Brylee Watch 12/27...

My Bubbas is all growed up.. I can't get over how freakin' adorable she is in this picture. Her stylish H&M headband only adds to her charm. Here we are right before we tackled down the taking down of Grandma's Christmas tree. Bry is as good of a lil' assistant as she is cute!

2008...

For most people, 2008 left a bad taste in their mouth. War, economic woes, divisive politics and other major challenges dominated the news for the past 365 days. Personally, 2008 was a year of milestones for me. With my annual Yellowstone trip, re-discovering San Francisco and finally being able to add NYC to my list of favorite spots... this year will be remembered for some great travels. I earned my Associates degree and now am a college graduate. I met new people, and made some fabulous friends. These are the things that I will remember when I look back at 2008. Bring on the adventures that await in 2009! I can't wait!

Happy New Year...

I had a pretty low key New Year's Eve this year. I made an appearance at a friend's NYE party and then went to Jake & Garrett's house for some good grub, a movie and some ball drop watchin'. Most of the coverage was horrid! (Hello Fox, with your motorcycle jump over the Mirage volcano!) Thankfully Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin were along for the ride hosting CNN's countdown. And for the record, I love Anderson's laugh... and with Kathy around, he was chuckling often! I keep reminding myself that I was in Times Square a few weeks earlier and with about 1 million less people. And about five degrees warmer. Not a NYE for the record books, but there's always 2009!

Deck My Halls...

Of course I love decorating for Christmas and I tend to go all out, and this year was no different. Hell, I have two trees in a one bedroom apartment. Anyway, presenting my home for the holidays 2008!

I went with a black and white (with silver accents) for this year's look. It may or may not be a coincidence that it's the same colors as my cats.. or they may have inspired the whole thing. I must say I think it turned out pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. Mo and Mit whole heartily agree!

Merry Christmas...

Christmas morning started bright and early, well technically the sun just rising, so it wasn't that bright... but it was early! We woke up and went over to watch Brylee open her presents from Santa. She looked like a little ragamuffin, but had a blast. Shanna and Marty then went to her parents in Salt Lake for brunch with her family.

They made their way back to my parent's house to have our present exchange later that afternoon. The only problem with this arrangement is that Brylee falls asleep on the ride there and when she is woken up from a nap she can be quite the bear. It took a while for her to be enthusiastic about opening presents, but she finally came around. My Mom & Dad got her pretty much every Disney princess dress up costume they sell. And being the fabulous uncle that I am, I was quite generous... without going too overboard. Mom and Dad made it possible for me to get a brand new iMac. (Which I LOVE!) Marty and Shanna made me work for my gift, instead of giving me a gift card they gave me $50 of folded up dollar bills in a big box of shredded paper. Shanna was grinning ear to ear the whole time. After dinner we went to visit my Grandma Bernice. That was about the time the storm finally blew in. All and all it was a nice Christmas with the family. It's definitely more fun having the little one around! And next year we'll have two!

Christmas Kitties...

Here's a few seasonal snapshots of Mit & Mo. They were big fans of naps under the black and white Christmas tree. (Maybe it felt camouflaged but I'm sure it didn't hurt that it was right in front of the heater vent too!)

White Christmas...

Christmas 2008 will go down in history as having some mighty random weather. Hurricane force winds led way to sunshine and unseasonably warm temperatures. That's when the rain started, and then a blizzard wrapped it all up. I drove home in the snow, it took longer than normal, but it was one of those times I appreciate driving an SUV.

We got our white Christmas though... better late than never.

Christmas at Work...

Although the pictures never do it justice, here's a few snapshots of my holiday hotel handy work. I decorated five trees at work this year; six if you count the Charlie Brown tree in the back office. I got lots of praise from guests for a job well done. (Obviously!)