Memories to keep from 2006

January: I was naturalized. I am now officially an American citizen. I also got to see my old friend Paul while at a meeting in Dallas. It had been a few years that we had seen each other. I had dinner with him and his girlfriend and we had a few hours of catching up. It was very nice.
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February: V-day was nice we went to my favorite restaurant the day before (we both had to work v-day of course) otherwise nothing special just work. Got to go on a business trip to San Francisco which is one of my favorite cities.
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March: mhh nothing much the AP's and I continued to write cards to recruits. The local press heard of it and came out to do an interview with all of us.
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April: I went to see Maureen graduate from Marine boot camp in South Carolina. It was something else. (the oldest of the kids whose au pair I was a long time ago)The nice part was her whole family was there so I got to see everyone. It was great. We are all so proud of her. She was 17 and a Marine so grown up. I took her back with me to Virginia since her boyfriend was at the music school near me. She would go there to after she went home for her high school graduation. She was the first person ever to walk in Dress Blues for her ceremony. I wish I could have seen that but I am sooo glad I got to at PI.

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May: Oh there is too much, my 1st anniversary with Grumpy which got cut kind of short because I left for my 10 year highschool reunion in Germany that day. Due to that I missed his college graduation :(.
The 2 weeks at home were wonderful but my favorite would have to be the Saturday before I left. I had gotten in touch with a few friends including Uwe and old childhood friend, who I had not seen in 8 years.
I met my best friend Dani and her man at 3pm and we went into one of the many Ice cream parlors / cafés that you have everywhere. There we met another childhood friend of ours and celebrated her first pregnancy (it is a baby girl) and birthday.

A little while later another one of my friends and her husband joined us. After 3 hours of amazing looking Ice cream cocktails we said goodbye to the soon to be mommy and walked down the street to my favorite Chinese restaurant. [The Chinese food in Germany tastes different than it does here - so does all the other chain food].

There Uwe joined us. We had a great time. Around 9pm we said good bye to my best friend and her boyfriend as they left to go watch the German version of Dancing with Stars. The rest of us sat and chatted for a bit longer before walking down the street a bit further to a bar. There we stayed until we said good bye after midnight. Uwe and I chatted a bit longer outside my moms house until I finally go home a bit after 1 am. It was great. I got to see everyone and have a great time.

Thinking back about that night makes me homesick I do miss my friends from home a lot.

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June: Well it was Grumpy's b-day but he had to go into work. I was obsessed with the Soccer world cup since it looked like Germany had a chance. I switched my blog from myspace to the blogger. My mom came to visit so we could do her green card paper work. Since we were near Virginia Beach we went down the prominade and then hoped over the the Little Creek base where the school of music is to visit Maureen and Austin. My mom had not seen Maureen for 9 years.
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July: I got to go jet skiing as part of an Au pair meeting. This was awesome I love jet skiing. Its like riding a motorcycle on water. I also got to go to Chicago for a meeting where I saw my former host family and my friend Evelyn who was an AP with me. She and her boyfriend had flown in from Switzerland for a wedding of the niece of our host mom. Also

*drum roll*

I got to meet our very own Miss Jin and Brioche in person (well and Mister Jin and ....). Jin made lunch for Erin (she is the youngest of the kids whose AP I was) and I, then we got to sample all her goodies. OMG talk about a kid in candy land. I can't wait to go back and try the things I couldn't fit.





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August: Mhh nothing major - I got to go to Seattle for the first time. While I was waiting to go up on the Space needle I get a call form one of my girls saying she got kicked out by her host parents. WTF. So when I got home I had to house my first AP. After I found her a new family, Grumpy and I took the puppies to the beach Mac hates the sound of the waves and will not go in the water. We don't know what it is with her and the ocean. Sassy was in the water , swimming and having a good time. We took a nap on the greens later but I couldn't read my book because people kept coming up to us to ask if they could pet the doggies. What can I say to cute for their own good.

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September: Well there was Ernesto the nice little tropical storm that cost us power for a few days and caused quiet some damage. We got lucky while it snapped of a tree limb the size of most trees, the limb missed the house by inches.

There was also my first Sweetbox from Jin. It was a early b-day present so we could take it with us to our trip. MHHHHHH so good.
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October: Happy Birthday to me!!! I got my wish and Grumpy, the pups and I went to a cabin in the West Virginia mountains. It was sooo pretty. I loved it. The cabin was so isolated in one of the valleys no one would ever find it. We saw the local sights and took a drive to the Maryland side where we got to see the beautiful colors of the leaves. It was soo relaxing and the pups loved it because they got to come with us everywhere we went.

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November: The house turned into Hotel Katy as I housed one AP for 2 weeks in the beginning of the month (I will see her when I go to LA next week) and then after Thanksgiving I got another AP that needed a place to stay until we found her a new family. Thanksgiving was nice and I since I was off the day after I went and did my Locks of Love donation. I think Grumpy is still getting used to the short hair. I am mean I never tell him when I do it, just show up with short hair.
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December: Ohhh so many things. Mhh I got a Cherry box, a Jin box and I saw the Transiberian Orchestra live. And most importantly Grumpy and I got to go out for New Years ever for the first time in 6 years. We had a ball. We went to the bar where we met and just hung out. Mhhh what a way to finish this year.
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When I started the post I didn't think the year was all that, but now looking at it it almost makes my life sound interesting doesn't it? Wonder what this year will hold I mean I am supposed to graduate from college with that a new job, Grumpy and I are planning on going to Germany for Christmas and New Years (I haven't been home for the holidays in 10 years!) .... Lots of potential

Friday night out

12-15-06_1649.jpg
Originally uploaded by dino0477.

Finally - the week from hell is over and Grumpy and I are heading to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra.

01 - Angel Came Do...

This was my 6th consecutive show and Grumpy's 4th. This has been our little Christmas tradition in the past few years. Normally we catch the show intown but this years show was on November 17 and that was way to early for me to listen to Christmas music. So we decided to catch the show in Richmond (about 1 1/2 away) instead.

I am not big on Christmas music honestely the only one I like is the one from the trans siberian orchestra. See the kind of music I like - the artists tend not to make a Christmas CD. Can you imagine a Metallica Christmas CD? Or how about Ozzy? See my point but the Trans siberian orchestra is Rocks answer to Christmas music. If you have not seen them live you MUST I instist. The show is amazing. We always sit in the cheap seats to get the full effect of the light/laser show. The orchestra always uses local musicians for the string instruments and I tell you it amazes me everytime the skill it takes to do the show. The first part of the show is a Christmas story and then after that the artists are introduced and on the show goes. I went ahead and try to get some snippeds on my cell. Since we where in the nosebleed section it is not the best but you can't say I didn't think about you :). I also went and looked for a site that lets me upload songs and found eSnips, I hope it works.

12 - Old City Bar....

Here are the once I took with my cell. As you can see we were in the nose bleed section I think I am becoming afraid of heights in my old day and I tell you those stairs were not easy on my knees I guess the high heel boots weren't helping either

11 - Requiem (The ...

Here is the version I got on my CD Requiem is the title



The concert was awesome.

10 - Ornament.mp3

See the place where it was held had sent out an email letting us know about their club that would offer dinner it was located in the venue and the idea sounded perfect - have a nice dinner and then walk to your seat and enjoy the show. They called a couple of days prior to confirm out reservation and told us to be there at 6:30pm.

Well as always I was running late at work so I rushed home and we left for our drive since we knew there was going to be traffic.

08 - Christmas Eve...

We made it with 5 minutes to spare and I said it out loud to which Grumpy just said no now you jinxed it. Yep he was right they wouldn't let us in until almost 7 then it took forever to find the club thing and there we had to wait to get seated. Arrrrg the food sucked so did the service and they didn't even have tea!!!!!!



Well we got to our seats and apparently the people in Richmond do not know how to read tickets. The 2 rows in front of us kept having people get up because they were in the wrong row or section this went on forever!!!!

02 - O Come All Ye...

So and if you still need a reason to see the show - they always donate part of the money from the tickets to a charity. In Hampton it was the Make a wish foundation in Richmond they gave the money to a Breast cancer foundation. See good cause.

If the individual song files don't work click here to go to the folder.

just because

This week is going by so fast and I can't seemed to get anything done. I worked at the restaurant Monday and Tuedays night. It was dead so I didn't make much money.

I am still trying to find a home for my little house guest I may have succeeded. Today was a nightmare in the office understaffed and too many patients and we had a pre site visit for a upcoming study. The poor lady ended up waiting for hours on our Doc. I found out I got two trips coming up in January one to LA mid January and one to Orlando the last weekend of January (click on the city to see my fancy hotels). My mom is excited about the Orlando one since my sister (who I have successfully avoided for over 4 years) is coming to her a few days prior. I will get a rental car when the meeting is over and drive to Ft. Myers stay a couple of days and then fly back from there. At least I'll have a car so I can get away if she gets to much on my nerves. I am having nightmares just thinking about being in that tiny single wide house with my mother and sister.

I did finally go online today and bought my Trans Siberian Orchestra Tickets. I love them and see them every year hier in Hampton but this years show was on November 17 which is to early for Christmas music so Grumpy and I are going to the show on the 15th that's 90min away. Without Christkindle markets and other traditional stuff like snow that puts me in a holiday mood this usually does. If you have never seen it GOOOOOOO the light show alone is worth the ticket. Make sure to get the cheap seats they are the best to see the lasers. This year will be my 5th show and it still runs chills down my spine.

I hope someday soon I can add things like a trip here and or to NYC to my Christmas traditions.

Well I got to run but first what do you do every year to get in the spirit?