Thank You Notes

Things to be grateful for in the year 2014? I don't know about you but I've had to think hard about this one, not because it was a bad year. I feel there weren't major life altering events that changed any paradigms. It was more a lot of little things that made this a really good year. I had some goals for this year and I have worked on them even if I haven't finished  to my extremely high expectations of perfection or they are still in progress.

As for the things I'm grateful for, well let's see:

• I am glad that I decided to volunteer with the political campaign for Wendy Davis. Although she didn't win - I was very sad about that - I do feel like I made a difference. I may not have liked how they handled the volunteer portion but I may do it again. I think next time I just won't try to dedicate so much time and make sure that I have the time and energy for activities. 
• I am grateful for the time I spent with family this year because a lot of issues were laid to rest. No family is perfect but being able to talk about issues is important. 
• I am so happy that I have kept the whole gym thing going! I won't lie there have been days where I just wanted to lay in bed and there were days I did just that but overall I have been pretty good about going! I am very happy and proud of myself. 
• I am grateful for all of the new friends I have made!
• I learned quite a bit at work this year and made quite a large amount of progress in my projects. Having these experiences has been wonderful, especially the trip to San Francisco.
• There's another thing I am really grateful for! I got to travel to San Francisco and had a great time with my friends in the city and at the conference.
• I am so thankful for all of the great moments I spent with friends and family!
• I am thankful for all of the little things that made this year so great. 
• I am even thankful for the bad things, there are a few things that I can honestly say have made me a better person this year.The ticket I got did not make me a better person, just an angry person.

Next comes a comprehensive and deep analysis of my future, loosely translates to bemoaning things not accomplished and what I want to accomplish next year. Lets see how exciting the next year is!

Control Enthusiasts Unite!!

Well hello everyone, hope everyone had a good holiday here in the USA. Also any expats reading this.

I had a decent holiday. We didn't get around to the gingerbread house - sad I know - but I think I overestimate how many hours there are in a day.Thursday was busy, cooking and cleaning and cooking some more. We did make cookies but I think mostly because my nephew was extremely excited about helping make the cookies. His favorite thing was to cut out the shapes, each time he cut one he would run and tell Mama that he made x shape. Cookies were good. Turkey was good. The biscuits could have been better, messed them up a little. I know my dad was not too impressed, mostly because I think he wanted yeast rolls, not biscuits. Next time I'm home I'll make some yeast rolls for them. Otherwise, uneventful and just nice. I think we all needed a holiday of just nice. So calm and relaxing.

Actually...TOO RELAXING! Oh my gosh! I never realized that I do not know how to relax! I felt without purpose, no direction, and absolutely nothing to do!!!! I know we cooked, we cleaned up, we made cookies but my days usually incorporate so much more! I was in New Mexico, Carlsbad to be specific and there is literally nothing to do there - for me. There are a few shops but mostly everything that you could entertain yourself requires lots of outdoor activity. Quite honestly my family is not a great outdoors type of family. My little sister went hiking with a local friend of hers but I didn't feel like being a third wheel. Besides I'm used to doing the planning, not having things planned for me. Talk about control enthusiast. Perhaps a better goal for next year will be to learn to relax.

Well I'm back at work and very happy with that because what I had completed last week - before the holiday - was very successful! Very happy about that. Dare I say that I even had a bit of bounce in my step when I came back? Well I did and yes I may have done a happy dance. That said, I can't believe we are almost at the end of another year! Oh My! (Credit to G. Takei)

**UPDATE**
I looked up images for control enthusiast, no bueno. 0_0
Apparently it's a BDSM thing and that is not what I meant!