-- 2010 --

January: Ups and Downs of a Hacking Cough (01/06) | Shredded Iceberg Lettuce Box of Mystery (01/07) | Things I Learned Today (01/08) | Couch Tales (01/25) | Valentines, In process (01/29) || February: Snowed in with Hug (02/06) | Walking in a Winter Wonderland (02/07) | Valentines, Finished (02/08) |

-- 2009 --

January: Part-way to 109 Resolutions (01/04) | Brunch, Cats, and Prep (01/10) | Party, Before and After (01/11) || April: Anna (04/04) | In Awe, With Thanks (04/09)

-- 2008 --

January: The Other Side (01/16) || March: Behind the Wheel (03/01) || May: Wine in the Woods/ Rest in the Car (05/18) | Weekend Rundown (05/26) || July: Wheel, Adjustment (07/22) | Whisky Reminisce (07/28) || September: Not Much (09/08 | Strange Things Said (09/22) ) || November: Election Night (11/04)

-- 2007 --

January: Kings and Catch-Up (01/09) May: Long Weekend (05/15) | Still Exotic (05/16) | The Breaks (05/18)

-- 2006 --

January: Skirt Split (01/05) || Three Kings (01/10) || Better Luck (01/13) || Nostalgia Tour of the Apartment (01/16) || Packing, Packing, Packing (01/21) || Packing, Again (01/22) || Call of the Newsprint (01/23) || Of Insomnia, Ashrams, and Art (01/25) December: Happy New Year! (12/31)

-- 2005 --

January: Recap (01/02) || PreParty (01/07) February: A Very Cold Bug (02/09) || Valentines (02/14) || Ode to Beley (02/25) March: Four Unsent Notes (03/09) || Benefits of Leaving Early (03/13) || Hay (with some Cabin) Fever (03/26) April: Clean Up (04/21) || Initial Discussions (04/25) || This Bird Has Flown (04/30) May: Pop-Punk (05/25) June: Now You Know (06/01) August: Green Chile and Clear Skies (08/16) || Advice Partially Taken (08/26) || Her Diamond Stud (08/31) September: Both Low and High (09/21) || Dead Wood (09/29) October: Stamped and Smoky (10/15) November: Hooray for Dollywood! (11/15) || Thanksgiving in Connecticut (11/30) December: Tea (12/03) || PR (12/14)

-- 2004 --

January: One story from Vegas (01/05) || Hairbrush and Chair (01/11) || Googling (01/25) || Hop Off (01/29) February: London - Getting there and taking Tea (02/11-12) ||London - Greenwich and Napalm (02/13) || London - Notting Hill, Buckingham Palace, and the Sextravaganza (02/14) || London - The Eye and Dinner Out (02/15) || Flowers and Mystery (02/18) March: Leather Pants prep (03/06) April: Entertainments (04/14) May: Happy Birthday Demmert (05/09) September: Foster and Fabian Get Married! || Spain - Bilbao, traveling to Sarria (09/17) || Spain - Sarria to Gonzar (09/17, later) || Spain - Gonzar to Arzua (9/21) || Spain - Arzua to Santiago (9/23) October: Lager Ladies (10/24) || Back (10/31) November: Election Woes (11/04) || Getting out of the House (11/13) || Way too much cuteness (11/14) || Home for Thanksgiving (11/28) December: Bruised, Scraped, and Sore (12/05) || Holiday Spirit (12/09) || Ruth (12/25) || The Year In Review (12/30) || Ruth, Revisited (12/31)

-- 2003 --

January: Last Night (01/01) || Brief bit about the Party (01/06) || Invites are out (01/07) || In the Air (01/08) ||         (01/09) || Sun Streaming (01/11) February: Fortunes and Cookies (02/10) || Cleaning Up (02/11) || Hold Me (02/13) || Digging Out (02/18) || Streetwalker (02/20) || Going to Graceland (02/23) March: The first Bachelorette (03/02) || Huzzah (03/06) || Hot Damn (03/11) || Zen (03/13) || Francis (03/16) || Distractions and Plans (03/19) || There and Back (03/26) || Continued (03/31) April: Spring Break! (04/03) || Past and Prep (04/06) || Death, Marriage, and Taxes (04/17) May: Celebrations (05/19) June: Thunder (06/11) || Driver lost and Love found (06/16) || Perforated (06/29) July: Happy Fourth! (07/06) || Not Dying (07/07) || Furnishings (07/28) || August: Just another Weekend (08/10) || Rained out (08/11) || Work It (08/13) || Dewey, mostly (08/17) || Ring a Ding (8/19) || Desk Set (08/21) || Veils and Rat-tails (08/23) || Speechless (08/24) September: Free (09/09) || On the Threshold (09/12) || Woop! Woop! (09/14) || Over a Barrel (09/15) || Anna (09/28) October: Elmer (10/13) || Shattered (10/22) || Allergies Again (10/31) November: Relax Reflect Regroup (11/19) December: The next to last box (12/15) || Happy New Year! (12/29) || So Tired (12/30) || On the way to Vegas (12/30)

-- 2002 --

January: fear and loathing in job searching (01/26) February: brief description of good intentions (02/02) | recovery (02/03) | procrastination with a purpose (02/04) | claims (02/13) | happy valentines day (02/14) | late (02/15) | lazy (02/16) | avoid avoid avoid (02/18) | prep (02/27) March: morning pages (03/01) | day off, driving (03/03) | beautiful minds (03/04) | eagerly anticipating/ fretting (03/23) | floating (03/24) | faqs (03/27) | done (03/30) April: onwards (04/02) | secret admirers, dive bars, and hot pants (04/06) | plans and negotiations (04/09) July: starting over (7/16) || the end, again (7/17) || brows (7/22) || tired (7/24) || not a morning person (7/25) || laying the trap (7/29) || saving my strength (7/30) || home sick (7/31) August: wedding and weekend away reentry (8/4) || snarkey (8/6) || with long nails (8/7) || two google searches (8/10) || new bike! (8/11) || fever dreams, Las Vegas and more weddings (8/12) || 5, not 10 K (8/13) || sweeping and sharks (8/14) || look but don't touch (8/20) || random (8/24) || cooling down (8/26) || raining and running (8/28) || sick of it (8/29) || waiting, still waiting, for Verizon (8/31) September: catch up (9/1) || hiatus (9/17) October: honky tonk woman (10/06) || gotta go (10/08) || a good end (10/11) || hard work and holiday on the way (10/17) || bleh, bleh, heh (10/22) || a little motion sick (10/28) December: 6 paragraphs (12/02) || costume change (12/03) || speed skating (12/06) || all done up (12/11) || home alone (12/13) || new year and old photo (12/17) || crafting resin emergency (12/21) || glad to go away, glad to be back (12/29) || the year in review (12/31)

What about other people's names?
Decided this time around not to use my friend's real names. They didn't sign up for publication, after all. But if you see yourself mentioned and want a name change, let me know (I tried to use already given nicknames where I could get something reasonable for everyone else but you know...)

Cast of regular characters (family):

Mom, stepfather and two sisters (they call each other hug and bug - and who am I to argue?) in CT.

Father, stepmother, brother, sister-in-law and nephew, sister, brother-in-law, three nephews and a niece in CA (and another sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew in OR).

Cast of regular characters (friends) in alphabetical order:

Am: knew her in High School but she's more a friend from grad school. Incredibly smart and more than incredibly funny.

Beley: an old work colleague, lives in San Francisco, a great listener, incredibly warm-hearted and a just wonderful guy. Famous for his deadly and dangerous gin and tonics.

Beth: my sorority little sister, Beth lives up on Long Island with her new and awesome husband Scott. Beth's an incredible dancer and teacher of small children, all while being very sweet and a great friend.

Bibi: another first-job colleague (Beley, Bibi, Talullah and I all worked together), Bibi and I have been friends through nasty breakups, job trauma and worse. She's always a blast to go out with - we used to frequent Heaven's 80's Night, and it was when she visited me in San Francisco that I got to spend the night with the U2 fetishist.

Carrie: a friend from college; by day Carrie works as a researcher and dresses a'la Ann Taylor, at night stays out late and parties fun. A fellow "Anne of Green Gables" fan, Carrie's truly a kindred spirit.

D: one of the first people I met when I moved to Avon my junior year of high school and one of my best friends ever since. She's an amazing smart financial type, a lot of fun, can pick actually good Virginia wines, and married to Fergus.

Demmert: a friend from college, known for her party girl past but now one of the most organized, responsible, funny and fun people I know. Married to Darren.

Foster: a friend from college, Foster loves pez dispensers, 50's/60's kitsch, Helen Gurley Brown books and her beau Fabian. She's also the only person who understands my love for Free Range.

Free Range: my plastic chicken. Liberated from my sorority's rush closet, Free Range is the mascot of our college secret society Hubba Gamma and the hippest bird I know.

HK: short for "hug and kiss", her Simpsons-related nickname. HK's a college friend who is scandalous amounts of fun, has impeccable taste in clothes and kitsch, loves shopping at Sephora even more than I do, and is an unabashed country music fun.

Leigh: high school friend of Carrie's who moved down to DC a few years ago. Engaged to Porter who used to room with D.

Lisa: a friend from grad school, Lisa is tall, blonde, smart, and humble. My partner for Survivor and CSI watching, she's cool even though she did her undergrad at Stanford.

Marie: Marie is another college friend; she's been dating 3-String (who's in a band when he's not at work) for the past 5 years or so. Marie's a counselor, from New York, and definitely has a "weakness for boys in noisy bands".

Sarah: from North Carolina, Sarah started as a friend of a friend and now is a friend of mine. We do mostly happy hours, Sunday night dinner parties, and the occasional crazy night out.

SS the SS: my oldest friend (we've known each other since second grade) and roommate once in DC right after college and for the two years I was in grad school in CA. The nickname stands for Sergeant Sardine the Singing Salamander - don't ask, I don't remember. A news junkie who's equally up for hanging out at home or going out (once you actually get her out, that is).

Tallulah: an old work colleague, current partner in crafts, conversation, wine, and crime; someone I constantly, consistently rely on. Talullah's from Vermont, works in sales and speaks French fluently.

TB: the guy I'm dating at the time. Relatedly, the exbf is an ex. I try to avoid talking too much about either here.

Tess: friends with Tess from college, lived with her and Troy for a year. One of my favorite couples, especially when we're not all in the same small apartment. Tess works in HR and is a better cook/decorator/homemaker than Martha Stewart; Troy is an incredible outdoorsman with a great sense of humor.

Thali: Have been friends with Thali since seventh grade or so, she's an incredible creative amazing force of nature.