2008 - The Year in Review

Hard to believ but it is time for another 'The Year in Review' post. I did one last year and thought it would be a good idea to continue with the tradition.

January
We started into the new year with two visits by dear friends, one of which I had not seen since I left Dublin and the hubby himself met for the first time. We celebrated our first wedding anniversary and did our first tax return blah together. We also waited for snow. We waited in vain.

February
The hubby started his new job within the same company but was out of town Monday through Thursday. We still had no snow. My best friend came to visit from Dublin. We had a lot of fun. She let slip that they were thinking of moving back to Germany. Good times. I celebrated one year with the company on Valentine’s Day.

March
I got a new boss and went on a business trip to Disneyland Paris while the hubby went on business trips to London and Seattle. He also introduced a budget which limited the amount of books I could buy at any given time. This singlehandedly fixed our budget deficit. As if. But it did help a little. Birddogcat was neutered and my best friend moved back from Dublin to Germany with her boyfriend and right into our tiny guest bedroom/office.

April
Learned how to make my cat yodel. Car trouble drove me to the brink of insanity. The hubby’s bussiness trip to Seattle dragged into April and I went to spend a week with my parents so as to give the two guests in our home some space. They thanked it by deciding to get married. They actually got married a mere three weeks later at the end of April. The hubby’s job changed and gave us a lucky break. He moved back home.

May
Saw the Rhine in Flames on the public holiday. The decision to sell the old car was made and we came home with a brand new baby. Nerves were wrecked and a few grey hairs were gained in the process. The newly-wed couple moved from our guestroom into their own apartment and yet another friend came to visit us from Dublin. I sneakily found a way to increase my „book allowance“ by trading books on the internet. Ha de ha. In your face recession.

June
Fuel costs were hitting an all time high and I feared for my book stash. Not even the money we saved fromnot buying new books could make up for the hole this was burning into our pockets. Dragged the hubby to watch the SATC movie with me which, if you believe in karma, hit right back and I came out of the theater with a tinitus that lasted for three days.
The European Soccer Championships were on and Germany turned into a sea of black, red, golden flags.

July
The weather was beautiful and a few swims were had in the lake close to work. My bff’s balcony was turned into a bbq-station and we spent many a night annoying their neighbors. I almost became a vegetarian after watching Jamie Oliver’s Fowl Dinners
Went on a team retreat and spent a night high up in a hotel in the Swiss Alps and also happened to celebrate my one year bloggerversary.


August
My „adopted“ brother moved into the seemingly never empty guest bedroom and we discovered the joy of all you can eat Sushi. We celebrated the hubby’s birthday. We also finally headed on our long awaited and belated honeymoon to Thailand which started out a bit more adventurous than we had bargained for but was worth experiencing in retrospect.

September
Enjoyed „La Dolce Vita“ in Thailand for almost the entire month of September. I was seriously pondering ditching the plane and staying in Phuket and only decided against it when the hubby brought up the fact that it’d be hard to maintain this lifestyle without a job and would I not miss the cats? After that statement I almost pegged it out of there but made sure we could return soon.

The hubby returned home sick as a dog which ended up interfering with our plans to celebrate my birthday big time – yeah because turning „Happy sweet 16 or multiples (x2) thereof“ is worth celebrating. I was interviewed for a permanent position in my company and got the job. Turns out it was the damn best present anyone could given me .
My „evil twin“ Melisa sent me a b-day package. I ♥ her.

October
My parents came for my Dad’s birthday and the Oktoberfest. A fun time was had by all. My friend came to visit from London and hit it off straight away with my „adopted“ brother. I didn’t see much of them. Officially started my new position and got to go on a one week business trip to London to start with. Awesome. Halloween rolled around an I got to see the fireworks in London at night from my plane. Double-awesome.

November
Almost lost it in the run up to the US elections. The suspence was killing me. Successfully participated in NaBloPoMo 2008 and kicked its ass. Went to visit the parents and in-laws and had a great time. Rickrolled myself and got a good laugh out of it. Work was really, really busy and knocked me out almost every night. The hubby published his first blog post ever to help me out. The new team welcomed me with open arms and let me partake in several team nights out ;o) and Tivo made it into our home.

December
The yearly holiday stress is catching up with us. Though we do almost all of our Christmas shopping online we still find it stressful. The hubby was called out on weekend duty for the first time in months, right when it was the most inconvenient. Murphy’s law. Here’s to hoping that the rest of the year and all of 2009 is just as pleasant as 2008 was for me personally. Economy wise I am hoping for a miracle and that the impact of the recession won’t bear down on you.


If and only if you have made it to the bottom of this post I take it you survived this boring mess. As I love any kind of year review stuff and watch all of it on TV and I buy the magazines...if you decide to do a similar post, please drop me a note. I am dying to know what you were up to.