Highlights of 2009... Prosit Neujahr!

Just wanted to have a little "Best of 2009" entry... Pictures are on the sidebar!

One of my favorite quotes...

For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. this perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way so treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one.Happiness is a journey, not a destination. -Souza

January
Everest Base Camp, Dubai Marathon and camping in Oman.

Everest Base Camp
The year started off with a little hike... Katie, Syma and I hiked to Everest Base Camp. I have never been so cold in all my life! But, the views and the experience is something I will never forget! I love that I've done it, but even a year later, I can't highly recommend it for everyone.

Dubai Marathon
My personal best! I ran the Lisbon Marathon in December and only got in one long run before we left for Nepal, but whatever I guess the altitude training must have worked! I felt great during the whole race and feel like I could have actually run a bit harder. We celebrated with a delicious lunch at, surprise, surprise,Barasti. I miss the Tuna sandwiches there as much as I miss the sun... and the carrot cake from Lime Tree and my friends.

Camping in Oman
Mark and I left "right" after school, or on Mark standard time, whatever... We went down a little south of Muscat to Wadi Shab. I'm pretty sure I spent the majority of the time talking about vampires... and I quote "I can't believe they lied about Vampires in Interview with a Vampire." Right, because Twilight is the "truth." Poor Mark! We arrived at our first campsite, and I use that word loosely, at like 2am or something. I'm sure that had nothing to do with the fact that we just sat in the car talking, didn't really know where we were going, stopped for a nice long dinner and to buy some pans to cook with and then when we told the border guy where we were going, he just sort of stared at us and pointed in the direction we had just come from... oh well! I think it might have been my favorite camping trip while in Dubai, totally relaxing, no hurry, no stress...

February
James Blunt concert with Kim and Heather, Barclay's Tennis Championship and running races nearly every weekend!

Barclay's Tennis Championship
I went to a couple of different days of tennis. I took a personal day one day to go and attempt to get money back from a speeding ticket that I didn't actually get, I was in the states when they photographed "my" license plate. I tried to explain it all to the RTA people, but of course they told me I had to just pay the ticket and then go down to the main office and they would just reimburse me... Ha! As usual, the office hours were like 9:00 - 3:00 or something, it was in an area I was completely unfamiliar with and I ended up in Sharjah. At that point I decided the best option was to just call it a day, park my car up on the sidewalk near the Tennis Stadium and grab a vodka soda, or two, or three and wait for Liz.

Race Season!
Race season in Dubai... I had a race nearly every weekend. I did a few 10K's the different Running Clubs were hosting, the RAK half and the Wadi Bih relay. They were all great! Kelli, Alyssa and I went down to RAK the night before, ate a buffet dinner with wine and then got up and ran the next day... Kim and Heather also ran the half and a few other girls joined Alyssa and they did a relay. We all had brunch at this golf club with my running club after, very fun! The Wadi Bih Relay was really cool. We divided up into two groups and had a few cars, drove up to Dibba, camped and then each took turns running between 3 - 8kms, or something like that. Sort of the same idea as Hood to Coast, only a shorter distance and a bit more scenic and hilly and dusty.... After the race there was a brunch/lunchish thing at the Golden Tulip, some people rushed on home, Jess was nearly left behind... Mark and I met up with another group of our friends and camped another night. Very fun!

March
My mom came to visit. We went up to Musandam, Abu Dhabi, a dinner cruise on the creek, fun dinners out, Lime Tree, the beach and lots of other fun things!

April
Philippines with my brother and sister and Katie's visit!!! We made a home base out of the Trader's Hotel in Manila, played "Amazing Race" and hired drivers to drive us all over from the town where my dad was baptized, to help us find our relatives house, up to the rice fields, then we flew and boated out to the most beautiful beaches and snorkeling I've ever seen! Too bad it was the last night that we figured out it was self service all you can drink wine for the equivalent of 10 USD at our hotel in Manila!

Katie's visit
We had an "All You Can" weekend, tons of trips to Lime Tree, the beach, Fujairah, she pretty much bought out the souqs, well the spice and perfumes ones anyways! It was great to show her my "Dubai life" and she was AWESOME and brought me my favorite wines from home. She clearly knows me well!


May
Month of "All You Can's," goodbye dinners, birthdays and everything was one last time... I also broke my ribs this month playing soccer. PAINFUL. Very inconvenient for life in general. When we went into the ER because I woke up hysterically crying at 5:00am because I was in so much pain, the doctor thought is was "funny" to joke about how the person that brought me in was probably beating me. Hilarious. I seriously think there was at least one major event every weekend... if not more. One day we did a brunch and then went to the Sophomore Dinner... which of course we were quite late too... Seriously? We also had a Bachelorette party, and... we were those girls, you know, the one's you make fun of? That have on crazy outfits and show up to bars in a stretch hummer??!

June
More of the same in Dubai... plus the added funness, I realize that's not a word..., of packing, moving, selling and all that... Goodbye Dubai bye! Then... home for the summer!

Jen's Bachelorette party in San Diego
We had such a great time! I arrived into SF on a Thursday, went and stayed with Erin and her family one night, then met up with Jen at the airport and we all flew down to SD together. I think it was Monday by the pool that I finally realized I was in SD... the whole weekend was kind of a blur!

Joel and Ashley's Wedding
It was BEAUTIFUL! I was so happy that I was able to make it home in time to go to the wedding. It was great to see my family and we had a great day!

July
It was a busy month with a week at the beach for Gavin's 5th birthday, 4th of July, family BBQ, wine tasting extravaganza, including my fake bachelorette party, rafting with Teri and Jess and then the move to Vienna and a quick trip to Duabi.

Wine tasting... seriously? What was I thinking with my "challenges"? And, how could one day be that much fun!

August
Busy month... met all the Newbies, looked for a place to live, Gregg came to visit, started work... went to Poznan, Poland.

Poznan had a very cool old town area, beautiful old buildings and World Cup Rowing, because as you know, I'm a BIG fan. Ha! I couldn't find a place to live right away and LOVED living with Steph. When I finally did find a place I didn't want to leave! As part of our "newbie" events, we went on a biking tour that was pretty fun through vineyards and then had a great lunch in a really cute small town.

September
Coaching soccer, 8th Grade trip, Amber came to visit, Semmering hiking trip and another trip to Poland, this time Warsaw. Fall might be my favorite time of year in Vienna, gorgeous weather, pumpkin soup and well, just everything about it is great!

October
Busy month! I did the Vienna Night Run, Graz Half Marathon and then went back to the states for Jen's wedding in SF and then up to Kristin's for the rest of the time.

November
Finished up soccer and took the girls on a trip to Munich, Christmas markets started and I went back to Dubai for Thanksgiving. I LOVED seeing everyone and also was happy to lay in the sun! Eating carrot cake and talking with friends, it was hard to imagine why I ever left! We also went to Aquaventure, haven't been to a water park in probably 20 years... so fun! I was wearing a strapless dress, flip flops and LOVING life!

December
Month of visitors, Christmas markets and holiday celebrations. It might have been the best and least stressful holiday season I have ever had! When I got back from Dubai Heather arrived the same day. It was so much fun to have her here! My mom arrived the day Heather left. We had so much fun exploring all the different Christmas markets, walking around, hoping we wouldn't freeze to death and also just relaxing at home! Of course we watched the biggest loser a few nights too. My mom also bought me some new bedding. The day before my mom left Jess arrived and stayed through the New Year. SO FUN! We were lazy, I mean, we took advantage of our time off to relax. Ha! She really helped me fix up my apartment, not sure what took me so long to pull it together, but I now have shelves, pictures and mirrors hung. We decided to host Christmas Dinner for some friends that were in town, and my friend Damien flew in from the states too, so I had a full house. And LOVED it! New Year's was great fun too! We did the Silvester Trail, which basically involved starting with waltzing lessons at 2:00 and then going to different stages set up around town all with live music and/or dj's. We ended up at the Rathaus for the majority of the night listening to a Michael Jackson tribute band and then a Bryan Adams cover band. I get Michael Jackson, but Bryan Adams?

Well, those were some highlights...! Year round fun included... Saltini's, soccer, lunch club, beach, lime tree, running club, seeing friends and family at home over the summer and starting a whole new life in Vienna... Prosit!

While I am not a big fan of the word "lucky" I might have to say... I feel SO lucky that I am living in Vienna and have met the people I have met so far and am really looking forward to learning GERMAN so that I can actually communicate with people here...

PLEASE COME VISIT!!!!