My 2010 Wrap Up

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

In my efforts to save paper (ok truth I don't have any battery life to unplug my lap top and take my lap top to my printer in the other room which isn't working very well anyway hehehe); I will just blog my 2010 wrap up holiday letter.

The year had a rough start. Screwball passed

away before 2009's holidays so Squeaky and I worked on getting on without her. I debated wither or not to get a new friend for him, but at his age decided it probably wasn't the best thing. So 2010 has been all about him and my little cuddle bug, Squeaky, has kept me company.

I am still a vessel superintendent and the facility security officer at our terminal. In February I will be with SSA Marine for 12 years. I'm amazed with that every day. I am very blessed to have a job and to be working for this company.

I enjoyed 2010 supporting and watching the Oakland Athletics. It was my third year has

a season ticket holder. It has really been a fun hobby for me and a great escape from my work life. We may not have gone all the way, but I am still a faithful A's fan.

I went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina again for Easter.It has become a great annual tradition. I enjoyed getting away, spending time with my friends, the beach, Easter Service at Wellsprings Church, my timeshare, and getting my 14th tattoo at the same time my friend got his 1st tattoo (no I'm not a bad influence).

This year was my 20th year High School Reunion. So much fun. It was great catching up with people, seeing them after all these years, and hearing where life had taken everyone. I think I enjoyed myself as much as I did since I'm now comfortable with who I am and the path my life has taken. I didn't feel the clicks or like the nerdy band geek that was in high school. I would recommend to anyone to definitely go to their 20th reunion.

In the fall I went to Las Vegas and spent time with

my dear friend from high school and her family. So much fun catching up. I love those friendships you can have that are as if no time has past. While I was there I also spent time with my cousin and his family. It was a great get away filled with friends and family.

To complete my "get away" trips in 2010,

I went with my friend to Safari West in Santa Rosa. It was amazing. There is actually a safari type place with tours and tent cabins to stay in Northern California.

You could hear the animals as you were in

your bed, see giraffes from your door and then when on the jeep tour so many more animals that would come up right to you. It was a lot of fun. Great adventure to end the year with.

Swimming in my brain

I know a lot of us go through this; there are just times when I have so much swimming in my brain. I try focusing on only one thing to attempt to resolve it then move on to the next. I guess that is the organizer in me who wants to check off a list. Ok....so my brain isn't a check off or to do list. Why can't it be? So here are the two main items consuming my thoughts.

1. Now that I'm the CMA alumni SF chapter president (oh..how did I agree to this) I need to do two events along with my monthly gatherings that I've been doing for a few years. My first event is planned for this November. I fought with the school to get an account set up for our chapter/event so that the entire financial risk wasn't on me. It took about three weeks for them to approve and set it up and now we only have three weeks to get everyone registered for the dead line date. I've been talking this event up for almost two months and the majority of the alumni know about it, but no one is registering. My "event team" haven't even registered. I'm the only alumni that has. WTH? Sort of ironic that I'd be worried about people procrastinating on registering when I'm a notorious procrastinator.

2. My home/mortgage would be the other big thing swimming in the brain. It's been there for awhile now, but now I'm a year away from the "bomb". For well over a year I've been trying to deal with this and calling the bank. Every time being told there is nothing they can do for me being that I'm so "upside down/underwater" and actually are still making my payments. I even talked to a different financial institution than the one who owns my loan and was told the same thing. That just sounds crazy to me; that I have to stop giving them money for them to talk to or even help me. I've come to a calming place that I will more than likely have to walk away and the credit score I've worked so hard to have will drop. How were any of us supposed to know when we bought that things would go the way they did? And there is no way that my home will go back up to where it was when I bought; it's only worth 40% of what I owe. That's insane. I know I am not alone in being in this position and have friends that have already had to make the choice. I'm blessed right now and am just having to think about it and plan the steps that I will need to take in a year. Over a year ago I was extremely stressed knowing what was ahead and would loose sleep. Now I've come to terms with the reality of things and only loose sleep occasionally (don't get me wrong....it will stresses me out from time to time). I'm trying to refocus on the other side of how I'll come away from this. I need to just surrender to it and see what else lies ahead for me. It could been even more exciting. So much is going to happen right around my 40th birthday. I just feel that it is all going to be an amazing chapter in my life.

Oh no ... see what happens when I actually blog again.

It's been a year

What a blog slacker I've been. I saw that my time I posted was Aug. 9, 2009. I see how my friends have so much to share on their blog and I love reading them, but who wants to see hear what a single chick really had to say. I guess when I look at it - I have this blog for me, to remember times in my life and to share things that are on my mind. So here I am typing my first post in a year. Go figure. I have gone through some of my friends' blogs and see that they are not posting as much as they did in the beginning too.

I've only gone on one away vacation and it was amazing and I'm looking forward to going again in 2011. I so look forward to my Easter Myrtle Beach, SC vacation.

I'm feeling speechless right this minute, but needed to document something - post something. Now if I can make it not a year in between posts...that will be the goal.