Year in Review - 2008

As 2008 comes to an end, it's fun and fitting to look back at all the things that have happened this year. It's been an interesting year - sometimes I can't believe I experienced all I have. Here we go:

Places Visited: (new places in italics) - I travelled a lot this past year!!!
Portland, OR
Salt Lake City, UT - a dozen or more times
Beaver, UT
Montrose, CO
Grand Junction, CO (I'd passed through it, but never stayed)
American Fork, UT
Tooele, UT
Price, UT
Cheyenne, WY
Page, AZ
Bullfrog, UT - the drive from Page to Bullfrog qualifies as the most interesting drive all year.
Guernsey, WY - favorite place I went to for work
Delta, UT
Richfield, UT
Torrington, WY
Scottsbluff, NE - I jaunted over to Nebraska while staying in Torrington.
Vernal, UT - a couple times
Logan, UT
Charlotte, NC - just the airport, but I'm counting it because I'd never been to NC before!
Boston, MA - I'd been to the outskirts, but not downtown
St. John, New Brunswick
St. Martin, NB
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sydney, NS
Bar Harbor, ME
Ogden, UT
Layton, UT - a few times,;once for work, the others for fun
Denver, CO

Guys Dated: 1 - a decrease from the 3 from last year, but I'm okay with it. I was too busy to date this year.

Number of Boyfriends: 1 - not too bad. Better than most years!

Guys Kissed: 2 - the same as last year. I'm not sure how proud I am of the second guy, but it sure made life interesting! I still can't believe I let him kiss me again in Denver!

Homes Bought: 1! I love my home. And, slowly I'm adding to it, making it even better.

Biggest Accomplishment: getting my CDL.

Not My Proudest Moment: letting Shawn kiss me, multiple times, even though I had a boyfriend. I still shake me head when I think of it.

Surgeries: 1 - go here to get updates

Weight Lost: 30 lbs

Languages "Learned": 1 - sign language. I'd like to improve both my other languages this coming year.

Accidents: 1 - that darn lamp post!

Roommates: 2 - kind of.

Favorite New Book Read: The Red House Mystery by AA Milne - short but so enjoyable
Runners Up: MacBeth by William Shakespear (made more enjoyable by reading it aloud with friends), The Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke (I've read 3 of the 11 in the series), An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon (second time reading and woefully left off of last year's list). In 2009 I'm going to start recording the books I read so I'll have a better idea of what I read this time next year. :)

Fun Activities/Events: Cruise, Shakespear Festival, potluck dinner with friends, cousins weekends (especially the last one - was so glad Kristi came this time!), weekly movie night alone, driving Bertha and the Beast, numerous dinners with my wonderful friends, Pampered Chef parties, Thanksgiving in Vernal, playing Wii with my family, reading Shakespear out loud, and tons of other things I can't think of right now. It was a fun year.

Happiest Moment: Unlike last year, I don't have one clear winner, so here's a few:
Waking up in my new home, seeing Dad sealed to Paula (it was bittersweet), learning to back up the truck and trailer, moving back home after spending a week at Mom's, being told by a good friend that he thinks I'm beautiful, cooking in my kitchen

Toughest Moment: Again, no clear winner, but here's a couple that were hard:
Telling Anthony about Shawn, breaking up with Anthony, spending my birthday alone in a hotel room shortly after breaking up with Anthony, admitting to running into the lamp post, deciding to get a roommate (turned out awesome, though!), 10 days of nothing but SlimFast, water, apple juice, and popsicles.

Biggest Reliefs: 1) Breaking up with Anthony. I was so worried he was going to propose before I got the courage to end it! 2) Passing my CDL driving exam. 3) Eating solid food again after more than 2 weeks.

Regrets: I can't think of any. I know I haven't always made the best decisions this year, but each time I made a "mistake", it turned out okay and/or I learned from it. (I wrote this at the end of last year's post, but it fits with this year so well, I decided to keep it.)

Hopes for the new year: Stay tuned...my next post will be about my new years resolutions and plans.