And here starts 2009

It was a very quiet start to the year. After going out with friends on New Year's Eve we spent New Year's Day at home watching TV as Trev wasn't feeling too hot as he's caught what I had a couple of weeks ago. Work was on Friday and while I thought it'd be a quick day it turned into a full one as I finished loads of things off ready for the start of the "real new year" on Monday when everyone and its dog turns up after the holidays.

Poor Trev, he's still unwell. The coughing is bad and tonight his temperature is 101.6. That's way, way too high. I hope his fever breaks tonight and that tomorrow he'll be on the mend. I did suggest that he visit the doc's on Friday as I know that's what cleared mine up so fast....but he didn't do that. Funny thing is I think he'll go Monday.

So, I figured while I was keeping out of his way that I'd reflect on 2008 and start thinking about what I want to do in 2009.

- Green Card. Yeah!!! Never again will either of us complain we don't have one and it's just not fair and why can taxi drivers get them really easily but we can't. As of May we are official legal aliens:)

- Friends. This year we've really managed to get ourselves a set of friends outside of work that we hang out with on a regular basis. Some are our neighbours (Jackie, Nick, Rich) and some are from the gym (Sharon, Debbie, Billy, Leslie, Anwar). It's pretty cool to be able to call people if you need a hand (like when I got a flat tire just before we went to Jamaica and I needed to get to the Optician and Trev wasn't around). That said I totally miss everyone who's dotted around the world.

- My ankle. That really sucked when I had that accident. It was not planned and it totally knocked me for six. Now I'm finally doing physio I really think I'm making progress. I hate the physio place...there's just something about it I don't like, that said I did manage to all walk all the way down the high street and back where I live - something I've not done before. We have hired a lawyer and will be sueing the company responsible.

- My bike. I love it. It was my birthday present and I think both of us were unsure whether it'd get used, but I'm happy to report that if I'm going anywhere in town then I usually bike unless it's snowing. The only thing I really need to do is buy some gloves that are specifically for biking because regular insulated ones just don't cut it. Luckily I can get from one end of town to the other in 5 minutes so it's not long enough to get frost bite. I'm ordering those tonight while I'm killing time.

- My job. While I work for the same person I changed my job in 2008 to go back to delivering global programs and projects rather than directly managing 60 people. That was just too much. It was touch and go for a while as it was weird having to plan my time but after 3 months of figuring that out I've got used to playing with spreadsheets and making data look fabulous. I do have moments where I feel that I'm overpaid for what I do but they're usually short lived. I don't want to do this forever and I think I've finally got to the point where I know what I want to do next. That said, while the economy is doing what it's doing I'm staying put with people I know and benefits that are not bad.

- Rachel and Mike got engaged. That was VERY cool because we were all in Cedar Rapids celebrating Trev's birthday when it happened. 2009 will be full of wedding planning....that's for sure:) What a great couple.

- Peter's an official doctoral candidate. He passed all the things he needed to and he's now on the official path to becoming Dr Peter. 18 months from now we should all be heading out to Boulder for graduation and Trev will finally get his official cap and gown portrait that Peter refused after his first degree.

- Carrieanne got her house. It's so exciting to see her independent and confident enough to negotiate and move back into town. She's definitely got a plan on what she wants to do with her career and she's doing everything she can to get it. My fingers are crossed for her exam results that are due in January sometime.

- Trevor changed his job. As a result of the Green Card he started looking around for a job and while the salary wasn't quite what he was looking for he seems to be really enjoying what he's doing. It's great having him home all the time and I think he's finally settling into a routine.

- Mum is well on the road to recovery after her knee replacement. It took a while and I spent 5 weeks back in June in England hanging out and helping out.

- My weight/My fitness. This is a life long struggle but I've found a way to control this. I pay for a trainer. It seems on the surface to be a complete and utter luxury but I know personally that this is a good investment for the future. I'm fitter and stronger than I ever thought possible and nothing phases me any more at all. Also once I started getting active again after my fall I've lost about 15lb....and I fully expect to keep that going.

- The condo. We're still in litigation and have to do depositions soon so that the association can sue the builders for the $400,000 we now owe fixing all the things they didn't. Hmmmm... that'll be a story for 2009 I'm sure. Even so we managed to get the whole place finally decorated: living room has all new furniture and the TV hung on the wall, the bathroom floors are different, the master bath has a new vanity and sink, the kitchen now has a splashback and all the walls have fancy paint on them. Woooo hoooo! I just LOVE it.

I'm so thankful that I was able to spend time in England with my family - I went back a record 4 or 5 times in 2008 and while it made it difficult at home it was the right thing to do and I enjoyed meeting up with everyone. I'm looking forward to planning my first visit for this year - we have traditions set up that are now hard to break. I get picked up from the airport (unless it's a business trip), we go to Kesgrave Kitchen for a Full Monty Breakfast, we have fish and chips for dinner on the same day, I visit the Baipo Thai restaurant with Diana and Charlie, I hang out at Debbie's and we catch up and usually reminisce about being her kids ages (!!!!) and I also meet up with Jenny and Frankie. I then manage at least once to meet up with other family members (Angela and Mike, Caren and Lee (and kids), Emily (and kids), Frank) to catch up as well as with colleagues in London and my friend Amanda. Oh what fun we have!!

In 2009 I'm looking forward to spending more time with Trev. With him working locally and not traveling so much (and me not traveling quite so much) we should be able to spend time on us. We already have common interests but now we can do them together rather than separately. We'll have our 12th wedding anniversary in June...how is that possible? Time really does fly.

So far we have planned:

- a visit to Chicago to celebrate Mike's 30th birthday (ssshhhhhh - it's a secret and he doesn't know - hopefully he doesn't have my blog link)
- Boulder in March to go ski-ing
- Mexico in May for Jackie and Nick's wedding
- A trip to Cedar Rapids at some point
- A trip to St Louis to meet up with BJ and Paul and everyone else who's there (Debbie, Caroline, Nikki)
- A few more trips to Chicago to help with Rach's wedding
- Alaska for me if Mum and Dad book their holiday like they're planning to
- Turkey (if I have time this year) - I promised when I got my Green Card that I'd go and visit Mum and Dad there.....I'm thinking September time
- Rachel's wedding in November
- Go Race Car driving - I bought it for Trev last year and we haven't used it. I think we have that planned for August some time
- A holiday just for us.....not really sure at all when we're going to get that planned, but I'm determined to

It's January 3rd.....and we have that much planned already. Phew!!!!!

Happy New Year everyone....