It's that time again...

For the New Years Eve Picture Retrospective!

2010 Version

Soundtrack: Cee Lo Green, "Forget You" and Willow, "Whip My Hair"

(Cee Lo in reference to 2010, not the people pictured below)

(in no particular order...)

Jill Marie got married!

Jeremy and I got to do a lot of awesome cooking

We got to see Ana-- we miss her so much!

A trip to Tybee let me show off my great home state!

A trip to the High to see the Last Emperor's army, including a huge replica of a bronze horse!

Violet's First Birthday

Jackson Miles Bertram Gamble-- the baby who shouldn't have made it. He's so big and happy now, you'd never know how close Becky came to losing him!

I got to reconnect with one of my old AOII advisers and help install a new chapter!

We got our first place together!

Laura got married!

I FINALLY got to visit HQ!

And learned more about my favorite founder, Stella George Stern Perry

 Jeremy, Josh, Sarah and I at Grandma Allen's on Christmas Night

 Jeremy teaches the kids about Orchids at Fernbank

 Alexandros and Stephen help us celebrate our first anniversary at Palate (where we had our rehearsal dinner)

I cooked my first Thanksgiving turkey with cornbread stuffing from scratch and it was PERFECT!

 We had a great (and less expensive!) Halloween carnival with the kids at work

 We got to go to the zoo which I hadn't done in sooo long-- this is the front of our Summer Camp brochure this year!

 We spent 4th of July with Vivi and Jules

 We got to go to the Hollywood Cafe from my second favorite Memphis song ever (first being "Graceland" by Paul Simon, can't beat Paul Simon!) "Walkin' in Memphis" by Marc Cohn

 We got to see Josh and Sarah a few times this year! We're so thankful for that, we'd love to see them more often!

 We got to meet Tu and the other animals at Grandma and Grandpa Traylor's

 We had a great staff party at Twain's before Christmas

 I got to use my wedding china! (hot toddy, you saved me during cold season!)

 I got to explore AOII with my sisters at Leadership Institute

 Got to reconnect with old friends and re-live the "good old days"

 Got to go to the Botanical Gardens several times and see the beautiful glass pieces they had on display

Got to meet more of my amazing AOII sisters!

Christmas (a Pensive Post)

Everyone else is doing pensive posts about what Christmas means to them and I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon-- just because I'm not a Christian doesn't mean this time of year doesn't have meaning.

I remember Christmas growing up; we never had tons of money and only got one "big" present and a few little ones, often things that were related to our big present. The ones I remember the most were a 101 Dalmations tent (mostly meant for indoor camping) and a bicycle which I learned to ride in the park across the street from my house. I remember helping my little brother put together his Lego and KNEX sets and playing Operation with him when he was a toddler; he got so spooked by the noise!

I grew up going to church services, both of my parents had grown up in churches, but we weren't a "religious" household. For us, Christmas meant being together and being happy and taking time to reflect on the joy and gift of having family and friends to spend our time with. As we grew older and grew closer with those in our neighborhood, we grew to understand that family isn't just the people you're tied to by blood-- family is anyone that means a lot to you. Anyone whose presence enriches you and whose absence saddens you. Many of those people were at my wedding even though blood family chose church commitments over our big day.

I've been accused directly and indirectly by people of detracting from the "reason for the season" by having our wedding so close to Christmas. If I'd had my way, we would have had our wedding in the spring, outside, possibly in my old neighborhood. But, as I've explained to many, a wedding is about family and being together-- much like Christmas.

Thinking back on those Christmases growing up and the past few that I've had, and our wedding, I've come to realize even moreso that the people we call friends are our real family. Very few of our family either made a point of being there or even made a point of making an excuse. Indeed, the people whose schedules we most sought to accommodate all skipped out.

The last paragraph especially is something I struggle with on a daily basis. Our wedding anniversary was forgotten by all but a handful of people because folks were too busy preparing for Christmas. We'll never get anniversary presents, and we'll never get a card saying, "Congrats on another year of marriage." Perhaps I'm the only one who still sends cards like that, and yes it is selfish of me to think those things, but I devote quite a bit of time thinking ahead to what I can do to remember those I love.

That being said, Christmas is also a time of forgiveness; a time for all of us, myself included, to put aside these petty concerns and simply be happy for what we have and the blessings we have received whether by Fate or Faith. If I'm correct, that's the whole point of Jesus in Christianity-- He came as a symbol of forgiveness and love. and so His followers are to live each day by his example of loving freely and unconditionally.

I promise this is the end, and so my point is this:

Whether you're Christian, Agnostic, Atheist, or any other religion, the last month of the year is for all of us a reflection on the past and a way to look forward to the New Year-- a place where we make the decision of how to act towards others, including those who have hurt us or wronged us. As an individual not celebrating the birth of Christ, I still make an effort to clear my mind and sit silently, to consider how I can be a better, more positive person for myself, my friends, my family, and those I have yet to meet. To remind myself that I do not need to grow expectations of reciprocation on anything throughout the year.

I hope you have all had (or will have) a peaceful Winter Solstice (Yule, Saturnalia, etc), Christmas, Pancha Ganapati, Chanukah, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa and anything else I may have missed. Pictures to come from our Christmas trip, and I'm working on my New Years resolutions to post up next week-- I'm awaiting 2011 with baited breath!

2010, pretty awesome so far!

Not a whole lot of updates on life in 2010 so far-- we've been busy, but not stressed, and things are finally starting to look up. Looks like my greens and black eyed peas may actually be doing the trick this year! Plus pretty much everyone I've met thinks the $15 set of rings I got at Target is real! "Oh my gosh, that diamond is so pretty!" So, if you need fake diamonds, Target's the place to go!

I left my camera in Southaven, which is a bit of a bummer, but I think I got all the pictures off of it before we left so I guess that's good. The next time I'll see it is after my birthday :(

I got some good news on the job front; Richard's stepping down (he wants to go back to school, Good Luck, Rich!!) so I'm getting promoted! As of now it's just an interim position, and I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I have a positive attitude regarding the outcome so hopefully that means we won't be living in our cell for too much longer!

*crosses fingers*

We're also excited because the next time we go to Memphis, we'll see Analia!! We haven't seen her since she was 9 months old and we can't wait. Obviously, we'll also get to see Valerie, too :) Matt is coming, I think, in February which will also be nice.

Anyway, that's about all the news fit (or unfit) to print, so I'll wrap it up. Hope everyone's staying warm! It's pretty frigid out there!