2008 in Review

My friends Natalie, Amanda and Jolie did this on their blogs, and I decided I should do the same :-)

(Claus, como iba a escribir un chorro, pense que yo creo que si le entiendes a todo, asi que no voy a traducir este :-D).

This was, in summary, 2008:

JANUARY: Don't remember much about this month... I guess the highlight was getting back from Guanajuato, where I celebrated the New Year with my girlfriends from College and also that I re-started the process to get my house in Tijuana on my name.

FEBRUARY: Remembered my mom's 7th angelversary (learned this term recently from Wilma, Tessa's friend) going to watch Juno to the movies with Tessa. And celebrated Tessa's birthday at Tea Upon Chatsworth. John and I had dinner at Jack's in La Jolla for V-Day, the food was good, but it wasn't the best experience, we were back home in a little bit more than an hour :-S. Had lunch with Tessa and Janelle at the Cheescake Factory in Fashion Valley right after V-Day, I had dyed my hair black, trying to restore it's natural color, it turned out TOO dark, but it does look more natural now :-)

MARCH: Started this blog! Yeah! John and I had started considering moving to St. Louis around that time. Started physical therapy to help with my ear pain... YES, there is such thing as physical therapy for ear pain!!! :-) Celebrated Marysol's and Dani's birthdays (both of them PG now). Started my 100 Straight Days of Working Out Challenge... only made it through 7 days straight :-(

APRIL: Rediscovered the power of the mind over pain. Read books, watched movies. Was FINALLY granted the right to change the title of my house to my name (my mom didn't have a will since I was an only child and she thought it was "obvious" I was the heir... well, it's not so obvious to the judges). Went through the great dramatic comedy that it's now known as The Corner Office or why I am (or not) an ugly bitch :-D

MAY: May was full of good things: Attended Janelle's beautiful wedding. Celebrated my birthday with a fantastic party with wonderful friends at Lips and in TJ with my College friends!!! Celebrated our 2nd Wedding Anniversary at the Coronado Boathouse. Bought my car. Sold my house in Mexico.

JUNE: Found out that the surgery Marley needs is TOO expensive. Went to a Padres game with people from my old work. Celebrated John's birthday with family and friends. And questioned my future parenting skills.

JULY: Flew to St. Louis for my job interview for a Quality Manager position and accepted the job offer, which pretty much made our move official. Started doing a bunch of Going Away activities, such as taking the dogs to the beach for the last time and had several going away parties and a tea.

AUGUST: Started driving to St. Louis on July 31, and got to Chesterfield on Saturday, August 2nd, in the morning; which, in retrospect, is one of the hardest decisions I've ever made; since I had never lived in any other area or this far away from my friends, I didn't really know what to expect... I guess in some ways it hasn't been as hard as I expected, I mean, I haven't bawled over moving or called people crying, I know we made the right decision for our family, but it is hard not being able to see my friends and missing out on so many things. But thanks to that, we also bought our house that month!!! I was also TV less the whole month!!! I flew back to San Diego for Rob and Monica's wedding and saw most of my dear friends.

SEPTEMBER: John finally made it to St. Louis, after staying behind for a month. We started exploring St. Louis and he had a very successful knee surgery.

OCTOBER: Explored a bit more of St. Louis, including Faust Park and the Busch Wildlife Area. And we carved our pumpkins.

NOVEMBER: Went to Forest Park for the first time. Went back to Cali for Hooli and Maricela's wedding, had a WONDERFUL time seeing my friends, talking in person like in old good times, and going to Tijuana and having tacos on the street and sharing on their happiness. We celebrated Thanksgiving in Hannibal with Bill and his family. And experienced our first snow in Missouri.

DECEMBER: I went to the Gateway Arch for the first time and also to my first Ornament Exchange here in St. Louis. We visited Downtown St. Charles for their "Christmas Traditions" annual event. I fell at Church one Sunday. Celebrated Marley's 2nd birthday and Christmas by ourselves and kicked back for 5 days straight.

Overall, 2008 has been a year of lots of changes and personnal and professional growth, and I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us!!!

Happy New Year Everybody!!!