a year in photos

(click on the photo to see it up close!)

laugh and play and dash about as much as you like, only be careful not to say or do anything that would be displeasing to God. -st. mary mazzarello

if there were a quote to sum up all of 2006...this would be it! I laughed and played and dashed about...and it's safe to say that i said and did displeasing things more often than i'd care to remember. :) thank god for confession!

for the sake of good reading...here's my 2006 in re-ordered form from the quote above:

places i dashed about to...
canada (three times), sharing the joy of relay all about (vancouver, b.c., trail, b.c., kent, eatonville, tacoma, federal way, reno, the puget sound metro market, slovenia, washington dc and throughout merrill lynch), michigan, oregon, hawaii, germany, and colorado. through the fabulous world wide web, i also took a fabulous photography workshop based in australia, with other peeps hailing from new zealand, the uk, throughout the u.s., and south africa.

ways that i screwed up...
a lot of ways. you can ask my family and friends, they'll vouch for that! there were occasions that my first reaction to things wasn't my best reaction, or my most loving reaction, or my most calm reaction. i may have, on occasion, been a little snappy or possibly even rude. hard to imagine, i know! but trust me, it happened and it wasn't pretty.

something that i worked on...fully admitting my wrong, apologizing for it, and doing my best not to repeat it. something i need to work on next year - addressing the hurts i caused before it's brought to my attention...being much more aware of my actions and what they cause. i learned a very valuable lesson this year - there was someone i hurt who i kept putting off calling, and she passed away before i apologized. i never want that to happen again. for me or for anyone else. i pray that i will have the strength to overcome my pride in the future.

times that i laughed...
i was bit on the ass by a cow. my mom told me that when i make faces, "you look like a rodent, and i don't like rodents!" i tried to dye viper's hair. it did not work. it was messy. i learned how to remove dog poo from a christmas tree. i learned that i never want to learn how to do that again.

i laughed a lot. often times at myself. this year had a lot of joy in it.

and i played...
with the super fabulous estrogen militia on a river and occasionally in the river. with the canadians. with the #1 team in the great west division - team merrill. with relayers throughout the west coast. with relayers across the world. snapped over 25,000 photos. i shot a nerf rifle. i finished a triathlon. i painted my house and garage. started a photography business that i love. i learned how to hang shutters. i sang country karaoke in a hawaiian bar. those listening to me sing survived it.

i learned that i have a lot to learn.

and looking ahead to 2007...
i want to be truly happy. not just happy. and how can i do that?

so, abandon yourself utterly for the love of God, and in this way, you will become truly happy! -blessed henry suso

please pray for me, i'm going to need it! :)