Goodbye 2011. You were a good year.
I tried to narrow you down to 12 photos, but needed 16 instead. You were just TOO BIG!
I wanted each photo to represent something significant.
Life. In 16 photos.
Magic, wonder, sorrow, contemplation, pleasure, new experiences.
In the last 12 months I…
donned my new polka dotted swim costume and played in the Szchenyi baths with my sister,
spent a week with my long lost brother,
found a sweet little reading retreat cabin next to a babbling brook,
made 3 travel journals & filled them up,
somehow convinced water from the Siene & Danube to come live with me at Moss Cottage,
met a stranger for dinner in Paris,
enjoyed some fun playdates with a local blogger i adore,
roamed around the city with my head out the window,
successfully hid my cache of pine needles and red brick dirt from the customs agent who pulled me over at LAX,
spent 2 blissful weeks at a dreamy casita in San Cristobal de Las Casas where i met a new friend (hello wickie!)
(and even though my uncle montezuma met me at the airport on the way home i didn't care)
rode a scary chairlift in Hungary with my sister and didn't fall off and break either of my legs or kneecaps,
wrote a movie in my mind while riding Budapest public transportation,
drank lots of fizzy elderflower soda cocktails on my back patio,
lived through an epic windstorm hurricane nightmare thing and survived a brownout for 3 days,
roadtripped to a little beach town where i was upgraded to an ocean front room,
had the pleasure of meeting my very own stranger in paris (chrissy!)
watched the Eiffel Tower lights come twinkiling on with Suzanne,
got a new fence around Moss Cottage,
cried while my cat Buck died in my arms,
started going on walks more regularly in my neighborhood,
got an iPad & discovered a whole new world,
created FULL TILT BOOGIE,
made a lot of books,
slept in the twin bed at Mama Moss' pad in Kansas for 5 nights,
read lots of good stories,
dreamt lots of big dreams & took good notes,
met a nice preying mantis in my back patio,
got stuck in the Guadalajara airport with a planeful of pushers and shovers,
had my heart warmed many times over by all the nice people who read this blog.
what a great year in pics . . . my favorite is Buck! Happy New Year; I love how your adventures have begun!
What a joy ride you take us on! Thank you for letting us tag along with you. Happy New Year and may it be the very best one ever!!!
You rocked 2011, Mary Ann!
Mary Ann, Such richness you create daily for yourself in your life. And even if we’re on to the joy in doing just that for ourselves, when we read your posts each day ,do you hear us whispering , ” Yes, I too can do more. ” Thank you for sharing yourself with us. After reading your posts, I am inspired. Happy New Year, Mary Ann!
You’re a complete delight, my dear. So glad to have shared in your life in 2011. Expecting more of the same this year. Hope you’ll make it to far-northern CA this year or next — Humboldt County is gorgeous. Thanks for all the wonder you’ve turned us all onto! xo
So beautiful, all of it….but every picture you put up of Buck makes me cry.
Happy New Year!
Mary Ann … you had a full and rich year and I’m sure more of that is to come in 2012. Thank you for taking us along on your journeys. You are truly inspiring.
Wow! You definately slid into Homebase, screaming, “What a great year!” Can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for Miss Mary Ann. Psst..Yea, What Debbie said, Ipad AJ Tutorial. I am going to keep bugging you. Sorry, gotta say it. I bow to the Queen.
What a full dance card you maintain, you little tap dancer! Thanks for the virtual ride, you drive to the ends of the earth but I never get carsick. I am pulling a work all-nighter and just had to check in on you to make sure you survived into 2012. I am inspired to create my own list of achievements for 2011: fed kids 900 times, fed animals 900 times, fed myself 19,000 times, lost 23 pounds, gained 30 pounds, read 4.5 million words, ate 4.5 million sunflower seeds (there is a connection), drank (can’t remember how much), grew some very yummy tomatoes and some very icky cucumbers, quit smoking 3 times, and made 8 gorgeous lovely FTB journals. Of course I did much, much more, but those are the highlights. Sigh. Here’s to a fabulous 2012!!!!!!!
Wow!!!!! Happy New Year!!!!
This is a really fun club to belong to. I feel right at home every time I drop in. Big hug to you Mary Ann.
OMG! I am a complete slacker! 🙂
I’m so happy you were part of my 2011. Much love to you, MA. Thank you for everything. xoxo S
Ps..St. Valentine (aka Hunter) needs a head-count for your class. We want to make the VA to CA valentines a tradition…
WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!!
Now that is living life at its best! May you have an incredible and wonderful 2012. Thank you sincerely for including me on your travels and your amazing love of life! Huge Hugs to you Dear Miss Mary Ann Moss!!!
I so enjoy your life!
um, excuse me, those go-fasters* flippin’ rock. Out to hunt myself a pair of technicolor Adidas!!
cortney from FTB, via san francisco
Happy New Year, Mizz Moss.
You grabbed life by the balls last year! Good on ya!
What a year you had and I for one can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for you and for all of us!! Be creative every day and let your overflowing inspiration rain down on all the little monkeys in your charge- Lucky lucky kiddos!!! happy 2012 So very sorry that you lost dear Buck!!!
I think you are absolutely amazing and your recap of the year just proves it with all of your incredible adventures. It’s often a highlight of my day when I catch up with you via your blog. I’m looking forward to all the new things to come in 2012 and wish you every happiness for this year.
Happy New Year Mary Ann. I wish you many adventures, safe travels, health, and blessings for the new year. And, I thank you for sharing your life with us. My life is made richer by reading your blog and taking your wonderful classes. Big Hugs, Darcy
How I have missed your daily blogging! I am so glad youre back!!! I am ready for ipad app instructions… you became the queen of ipad art journaling!!
I hope this year brings you much joy, art journaling and whatever else lurks in your heart of dreams!
Thank your for your inspiration and beautiful blog….
I admire your capsulization (I think I made up a word!) of 2011. It made me think and is not, I believe, at least from my perspective, that easy to do. You touch the hearts and souls of so many, Mary Ann. You encourage dreaming … BIG dreaming. You attract like minded souls who are obviously part of your global tribe. Your sense of adventure, pure unadulterated optimism and joy of life is catchy and causes ‘hope’ in others who may have thought they did not have the courage to venture out alone, to live those secret seeds, which are now sprouting inside into beautiful gardens to be tended. This past year, your year, is bigger than you ever ever dreamed. You, my dear, are a huge part of ‘the butterfly effect’, causing wonderful little ripples, which extend far and wide wherever you go. Go well in 2012 Mary Ann. May this year bring you everything you need and all you long for. I am so pleased to have found ‘one of the ripples’. With is comes such pleasure and many smiles. You will carry Buck in your heart forever. xxDonna
Love your spirit of adventure and of sharing you with us!
peace & namaste
denita
A full-to-the-brim year! I’m inspired by this post to collect (my own batch of pix) and reflect (on my own list of 2011 milestones). Will gather with friends for an Art Day on Saturday, and that seems like a good opportunity to start a new art journal. Looking forward to following your adventures in 2012! 🙂
And big thanks for including we bloggers in all of your adventures!! I hope 2012 brings lots more scrumptious adventures to you and vicariously to us!!
Thanks for your heart warming and joyful blogposts and all creative ispiration you are sharing. Happy 2012 to you.
definitely a year well-spent! (except for losing Sir Bucky).
I can’t thank you enough for the unlimited inspiration you provide to me by sharing your adventures and your day-to-day living. I look forward to reading your blog every day and it never disappoints me. ever. not once.
hugs and kisses to you Mary Ann!
Cheers to a joyful and prosperous 2012!!
Yours truly,
Dawn
I thought I was the only one on this earth to love the fuzzy elderwater drinks… They are big in England, hard to find though, it’s a relief to see that you can get them in the States. I would say it looks like a pretty good year… Glad you blogged today!
Mary-Ann, yours was the first blog I started following and your FTB class, along with your wonderful photos, has changed the way I look at things. My beautiful cat died around the same time as Buck, so I cried along with you. May 2012 be full of the joys and lighter on the sorrows. Thank you!
It was a wonderful year for me, because – I discovered YOU!
Looking forward to many more journeys by your side.
May 2012 be a great year for you.
What a heartwarming blog post this morning, I am happy and sad for you but mostly fantastically happy. You are one glal who lives and loves life and you take us along with you. So happy to have found your and taken your classes. I have made many journals thanks to you and your fantastic classes – watched one just the other day so I could hear your smile and fun in your voice. Continue fun and happy and enjoy the rest of your vacation.
So happy that you were blessed with many good things in 2011. I know you have certainly made my life more enjoyable throughout the year…….thanks a lot.
Your year was full and over flowing that goes without saying. I think you pretty much captured each and every high and low that tugged at your heart strings and maybe sometimes tugged just a little too hard. My wish for you in 2012 is to reach many, many more amazing high places and no low ones, at least not the kind that hurt your heart and soul and for Moss Cottage to always remain at the center of your world, that safe and cozy place where you are surrounded by your favorite things and those you hold closest. Ever and always your blog buddy with the big wings.
Please add, made your followers laugh, dream, aspire, imagine etc, etc ….
Have a wonderful 2012 and don’t forget if you are planning to come to London, I’m your girl for ideas !
AND touched the lives of so many more people than I’m sure we’re even aware of. 2011 was a year of great inspiration, creativity, and adventure for all of us thanks to your generous spirit. Can’t wait for a productive and successful 2012. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Carry on oh fearless leader!
I’ve enjoyed spending 2011 with you Mary Ann. Can’t wait to see what 2012 has in store for all of us!!
it was mostly a blast following your dispatches. except the BAD TIME. looking forward to your 2012 journey.
As always,a pleasure to travel along with you on your adventures. And big thanks for the discovery of the cabin by the creek – we’ll be spending my birthday weekend there next month! Best of the coming year – can’t wait to see what you’ll be up to next.
Erin in Morro Bay
wow! you had a very eventful year, so glad you took us along on it with you. i’ve enjoyed every bit of it. thank you for sharing so much with the ones of us that unable to travel and experience such places. looking forward to what 2012 brings for you. happy new year.
Yes, a very interesting year and talk about highs and lows! You really do inpsire people to live the fullest life they possibly can. Happy 2012 to you, Mary Ann and may it be filled with even more high points!