Goodbye, 2008!

There were tough times, no doubt. I might list them at some point, but I might just skip that. (Why dwell on the negative, after all?)

And good things? There were many for me, actually.

The ad I designed for the festival appeared in a 13-month magazine here in the state of Oregon. (I can only imagine how pleased by high school art teacher, Gertrude Schoeler, would be about that...) That gave me a chance to apply both my art and graphics skills -- and it was great fun.

I also received a Lifetime Achievement Volunteer Award from the festival, which was very special to me.

And in September, the annual industry Pinnacle Awards included a Silver for the festival website I redesigned and am the webmaster for, and a Gold for my eNewsletters for the festival -- along with a Gold for the Christmas card I did the artwork for (and Jessica pb_n_jam designed).

I learned a ton about IT-related work and started a detailed 'How To' manual for the office. I learned a lot more about coding both HTML and CSS.

I learned even more about making PowerPoint presentations -- and had another huge success with the one Marilyn mistressmarilyn and I collaborated on for the Auction.

During NaNoWriMo, I started my new novel that I genuinely hope to get published...

Aside from doing NaNo, I also did NaBloPoMo for three months in a row (October, November and December).

In the world of cool things I now own...

...I got my first iPod -- and now have another one, making two iPods that I adore (thanks to Tom). I continue to add music to these and play them all the time. (The older one is hanging around my neck as I type this, actually.)

...I have my wonderful CROCS iPod bag that I haul everywhere I go (it has built-in speakers for playing my iPod when I want to share music).

...I got a new CAMERA (my beloved Canon PowerShot A720) that I've been using ever since.

...I have numerous wonderful Lexar jump drives (the Firefly is my fave) that I use for hauling around my files (etc.).

...I got some great new manuals (including HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS) that I love.

...I got a new optical mouse (for at home).

...I got a Flip Video Ultra.

I'm forgetting tons of things I wanted to mention, I'm sure, but I think that's plenty for now. Hopefully I'll be back later to wish everyone a Happy New Year! (smile)