To carry on with tradition:

Top 5 things I learned in 2006:
1. i should not wear heels over 2" in height.
2. we CAN buy a house!
3. when you own your house, you have to fix things yourself.
4. i'm not ready to have babies, and that's ok.
5. not everybody has ulterior motives all the time. don't be so suspicious.

Top 5 most wonderful ingestions of 2006:
1. rhubarb gimlet at lula cafe. so good it should get 3 of the top 5 spots here.
2. Pan-Roasted Skate Wing, Peruvian Potato, Hericot Vert & Beurre Noisette at the underground restaurant.
3. pozole rojo.
4. milliondollarcheese (ash marbled chevre from Capriole).
5. goat cheese truffles.

Top 5 events I participated in in 2006:
1. seeing the west coast for the first time in about 15 years. visiting sf for the first time ever. napa, sonoma, san luis obispo, santa barbara. i couldn't have asked for a better anniversary.
2. swapping christmas ornaments with total strangers, knowing that my crafts are around the world and receiving some remarkable items in return.
3. hosting my second ever thanksgiving, this time in my own home. having unrelated family and friends from all three coasts meet to eat at my house.
4. Phoenix at the double door.
5. watching our friend from boston, Alex, run the chicago marathon.

Top 5 sad things of 2006:
1. the loss of my great aunt Ve. she will always be missed.
2. learning of Settimana's closing. it will be missed.
3. hubb getting hit by a car. he was ok, but it was terrible nonetheless.
4. the flood. very scary for first time homebuyers, less than a week after closing.
5. saying goodbye to four good friends that moved away. - chicago misses you guys!

Top 5 happy things of 2006:
1. buying a house! we. own. our. home. it's a feeling i'm still not quite used to, but i am in love with the fact that we can break or replace or paint or install whatever we want in our very own little piece of chicago. (and hiring movers. best decision we made during the whole process.)
2. 3 new babies in the family, my cousins having babies less than two weeks apart last spring, bringing us a little boy, Carter, and a sweet little girl, Sophie, and my sister having her first child in october, little Brenae.
3. hubb and i reaching a personal financial milestone. i won't talk specifics, but we're much better off than we ever have been and it's quite comforting to know so.
4. learning of friends' engagements (3), marriages (2), pregnancies (4), and births (1).
5. getting in better touch with my family. spending time together and making plans for the future.

Top 5 discoveries of 2006:
1. De Martino 2004-05 organic Cabernet
2. Wheach. oh my god, Wheach.
3. pozole rojo.
4. felt.
5. i-go.

Top 5 blogs of 2006:
1. go fug yourself
2. fancy toast
3. etsy
4. design sponge
5. tiny showcase

Top 5 excitements for 2007:
1. my girlfriend lindsay having her first baby this summer.
2. my best friend gina's commencement in atlanta in may.
3. losing 10 pounds. COME ON, EMILY, YOU CAN DO IT!
4. getting a new couch.
5. an addition to our little family.....maybe we'll get a dog?