Happy New Year - 2008!

Happy New Yr to all!! Hope 2008 brings us all joy, happiness & good cheer!

A year (2007) in review!!

Well what a year!!! Deep breath out!!

• I decided come hell or high water I was going to get myself based in Europe. With all our travelling, it made sense to base ourselves here for awhile. After exploring a few different avenues of getting over, I hit the jackpot!! Gotta say a big thank you to the other half for up rooting his life (which was pretty good!!!) to fulfil one of my dreams.
• My neice Sarah, made her 1st Holy Communion which was a wonderful day! She looked like an angel in her gorgeous white dress (hope it stays that way :)) & a fantastic day was had by the entire family.
• Resigning from EDS Australia, meant leaving many amazing colleagues & friends who formed a huge part of my life. In the 9 years there I had a ball!!! Of course the good part meant a pretty drunken farewell & I thank my drinking buddies who stayed out with me, till the wee hours of the morning!!
• Ah, relocating!! The not so fun part of moving to the UK. We spent a month in the UK, looking for a place to live & eventually found the one - a Victorian house in Windsor. Getting to know the ins-&-outs of paperwork in a country, has been a learning experince!! The car followed next, with the mandatory stat nav to ensure that I didnt get lost!
• David spent months in Sydney settling up - selling the apartment, the cars, the furniture & most of our possessions we have accumulated in the last 14 years. Its nice to do a big spring clean every so often!!
• New job!! Well after almost 20 yrs in pure apps delivery, I am now working in business development and sales support for apps. Learning new things & it has been great!! About 4 mths into the role which was for UK, Ireland, Middle East & Africa, we have expanded our remit to all of Europe, ME & Africa. Now this has been a steep learning curve!! :) 6 months in the job & only now starting to feel like I have a grasp of something!!
• A week in Phuket, Thailand to celebrate the marriage of David's dad & his long time partner Weisa. It was a good holiday & family reunion, with David's dad & brother & Weisa's 2 daughters & family. Besides sightseeing, celebrating with amazing food, there was time for relaxation on the beach & poolside.
• My cousin Angelique got married to Vejay in the UK & there was a huge family reunion. My mum flew over from Sydney, my aunt from Switzerland, along with my other 2 aunts in the UK, the 4 sisters were together & they had a ball! The wedding was great, Ange looked beautiful, it was a lovely sunny day & all my UK cousins were there, who I havent seen for years!
• Unfortunately David's grandmother (babcia) passed away this year at the end of September. She was 87. She had a long fruitful life but is sadly missed by her family. David flew back to Sydney to organise the service. A big thank you to the friends there to support him. She will be missed.
• My uncle John celebrated his 70th birthday & my aunt put on a great party!! We all had a great time.
• Having not been able to be together in July to celebrate my b'day & our 14th wedding anniversary, we spent a long w/e in November in London. Did some touristy stuff, went shopping, did a lot of eating, got dressed up, went out etc.. A great w/e was had!!!
• Preparing for Christmas this year has been fun - the house is covered in lights & looks very pretty!!
• White Christmas in Salzburg, Austria. That was fun!! Besides doing some touristy stuff, we spent the week relaxing, strolling, eating & drinking & winding down after an amazingly busy year.
• New Year's was spent together at home (I was too tired & cold to go out!), yes must be getting on! It was a good night, given we were up till 4.30am, drinking & watching movies.
• Well 2007 has been a rather eventful year for us personally & we feel very blessed & privileged to have lived it. Havent listed the major global events but a quiet thought for all lives lost in natural disasters (tsunami, flooding, earthquakes, landslides etc) & not so natural (flight crashes, killings in Africa, assasinations, terrorist activities & wars all around the globe etc). Here's to always hoping for a peacful 2008.
• On a personal note, 2007 wouldnt have been as amazing as it was if it wasnt for all the good samaritans I encountered. You know who you are. Your friendship & encouragement has meant that I came closer in living the life I wanted to! I hope & pray to continue to have you in my life.