reflections on 2006

It's hard to believe this year has come to an end. I'm a bit sorry to see it go, because overall, it's been a great year for Brian and I. I just counted (yes, I keep a list, of course) and I've read 68 books this year. That's a lot of reading, and I love it! I hope to read at least that many more in 2007!

I lost 40 pounds this year and got my health under control. I allowed myself some treats over Christmas, especially Giovanni's pizza, but I didn't gain a pound. :-D This week will be back to exercising full time! With it being 82 degrees here today, I don't think my walking outside will be a problem!

I scrapped over 140 pages and made over 150 cards this year! Whoa!

Brian had back surgery this year and is feeling great, despite many hours in the car over the holidays.

Brian got laid off from EA and now works for n-Space. It was a good move - he's in a job that he loves and there's nothing that can compare to that!

We paid off all of our credit card debt this year! YAAAYYYYY! I still can't believe it. I hated making payments on those cards - I couldn't even remember what most of that money had bought in the first place.

We're so happy in our church and in our home. We still miss NY. Maybe we'll get back there someday. But FL has definitely been good for us, especially health-wise. As we were driving home on Friday and crossed into Florida, it was the first time I really felt like Florida was home. :-D

Tonight we are spending some quality time together to ring in the new year. I'm already in my pajamas, we've ordered pizza, and Brian is gone to rent a movie. We're going to curl up on the couch together. I can't wait. Brian has to work tomorrow, can you believe it?? And we were so busy over Christmas, we didn't get much quality time together. So tonight we're quietly welcoming 2007 and bidding farewell to 2006.

January has a lot of things in store for us! Well, for me, anyway! Brian is working on a cool game for the Wii - he's been working on it since he started at n-Space in March, but it's nearing completion, so he's under deadline. I'm excited for Winter Scrapfest at Lifetime Moments! This time, I'm a points-counter and I'm SO EXCITED about that! I love love love Scrapfest and I was lucky enough to be one of the winners this past summer! I have like 400 pictures from Christmas and from my nephews and nieces to scrap, so I'm ready to go. Also in January, I'm hoping to get a few more piano students. Sometime this winter/spring I'm going to finish my Kindermusik training. And I still have 20 pounds to lose. :-D

As we say goodbye to 2006, I want to leave you with some lyrics from a song we sang at church this morning. We praise God for the work He has done in our lives this year, and we trust Him in the years to come.

We will remember, we will remember,
We will remember the work of Your hands.
We will stop and give You praise,
For great is Thy faithfulness!

christmas crafts

I made lots of stuff for Christmas this year! Of course, I make lots of stuff every year, but this year I was super motivated! Some of the gifts I made are for people who read this blog, so I couldn't post the pictures till after Christmas. Anyway, here's some of the stuff! (Don't forget I have major trouble with the photo option on Blogger! I'm still waiting on someone to teach me!)

All photos are clickable.

Gift tags:



Mini card set for Mom:



Cocoa caddy for Brad & Kari:
(The bottles contain white chocolate, marshmallows, caramels, and Andes mints - all for flavoring hot chocolate.)


Same gift, bottles in caddy:


Same gift, top view:



Cocoa caddy for Jason & Angela:



Altered train case for Amanda:
(This came plain white and we covered it with this really cool paper that reminded us of Amanda's style. The second pic is of the 3 trays that slide into it. It's such a cool case, I'm going to make one for myself!)

a year end poem

These past few weeks have been the craziest Christmas season I can ever remember! Time has absolutely gotten away from me, and I'm frantically trying to get things ready to go on our trip in just a few short days. Did I mention that I ordered stamps online from the USPS and they got lost in the mail? Ironic, huh? Well, they came today. Looks like my Christmas cards will be sent out before Christmas after all. I wrote a poem to enclose, but I'm sending 88 cards and there's just not time to make all the copies. So I thought I'd just post it here. This will probably be my last post before we leave, so we want to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, a happy New Year, and a safe holiday season.

------------------------------------------

This year of '06 has brought many events,
And more will arrive 'fore December is spent.
So without ado, I just want to share
Some stuff about us – and told with a flair!

We've now lived in Florida for over a year,
And we are becoming quite settled down here,
Though we still are not really used to the heat.
(We still think that New York just cannot be beat!)

We began our year with a bit of strange news:
EA laid off Brian, despite rave reviews
Of his programming skills, personality, brains -
But we know that their loss is truly our gain!

He's working for n-Space and still making games
For folks like Nintendo and others of fame.
He loves it, he says it's his favorite job yet!
Saying goodbye to EA, we do not regret!

For the spring and summer, I used some old skills
I'd developed in college, to help pay the bills.
I did freelance writing, wrote stuff for the 'net,
And it was by far my most laid back job yet.

I loved working at home and at my own pace,
And when that job ended I wore a sad face.
Since then I've been teaching piano again.
I'd missed it so much - what fun it has been!

In late March, we found my blood pressure was high.
The doctor said, “Exercise! Or you could die.”
It's amazing what that piece of news did for me.
I'm eating well, working out, being healthy.

And would you believe I've dropped 40+ pounds?
But what's even better – my BP is down!!
I've gone down three sizes and the very best part
Is knowing each day I have a healthy heart.

In October, we celebrated SIX years
Of wedded bliss, laughter, happiness, and cheer.
And then, Brian had surgery on his back!
He feels so much better - and no more ice pack!

We've finally found a church that we love -
It truly has been a gift from above.
And I get to play keys and sing in the band!
You can be quite sure that our church is not bland!

This year has brought visitors, travels, and fun,
Many trips to Disney, and days filled with sun!
Come see us, or if you're in town, let us know!
We'll meet you for lunch, dinner, or a show!

Overall, we're thankful, we're happy, we're healthy.
In family and friends, we know we're quite wealthy.
We love you, we miss you, we hope you are well.
Please call us and tell us what there is to tell!

This Christmas, take time to remember the birth
Of Jesus, God's Son, Who came down to earth
To save us, live with us, for He is the reason
We celebrate this blessed, glorious season!

Love to you all.

~Brian and Kerri

good grief!

It's been way too long since I blogged! I'm so behind on reading other people's blogs too - sorry, you guys. I'll get with it one of these days!

Christmas cards are done - whew! I made 87 this year! Now I just have to print the labels and get them mailed off. I also have to decide if I'm going to include a little letter inside - I wrote something already, but I haven't decided if I'm going to use it. We'll see. Brian is working late tonight and I'm working on things for Christmas. I'm WAY behind this year! I usually have all my shopping done and mostly wrapped and the cards mailed by now! But not this year. Christmas snuck up on me!

Well, our decorations are all up. I put up my snowman tree this year. Since we didn't put it up last year, I had forgotten about some of the ornaments. It's so fun getting them all out! And the Star Wars tree is up, in all its glory! :-D The exterminator was impressed by it when he came this morning. :-D And the music tree is up. That makes three, plus two smaller trees (I think one is like 4' and the other is about 2.5') on the front porch, a small tree in the bedroom, and a small tree on top of the armoire. Oh, and the ceramic tree, but that doesn't really count. :-D How many is that - 7? Good grief. I'm addicted to Christmas! And the craziest thing is, we didn't even put up our "family" tree this year, and that's the biggest of them all! It's 8', I think, and the snowman tree is 7' and the Star wars tree is 6'. If you lined all our trees up in a row, it would look like a tree version of the Von Trapps!!!!

OK, so we've got like 5 or 6 gifts so far. We've got so much shopping to do still! I did some shopping online this morning, though. There's way too much to do in the less-than-two-weeks we have left before we leave!! Oh my goodness, what have I been doing for the last several months????

We went to the choir program at the Presbyterian Church last night. (The church where I worked for awhile.) It was great! I'm so glad we went and heard the wonderful choir and saw everyone.

Oh, and we went to see Marc Broussard at the Hard Rock Live on Thursday night. He was as awesome as ever, but the people around us were SO RUDE!!!! They kept talking and talking - which was really YELLING, so they could be heard over the music. WHY, I ask you, do people buy tickets to a concert and then talk to their friends the whole time? They can talk to their friends for free ANYTIME! :-( But Marc was awesome. :-D

We got our first Christmas card of the season today. It was from the Herzogs, our friends from NY. I actually taught piano to their two boys, Luke and Brian, and I also taught their dad, Rob! AND, Rob was our dentist! They were some of my very favorite students ever. They still are, I guess. Now they have another adorable baby boy! I miss them. I miss all of my friends and students from NY! If I lived there, it would be about time for the Christmas recital!

Well, I better get to work on this stuff. And put some more laundry in. At least the house is in pretty good shape! Now the goal is to keep it that way so I won't have to worry about a ton of cleaning! Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far.