2008

I can't believe it's New Year's Eve and tomorrow is January 1, 2009. I wanted to do a quick entry about this year and a look forward to next year before I head over to Megan's to welcome in 2009.

This has been quite a year. I went from being a student to a graduate and then a lawyer. I've been through many transitions. Looking back it seems like this year was longer than just one year. I feel blessed to have made it through this year, especially since I was really scared of the bar and studying was so hard. Also I didn't know where I would be at this point. I thank God I passed the bar and that He was with me throughout it all. Also I thank God for my amazing family and friends. My mom and Megan were both invaluable and extremely supportive. Despite this year being very stressful at times, I have had a lot of fun - Disneyland, Abby, San Diego, End set, etc.

As I look forward to 2009, I don't know what the year holds for me. I know that there will be a lot of changes and new experiences. One thing I hope and pray for is courage to embrace all the changes that await me and to trust, learn about and lean upon God more.

See you next year!

Time Flies

Just wanted to mention that I can't believe it's almost 2009! I'm still amazed at times that it is even 2008.

Christmas

Christmas, as a whole, was a good one for me. There was drama here and there when the extended family was together. For some reason, holidays tend to bring tension and bad feelings to the surface. I'm sure there are books written on this subject. Can't you tell they practically drove me crazy?!?



My family had a fun time opening up gifts in the morning and Abby enjoyed playing with ribbon. Everyone liked their gifts and there was a lot of laughing involved.
One thing that is always funny is how my mom fills out the gift tags. The longer she's been wrapping, the goofier they get. For example "To Stefanie, From CK (The Cool Krew)," "To Nano, From Moms and Pops," etc. They got pretty crazy.

It was a lot of fun to give out my gifts. They all went over well. Collin loved his gift, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch his big smile when he realized I got him two great gifts. I got Andrew The Dark Knight on DVD and he had been quoting that movie right before he opened the gift. (He wasn't actually that excited about the gift; he's just a bit crazy!) I really like giving gifts and I'm always relieved when people like what I get them.

Our family gift was the best - a Wii and Guitar Hero. Gosh, I could play on that thing for hours at a time! I get bored easily with video games, but not this one. There are so many different things to play on it and you always feel like you're accomplishing something whether it be golf, bowling or rocking! At least you end up moving more when playing on a Wii rather than other video games. I will be working on my self discipline in the coming days because I can't make Guitar Hero my full time job.

Christmas Eve

Wow, the time has really flown by. It seems weird that after so much anticipation Christmas will come and go so quickly.

I've got a lot to do, but it's doable. Here's my to do list right now: clean room, finish wrapping presents, make sugar cookies (won't take so long because I found a mix in the pantry), possibly make another brownie pudding (one I made looks burned, have to see what Mom says when she gets home), fill out volunteer application for helping out in the nursery at church tonight, volunteer at 6 pm service (this will be interesting, I'm not around many babies these days). That's all I can think of right now.

I might also decorate my room a little more. Perry has a little Christmas tree that he didn't put up this year, so I put it up in my room today. It looks kind of funny with Perry's little Mickey Mouse ornaments and my Big Ben ornament (present from Megan), but I like it. I have some more of my own ornaments, but I'll have to find them.

There may be some family drama tomorrow do to my aunt being in charge of Christmas dinner and going to her house to celebrate. But I'm determined to stay positive. Jesus is the reason for season and I'm going to remember that. The details of our celebration don't matter.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Procrastinating

Right now I'm trying to write my bio for Megan. She's trying to put her movie's press kit together and needs a bio on all of the cast and crew. I have never written a bio before and it's taking me awhile to do. I've actually started writing it more than once, but I keep putting it off. I'd rather write bios for the other cast/crew; Megan said Daniella was having problems writing her and I immediately began to compose hers, which was sounding good if I do say so myself. I'm going to go back to writing mine because I have to get it done.

Shopping

I did some Christmas shopping tonight with Olivia, who I worked with after taking the bar, and we were quite successful. While I like Christmas shopping, it does stress me out and I start to feel like it's an impossible task to find useful gifts that people will like. But I've never had a year where I couldn't find a gift for someone. I'm actually doing pretty well; I still have over a week before Christmas. I'm going to keep a positive attitude, keep making progress and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.