Happy New Year - 2008

We had a nice New Year eve. Had a casual dinner with friends. I had 'Rum in Coke' for a beverage. I'm starting to like it now!

2007 Goals Review

It's the beginning of 2008, hence a time for Yearly Goal review. Let's see what Goals I had made-

Professional

Get on a FileNet Project - Done. I have been working on that project for the last 9 months!

Personal

Finishing a 5K. - Done in April, 2007.
100 miles by April 1st 2007 - Done!
Finishing some scrapbooks - Done Mehul's First Birthday and Mehul's Second Year books. I have even printed off and given the birthday book to both grandparents.
Finishing a few items from my 10 Stitching Project Challenge list. - Nothing was finished :(
Keep knocking items off my 101 Things In 1001 Days list - We're doing very well here :) Current Progress is 51% finished and 10% in progress. It's a great progress from last year when I was 24% done, 16% in progress.

Goals for 2008

Finishing a few items from my 10 Stitching Project Challenge list. I have Angel of Love and Peacock Tapestry in my 101 list to finish this year. This is a tall order I know. I will be happy if I make significant progress on PT but I MUST finish Angel of Love. There's barely 10% left!!
Finish knitting my first sock pair.
Finish Mehul's First Year Memory book. I have 4 layouts so far.
Keep knocking items off my 101 Things In 1001 Days list. This is the last year for the 101 things list, I will be happy if I end the year with 70% items completed (currently 51%).

2007 was a great year in every respect. We were blessed with great health and good times with friends and family. Here's hoping 2008 is even better.

And it continues...

The absentmindedness continues. Today is a holiday at my company, and I showed up for work :rolleyes. None of my previous employers had MLK Day as a holiday, and generally only the Government Employees get it. I did't bother to check. Imagine my surprise to see a nearly empty parking lot. I did get to the gym at work, and did my 5K. Again. Yay for me! But I still feel stupid.

Moving on, I just finished this 2006 Review layout. I LOVE the colors here. So pretty!

Year 2006

Credits:
Layout Design is Lifted from Erin's Year in Review
Yellow Background: Meredith Fenwick Faraway
Green Background: Meredith Fenwick Faraway
Red Cutout Paper: Michelle Coleman Writter In The Stars
Circle Stitchig: Diamante Designs Let Yourself Shine
Butterfly: Diamante Designs Let Yourself Shine
Flowers: Michelle Coleman Flowers For Mom
Buttons: Michelle Coleman Savoir Faire
Twisty Tie: Diamante Designs Let Yourself Shine
2006 Alpha: Diamante Designs Felt Alpha
Photo Strips: Michelle Coleman Art Inspiration Collection
Overlay on Yello: Michelle Coleman Bleached Borders from Savoir Faire
Fonts: Bradley Hand ITC and Carpenter

Looking forward to 2007

In 2007, I wish to focus on growth. Both personal and professional.

Professional

I have just cleared the certifications that bring me one step closer to where I want to be professionally. For anyone wondering, they are FileNet Enterprise Content Management and Business Process Management Java APIs (Mouthful). I want to be a Content Specialist when I grow up :) I am learning Filenet, and have experience with Documentum (FileNet's Competition, and a leading Enterprise Content Mgmt solution). A resume with both of these is really hard to find. Now, I need to get on a project with FileNet here, and I'm all set.

Personal

The fun part. I want to be a runner. I want to finish a 5K. I run at lunchtime sometimes, but I need to be more consistant. Currently, I can run 2 miles (3.2K) in 25 minutes, With a total of 5 minutes walking before, in-between, and cool-down. So, I'm joining the 100 miles by April 1st. Found it on ThermalGal's Blog The challenge is to walk or run 100 Miles. I would like most of it to be running.

I want to finish the scrapbook albums I've started - Mehul's First Year, and Mehul's First Birthday. After that, I want to start Mehul's Second Year, Travel Book, and Recipe Booklet. I don't have any heritage photos with me here so I'm not adding that to the list. I will get them on my next trip to India.

I also want to finish a few items from my 10 Stitching Project Challenge list.

Ofcourse, in addition to these, I'll keep knocking items off my 101 Things In 1001 Days list.

2006 in Review

There were many ups and downs along the way, but overall, it was a good year. Better than 2005 for sure. No one got majorly sick, for which I'm very thankful. I got to spend the first half of the year with Mehul, staying happily at home. That is the highlight of this year in my mind. I didn't know how much I had missed seeing him the last year!

In June, I got a good job that pays slightly less than last years contract, but is much closer to home. I'll take that over salary any day. Girish switched his project within his company and came closer to home too. Both of us are home at a reasonable time daily, and have time for family activities (even if it's just sitting in front of TV most days! LOL.) In September, we bought the house of our dreams. Couldn't sell the old place, but it's still working out. Girish turned 31, I turned 30, and Mehul turned 2.

We formed new friendships, and continued old ones. Both online, and in real life. I made contacts with a few people off the boards, and treasure them as my friends. I really hope to meet them in person. As a family, we met a few families via friends, and get along great. We had more GTGs this year than in the last 5-6 years in the US. A sense of community has formed, and we hope to keep it going in 2007.

I started a new hobby later in the year, Digi Scrapping. It has been a blessing. It's my creative outlet, and I find it extremely relaxing while creating memories at the same time. I always wanted to turn the digital photos into scrapbooks, but never thought digital scrapbooking would be the way to go! I came across a discussion on the Stitching BB, googled the term, and told myself I don't need another hobby. 15 days later, I was sitting with a bunch of freebie kits and trying it out! LOL. I'm mostly done with Mehul's first year photos, and his First Birthday Album is coming along really well. Only 5-6 more photos to scrap! I wish to do a Heritage Album for my side of family, and another for DH's, a travel album, and hopefully a recipe booklet! I started stitching again too. And we continue to do Home Improvements. I also started this blog and have been actively blogging.

Among the downsides, the stitching community lost a dear member - Laura Leigh. She was my age. We may not have had one on one contact, but I always felt close to her for some reason. I always thought she looked like me a little bit too. She came across as a very friendly person. It was such a big shock, and I still remember that day often. We also learned that a dear friend of Girish and his wife had a miscarriage. They were so excited about having a baby. They're doing better now, and we wish them the best.

Mehul started speaking a lot. He makes us laugh. Some of my favorites are "Miss Mamma" "Miss Dadda" "Mehul, I give you Timeout!" "What's dat name?" "My Lellow" (the color yellow is his fave), and many more. He can be seen giving timeouts to his Trains, Winny the Pooh, and Elmo. Eating battles continue. Despite all of our efforts, he continues to be a picky eater. Here's hoping it will get better in 2007. Three sounds like an age when a lot of picky kids start eating. Oh well, he's happy and healthy. That's all that matters :)

Here's to a Great Year 2007.