2005 was an eventful year for me...
today we have an ice storm that freezes pecans and everything in its path...but last year started off with a huge snowfall...in Tahoe, where i was skiing over xmas break. it was perfectly timed with my arrival and allowed 5 great days of skiing with sean and visiting with boss. when i returned to athens i was recharged and ready to start looking for a house to buy in georgia. surprisingly, it only took 2 months with kim antrim's help to find my little bungalow on sunset drive. she showed it to me even thought i thought it was a dream i couldnt' afford. fancy numbering by a lender and as of march 25, i was a homeowner. my first time ever too! I closed on good friday and was able to start the weekend off with service men hooking up everything needed for my brother to do an extreme kitchen makeover. sold all the old kitchen crap online and brought shiny new stuff and voila! i had a home. my family made it all happen for me, as they all showed up to paint, clean, remodel, rake, etc.
i settled in quickly and filled it with family antiques since i basically only owned a futon, a bike, and a computer. spring was great b/c in athens it starts pretty much in march and this year lasted until june. the trees filled out and shaded my perfect backyard so that the kids could play frisbee for hours and it was clear that i would need a patio set for backyard dining as soon as money allowed. the heat/humiidy showed up around june, just as i returned from visiting grandmother and aunt kathy in mobile. i flipped on the a/c and ran it every minute thru september. a few guests came to visit athens once i secured a guest bed in the yoga room: mary, mom and connie, nick and madison, dawn, and the ole morton avenue gang for a wedding in october.
i biked to work everyday from march thru thanksgiving and recently i stopped b/c its quite frosty these winter mornings. in-town living is great in that i can bike most places quickly without even encountering hills...if you know the back streets.
work was a sea of changes this year, my second year on the job starts next week and we lost our director, our office manager, and changed our professors around. 3 friendly faces remained so it wasnt a total sinking ship and i made those 3 make a pact that no one else could leave. we eventually found a new office manager to hold us all together and the nation-wide director search is wrapping up this year so we should all have a boss by spring. the work is the same, but with all those shortages we all worked extra hard to cover the bases of those who were not here and keep the rest of the university from thinking we were falling apart. i skipped a much needed vacation in summer during all the transition and thus xmas break is looking pretty good right now, 10 days off! cant wait.
meanwhile, with job secured, home purchased, i turned my attention, as i always do to completing the big picture...finding a man. in june i decided to jump back in to online dating and be proactive in making some new friends. turns out the man for me wrote me on june 1 but it was to be september 1 before we connected. i didnt have to kiss any frogs, but i did have a few fun dates along the way. i finally met aubrey after labor day and the last quarter of the year has turned out to be the best!
there were a few other big events this year. saw almost the entire old college gang from athens in october at dewitt/jackie's wedding where REM played. it was a blast. my dad got married again, yep, number 6! the whole family now all sport bumper stickers that say "honk if youve been married to nolan sanchez". he's having a ball. my 82 year-old grandmother remarried for the 3rd time to a 3-star general and i danced at her wedding. mom has plans to go to spain with her best friend janice soon and mobile relatives are all getting the heck out of hurricane alley after the worst storm season on record in the gulf. so for once, im sitting still and y'all are all moving. hoping that next year i can settle into mortgage payments and figure out how to squeeze out some cash for travel b/c i've got the bug again. if you are making any BIG trips next year, gimme a holla b/c i might meet ya. happy holidays to all and hope your 2006 is a great one. enjoy our tree!
trace
after the hustle and bustle of the holidays, aubrey and i snuck away for a road trip up to DC. we passed thru Asheville, NC, Skyline Drive, VA, DC, and Virginia Beach enjoying mountains and the seashore all in the same trip. we stayed with friends on capitol hill and hit the museums during crispy winter days and played marathon boggle by fireside on new year's eve. it was a great getaway, affordable, relaxing, and just long enough. plus it was gratifying to put the long holiday break from academia to good use.
