Looking Back... a Year in Review

January

Mark Verdugo came to visit me, one of my favorite people!

February

I only worked 5 days this month. I had a pretty major surgery that laid me up for 3 weeks.
Before surgery - After surgery

MUCH LESS BOOBAGE. I think it was about 12 lbs, actually! Rick came and stayed with me after surgery, there's some funny stories there!!! Apparantly I even had him make me eggs! ( I don't eat eggs)

March

TONS of blues parties!!! The first real dances I attended after surgery- I was nervous about dancing, but blues was definately the way to get back into any sort of physical activities.

April

I was selected for a 30 Day Detail to work in the Lynnwood Social Security Office, and absolutely LOVED it! Met wonderful people, and got a taste of face to face interaction with the people I usually only talk to on the phone. This is when I realized I want to be an SSI CR.

May

Tiana came to visit! She is the best lead EVER, and moved back to Hawaii. I'm going to her wedding in June 08. Damn, I miss that woman!

I also reconnected with a cousin who had been estranged from the family for silly, silly reasons. Dori was on the royalty court for Clallam County, and she was in a parade! She has grown to be such a beautiful young woman. I can't wait to watch her persue her dreams!

Now, with this stupid formatting, I've got a bit of extra space here... it's taken me hours to fight with it- no, really, I meant it!!!

June

I played on a summer softball team, and it was so much fun! Mark and Angelica came to visit from the East Coast, and that was so wonderful. I wish they lived so much closer! And... (drumroll please....) DANA MOVED BACK UP FROM VANCOUVER! We signed our lease papers for the condo, aka The Penthouse, as her parents dubbed it.

She's the best roommate EVER!!

July

My grandmother, Nonna, died in my father's arms. She's the one that I moved home to help my parents take care of, my mom's mom. This affected me greatly, as my dad's mom was killed in an accident 2 years ago in January, and I miss my grandmothers very very much. I still feel them with me every step of the way, but there's a little part of me that selfishly misses them here with me, misses hearing them talk, their silly little quirks that made them so perfect in that grandmother sort of way...

Two days after Nonna's funeral, I was was transported to the ER; my heart decided it was time to go into full A-Fib, atrial fibrilation, and was beating around 210 bpm for almost 12 hours! I think I slept for 2 days when I was finally relased from the hospital. It happend again a week later, and I had to be transported again. Luckily the cardiologist said these were lone occurrances and shouldn't ever happen again. I was bummed out that they wouln't let me take all the charts from my heart rates home.

August

I chopped off all my hair! Absolutely loved it, it's fun and sassy... just a pain to keep in place when I go dancing. So, alas, I've decided to grow it out again... because, you know what? It's hair, it grows.


Let's see- what else... Chad finally came out to visit, after a year of emailing, endless phone conversations every day, and planning... he came to visit from New York, said he had a wonderful time, and hasn't talked to me since. Ha. Story of my life!!! (he doesn't get any picture space here!)



I went to my first Seahawks game with my brother Steve, it was very VERY cool.

And then, of course, the beginning of Labor Day Weekend... which means Dana's family cabin with everybody! Our cell phones decided to mingle on the first day...

September

Rick got his new car stuck in a huge ditch- this is a picture of him crawling out of it! Then Dana and I went exploring on the beach with my cameras, more pictures can be seen on my webshots page, and I think they're on myspace too.

We learned that Portland peeps rock at board games, and that Jenny has some weird music, Rick snagged it from her, but iTunes doesn't like my laptop, so I cannot access any of it. We also learned that French people may fall while riding their bikes over railroad tracks in Portland... either that, or the company who made the signage didn't know how to draw a bike helmet.




And then we had a monster brunch at Salty's for all the September birthays. That was a blast!

This is the whole family right now, from left to right- Annie (Steve's gf), Melinda, Stephen, Alissa (Andy's gf), Andy, and Mom and Dad in front.

October

I went to San Francisco by myself, for myself. It was a blast!

Rick and Dana and I went to a grand ball, An Evening In Vienna, and it was absolutely fabulous. Althought, I don't recommend trying to lindy hop in a ball gown- the moves are lost under all the fabric, and you're more likely to tear your skirt... No pictures of me dancing, but I'll get over it.

November

Mark and Angelica came to visit again, and this time I threw them an engagement party. It was a lot of fun to have everyone together again, oh, how I wish they lived in Seattle!


I had another birthday, and treated myself to season tickets to the 5th Ave Theatre. Rick and Dana joined me for the opera Into the Woods, it was wonderful!



This is the beautiful turkey that Dana and I cooked for our friends. It had a broken arm, so Dana covered it, to prevent the wing from burning. We liked the Turkey Salute!


We put up a tree, after Thanksgiving of course, with lights and decorations... usually Italians put a bird in the tree as well... Kaleb was our bird!






Which brings us to... (again, drumroll please)...





December

A white Christmas, to say the least!!! It actually snowed on Christmas Day!!!! And Andy was riding his new bike in it, just like he was 6 years old again.

This brings my summary to a conclusion... I reconnected with many dear friends who were close to my heart growing up, and will remain so. I made some amazing new friends, and cannot wait for what is to come! I do hope you've enjoyed the read, as well as the photographs. Please, take a look at my webshots page!

Take care, and God bless!