New Year Update

Daniel's birthday was Wednesday, January 17th! He turned 26 this year and we celebrated by taking half the day off and going out to lunch together. That evening we joined his parents at their house for a second round of delicious food and desserts. Last Friday was Andi's birthday too, so my family held our annual siblings get together to celebrate both. Doug, Morgan, and Garris (my siblings) all came up from Athens and we cooked dinner, enjoyed some wine, opened gifts, and hung out late into the evening. It's always a great time getting together with family!

In other news, I started my job as a Nurse Intern II on the Labor and Delivery unit. Basically, that just means I'm an unlicensed tech for the nurses until the end of February when I take the NCLEX - the nursing board exam. Even though I'm only getting tech pay, it was still an amazing feeling opening my first paycheck! It certainly is a lot more money than I was making, considering I haven't worked since last February! As soon as I can take (and pass!) the exam for my license, I'll have a position on the unit as an RN waiting for me. Exciting, isn't it?

Last Sunday was the 2 hour season premier of 24! Our friends John, Jay, and Deshea came over early and we cooked out on the grill. Andi and Dellaina joined us as well and brought delicious brownies from Greg's mom. Thanks! The premier was intense to say the least, and left us all hanging on the edge of our seats. Lucky for us, the premier was divided into 2 shows, back-to-back, two nights in a row, so everyone came over again Monday night and we enjoyed the second 2 hours of shock and awe! We highly suggest getting into this show, but be warned - it's adictive!

Marble, our newest family member, is doing great and is nearly fully recovered from her cold. She's amazing and so different from any cat I've ever owned. She's almost more like a dog, except she uses and litter box and doesn't mind being home alone while we're at work - it's great! Daniel loves playing with her. She's an avid string chaser, and for some reason he seems to always make her chase it into a collision with a piece of furniture or a wall. She'll be running along, he'll lift the string just out of her reach, she'll leap off all fours into the air after it, and go flying into the couch cushions! I fuss at him to be more careful, but it really doesn't seem to phase her at all. She doesn't even slow down, and she's back chasing the string before Daniel can even react. She's hilarious when she's in attack mode, too, like in the picture above. She hunches down like a lion in the safari behind an obstacle or just inside a doorway. Staring intently at her "prey," she wiggles her hind quarters just before she springs for the attack! It's very entertaining.

2006 was an exciting year for us, and 2007 has started off great. We have high hopes for this year, and as always, we wish the best for you and yours!