miss idaho.

I'm leaving for Peru tomorrow morning! Early, early - which always send the good kind of butterflies into the pit of my stomach.

My family time was too short, but super cozy with a delicious Christmas Eve meal, Meg's homemade mint chocolate ice cream I ended up inhaling and a late-night Christmas taco craving. (all food related...)

Also, working Christmas Eve will make you super, super thankful for family. I literally could not drive home fast enough.

The reality of living out of a backpack for three weeks is starting to freak me out - so, my goals for the trip in order to increase my accountability:

pack light.

take pictures.

balance. (especially when it comes to my infamous careening emotions).

easy-going, go-with-the-flow.

a bloody mary on the flight. walker is dubious this is even possible, but I swear it is and I always thought it sounded so glamorous...

machu pichu!

inca trail!

ceviche!

sunsets.

sunrises.

embrace crazy hair, the absence of a mascara wand and getting really sick of the skint amount of clothes i pack.

dancing.

daily pepto bismal intake.

come home with a tan.

romantic.

keep in mind that this is exactly what i've always wanted to do and exactly the person i want to be doing it with and how extremely blessed i am to get to do it.

best of 2010.

In the spirit of (Best of 2009) and my love of "best of" lists...

p.s. I want to read all of these. I have a thing for long-form magazine articles.

p.p.s. The New York Times year in photos.

Best Band I Saw Live: mumford & sons. whoa.

(i also saw avett brothers, pavement and sufjan so that's say'n something).

Best Ever: scuba diving in the great barrier reef.

Best pinch-me i'm dreaming Moment: seeing an opera in the sydney opera house.

Best place for a weekend you want to model the rest of your life after: portland.

Best people to do it with: paige and kelly.

Best Tailgate: the grove at ole miss.

Best Pet: walker's sister ashton's bunny ellen. bunnies as puppies.

Best Movie: scott pilgrim vs. the world was a wonderful surprise. inception.

Best person to drink wine with: colby wedel. specifically knarly head's old vine red zin. in her house that i've lived in for almost an entire year. again, whoa.

Greatest Accomplishment: finishing war & peace/running lake hefner/a one-year anniversary.

Best Realization: how good eminem actually is - the man raps likes he'll literally die if he doesn't. how much i don't like being broke.

Best Eats: little red bike cafe in portland, oregon! rolando's in fort smith, arkansas! cjelina in venice, california! the gates in kansas city, missouri! personalizing my pizza every night at the wedge (hello evoo, goat cheese and arugala)!

(places in oklahoma city i really want to try in the coming year: ludavine and cafe antigua).

Best Music: mark ronson, kanye west, the national, punch brothers, drake, nicki minaj, B.o.B., spoon, arcade fire, big boi, janelle monae, sufjan stephens, vampire weekend, the black keys

Best Songs: what part of forever, cee-lo green. tighten up, the black keys. teenage dream, katy perry. lost in the world, kanye and bon iver.

Best Music I Do Not Like: ke$ha. best coast (uggg get out of bed already!). local natives.

Best Television: i'm kind of really loving the real housewives of beverly hills right now. modern family. true blood. dex. boardwalk empire.

Best thing I had always heard was good, but never really took people up on until this year: planet earth. a cheese log. hawaii.

Best Read: the elegance of the hedgehog.

Best News Story: live coverage of the chilean minors rescue - rarely can news be so heartwarming.

Best Fashion: carine roitfeld retires from french vogue - what an icon. madewell goes online. blake lively.

Best Cookie: ricotta cheese cookie at cafe 501 - thanks for moving closer to me.

Best Beauty Product: clarin's sunless tanning lotion.

dr. suess was so brilliant.

It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.

(Dr. Suess, How The Grinch Stole Christmas).

vintage christmas.

It's like Christmas is this fleeting feeling you get glimpses of, moments where it's in your hands and warm in your heart before it slips from your grasp.

Maybe the key is not to force constant cheer, but be open to these sweet moments of brevity.

...and send well wishes and greetings out into the world.

worth a watch.

...mostly because I love funky dressing little kids and my Dad says the little girl in this reminds him of the way Meg used to dress when she was that age.

Man, you should have seen Meg back in the day - she was a fearless little gypsy in floor-sweeping Mexican skirts.

Also, I want a loft apartment I can ride my bike around in.

extravaganza '10.

Remembering Extravaganza '09...

Well, my team's gingerbread house won again!

We went with a Christmas gala/fashion show at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art theme - the dangling licorice from above represents a Dale Chihuly sculpture, duh.

The other team (losers) went with a well-constructed bakery.

The contest was weirdly competitive this year, our game of Dirty Santa was super dirty and between jobs and crammed schedules our numbers were down and preparation was rushed, but I still came away with the same feeling of well broken-in love.

I just love us.

* Also, prepare yourselves for better pictures (sans random date on side I can't figure out how to get rid of) from now on, because my overwhelmingly-wonderful-at-gift-giving boyfriend got me a camera for Christmas! Eeeps!

via text.

Walker: What are you up to today?

Kate: papa, spin, wedge, wine.

Walker: Thats a Kate