie and I traveled to San Antonio for a half-marathon. Where's the logic in traveling 1750 miles to run 13.1? There is none. But that's what made it fun and memorable and worth it. I would do it all over again for the pint of chocolate milk that was waiting for me at the finish line. Oh, the opportunity to drive a green VW Bug and tour the Alamo was pretty cool too.

I became a Cubs fan that time I went to Wrigley and a Red Sox fan that time I went to Fenway, but I suppose my true loyalty will always lie with the Braves since I celebrated opening day of this season at The Ted. That's a whole lot of baseball in a year for even a sports girl like myself.

Let's discuss food. My palate has gotten quite the education. I had one of the best cheeseburgers I've ever eaten in my life at The Lodge at Pebble Beach over Labor Day weekend. While trying to pretend like I was a dainty and fair maiden with manners (read: choking down my cheeseburger at break neck speed) it just so happened that our table overlooked the 18th hole and Tom Watson was finishing out his round for the day. Some might argue that was the highlight. I'm sticking with the burger as being the highlight for me. I've had caviar, octopus, steak tartare (that means raw for you well-done steak eaters out there), and Waygu beef at a restaurant that even provided a chair for my purse. Don't even get me started on the wine and champagne. It was like Ellie Mae goes to the city I'm sure, but thank goodness for those etiquette classes when I was Brownie Girl Scout. They totally carried me through the entire formal affair. Except for that moment when I choked on the octopus, but that was a result of the conversation. It's a good thing that I work out or else when I was in Maine last month, I might not have been able to eat my lobster. Too bad cookies and french fries do not require that much work because I'm sure I would eat fewer of them if they did.

I have been to concerts that I would have never imagined: DMB and Jason Mraz, Sugarland, Justin Timberlake AND friends (one of which was Snoop Dogg!), and James Taylor and Carole King. Yes, I did actually shake hands with James Taylor. And yes, I'm easily amused. It's not everyday that I shake hands with former heroin addicts who have made their living playing sweet music for the masses. I'm super excited about the continued concert streak throughout the summer with David Gray (my favorite), Ray LaMontagne, AND The Avett Brothers to look forward to.

Speaking of being easily amused...I saw the Dancing with the Stars mirrorball trophy with my own two eyes. Where, you ask? At Donny & Marie's show, that's where! And while I'm on the subject of shows, let's not forget the time that there was the celebrity sighting of John Krasinski and Emily Blunt at Love, the Beatles Cirque show. Or that time that I had my picture taken with Frank Caliendo after his show. Or the time that I saw The Lion King. Or Jersey Boys. Or La Reve. Or the show at The Comedy Barn. You laugh at that one, but it was like watching HeeHaw. When I was 4, HeeHaw was in a fierce competition with The Love Boat for the title of my favorite show. What can I say? Even though I'm easily entertained, I definitely enjoy being entertained.

One thing that I've learned about "once in a lifetime experiences" is that sometimes we do get to experience them again. For example, I went to Muir Woods just north of San Francisco 4 years ago. It is one of my favorite places in the entire world and I always hoped that I would go back, but I never imagined that I would and if I did, there was no way it would be as good as my first trip. Guess what, last September I did go back. And it was an even better trip than the first one. Thanks to the miracle of modern styling products and awesomely trained stylists, I had my hair straightened for the very first time ever in March. For a girl that was made fun of constantly throughout elementary and middle school because of my big hair, this discovery pretty much changed my life. At the time though I thought that the only way that I would ever be able to have it straight again was to go back to the salon and have Christie, my new heroine, do it and that just wasn't going to be a habit that I could keep regularly. Two months later I got the play at home edition of the flat iron and now I can straighten my hair anytime I've got an extra two hours to spare.

Just because we do sometimes get to experience things again and they may be even better the second time doesn't mean that they should be taken for granted during the initial go around. Does that make sense? I think that if we looked at even the smallest and seemingly most mundane things and considered that it's only going to happen just like this once in our lifetime then we would begin to look at life differently. I know that I would anyway. No, I'm not saying act as if a trip to the grocery store is like taking a cruise on The Queen Mary II , but what if it just so happens that the sunset happens to be particularly remarkable on that day when you're on the way to the store? Or if you have a kiddo in the backseat who happens to string together his first sentence when he asks you to turn on Cars in the DVD player. Sometimes the champagne and caviar moments in life are hidden. We all have them. We just have to look for them.