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That's So 2006
01-02-07


Well here we are in 2007! Since the New Year passed, it seems like everyone has been doing a bit of reflecting and resoluting. Thinking through my past year, I realized that in my extreme relaxation/over-working cycle, I missed filling you guys in on some relevant events in my 2006. Therefore, I have decided to dedicate this entry to highlighting those events. We'll just say this is my:

"2006 Photo Year In Review". :)
(minus all of the things I already wrote about!)

JANUARY

I slipped and fell on ice outside my apartment one day. I was wearing hole-filled work jeans so my poor little knees were defenseless against the hard frozen concrete. How do little kids skin their knees and survive? I just hurt one knee one time and I complained for the rest of the week!

FEBRUARY

Zooey discovered the laser pointer (thanks to Joel). It had mixed effects: it's a blessing because it never fails to make her spin around madly (which is funny), but it's a curse because it may have triggered her obsessive-compulsive disorder! Even now, 10 months later, she still cries endlessly for it.

APRIL

Mom went on a vacation to Libya (that's right) and my family took over her condo! Mom had been living in the condo for 2 years and hadn't finished renovating it. My aunts, cousins, brothers, Olga, and I painted the kitchen and dining room, put in an entire guest half-bath (which was being used as a closet!), scrubbed and sealed the tile, and touched up and cleaned all sorts of things. Mom was really surprised and now the condo's much more livable!

MAY

My best friend Katrina got married to my college friend Mark! I brought Katrina to the party where they met, so I think I can take credit for their lifetime of happiness. :) Luckily they realized that and let me be the only non-family member in the wedding, for the small price of hours of photo-editing. There are way too many stories to tell here, but it can be summed up as: It was a frickin' awesome "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" time!

Here is the picture from the catalogue of the beautiful dress Katrina picked for her bridesmaids:

And here I am in it:

:) I guess it was just that kind of reception!

JUNE

I flew in an airplane for the first time in 5 years (did you know that I am terrified of flying?)!! Just kidding- I actually drove to Chicago and visited the Museum of Science and Industry, where they have an actual 727 on display.

The bathroom and hallway of our apartment flooded from a vent in the ceiling. Luckily, I was out for the evening and missed all of the mopping excitement. But I didn't miss it when it happened again two weeks ago!

My old roommate Dana also asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Her family loves to make food and I love to eat food, so it was a bridal-party match made in heaven. Highlights from the wedding included walking across the street from Grosse Pointe to Detroit with some groomsmen to hit up the Ice Cream Truck, watching Dana and her new husband Ruben sing every word to every R&B song to each other on the dance floor, and catching the bouquet (eek!). Being in weddings is fun. :) Plus, I got to wear hot pink, which was always my wedding fantasy when I was little!

My grandpa gave me his old "Family Feud" board game (the 1981 edition). I can't even tell you how much joy it brings me to play "Richard Dawson" (minus all of the kissing) with my friends. Granted, sometimes it's hard to think of what people in 1981 would say (like "Name your dream car." Uh, a Pinto?), but it's all totally worth it!

AUGUST

My friend since 8th grade, Rachel, had a beautiful wedding in a solarium at a swanky hotel. The place even had a croquet course! I don't know how that technically adds to the ambiance of a wedding day, but it definitely didn't hurt it. :) Now Rachel and her husband Jason are under about 7' of snow living in Denver, Colorado.

After many failed attempts in 2005, I finally got up on a wakeboard! I spent all winter doing deep-knee bends to get myself ready for another shot last summer and it worked! I only stood up for about a minute (twice), but I kept falling because I was so excited that I would lose my focus. :) It was good enough for me! Hot wetsuit, huh? :)

SEPTEMBER

I built a kitty house! We used to let Zooey play in cardboard boxes, but since she has OCD, she thought that if chewing on cardboard was okay, she could also chew on the mail, printer paper, magazines, etc. So we eliminated all play-paper and I built her this inedible condo instead. Look, she's so happy!

Believe it or not, someone in my family actually got married. My cousin Rebecca was the first of 17 cousins (ages 13-33) to tie the knot and my first extended family member to get married since 1989! I have been to jillions of weddings (clearly), but I had no idea how fun a family wedding would be! We all got dressed up in fancy clothes, cut a rug on the dance floor, and taught grandpa how to "raise the roof"! Now I am looking forward to the next one (my cousin Anna, who got engaged 2 months later- the dominos might be falling!).

The last of my big 2006 weddings was my friend Mike's. He's lives on the west side of Michigan and fell for a girl that most of his college friends didn't really know. It was the first time one of my friends married a stranger (to me!), but we could all tell they are a really good match. There was lots of smiles all around! Plus I hang out with a bunch of my friends I hadn't seen in a long time. And that's always a great thing!

NOVEMBER

We were the first to put on the brand new Disney show, "High School Musical" (besides the workshop schools), which I heard was kind of a big deal. :) The set doesn't look complicated, but we actually needed some engineering expertise to make those blue panels that had to slide and twist (my degree wasn't useless!). We ended up selling about 10,000 tickets (nuts!), which led to a lot of nail-biting! But thankfully, we had a pretty flaw-free run... so I think I'll be employed for a few more shows. :)

Phew. It was a busy year at times! Of course, I mostly wrote about the good times, but I did have some hard times in 2006 as well. All in all though, 2006 was a pretty good year, and I am looking forward to changing things up a bit in 2007 (but not too much, we all know how I feel about change!).

I hope that you all had favorable 2006s, and you've gotten a chance to absorb and reflect on it all, too. I wish you all a 2007 filled with health, happiness, and only the drama that you want to happen. :)

.

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