In just a few hours, the famous ball will drop in Time’s Square signaling the end of another year. As I reflect on this past year, I think this was the best year yet. I have never been happier with my life as I am right now. I am thankful to have a wonderful family, good friends, and an amazing boyfriend in my life to see me through the good and the bad. 2008 was great, and I am looking forward to what 2009 will bring!

This year was the best and busiest Christmas ever. Four days, four different cities, four Christmases. After our Christmas in Eugene, we drove up for our Salem Christmas celebration as Adam’s parent’s power was finally restored. We had a quick lunch then opened presents. Then we headed up to have our Portland Christmas with my family.

Our family decided to pretend that Friday was Christmas Eve and Saturday was Christmas day. We had a wonderful dinner cooked by my dad…fillet mignon and lobster! We opened a few presents before we headed off to bed, but not before my mom read “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” to my sister and I which is a tradition on Christmas Eve. ‘Christmas” morning we woke up, opened our stockings and a few presents. The family made a wonderful breakfast as my grandmother and aunt came to visit. We continued to open presents and enjoyed all our new gadgets.

Later that afternoon, we headed up to Vancouver, Washington to our final Christmas with my dad’s family. The evening was filled with phenomenal food, great company and lots of little cousins to entertain us.

Overall, it was an absolutely wonderful Christmas. Although our original plans were tossed by the way side early on due to the weather, this year’s Christmas turned out to be better than ever. I would not have changed a thing…having a fantastic Christmas with lots of family celebrating sitting next to a man that I love. Life does not get better than this.

With all that mother nature has brought us this winter, my Christmas vacation plans have been quite altered. From months of planning, it all seemed to go right out the window a few days ago. Here in Eugene, the roads are clear, there is no snow and the temperatures reached the 40s. However, the plan was to spend Christmas in Portland and Salem. Both cities were hit with lots of snow. My parent’s house in Portland got 13 1/2 inches of snow, and living on hills makes it hard to even leave the house. Adam’s parent’s house in Salem got just as much snow, but also lost power.

When life gives you lemons, it’s time to make lemonade. With the White family displaced without a heated or lighted house, Adam and I hosted Christmas down here in Eugene. On Christmas Eve morning, Deanna, Glen, Ben and Liz drove down from Salem. (Ben and Liz flew in from Boston on Monday night…it was lucky they were able to get into PDX). We made yummy panini sandwiches, played Cranium and chatted. Liz made a wonderful Italian dinner, but we only had 3 courses instead of the standard 12.

Christmas morning we woke up and had breakfast. We opened some presents, and the White family went for a walk while I took my traditional Christmas nap. After lunch, Liz and Ben made delicious cookies while the rest of us decorated cookies. I must say that Liz is quite the cookie decorator. So if med school does not pan out, then I think she has a bright future in pastry decorating. I am not that talented, but is was fun to try. We played a game of Taboo while dinner was in the oven. After a nice dinner, games were played and cookies were eaten. As I crawled into bed last night, I found myself very thankful for being able to celebrate Christmas with such as wonderful family. It was hard for me to be away from my family on Christmas day, but it was so nice to feel like a part of a family, even if it is not my immediate family.

Today we are off to Salem (where there is power now) to finish up the Christmas with the Whites, then onto Portland to see my family, then Saturday to Vancouver for the large family celebration. So in all, I will have had four Christmas celebrations this year. This is the most memorable year yet!

So randomly, Adam and I decided on Thursday night to throw a party on Friday night. We wanted to celebrate being on vacation, me being off school for a while, and invite all our friends to see our place as a housewarming party. We didn’t really plan much for the party, but we did get a keg. We went to Ninkasi (a local Eugene brewery) and got my favorite beer from them: Total Domination IPA. We wanted to get the seasonal beer Sleigh’R, but it was so popular that it would not be ready until next week. When we looked at sizes, we decided that it would be best to get a full keg with the amount of people who were coming. Well, we didn’t finish the keg, so it looks like we will be drinking lots of beer over winter break. I am sure plenty of our friends are willing to help!

We played Clue, Telepictionary (Thanks Liz), Guitar Hero and Street Fighter, watched silly internet videos, made brownies, had yogurt and snow ball fights in the house. It was a fun and random night!

Pictures are posted in the gallery. Keep in mind pictures were taken by a non-sober person!

If you come to Kick City to watch my women’s indoor game, you will see a group of men cheering our team on. With the addition of a bar to our indoor facility, it has made it more enticing for husbands, significant others and friends to come watch us play. The men folk drink beers, munch on food and cheer us on. This week, our ‘male cheerleaders’ made signs to hold up for us while we play. It was very funny to look over to see which signs they could come up with. Obviously, this was a bit of a distraction for the team. So it was no surprise that this sign was made: “Pay attention to the game.”

I am excited to see what they come up with for next game!

Back to back snow days = Stir crazy me

I never thought I would say this, but I hope school is not cancelled tomorrow!

After a wonderful weekend in Portland with a white elephant gift party and a birthday dinner for my sister at Jake’s, we woke up Monday morning with 3 inches of snow on the ground. School was cancelled for me, but Adam had to trudge through the snow on his bike to work. Ginger enjoyed frolicking around in the backyard with the snow almost coming up to her belly. With a snow day and being stuck in the house, I plan to do some relaxing and some cleaning. It’s nice to have a day with no demands. Only a few more days to winter vacation…

Not much time to write, so here is a quick update….

-Work sucked this week for both Adam and I
-Kick City is now more fun with a pub
-Erin’s staff party on Friday night
-We got our Christmas tree, stockings, decorations, etc.
-Adam is all moved in
-Our house seriously needs to be organized
-Llamasgiving is today…lots of good food and friends

More to come…

Work really sucks now
Adam tries to help me cope
Wine makes things better

Enough said….