"The back of your eyes look like my mother's...

...where we gonna go from here?"

So, I haven't written in here for a long time. Seems to be a pattern. Lots of things have happened since my last post--the biggest was graduating from college and working on getting accepted into grad. school. That, and the fact that the last two numbers I write in the "date" line on my checks has changed. Here is a recap of 2006.

In 2006 I...

*got a college degree*taught over 100 young people*made a difference in the lives of a lot of those students, big and small*picked up a hitch-hiker*began living on my own*realized how much I love roommates*made a four-course meal with different wines for each course*bought a digital camera that I love*took lots of pictures with said camera*wrote a 20 page research paper on mother-daughter relationships in Afro-American literature*judged an award-winning team*realized how much I need some people in my life*got a new betta*got 3 new cousins*went to a ton of weddings*quit my job*got an iPod*made some really bad choices*got over the repercussions of these choices*sat in a coffee shop for 6 hours just talking to a great friend*saw RENT*went on a date without knowing it*judged a beauty pageant*judged a goat show*judged public presentations*judged photography*got into ridiculous fights*realized how ridiculous these fights were*found out how important texting is*had a school-girl crush*had an "evil" Secret Santa*fell in love with 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Nip/Tuck'*decided to apply for a job across the country*

..........and realized how much so many people care about me and how much I care for them. So here I am, thanking those people in my life for being there. You are all amazing and I need you more than you know. I am self-reliant and self-sufficient, but without your individual presences, I would not be who I am today. Thank you.

2006 was by far not a great year. In fact, there were many parts of it that downright sucked. So where are we going? Up.