A Year in Review

So first things first… My Christmas vacation

21 – drive to airport to pick up sister K
22 – Drive to London to show K London Dress, A buys Tuxedo. Drive to Belleville
23 – Drive to Ottawa
24 – Drive to Castleton to Sister S’s. S&W have food poisoning, need to take care of E.
25 – Merry Christmas and back to Belleville
26 – Was going to avoid boxing day madness but watch breaks and we made our way to the mall. Saw I am Legend. I too cried with the dog bit, A made fun of me.
27 – A wakes me up in the middle of the night to ask for the garbage can. He has the flu.
28 – Go in to Belleville to make a purchase (see my other blog!) Go to Toronto to pick up future M-I-L after S-I-L birthday party. Back home at last.
29 – Lazy bums. But we did get new blinds for the bay window.
30 – Partay Chez L&A. Q&R are back in Southwestern Ontario and we had a get together.
31 – By to MIL, open joint account. Lazy Lazy Lazy. A fell asleep at 11:00. I stayed up, but was reading.
1 – More lazyness.

January
I was very lonely at school being the only one left. Burger had a Goodbye party for Q&R which was really Sad :( I also had my first real bout of the flu. It wasn’t all that fun let me tell you ;)

February
I searched far and wide for a job. Ha! Just joking. I kind of fell into interviews with my current company through Burger. Didn’t even really apply to them. Just sent her my resume one day. And Bam, here I am 8 months later ;).

March
The only two things I remember from March are finishing the chilly half marathon which was, well, chilly and going to Vancouver. Although Vancouver wasn’t much of a “just” thing. We visited with Kelly and Quinn and my cousins, went to Whistler, the Sunshine Coast and Climbed a mountain. Ah. Perfect!

April
April was a good month. A very good month. Did my Seminar, went to visit Kate, got my thesis submitted to my readers and started working. A busy month, but so, so worth it.

May
And I’m Done! Finally. Almost three years, but I’m done. Who cares that I had to use 2 of my precious 10 vacation days to get there. Also starting to get settled in my new job. Liking the job, hating the commute. Pressure is on to start house hunting. Also got my half marathon PR that I’ve been pining for after years. Sub 2 hours baby!

June
We bought a house! After searching hard (for two weeks) we settled on our current house and got it. It is beautiful  well, I think so anyways ;) I also did two triathlons in which I placed first in my category. I’m a rockstar ;)

July
Two exciting things – and on the same weekend! On July 7, Dear Dad tied the knot and only July 8 I did my first half Ironman. I was sure afterwards it would be my last, but now? Who knows. The rest of the month I was fending off illness, which wasn’t very cool.

August
August was a busy month in Laura Land. At the beginning of the month we went to New York for C-dub Bachelorette weekend. Then it was moving into our house complete with plenty of renovations. A and I also got engaged on August 17, which also happened to be 1 year and 8 months together (we didn’t realize this fun little fact for several days).

September
Was C-dubs wedding which was beautiful. The rest of the month kind of passed in a blur of working. I went to Windsor for work for a week which took up a good chunk of the month.

October
Was the month I started trying on Wedding dresses. On thanksgiving weekend my sister S and D went shopping with me to some stores in Belleville. I found one dress that I loved, but wasn’t ready to commit. Late in the month C-dub and Nej came down to go shopping with me in London. Again found one dress that I loved, but wasn’t ready to commit because of the first dress. Argh! Decisions!

November
The beginning of November My dad had an engagement party for us. Sister K surprised us by coming down, which was nice. We also went dress shopping at more places in Belleville and I tried on the first dress again. The rest of the month was a blur of work.

December
More blur of work. I was insanely busy for the first half of the month and very much enjoyed my 10 day Christmas break, although it was also pretty busy.

Goals for 2007
1) Goal Races - Spring half marathon, summer half ironman, fall full marathon. well, yest on the spring half marathon – did two and PR’d (personal record) in both, and got my time down below 2:00 which has been a long standing goal, another yes on the summer half ironman but a big fat no for the fall marathon. After the half Ironman I needed some time away from working out. That lasted a month, then we bought a house and fall field word was crazy so I never really got back on the boat.
2) Finish school for good and get the hell out of here. I'm SO ready to be done. YOU BET!!!! I don’t even think of it anymore. I actually haven’t even picked up my bound thesis. Oops ;)
3) Be a happier person. I think school is really starting to get to me and bring me down. It is always this stress in my life and it doesn't help that people ask me all the time "So, when are you going to be done?" I think I heard it 10,000 times over the break. dude's it's a touchy subject, if I want to talk about school let me bring it up. Working on it. I’m not really a stressed person anymore, but I guess there are things we all struggle with. Right now my two man struggles are money and being away from home. I was away from home a LOT this fall – it made it really hard to get into a routine (healthy eating and excersize) and left no time for wedding planning. Moneywise I am struggling a little bit, between the Christmas season, buying a house, and a car, I feel like I’m living pay check to pay check. Actually, scrap that. I AM living pay check to pay check. I think I have $63 in my bank account right now (this is actually lower than it should be but I will explain that one else where). Hopefully I will be able to get out of this hole soon though.

Goals for 2008
1) continue to work on happiness
2) Get my ass back into shape. I hope to do a late spring marathon, but we’ll see how this goes. Next summer I want to focus on short triathlons again.
3) Lose the weight I have gained over the last 4 months (and it is a lot) and perhaps get down to my goal weight. The problem last time is that as soon as I got to within 10 pounds of my goal weight I felt I was content where I was, and stopped trying honestly.
4) Have a great time planning our wedding and enjoy the day as much as possible