Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2008 had quite the rocky start - but ended perfectly.

Christmas Eve was fantastic as I drove to Orlando to meet with my fabulous friend, Josetta, and her family for a few hours as they were visiting from Georgia. We had a great time reminiscing about our days in NJ (she moved in 2003!).
I am so thrilled that she & her beautiful family carved in a few hours out of their vacation to see me. She is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to know. She is funny, courteous, considerate, intelligent, omg, I can't write out all the adjectives that would describe her for you to understand fully how beautiful she really is. In the five years we have been living apart, she has consciously made superb effort for us to keep in touch - which is so difficult for anyone as lives tend to "get in the way". Do you all know what I mean?
She greeted me with such a compliment, asking how I've kept my weight off - despite the fact that I am no-doubt 20lbs heavier. Oh, how distance makes us forget! Right? Haha! She & her family are just sweethearts! I was so happy to see them...
I can't believe it, but it's been over two months since I started working in Corporate America & things are going smoothly... The Company put up a gorgeous tree & there was even a concert put on by the Company Chorus - I didn't even knew they had one - how cool is that? The week of Christmas my sister, Marcella, her husband, Mike, & their two children, Allegra & Michaella came to Florida for vacation. I felt so lucky to get to spend quality time with them. Although we didn't spend Christmas day together, we did spend Friday, Saturday, and a few hours on Sunday.
I drove down to Orlando Friday morning, Mike had plans to play golf with his brothers, so just us girls went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. It was a gorgeous sunny day & we had so much fun. I took a lot of photographs but my sister has asked me not to put them in my blog! :( So here are a few of the animals - haha! The first is from the petting zoo, which was the sweetest, & the second is from the safari ride. Animal Kingdom has a roller coaster now, so if you go, definitely check it out - it is so worth the wait!!! I slept over Friday night, & the following morning we went to Disney's Hollywood Studios - which was so great. About ten years ago, Mike & I went on the Tower of Terror for the very first time, & as soon as we got off of it, we got back in line to ride again. This year, Mike & I couldn't wait to go on it again - what a riot that ride is - & like everything Disney does, it's perfect, they don't miss one detail... Ahhhh.... the magic of Disney! I love it there! :)
What a perfect end to 2008 - spending quality time with my family.
My nieces are getting so tall & are such little ladies now, at 9 & 10. I hadn't seen them in over a year - so I was very excited to catch up with them. I would love to share with you all the adorable pictures I took of the two of them - but I promised my sister I wouldn't! :(
I am so very lucky because Marcella met this perfect guy when she was a freshman in college. Since they started dating when I was eleven, Mike has truly become an older brother to me. I can't write enough about how wonderful it was to see them all.


And to ring in the New Year, I celebrated with Becky & Mike, their family & their friends at their beautiful wedding... Congratulations to the Newly Wed! Here's to a lifetime of happiness, laughter, & love! Thank you so much for letting Husband & I share in your day! So from a rocky start to a spectacular end - out with 2008 and 2009 is IN.

Wishing all of you a really beautiful & happy season of joy & prosperity. P.S. My hair is still very black... but I am getting used to it. I was planning on dying over it this weekend since it has been three weeks since I dyed it. But apparently, I can't just dye over it (yet), it's a whole process - including putting a hydrogen peroxide "lift" in it which may in fact damage my hair even more. I even considered purchasing at Sally's Beauty Supply one of those "take the colour out" kits for like $12, but you have to dye it immediately after using it because your natural colour doesn't come back - essentially, according to the employee there, it just strips your hair colour completely leaving you with no pigment (?). Hmmm... I think I'll wait to see how this continues to fade on it's own & grows out - right now I have roots showing, & it's totally nuts, because they look blonde compared to the black... so it's all very funny to me. Thankfully.

If there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things. - Philippians 4:8