Highlights of 2008

It will be 2009 (Year of Ox) in almost a week. Some highlights of 2008 we'd like to share with our families and friends.

• We got engaged. This probably the biggest thing that occurred this year. Dave and I went to China and we had a very informal engagement party with my family on my dad's side. We spent a day having our engagement pictures taken. It took a whole day. But the pictures turned out to be really good.
• We bought a place together and become homeowners. Our home at Revere Beach is small but cozy.
• We have our first two "kids", Susie and Simon. They are two cute kittens. When they first came, they were only 2 pounds. Simon is now 5 pounds and Susie is 4. They are so much fun. We enjoy being parents of the two kitties.
• We did not take a lot of trips this year. We went to Puerto Rico for five days and China for two weeks (Dave was there for only a week). But we took a couple of short domestic trips, a weekend in midwest and a weekend in Seattle.
• Career wise, I have no change this year, same company and same job. But I hope my home business will take off next year. Dave switched jobs during the year and end up at Ambient.

2008 feels short but is definitely a happy year for us.

Happy holidays to our families and friends.

More gratuitous pictures of the kitties:

Susie

Simon

I Am a Free Bird!

As some of you may have been aware that I was preparing for the CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) in the last few months, on and off. I was not as dedicated at the beginning as I was towards the end. In addition, I almost took the whole month off studying back in September when Dave and I went to China to visit my family. This task was finally over yesterday. Now I am as free as a bird. The test itself was not that difficult. There was just too much stuff to remember. I did much better than expected in the morning session but not so well in the afternoon one. Over the last few months, my mind was full of NPV, IRR, p-value, etc. I am just so happy that I can now move on to other things I want to do. I won't touch CFA again at least a year and a half later. What a relief!

It was my birthday last Thursday. Dave took me out to Daily Catch, an Italian seafood restaurant near the water-front area. We had cake afterwards. This is my 34th birthday, not as big as the 20th or the 30th. But this was my last single birthday. In that sense, it is almost as big as the 20th, 30th, etc. I also received birthday cards from Sharon and Terry, and Aunt Jeanie and Uncle Roger. Thank you so much for remembering my birthday.