So many other Go Girls have written about their top 10 of 2010 (see Nicole’s and Megan’s articles), I just had to add my own.

It’s actually pretty amazing how eventful a year can be– and this year has certainly taken me on quite a whirlwind.

Here’s Beth’s Top 10 of 2010

1. February: No one was prepared for it when Snowpocalpyse DC struck the streets, keeping people curled up at home for two weeks while even Pennsylvania Avenue was left completely unplowed for a least five days. No one knew how to deal with the multiple feet of snow that we got. No plows were in sight. A week into the Snowpocalypse a mini bulldozer came and tried to plow our street. Since anyone in our neighborhood had to drive through an alley in order to make it onto the main road, and since that alley was never plowed, we all had to wait weeks for the snow to melt before we could use our vehicles again. The only way out? Putting on snow pants and shuffling through two feet from my house to my friend Adam’s house, to the local dive bar where he and my friend Siobhan and I played Jenga and sipped the cold away.

2. March: Who could forget my adventures skiing for the first time in Jackson Hole? Though I had a great time doing it, I will probably never do it again, due to an embarrassingly dramatic fall on the bunny slope that kept me from walking for multiple days. It was movie quality and I was my own stunt woman. But I will never forget the vast beauty of Wyoming, what seemed like a different world.

Beautiful Wyoming

3. April: Honoring my birthday with a flight on a six-seater plane from the island of La Gonâve to Haiti’s mainland, looking over at some of the bluest water I’ve ever seen and celebrating the night away after splurging on ice cream and pastries in Pétionville.

With my buddy Bill in the smallest plane ever.

4. May: Between travels, I spent three weeks with my grandparents in Hartford, CT, site of infamous Zumba article and place of my upbringing. Had a blast living with Grandma, fresh with a new job that took me out on her small grassy lawn to do work reading. I interviewed a number of her friends at the senior center about their immigration experiences and we were working on a small video for them. My favorite guy, her friend Sam, passed away not long ago. My grandfather, Ron, also passed away recently. I was glad to have spent time with them both. May they rest in peace on their own next adventures.

5. Later that May:OMG, is that really YOU????” I went crazy when seeing my friend Jöel at a bar in St. John, USVI, en route to a workshop and conference that Waveplace was planning. Went even crazier when we learned that he actually lives and works at the Maho Bay Camps, where we were staying! Seeing an old friend in paradise sure made the times even better.

St. John, Photo by Tanya Kleider

6. July: Watching the World Cup in São Tomé e Príncipe, a two island African nation just off the coast of Gabon, was not only one of the most eventful moments of my year, but probably one of my life. Two American friends and a few of my São Tomean friends got together to pull bits of Santola (enormous crab) apart and watch a projection of the World Cup on the back of a Red Cross building. During the commercials, a DJ spun thick Euro/African beats in low light. As Nicole mentioned, Shakira’s “Waka Waka” speaks to me. Though I wasn’t in South Africa, I was there.

7. August: More changes than you can imagine, coming to my new home in North Carolina where my boyfriend, fresh from Afghanistan, had just gotten back to. Moving in a 16-foot budget truck (trademark of my life changes, I think), getting a new kitten, and soaking up the rays on the NC coast during work breaks. Life this month could not have been sweeter.

8. September: Road-tripping with Marvin up north to see the people and things we had been yearning for in all of our travels. Ethiopian in DC, fall foliage in Norwich, VT, pizza party at Grandma’s in CT, an incredible wedding in Maryland. Life on the road with two and a kitten was exciting and new.

My old living room in DC...missing it but loving the adventures ahead!

9. October: “Is this Full House?” My first experience in San Francisco, the hilliest town I think I have ever walked. On my day off, I hit up all the tourist spots– and loved every minute of it. Had a great time meeting global coworkers (and new friends) at a conference on the west coast.

10. December: Nearly cried when I saw Rockefeller Center all lit up for Christmas for the very first time. Hot apple cider in hand. Then, a few days later, the big party. For me, New Years usually consists of sitting on my couch and watching the ball drop, but this year it lasted until about 7am in Manhattan. And it was great.