Our Life in Words and Photos

The Year in Review

The past year, though still living on my own and away from hubz, brought me a lot of things and events to be thankful for. Good or bad, big or small, I have learned to be grateful for these things because it could easily be worse. I've been saying this over and over again, even when I had a bought with colds, cough, sore throat, on and off fever, I still feel blessed primarily because I'm alive.

Thank you dear Lord, for another year has passed. As I look forward to 2005, here are some of the milestones of the past year:

January – I attended a Cake Decorating class that filled up my Tuesday nights – baking and decorating a cake to bring to class on Wednesday evenings. The class was fun! Creating a well-decorated cake may be too time-consuming (it takes me about 4 hours to bake and decorate an 8” cake) but seeing the look on people’s eyes when I unveil my “masterpiece” and the praises I receive after they’ve tasted it, made all the effort worthwhile. Also, I have led a team of 10 staff to a successful off-release install. We started the project in November the previous year, and with about 5000+ man-hours, we delivered! The install was an uneventful one, which is a good thing, considering the hurdles that we had to overcome along the way.

February – Hubz and I celebrated Valentine’s Day over the phone. Nothing much to report this month, except my very eager countdown to April.

March – I finally got the camera I have been dreaming of for a long time! I wanted a digital SLR and I initially have my eyes on Nikon’s D100, but our wedding photographer (turned friend) advised me to wait for the D70 instead because it’s supposedly better than the D100. He was so right! The release date was March 2004, and I pre-ordered it way back in January. I have been drooling over digital SLRs for more than a year – justifying why I need to buy myself one. When I finally got my new camera in the mail, I was soooo ecstatic! Immediately after they released it, the website where I ordered it from has it backordered already! No wonder it was 2004’s Camera of the Year!!!!!

April – Thanks to the movie “The Passion of the Christ”, I had a very meaningful Lenten journey in 2004. I also got the promotion I have been hoping for a long time. The week prior to my long-awaited trip to Manila, roommate L’s friends from New Zealand – N & T came over for a visit. We took them to picturesque Yosemite. Then, on mid-April, I was home-bound to be with my husband. The night prior to my trip home, I couldn’t sleep because I was just sooo excited. I consider April and May my happiest months of the year because I get to be with my husband!!! It’s what long distance wives like me live for – year after year after year! We went to Corregidor the first week I was there. Because we were the only ones to stay in the island overnight, it was eerie and exciting at the same time. We were scaring ourselves off because of ghost stories around the island. Still, it felt good sleeping in the arms of my husband – my favorite place in the world…

May – I cooked up a surprise birthday party for hubz. With the help of some very close friends, I almost pulled it off. He got the hint at the last minute though, right when we were on our way to the venue. At the parking lot, he recognized the cars parked and I had to walk ahead so he wouldn’t see me giggling. I still have to pat myself in the back because he didn’t get the hunch until the day itself! We also celebrated our first year anniversary with my family and his’ at Villa Escudero. The only downside was, I wasn’t feeling very well – I was sick to my stomach the whole time – for personal reasons. In fact, I had to return to the US a week later than planned because they rushed me to the hospital on the day I was to fly back! Who knows, I just might be able to usher enough courage to write about this in my coming posts.

June – This is probably my most depressing month. After spending 5 weeks with my husband, I just couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at our photos together, couldn’t even watch the video. Even when I was back in full throttle at work, it just isn’t the same. I come to work with puffy eyes and my attention constantly drifts away. I daydream a lot, I cry myself to sleep every night, I call often and talk with hubz for hours on end. If coming home was paradise, coming back without my husband is pure and absolute torture.

July – I have started to put into action something I read in “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”. I decided it was time I paid myself first. I opened a savings account entirely for that purpose and before long, the formula proved effective because my savings continued to grow, and I constrained my expenses to what is left of my savings and bills allotment.

August – I embarked on a new and somewhat-expensive hobby, thanks to the prodding of a dear friend, Christine. Because I have tons of photos waiting to be organized, I started scrapbooking, then later, cardmaking. I thoroughly enjoyed my new hobbies and tried to scrap almost every weekend. It somehow filled the void of not having my husband around. It also kept me busy scrap shopping, tee-hee!

September – On the day I celebrated my 31st birthday, my roommate and I also closed escrow on a rental property up in Sacramento. After the call from our realtor to greet me a happy birthday and to relay the good news, I just cried and cried – all because I couldn’t believe how much God has blessed me! On the third week of September, roommate L’s sister and her whole family visited from New Zealand. A few days later, they were gone, embarking on a very long and tedious drive to Yosemite, Tahoe, Arizona, Utah, Las Vegas, then back to SFO.

October – I led a semi-successful install into completion – the largest our company has ever seen, thus far. It was semi-successful because there were a few glitches in Production, but none that we could’ve caught. They were caused mainly by other systems outside the applications we’re responsible for – whew! The install was comprised of 25 projects, 18 staffs, and 21,000 man-hours! Because I deserved a much-needed break, I flew in to Las Vegas to meet with roommate L, her sister, and her sister’s family. I immensely enjoyed the trip!

November – Hubz and I celebrated our 10th year anniversary as gf/bf over the phone. It was nice to reminisce those good old years, but equally nostalgic as well! Then, we had another set of guests from Texas. Being the hospitable hosts, we took them to Sausalito, the City, then to Napa Valley.

December – This is one Christmas I didn’t feel like celebrating. I was not in the mood to decorate the house. For the first time in 6 years, we didn’t put up a tree. I was also grumpy that was why our neighbors dubbed me “Scrooge”. However, we spent Christmas Eve at Disneyland and California Adventure, which had been fun. We ended the year with a little get-together at home with very close friends and godchildren.

2004 came to an end abruptly fast, and 2005 is here to stay. May the coming year bring us all good health, happiness, peace, safety. Most of all, may the Lord continue to bless us all and shower us with His graces.

Here's to another fruitful year!