2011, The Year in Review & 2012 Goals

It's the last day of 2011.  Wow, where has the time gone?  2011 was a year filled with ups and downs for me.  I won't bore you with all of the details, but I wanted to do the obligatory end of the year post anyways.

I'll try to keep this card related as much as possible, but I can't help but to start off with the highlight of 2011 for me and my family - the birth of my 2nd daughter, Winnie Mae.

She was born July 1st.  No matter how many bumps in the road our family have hit this year this day alone makes up for all those not so stellar days.  I can't believe she'll be 6 months old tomorrow.  Before I know it I'll be sitting in on the couch cleaning a gun as my girls prepare to go out on a date!

2011 was the 2nd full year since I have gotten back into baseball and trading cards and it has been a fun year to say the least.  I may have bitten off more than I can chew when it comes to set building.  I tried to tackle a number of sets - most of which I'm still working on!  

I really enjoyed the base Topps set again, but my favorite had to been Allen & Ginter.  2010 was really my first exposure to the A&G brand so I was excited for 2011's version.  I even tried my hand at participating in the annual Gint-A-Cuffs contest.

Group Breaks also played a large part of 2011.  I continued to host my monthly Affordable Group Breaks with good success.  Judging by the participation I'd say most people were happy.  The one product I was most eager to open was 2011 Topps Marquee.  As a general rule I don't buy the high end stuff.  I can't afford it and I'm not willing to take a risk when I could simply buy the single card I want instead.  However I was able to get enough interest to swing a 3 box break.

  

I was happy w/ the Heyward and I know the other guys were happy w/ their team's hits as well.  I would love to do something similar again, but I honestly feel more comfortable sticking to my cheap format.

As a participate in several group breaks across various blogs I also had great success with the Braves.  Autos were plentiful - which really surprised me.  Some of the highlights included:

  

There are a few more I could share, but I'm sorely behind on my group break posts and scanning cards!

Another bright spot for 2011 cardboard has been the explosiveness of Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.  Sure the cardiac cats didn't make the playoffs, but I think it's safe to say that NO ONE expected the type of play that Newton and the Panthers put on the field this season.  I wasn't able to acquire as much football cardboard as I would have liked to, but here are a few Panthers acquisitions I did manage to pick up:

Like with football I didn't do as much with wrestling cards in 2011 as I did the previous year, but I was impressed again with Topps' effort with the base WWE set.  My favorite insert set uses the familiar Heritage baseball design from earlier in the year.

  

A lot of the inserts where just "meh", but the one hobby box I did buy yielded a few nice cards.

Santino is a goof, but I like his in ring antics.  There are several different versions of this shirt relic, but this one was the cheapest.

Looking ahead to 2012 I plan to be more focused on what I buy and collect.  Some goals include finishing off the Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter base sets.  I'd like to continue to knock out as many inserts from those sets as well.  As far as what I plan to collect...well that is still up in the air.  The design of 2012 Topps is starting to grow on me, but I'm still not sold on all of the inserts.  I was happy to hear that GQ was coming back for another year, but I'm not too keen right now of it's design.  A&G will probably be another fun set to chase, but the minis and inserts will be what makes it or breaks it for me.

While it's fun to forecast what I'll do in 2012 it'll all come down to the family finances.  Maybe I should say my goals are hopes instead!  No matter what happens though I'm ready to say good bye to 2011 and I'm looking forward to what 2012 throws my way.

One last thing.  At the time of this post there are still 3 slots left for January's Affordable Group Break!