2009: A Review in Numbers

As hard as it might be to believe, 2009 has come to an end. Borrowing from my friends the Wilson's who send out a numbers based Christmas card each year, here is my year in numbers:


12 - Number of Nieces and Nephews I got to spend time with this year (that's all of them!)

229 - Number of friends added on Facebook

53 - Number of Facebook friends who are also friends in real life

27 - Numbers of days I spent on vacation in Australia

2000 - Rounded down number of pictures I took while on that vacation

45 - Number of Onya bags purchased as Christmas gifts

7 - Number of times TSA has searched my checked bags

2.5 - Number of months spent out of the country

3.5 - Number of months spent in St. Paul

2 - Number of months spent away from home in the US

4 - Number of months spent at my own house :)

9 - Number of countries I visited this year

4- Numbers of countries I fell down in (I blame the shoes)

10 - Number of States I spent time in this year

60 - Number of Sleep Numbers I tried before realizing I clearly don't have a sleep number

1 - Number of visits to the ER

2 - Number of Nuclear Medicine Stress tests taken

42 - Number of days spent battling viral bronchitis

1 - Number of places I worked (which is 2 less than last year)

4 - Number of reorgs my team went through last year

2 - Number of Wii's I purchased

1 - Number of Wii's I meant to purchase

100 - Pounds of sugar consumed during the holidays

91 - Number of blog postings this year (including this one)

100,000,000 - Number of wishes I am sending your way for a glorious new year.

Happy Holidays

I had a fabulous Christmas holiday in Boise with the family there. On Christmas Eve we had the Levitt's and Skyler over (Jeff called in tired) and then on Christmas Day Kim, Skyler and Jeff all came over to open gifts. I LOVED my gifts this year. I got a great Coach bag (thanks Mom!), a scarf, lotions and potions, a food basket, flashlights, grooming kit, neck warmer, socks, ear phones, books and gift certificates. Thanks all for your generosity! I was so caught up in the moment that I didn't take a lot of pictures - and that's the way that it should be. I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.

Lawson Holiday Party 2009

This year for the annual Lawson Holiday Party we headed to one of those places where you get to cook your own meal. Now cooking has never been my idea of a fun way to spend an evening but we had a great time! I luckily was put on the dessert team which looked like it was going to be pretty easy right up to the point they made me multiply all the ingredient measurements by 16. Seriously fraction math at a Holiday Party? What kind of alternate universe had I entered? Fortunately, it all turned out well and we had a great meal of a fancy salad, chicken and fingerling potatoes all gussied up, and a pear and chocolate dessert. I am sure they all had fancier names but I chose not to memorize those!

Cranberry Salsa Recipe

My friend Alyssa made a yummy cranberry salsa for our party last week. I thought some of you might like to try it out this holiday season so here is the recipe. Happy eating.

Cranberry Salsa

1 12oz bag fresh cranberries
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 c sugar
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped
pinch of salt
juice of 2 limes

Process cranberries with juice in a blender. Transfer to bowl and add remaining ingredients. (or just throw it all in a blender like me :) I leave out half the chopped cilantro and mix it in by hand.)

Holiday presentation:
Combine
8oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise (can substitute plain or Greek yogurt or leave out all together)

Blend until smooth. Spread on a plate or platter. Cover with salsa.

The '00's in Review

My brother Mike read a Time article called"The '00's: Goodbye (at last) to the Decade from Hell." which listed all the things that happened during the '00 decade. He decided to create his own list and challenged us to do the same. This was not as easy as one might think and there were a few years in here where it was a stretch to come up with anything.

That being said, here is my list for the '00 Decade:

2000: Rang in the millennium in downtown San Francisco. Spent January 1st in the office waiting for the Y2K problem calls to come in. None did.

2001: Moved to Palo Alto. Finished Grad School. Had Lasik eye surgery (I think). Scheduled to fly to London on Sept. 11 with Mom...went in October instead.

2002: Moved to San Jose. Saw a lot of lighthouses on trips with my lighthouse fanatic friends.

2003: The foot surgeries began - 1 & 2

2004: The foot surgeries continued - 3 & 4. Went to Ireland for Thanksgiving. Signed my first mortgage papers. Bought second Passat...biggest lemon car ever.

2005 Went to Australia for Easter. Bought my Volvo. Moved to Utah. Bought a town home.

2006: Hmmm. Decorated my new house...? Oh yeah, ADP sold me to Audatex.

2007: Foot Surgery number 5. Or was it 6? I think I missed one in there somewhere. Aggressive dieting and exercising followed by my 20 year high school reunion.

2008: Got TMJ and spent a lot of time and money on the recovery process. Laid Off from Audatex. Worked for GMAP where I learned BCS Bad, Playoff Good. New Job with Lawson.

2009: First visit to Lakeview ER - turned out to be an esophageal ulcer. Celebrated turning 40 by spending the month of November in Australia. Got my H1N1 vaccine.

So it all boils down to this - started with a party, ended with a shot; moved three times; bought two houses; bought two cars; bad feet, bad jaw, bad throat, good eyes; worked for four different companies; traveled; and as a side note also added 9 nieces and nephews to the count. All in all, not a bad decade.

Festival of Trees

Last week my niece Ashlynn performed at the Festival of Trees. I forgot my camera so I have appropriated these pictures from my sister-in-law Shannon's blog (thanks Shannon!). I met Shannon and Gail just in time for Ashlynn's performance. There really isn't anything cuter than watching 4 year-olds dance! Afterwards, we walked through the festival. Ashlynn loved all trees that had anything to do with princesses. She and I journeyed to the kids corner where we bought an elf wand - 'cause it really isn't Christmas until you have an elf wand. It was really a lot of fun and I am so glad that I was able to go. It has been years since I have attended the festival and I am definitely going to make it a tradition moving forward.

Holiday Party Time

'Tis the Season and my season was kicked off with the annual party with my college friends. We calculated that this party has been happening for around 20 years. It has seen the group through marriages, divorces, children, graduations, sickness and health, and all the other bumps, bruises and celebrations of life. I am very grateful to have had these people as constants in my life.

For the party this year, Rahn and Laurie Rampton were the hosts and did an excellent job...thus putting them at risk to have to keep hosting the party! We started with dinner - potluck on the desserts and appetizers and a substantial main dish of ham provided by Rahn and Laurie. It was great to share a meal and spend time with each person getting caught up - on the last year with some and the last decade with others!

We then played the name game where everyone writes down a famous name and then you try to guess who wrote down which name. Sadly my team lost as no one could remember Weird Al and we handed Vicki's team the victory. Next up was our white elephant gift exchange. The gifters of the best gift this year were Larry and Nancy with their Playboy in Braille. The lucky recipients were Brad and Jeni. I anticipate that this gift will be regifted at white elephant parties for many years to come.

I hung around after the party so I could see Laurie's parents who are living with them. I have known them for 30 years and it was great to see them and to get caught up on what they and their kids are up to these days.

Thanks everyone for a marvelous party. It was great to see everyone! To those that couldn't make it - see you next year!