This has been yet another hectic year for me, starting by spinning out (my father's) rental car and ending with my engagement to Hubby-to-be. Some Year!!

It was the year of the road trip. On my own I've logged miles to Los Angeles to visit my maid of honor and Indiana University to see my Sorority sisters. Together, Hubby-to-be and I have been skiing in Colorado (hence the 180 on I-70 in dad's rental car), to Florida to visit my grandparents, hiking in the Blue Ridge Mts. for 5 days, in New York to see Phantom of the Opera and then a whole wonderful week in Cancun, Mexico with his parents. That was a crash course in dealing with the future in-laws. Although in reality I suppose it was more a crash course for them in dealing with me! However, all "in law" and "that evil woman my son is marrying" jokes aside, we all got along famously and I would do it again in a minute. Moreover, I returned the favor and made Hubby-to-be meet my family (all 25 on my Mom's side in one little room, plus Dad's later that evening) over thanksgiving weekend. And Cincinnati was neither warm nor sunny.

In March I moved out of the group house and into a large one bedroom apartment. After living in the sorority in college and then with 4 other girls, this is a real change. I open up the refrigerator and know that I can eat the food - because it's mine! I can leave my towels on the floor in the bathroom and the dishes in the sink! What freedom! Of course, the first thing that happened was I got lonely, so I bought a cat, and then he turned out so cool we bought another. The older cat is Shakespeare, and he's really bright. The younger one is Chaucer, and while he is very affectionate, he's about as bright as a doorknob. You know what they say, ignorance is bliss - and Chaucer purrs and purrs all the time, and rarely has the slightest clue as to what is going on. His eyes are like dinner plates, all you see is your own reflection. Shakespeare has learned to fetch, (which he will do for hours) and knows that when you're in the bathroom he should jump on your lap because you have to pet him and can't get away. Love 'em both.

I still work for the government, and end up putting in a lot of overtime to make up for my frequent trips. Since the Clinton administration took over, our office has been hit with a large amount of requests (still)- so I'm busy making graphs, charts and two second blurbs about our data and previous work to bring the Sec. of Labor and the Pres. up to speed. All the different offices have to do this, it's just that I'm the one doing it for our office. In all honesty, I still really enjoy my job, and continue to learn new things all the time. It's neat how some of the stuff I've worked on, or that the office has done that I know about, gets picked up by the press. I can read about it in the news and say, "Hey, I did that" or "I know how we got those numbers."

Last, but not least, I am now a "bride to be". Hubby-to-be was utterly adorable and asked me to marry him at about 10:30 one evening while we were in constitution gardens (off the mall) in downtown Washington DC. I'm utterly thrilled, as are my parents and his parents as well. We've chosen a date, and will be getting married at my church here in Alexandria next October 29th. Everything is going smoothly so far (knock on wood) and both of us are excited about starting our new life together. Luckily a dear friend of mine got married in September. Over the summer they began some very intense marriage/commitment conversations and disagreements. Needless to say, I would have the woman's point of view and Hubby-to-be would have the man's, so we had quite a few marriage/ life together forever arguments before we were even engaged. As I've already said, I'm delighted, excited and very happy that I've found someone else that sleeps in a tent on the rocks in the rain after hiking (up hill, both ways, on sharp pointy rocks) with most of the gear on his back and still calls it a relaxing weekend. Ah, love.

That's about all for me. Hope your families are healthy, happy, and giving you lots of Holiday gifts. Happy Holidays, God Bless, and GO PENS!