This is my favorite time of year. People are reflecting and sharing excitement about possibilities and growth. There is simply a lot of positivity and promise in the air.

2011 seemed to be a year of transitions and lessons for me and those I love: my five year college reunion is coming up (five years? already?); my mailbox was full of wedding invitations; my calendar was overflowing with good bye parties as friends went off to grad school; I celebrated big professional wins and took the plunge into GRE prep; and I have a neat stack of failed projects and squandered opportunities that I look at occasionally as a reminder that while mistakes are inevitable, the world wont come crashing down. I’m also celebrating my fourth year of blogging and my birthday–milestones that make it easy for me to track my growth and encourage me to plan for my future.

While the changes seemed to come fast and suddenly, they also signal a general movement towards a better understanding of who I am and what I value. I realize that I have everything I need to create the professional and personal experiences I desire. My focus now is on  nurturing and leveraging–people, ideas, skills, work–instead of just adding, in order to move forward.

Here’s to being more deliberate and more focused; to saying no in order to get to yes; to prioritizing; to being grateful; and to making mistakes.

What did 2011 teach you?

Thanks to everyone who entered!  I used random.org to select three winners.  The winners are:

Lindsay B: Nonprofit Career Guide

Andre G: How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar

Emily S: Nonprofit Career Guide

I look forward to sending you your books!  Please fill out this contact form with your mailing address and I will send them out next week.

Thanks again to everyone who entered.  It was great seeing the kind of books people wanted to read and why.  This certainly won’t be the last giveaway from me  Please follow me on twitter or on facebook so we can stay in touch.

I frequently get emails/tweets/Facebook messages about interesting opportunities in NYC.  They can get lost in my blog if I try to post them as I receive them so I created an Events and Opportunities Page for young people interested in social change.  Events are in blue, job/internship/fellowship opportunities are in green and are listed by the date applications are due.

This is by no means an exhaustive list so if you know of an event or opportunity, please feel free to email me ajlovesya [at] gmail [dot] com.  When you email please put “Listing for Entry Level Living” in the subject.  Thank you!

Hey Everyone!

I’ll be spending the week in New Orleans so I wont be blogging or tweeting or facebooking or emailing (whew!) much this week.  Have a fabulous New Year and see you in 2010!

Allison