Bye bye 2008

Looking back on the year that was 2008, I have to say that I had an amazing year! I almost don’t want it to end! Then again, maybe 2009 will be even better?

Some of the 2008 highlights:

*Two week trip to Maui with CP. Exploring places with funny names such as Haleakala National Park and Wai’anapanapa State Park. Learning the basics of scuba diving while watching huge sea turtles and bright fish swim by and listening to the whale sounds while underwater. Traveling as high as 10,000 feet to the top of the Haleakala Crater, to the bottom of the 400 foot Waimoku waterfall. Relaxing by the pool with fruity tropical drinks. Ahhhh it was the life.

*My final spring break as a law student. My law school friends, their significant others and I were able to score a sweet ski condo for the week- I even had two friends come over from Sweden! The skiing was amazing. Before we head up to the mountains, CP (ever the engineer) came up with an “alco-rhythm.” Basically, it was a formula that he made up to gauge how much alcohol we needed for the week. And it was DEAD ON. I have a smart man!

*A long weekend with CP in Puerto Rico. I happened to be out in DC for a job fair and CP was stuck in Puerto Rico for work (usually you wouldn’t say that you were “stuck” in PR, but CP was working very long hours- even weekends- and didn’t have anyone around that he knew). It had been two weeks since we had seen each other, so CP asked his boss to fly me out to PR from DC on the company’s dime. Amazingly enough, his boss said yes! We spent the weekend exploring the San Juan National Historic Site, El Yunque National Forest , going to yummy restaurants, and even kayaking in a bioluminescence bay (AMAZING!).

*Getting an offer for my dream job right during finals.

*Graduating from law school. ‘Nuff said.

*Getting a kayak as my graduation present from CP. I was able to justify a few hours away from studying for the bar for kayaking because it was exercise and time with CP this summer.

*Surviving a summer studying for the bar 12+ hours a day and living with CP at my future mother-in-law and her fiance’s house. The future MIL was great….the fiancé? A different story. At least I had an excuse (studying) to get away from silly conversations with him.

*Getting engaged! With a beautiful ring! In a way that is very “us.” Speaking of which, this is what CP wants to write on our wedding webpage about how he proposed: I like surprises. NSC likes ruining my surprises. Tactically this needed good execution. No dressy dinner, no get away weekends, nothing that was going to arouse suspicion. How was it that I was going to propose without any warning? My solution: choose a random day and deliver the ring via bivalves! With a little help from my hard-shelled friends, I was going to deliver a sparkling diamond ring on the underside of a oyster on an otherwise uneventful Wednesday evening. First problem is that NSC doesn’t like oysters (don’t worry, I am working on this issue). My solution was a dish of mussels steamed in a broth of herbs and fume blanc. Second problem, diamond rings have all sorts of prongs and crevices that seem to snag onto food. My solution was to wrap the ring in plastic wrap, which had the appearance of a bottle cap. Also, mussels don’t comfortably fit a full ring. Needless to say what I envisioned was a romantic delivery of a ring. What resulted was that NSC almost became ill from eating a mussel that had mysteriously swallowed its body weight in bottle cap. So, where I failed in romantic execution, I at least passed in catching her off guard. Success!” CP amuses me.

*Passing the god forsaken bar!!! Then getting sworn in last month.

*Doing my part to help Obama win the presidency!! Does anyone else want time to speed up so that he can just become president already????

*The joy of continuing my streak of seeing one Eagles game in person per year. So the game against the Redskins wasn’t very good….at least they made up for it last weekend!

*Getting to see CP during the week instead of just on the weekends starting halfway through the year. Although CP is not very happy with his job right now, at least he hasn’t had to travel since June. It’s nice to sleep next to him every night….even if he does snore sometimes!

*Getting back into an exercise routine. I was exhausted yesterday at work, but still willed myself to go to the gym because I didn’t exercise as much as I would have liked while in Chicago. I feel better….even if I have only lost 2.5 pounds.

*My family and my friends. This year they have helped me through freak-outs over why CP hadn’t proposed, if I was going to find a job, if I was going to pass the bar, moving across the country for a BOY, etc.

I hope that everyone has a SAFE and FUN New Years! See ya in 2009!