Farewell, 2008!

New Years Eve has never been one of my favorite holidays, but this year I opted to come back to DC and see what the festivities here were all about. My flight got in around 5:00 pm on the 31st, so by the time I got home, I was rushing to shower and get ready to leave again. A group of us got all dressed up and headed to the Carlyle Grand for dinner. I always feel bad for our waiters, since none of us order alcohol, but this time our waiter was LDS too and our drink order made complete sense to him! Pictures of the dinner are forthcoming.

Post-dinner, we split up and I headed with Louise and Lindsay to a New Years party at the Melrose. A picture is worth a thousand words:

Adri & Quinn

Ashley & Louise

Sarah & Me

Auld Lang Syne

(does anyone actually know what that means?)

Happy New Year! I don't know about any of you, but 2008 wasn't a stellar year around here. It wasn't horrible, don't get me wrong; it just didn't stand out as anything special. A failing economy, a long and dragged out presidential race and nothing in my personal life worth mentioning. There have been some good things as well. I've been able to travel home several times and spend time with the fam, both immediate and extended. And both my little sister and little brother left on missions, which has definitely changed the family dynamic, but has been really neat as well. I've made some great friends out here in DC and reconnected with old ones back home. I have a job that I enjoy (most days) and that's fairly stable. Even so, I was pretty excited to see the year coming to a close. (Although it strikes me as funny that we all have this perception that 2009 is going to be completely different than 2008. Mere hours really won't make a huge difference. Interesting to see time as a purely human construct.)

I've never been good at New Year's Resolutions. I usually scribble a couple things down on the 1st or 2nd of January, promptly lose the paper and forget what I'd written down by February 1. But even with my track record, it always seems appropriate to get a fresh start and set some new goals. (And no, this isn't all of them. There are some that just don't need to be published!)

1. Leave the United States. It's been too long, and I need an adventure. Any suggestions?
2. Cook more and eat out less
3. Visit friends in Utah. I haven't been to Provo since I graduated!
4. Develop some new talents or improve at some old ones **drawing, cooking, playing the violin/piano**
5. Be better at staying in touch with family and friends
6. Practice my Italian **and maybe even find a way to use it - see #1**
7. Exercise at least 4 times a week
8. Become more organized **maybe cliche, I know, but necessary!**
9. Be more grateful for the things I have.