A brutally honest assessment of this year

So, some people write Christmas newsletters; I will attempt to give you a look at what life was really like this year, without glossing it over.

In January, I had an endoscopy to confirm my diagnosis of Celiac disease. The results, as you know, came back positive, so I have been on a gluten free diet ever since. On the 9th, I turned 30, which is fine; age is just a number, and since I still act like a teenager (in some respects), it's all good. Many friends came for my birthday party, which was a gluten free potluck. It was really nice to see everyone; I have the BEST friends!

In March, I celebrated 3 years at Cropper Accountancy, which sorta blows my mind. Yes, sometimes work is completely exasperating, especially since most of us are LDS and are all up in each other's business.

In late spring, I adopted a precious little Chihuahua mix from ARF, and kept her name as Darla. I like to think that she was like me; getting a little older, and sometimes a bit snarky, but if you loved her, she loved you back 10 times more. She got excited whenever I came in, and loved to go on walks and play with me. Unfortunately, the last time I saw her was on September 20, when I dropped her off at Michelle's house. Shortly thereafter, she was sent on to dog heaven; I feel a sense of guilt that I didn't say a proper goodbye to her, and hope that she is there in whatever degree of heaven I go to.

The middle part of the year was mostly boring; I did learn a lot about how to remodel bathrooms and kitchens. I also learned that you have a good chance of getting a free backyard remodel if you hang out at the West Sacramento Ikea.

September brought a big change; on a sunny Sunday, Mike came over and watched X-Files on my TV for several hours, then we went to the Athey's for dinner, and so I could see my dog (and walk her). While we were there, I answered a question that had been posed by Mike's brother, and apparently my response was not appreciated. We got into a little tiff, which ended back at my house with this exchange:
ME, "Are you EVER going to trust me as much as you trust your mom and your brother?"
MIKE (after several seconds of silence), "Probably not. I prayed about it this morning, and I'm not supposed to marry you."
I am the first to admit that he was right; we were not supposed to get married. It took me about 36 hours to figure that out and be okay with it. What I didn't understand, and quite frankly, still don't, is why he needed 8 hours to "mull it over" while watching TV at my house. HUH??? Anyway, I learned a lot from our year together, and am super thankful to the amazing people I still have in my life who happily let me make mistakes. Having the gospel, and knowing how much God loves me (and Mike, for that matter), made a HUMONGOUS difference. Terri told me I should write a book called How to Handle a Breakup. The draft is still forthcoming ;)

In October, I went to Disneyland with Lisa, Hillary, and Rachel. It was amazingly fun; I had forgotten how much I love that place, and traveling in general. The Tower of Terror still makes me giggle like a little girl every time, and the Halloween event was super fun; the Imagineers at Disney do great work. On Saturday night, we met up with Shaine and Kevin for a nice dinner; having that many friends with me at Disneyland was simply amazing.

Nothing super spectacular happened in November, but Lisa and I did do Black Friday shopping. Also, we are going on a cruise to the Caribbean in January - this is something I'd wanted to do for a long time, and no time like the present. The only other thing happening is that I have jury duty this next week. Once the trial is over, I will blog about that as well.

Happy ChristmaHannaWanzaaKah!

Katy