Top 5 of 2008

It's New Year's Eve and 2008 is coming to an end. It's been a good year; I definitely can't complain about anything. I'm grateful to have my health, my family and my job. In this economy, what else can you ask for? I thought I'd come up with a Top 5 list of things that have happened the past year. It's been a relatively quiet year.

1. My baby girl turned 3! She's really growing into herself and her personality. We've had some trying times as she attempts to assert her independence and test her boundaries, but overall she's a really good kid. I'm afraid she's taking after me with a few traits, though. Be prepared for another mouthy, hot-tempered know-it-all. She'll be on the loose before you know it!

2. I got a promotion and raise at work (and a fabulous new boss that I adore)! It's been a long time coming, but it finally happened. All it took was a change in management (for the better for once). I've been a disgruntled employee for so long now, it feels weird to actually be happy about my job.

3. We went to Disney World! It was a huge family trip back in March and the first time for me, Donald and Ella. We loved it! I definitely understand the magic of Disney now, which I didn't fully get before our trip. I can't wait to go back again.

4. Twilight! Yeah, I have fiction young adult books on my list, what are you gonna do about it? These books are awesome and I read all 4 of them in less than a week. I don't think I can say that about any other series. That was months ago and I still dream about Forks, WA and the Cullen clan. They've definitely left an imprint on me.

5. Pearl Jam! I don't consider myself a huge Pearl Jam fan (though Ten is one of my all-time favorite albums ever), but it's hard not to like these guys. And since I grew up in the grunge era, a lot of my adolescent memories are played in my mind with a Pearl Jam soundtrack. When I saw that they were coming to Columbia I jumped at the chance to get tickets. Bonus points for Kings of Leon as the opening band. Those guys are awesome!

Time will only tell what 2009 has in store for us. I can only hope for more good fortune or at least minimal waves rocking the boat. Happy New Year!

Keeping on keeping on...

I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with my 101 in 1001 goals or blogging about them. Sometimes life just gets in the way. Sometimes I'm lazy. Sometimes I forget. I always have some excuse for not doing what I should be doing. It's a sickness.

I have managed to complete a few tasks in the past month or so, though, so YAY me! Next week I'll be completing another task and then I'll be ready to start the new year gung ho. I think my one and only New Year's resolution will be to stop procrastinating on everything. That's what keeps me from doing anything that needs to get done, so if I can eliminate procrastinating from my daily habits, then think of how productive I'll become! I'll keep you posted on how that all works out.

So without further ado, here are the goals I've recently accomplished:

*Take Ella to the Ballet. My mom and I took Ella and Lauren to see The Nutcracker a couple weeks ago. We wondered if they might be too young, but they both did really well. Lauren is such a huge tomboy, my sister and I thought for sure she'd be bored and uninterested, but she was mesmerized. Ella was so taken by the ballet, she stood in the aisles and emulated everything the ballerinas were doing on stage. I think my child is destined to dance.

Ella and Lauren before the ballet

*Learn how to make my Mom's beef & noodles. This is one of those traditional meals that has been served in my mom's family for years. If I had to choose one meal that made me think of my family, this would be it. It's one of those things I can see teaching Ella to make some day and she'll pass it down to her children. It's very simple and so comforting (and a total carb overload!). My mom had us over to her house last week and taught me to make it. She did most of the work, but I really don't think it's anything I can screw up when doing on my own. So while I count this goal as accomplished, it's really only half done until I make this meal on my own at home without her help.

*Go an entire weekend without using the internet. I really accomplished this without much choice. Our home PC has been infected with spyware, worms, trojans and god only knows what else, so we had to unplug it until we can figure out a solution. I left work at noon on Tuesday, so that was my last contact with the interwebs. I did get online briefly at my mom's house on Friday, but didn't have access again until I arrived at work this morning. So I'd say I was successful. I have to say this was much more difficult than I expected and I did go through some withdrawals. It's amazing how much we rely on the internet these days! I wanted to look up several basic things, but was unable. I felt like my arm had been cut off! Okay, maybe not that extreme, but it was a weird disconnected feeling. Hopefully we get things resolved soon and I don't have to go through this again!

*Take an Us picture. I take a million and one pictures of Ella, but not enough pictures of Donald and me together. So I was snapping some shots of the girl and Donald happened to be there and I wrangled him onto the couch to take a shot together. After a handful of takes, I finally got one I can live with.

Donald and Karen, December 2008