2010 in photographs

January found Brandon and I still in Kalamazoo, living and loving life. I was still working at the College of Aviation, and Brandon was gearing up for the final semester of his Senior Design Project with Stryker. We were still good friends with both Ryan and Brittany (oh, how time changes everything,) and our lost-friend (she moved back to Detroit) Stephanie Austin was back in town. We got to spend some quality time together, new and old friends, at Monaco Bay, a favorite of ours.

February is an avid reminder of why I loved my job at the College of Aviation. Towards the end, it was those reminders that kept me going. I got to go to the Women in Aviation conference with a few of my students and my boss. While my boss opted out, I also got to go to Disney with a few of my students, Karen, Mackenzy (and others not shown above.) Who can say that they got paid to go to Disney for work? Not many. It was my second Spring Break in a row in Disney (too bad I won't be able to repeat a third time this year.)

March, April and May are sort of a blur. There was so much going on. Brandon and I got to spend some time with his family at the Butterfly exhibit at Frederick Meijer Gardens (one of those things you must do at least once.) We were preparing for Brandon's final project, both of our graduations (mine to come later than Brandon's) and I was dealing with quite the pile of family stuff.

In April, I was "fortunate" enough to go back to Olympia, WA and see my family. This was the last time I was able to see my grandmother alive - at least she knew who we were. She fell ill rather quickly and we thought she was going to pass, so we all jumped on a plane/car and headed home. It was great to see family, and of course to be with my always-silly brother and sister (above), but such a hard reason to be home. It left for quite a challenging time, full of many events at work (including our Anniversary at the College of Aviation), and preparing for my intense summer course.

The next time I headed back to Olympia, WA I brought Brandon with, and it was after my grandmother had past. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss her (and my great grandfather, great grandmother, grandpa, great uncle, and others that I have lost,) but I know she went when she was ready. It left quite a sad time, in light of many happy moments, including Brandon graduating with his Bachelor's of Science in Engineering Graphics and Design Technologies.

June was a rough month. I spent most of my time wrapping up transition documents at work and working on my final paper. My last semester of graduate school I spent working closely with my advisor, adding suggestions to her research on Gay and Lesbian Asian Americans - it was such a great experience, and was so rewarding to walk across Miller Auditorium (a final time, Go Broncos!) to receive my M.A. degree.

July found me happily unemployed, but not for long. My first on-campus interview, with the Illinois Institute of Technology, turned into a job offer. I went to the interview on my way up for a well-deserved week long vacation with Brandon and his family in Rainey Lake Minnesota, and received the job offer the next day. Such a great trip, with great family and friends, and such a rewarding offer. It didn't leave the rest of July with many opportunities to do much other than find a condo (done), pack, sell furniture (mostly done) and move to CHICAGO, IL.

Many of you don't know this, but before I chose Western Michigan University for college, I had decided to head to Roosevelt University. Obviously, I changed my mind, but not before I made fast friends with my to-be (but never was) roommate, Ashley. Over the years we stayed in touch, as she got together with Andrew and I got together with Brandon, and she was in Chicago, IL, so I visited her periodically (mostly when I was flying out of Chicago to head to some far-off-place-called-home.) In August, we got to start spending time with her and Andrew, and her friends. Such a great friend, and so glad to be closer to them!

September found me finally acclimated to my new job (see my on-the-website headshot) and very busy - so busy I have NO pictures from that month! September brought Finance Board deliberations and allocation sessions, Student Government Association retreats, 1:1's with my student-leaders, and workshops, workshops, workshops! It also brought my acclimation to Google Docs and the beginning of my obsession with my Google account.

October finally gave us the opportunity to be tourists. It was still warm enough to see the sights of Magnificent Mile and Millenium Park without jackets, and just the right time in my schedule. This also saw the beginning of Brandon's job at GameStop - not an ideal situation, but better than being unemployed, and it gives him something to do around job searching for his "ideal job."

November found me very homesick, and I spent the whole month mentally preparing for not getting to see my family. The end of November/beginning of December found a wonderful early Christmas present that allowed me to go see them. Now, I didn't go see them until the week before Christmas, but it was what I spent all my November yearning for. We did Thanksgiving with Brandon's family, minus Ryan, Christina, the Johnston's and Brooke, and headed back for a few more weeks of work before the holidays.

And December found me blogging even more. We were as touristy as ever, cold, and loving being in the city. While I won't say we have 100% acclimated, we are on the way there and are loving every minute of this crazy journey we call a wonderful life :) Happy new year to everyone!