On the eve of the new year, I decided that I might as well take this time to reflect on some of the awesome things that have happened this year…

my bubby graduated from high school:

I got my nose pierced!

I finished my beloved blue room:

I said goodbye to a dear companion:

I got my Dala:

I won a car!:

I also have several people in my life that I couldn’t imagine living without…

And in addition to the people, I’ve got a few other things that are pretty awesome… like:
*rock band… super fun… we are “Bon Appetit!” lol
*our new 61″ TV!!! YAY!
*I got all A’s (even though I procrastinated and didn’t do my homework)
*I have a fantastic job, with fantastic students
*I have the nest to keep me from being bored

This has been a wonderful year, full of wonderful people whom I love deeply… thank you for being a part of my life, and I hope you all have a fantastic year in 2008!

(emily’s pic from emily’s flickr, pics of jlo, lynn, vivian, keeli, kelly, and mom & john wedding pic from lynnmichelle.com; lola’s pic from lola’s flickr)

So, randomly, today Dmac and I were moving some things around, and we had this extra bookcase… and we took it out in the garage, because I’d been wanting to organize the garage. (I’m kinda an organization freak)

Well, we completely, freaking, organized the whole thing!! All the paint is put away and organized, the tools are accessible, all the christmas stuff is tucked neatly into boxes, and the yard stuff is completely tidy. I can hardly contain my glee… which of course, Daron laughs about…

I am a total nerd, but I love having my stuff in order. From color coding my white board markers at work:

to organizing pots and pans… I am so glad that our garage is pretty again.

Happy Holidays to everyone! (ironically, I’m writing this late, but oh well. )

D and I have many-a-celebration to enjoy this season. We started out by driving to Arkansas to see D’s Mom, Dad, Sister, BIL, and nephews… It was pretty fun, a long drive, but it was fun, nonetheless.

behold cute people:

Then, we came home, and had christmas at our house with my dad, laDonna, and my bro… Dad came through on just about the coolest christmas present EVER! ROCK BAND!!! I am apparently an amazing pretend drummer… for what its worth! The next morning, on Christmas day, we went out to my grams and art’s house, where we had christmas with grams, art, grandmother (my great-grandmother), brother, mom and john. It was very fun, and delicious!

So, Dmac and I are going on our first cruise!!We will be sailing on Carnival’s Elation, which is in the Fantasy class. It will be for 6 day/5 nights and we’ll be leaving from San Diego, and heading down the baja peninsula in Mexico to Cabo.The real reason that we decided to take the trip at all, is because we’ll be going on a “fanclub cruise” which basically means that the musical guest that we’re there to see, performs just for our small group, we get meet and greet, autograph stuff, etc.The group that we’re going to see is Lowen and Navarro (click Lownav for site), and they are wonderful… Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro make up the group and they are the epitome of the folk-thoughtful rock-singer/songwriter style.Devastatingly, Eric Lowen is currently battling ALS, which is more commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”. What that means, is that as a traveling musician and guitar player, his body is rebelling against his continued efforts to perform. As the disease progresses, his ability to go out and play will be greatly reduced. We count ourselves lucky that we get to be among those who see this fantastic duo live.

As a secondary point, I have discovered the forums over at CruiseCritic.com… and WOW, there is a whole cruise sub-culture, that is so completely full of information… if you’re ever going on a cruise, I HIGHLY recommend getting on those boards, and learning all about cruising first!

I promise a full review of the cruise, when we return.