Eleven lists of 11 for 2011

Like many people, I like to pause and reflect as the year draws to a close, and think about all that’s transpired in the last 12 months. Since I have a tendency to be highly self-critical—over-blowing my failures and minimizing my successes—making lists can help me see, in black and white, that even though I may not have achieved everything I intended, a lot of pretty groovy stuff went down in 2011.

Top 11 Peculiar Girl articles of 2011 (most read)

1. Bravery and the pursuit of compassion
2. My small, cheap, nonconformist vegan wedding
3. The anti walk-in closet project
4. 10 favorite vegan staple foods
5. How I went from bad performance review to dream job in two months
6. Easy vegan chili with soy chorizo
7. The 1o dumbest, weirdest, and most insulting stereotypes I’ve ever heard
8. Project 333, Phase 3: Mix, match, or toss
9. Gender stereotypes and the pressure to comform
10. I am nobody’s bitch
11. My final farewell to chemically dyed hair

My 11 favorite blog posts of 2011 (written by me)

1. Lessons from the world’s weirdest grandma, for Be Irreplaceable
2. Get it off me! Get it off me!
3. What is white privilege and why should I care?
4. How do we know when we are doing our best?
5. I am nobody’s bitch
6. Don’t buy stuff you cannot afford
7. Keep your trends off my body, part 2
8. Seven days of vegan eating, for Low Impact Betty
9. A few of my favorite (secondhand) things
10. Favorite Things | Kitchen Tools, for Simple Black Coffee
11. Overcoming gender stereotypes in marriage

My 11 favorite blog posts of 2011 (written by others)

1. Griffin and me, by Tom Breuer
2. Big Booty Judy: Can I Live?, by ThePBG on Dirty Pretty Thangs
3. How to make a love list, by Courtney Carver on Be More With Less
4. If you’re a bigot when you’re angry, you’re a bigot all the time, by Tami on What Tami Said
5. Mondo Labia, by Christa Faust on The Hairpin
6. Vegan Parenting and “Forcing Beliefs,” by Vegan Vixen on That Vegan’s Blog
7. So you accidentally shaved your head? 10 tips for coping, by Rebekah on Jaunty Dame
8. How I got my voice back, by Tara Mohr on Wise Living
9. Adventures in depression, by Allie on Hyperbole and a Half
10. Quashing the self-improvement urge, by Leo Babauta on Zen Habits
11. The Dog Whisperer: Frequently Asked Questions, by Lisa Mullinax, CPDT for 4 Paws University

Top 11 proudest personal and professional accomplishments of 2011

1. Published a personal essay on choosing not to becoming a mother in BRAVA magazine (May 2011 issue)
2. Published two food writing articles in Isthmus (Eating vegan in Madison restaurants, Whoopie cookies and more among Madison’s vegan sweets)
3. Earned my first-degree black belt in The Blend, a martial arts program that includes Tae Kwon Do, Muay Thai, boxing, Escrima, and self-defense
4. Participated in three rounds of the Project 333 minimalist wardrobe challenge
5. Was hired to write a book for Heartland Farm Sanctuary. This will be my first book and we are still in the early planning stages. Stay tuned!
6. Peculiar Girl was accepted into the BlogHer Publishing Network
7. Was asked to be a judge in the Alliance for Animals 8th Annual Vegan Chili Cookoff. Yum!
8. Wrote the Dog’s Best Friend Training tagline: For the joy of a good dog
9. Launched a bi-monthly e-newsletter for Dog’s Best Friend Training, The Joyful Companion (Subscribe for free on Facebook)
10. Wrote the tagline for the upcoming Heartland Farm Sanctuary One Square Fun Run event: Changing Lives in a Single Lap
11. Helped coach three of my martial arts classmates as they competed in the 2011 Muay Thai Classic tournament in Des Moines

Top 11 happy moments of 2011

1. Meeting the animals at Heartland Farm Sanctuary 
2. Enjoying one of the best meals of my life on Valentine’s Day with my husband, brother, and sister-in-law at Vita Rawstaurant in Green Bay (The restaurant has since closed, which makes me very sad)
3. Holding a live chicken for the first time, my sister-in-law Lisa’s rooster Andy
4. Afternoon naps with Griffin
5. Catching my in-laws, married 57 years, sneaking a kiss while swimming in the lake at the family cabin
6. Seeing the first tiny tomato growing in our vegetable garden
7. Watching the dogs frolic in the kiddie pool in our backyard on hot summer days
8. Attending the first annual Mad City Vegan Fest with my husband Tom on our one-year anniversary
9. Hosting board game nights with friends
10. Dancing with my husband at our niece’s wedding, and not caring how silly we looked
11. Enjoying nachos and margaritas with Tom, while watching movies on the night after my first-degree black belt test

The 11 weirdest keyword searches that brought people to my blog

1. could split peas make my poop a funny color (1 visit)
2. honk me off (4 visits)
3. pussiesfemales (81 visits)
4. mutant toe (3 visits)
5. asians have sideways vaginas (including variations on the same keywords, 14 visits)
6. armpit hair ashamed (2 visits)
7. honk smash (2 visits)
8. I think fireworks are boring (2 visits)
9. peculiar boobs (2 visits)
10. “no handed as fast” bike (1 visit)

My 11 best new purchases of 2011

1. Furminator de-shedding tool
2. The Vegan Table cookbook
3. M Brace raised garden bed system
4. J-41 Mountaineer vegan boots
5. 16×20 gallery wrapped canvas print of a photo from our honeymoon (purchased from Picture It On Canvas through Groupon)
6. Vintage ticking duvet cover and shams in blue, from Pottery Barn
7. Netflix streaming (good-bye, cable!)
8. Appetite for Reduction cookbook
9. Breville BJE510XL juicer
10. Say Anything board game
11. Epson WorkForce 630 All-in-One printer

My 11 best secondhand finds of 2011 (See photos on Flickr)

1. Child’s pastel drawing of animals ($9.99 not including framing, Goodwill)
2. Marimekko shower curtain ($2.99, Goodwill)
3. Futon with upholstered ottoman ($15, estate sale)
4. 1950s Ward Cole painting ($28 not including framing, St. Vincent de Paul)
5. Vintage tiki plates (.69 each, Goodwill)
6. Eddie Bauer queen-sized cotton blanket ($3.99, Savers)
7. Vintage gilded oval mirror ($6, garage sale)
8. Vintage gilded picture frame ($1, estate sale)
9. Toile valance ($2.99, Goodwill)
10. Blond Danish modern chair ($1.99, Goodwill)
11. Tiered metal shelf ($1, estate sale)

My 11 most-cooked recipes of 2011

1. Easy vegan chili with soy chorizo, my own recipe
2. Split-pea soup from The Vegan Table
3. Creamy chickpea and tahini casserole, from Food.com
4. Dhal (lentil puree), from Indianfood.com
5. Senegalese vegetable stew with millet, from celtnet.org.uk
6. Easy vegan nachos, my own recipe
7. DIY microwave popcorn with spicy, savory vegan butter, my own recipe
8. Aloo Ghobi (curried potatoes and cauliflower) from The Vegan Table
9. Gluten-free penne with spicy vegan pesto and vegetables
10. African sweet potato and peanut stew, from The Vegan Table
11. Spicy black bean and pumpkin stew with soy chorizo, my own recipe

Eleven ways we lived more sustainably in 2011

1. Switched to toxin-free homemade laundry detergent (I used the washing powder recipe from Low Impact Betty)
2. Started our first vegetable garden by building a raised bed in our backyard
3. Supported local growers during spring and summer by buying most of our fruits and vegetables at farmers markets (other than what grew ourselves)
4. Checked thrift stores and consignment shops first when shopping for clothes, home decor, and other needed items
5. Hosted a swap party for 10 friends. We all traded stuff we no longer needed for stuff we did want or need.
6. Embraced my natural hair color and said farewell to chemical hair dye forever
7. Gave up nail polish, which is loaded with toxic chemicals
8. Installed a high-efficiency furnace and air conditioning unit in our home
9. Installed a programmable thermostat, which automatically turns down the heat during times when we are not at home and at bedtime
10. Replaced most household cleaning chemicals with eco-friendly baking soda and vinegar
11. Replaced traditional light bulbs with compact flourescent light bulbs (as needed)

Top 11 “guilty” pleasures of 2011

1. Vegan nachos
2. Bloody Marys with Sunday brunch at Mickey’s Tavern
3. Afternoon naps
4. Hoarders
5. Storage Wars (Yeeeeah!)
6. Eating way too much at the Maharaja Indian lunch buffet (but everything is so good!)
7. Bejeweled Blitz (no, I don’t have anything better to do)
8. Jalapeno Krunchers potato chips (a must-have on road trips)
9. Cake Wrecks, when professional cakes go horribly, hilariously wrong
10. Yumbutter cranberry & coconutty peanut butter (awesome in oatmeal)
11. Regretsy, where DIY meets WTF

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Photo by qisur on Flickr