10 for '10

In no particular order, here is a smattering of the notable things that occurred in 2010.

1. We celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Nov. 1. Hurrah for two terrific years of marriage! We have grown a lot this year as a team (see #3 and #5) and I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.

2. We started (and mostly completed) two renovation projects in our house: the master bathroom and the kitchen. On a not-so-awesome note, due to one thing or another, I completely failed at getting good before pictures, thus making these milestones semi-lame in a blogging sense. We love our new kitchen though and will get pictures up soon.

3. We traveled a lot: Colorado, Europe, Northern Africa, Hawaii and various points around the Southeast. Favorite moments include hiking in the Alps; exploring Malaga, Spain; putting together distribution packets in Guillermo's bookstore; celebrating my cousin's wedding in the glorious Colorado sunshine with lots of family; seeing my sister's ohana (apartment) and new workplace; riding on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad with Thomas' family in the beautiful North Carolina fall; eating at Spago's and many other amazing adventures.


4. We got to see our little nephew Colton go from a helpless newborn to a crawling, verbal little guy that keeps everyone on their toes.

5. We got a dog that we love to pieces!! Sullivan has been so much fun (and so much work) this year and we can't get enough of his goofy antics. He is right around 70 pounds, a destroyer of plush toys, a shredder of paper and a sniffer of epic proportions. He is the perfect family dog and we are thrilled to have him--except maybe at 5 am when he wants to jump on the bed and "snuggle," aka take up more than 1/3 of the bed with his long legs and force his parents into absurd positions.

6. My parents moved to Charleston! We have really enjoyed having them around and are excited to watch them build a life here with church involvement, tennis of course, and maybe even the successful completion of a short sale. They also love Sullivan, and their help with him has been invaluable.

7. I finished graduate school and got a full time job! Tens of thousands of pages, and probably an equal number of miles, and a master's thesis later, I now have a degree that is still sitting unframed on my desk.Ironically, neither the degree nor the job has anything to do with the other, but I am so happy to be done with commuting and to be a part of such a wonderful environment at PCA that the lack of literature in my teaching position doesn't matter.

8. We deepened friendships, church involvement and neighborhood presence (thanks to Sullivan). We attended and took part in six weddings, welcomed a few friends' babies into the world and generally had a blast hanging out with people.

9. We celebrated two snowfalls in Charleston, one in February and one just a few days ago. Yay! I survived another boiling hot summer. Yay!

10. And most importantly, we enjoyed another year of God's grace, mercy and forgiveness in our relationships and everyday lives. This verse was on our Christmas cards and was a sort of theme verse for the year:
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast." Eph. 2:8-9

See you in 2011! Maybe I can crack 30 for my number of posts next year...