Where do I begin? This year started on a so-and-so note. Personal reasons mostly and unrelated to marriage (so you can stop worrying, Mom. lol), but I was both hopeful and yet down. However, several things have happened to turn that frown upside down. In not particular order, here’s what’s happened:
- The biggest change that happened this year was that Matt and I have become more spiritual. By no means am I a bible thumper nor can I recite bible verses longer than 2 lines, BUT I’ve found a church that appeals to my core and I can’t wait to become a full member of this church. I’m SO looking forward to nourishing my soul with the Word of the Lord tomorrow (God willing).
- I got an award at work for being so helpful during the use of the facilities at work by a government agency. Hopefully, little things like this will translate to a pay raise although this recession pretty much guarantees that I’ll be at my current pay grade for a year or two. It’s not too big of a deal, but it was nice to be recognized for my hard work.
- Sometime in June, I quit biting my nails. I backslid twice, but never back to ground zero (i.e. as bad as it used to be) so I was always able to bounce back and I recently posted pictures of my hard-fought battle on Facebook which is what you see in this post. That picture signifies the personal, figurative and literal growth that is my life. I wish you the same.
- Back in June, I submitted my application to the USCIS to remove restrictions placed on my permanent residency because Matt & I were married for less than two years. I can appreciate the reasons this limit was instituted, but for couples together for genuine reasons, it can be a nerve-wracking time. We filed the application without the aid of a lawyer because they charged over $1,000 for their use. In an amazing turn of events, our application got approved in less than 4 months and as I write, I am in possession of my 10-year permanent resident card, more commonly called the green card! This is awesome news and what this means for me in practical terms is that Matt & I will have the freedom to plot our travels. 🙂
- I broke the 1 year curse. lol. Just kidding. My first real job after leaving grad. school for personal reasons was cut short due to funding issues after 9 months. I found another job in less than 2 weeks after that and it’s been over a year since I accepted the task of running a small laboratory. It’s been great and I discovered that I’m good after working with people and that managing *might* just be my thing! *Gasp*
- I kicked off Jane Talks Tech! which mixes technology tips/advice for the common man and it’s already seeing upwards of 100 visitors per day AND at a Google pagerank of 3! This has been thanks to my timely posts about my Nokia E71x phone, getting publicized on Twitter (by being recommended on Twitter for #FollowFriday by Scott Hanselman) and just me pushing out good posts that get indexed by search engines & found by people!
That’s all for now. Until next time, cheers!