Charlcie

Wow, how can that be, the last day of the decade? On Twitter today, there was this trending topic "#10yearsago" that really got me to thinking....Here was my tweet about that: #10yearsago my kids were in preschool & elementary school. Now....teenagers! Oh yeah, and I didn't have cancer then either. That came along in 2008. However, my life has evolved so much more than that in the last 10 years. Biggest events in my small world: Great decision to marry Chris in 2004, Pepa passed away in 2005, and thyroid cancer in 2008/2009. The girls have grown into amazing kids....plus, added Christian by marrying Chris. And so much more that I'm sure I will think immediately after posting this, "Dang! I forgot about __________!" I'm really looking forward to this new year....a new beginning, a new decade. I've got some personal goals/resolutions to tackle that I'm actually pretty psyched about. Plus, I am thrilled to see the kids grow into adults....hmmm,...

For some the holiday season begins when they put up the Christmas tree. For others, it might be the shopping the day after Thanksgiving. For me, it is when we receive our first Christmas card, which this year is today (thanks, Beneventis!). Yes, we've been buying/shipping/receiving presents already, but something about the Christmas spirit and season for me starts with a Christmas card. Whoever sends me/us the card has chosen a card design that they like, added us to their list, and decided to use one of their increasingly valuable postage stamps to send the card. That means something in my book! And something about getting the cards via "snail mail". Granted, I'll send an e-card from time to time, but I love getting the cards in the mail as how often do we really get letters or cards from anyone these days? If you are friends with someone on Facebook, you don't even have to remember someone's birthday AND can wish them a happy birthday online! Now, I'm no...

Where does the time go? November was a blur. I work at a veterans organization so the beginning of November was crazy in terms of my job...lots of great work to be done surrounding Veterans Day. Just days after that, I took off for Austin, Texas, and the Convio Summit. Convio is a content management system used by non-profits (remember...I'm a website/social media geek?), and they have a conference (or summit as they call it) each year talking about product development, improved usage, etc. It was a good chunk of time for me to focus on professional growth and fresh ideas/approaches for the website/organization for which I work. From Austin I flew to OKC to my parents' house for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was nice to have three days with my parents and just me. I looked at mom at one point and said, "This is the first time we've seen each other in 18 months that is not related to me having cancer!", which frankly was great! Chris and girls arrived on Sunday then...