Happy 3rd Blogoversary!

I can't believe I have been keeping this blog for three years. What that really means is I can not believe it has been almost three years since we went to Italy. I started my blog because my friend Kristine had such a high security level set on her Outlook that it automatically stripped attachments from incoming messages at the server level, so she was never able to view the photos I sent her. I wanted to find a way to be able to share my adventures with my friends, including Kris. Much like we did in 2004 when we drove across country with our teardrop trailer - altho on that trip we called and left a daily voicemail message summing up our two week road trip that our friends and family could call and listen to. I still have those outgoing messages set up and saved in my Accessline account. I should turn on those extensions and go and listen to them and re-live that experience, too. When we went to France in 2000 we had about three free web sites setup with all of the photos we had taken after we came home. I am not sure where they all are now, I am sure Steve has them on his machine somewhere since I don't have them on mine.

I re-read some of my posts starting from the very first one, and then some of the posts from when we arrived in Milan, and I have to say I am really glad to have this "diary" of my life to help me remember many of the things I have done. When we went to Italy and were hauling the laptop around, Steve was kind of sorry he had the 20 pounds of extra weight. But because we were carrying our own equipment we were able to travel-blog our trip, and when I read about it today, it makes me smile, and I can almost taste those pillowy puffs of cheese filled pasta (read "Trust in Strangers" from 12/23/05) and I actually can remember vividly how awfully tired I was that night. This photo is from Xmas Day 05 in Torino. I pretty much look the same, and am proud to say I am still wearing all the same clothes.

I've been keeping a second blog for a year and a half, I call it my "green" blog since it is more about green lifestyles and real estate. I actually blog there more than here now, since my life is so much about living green. But my pink blog is about my very personal life and I found it quite useful this last holiday season when I was preparing my printed newsletter - the 10th anniversary edition. When I realized the printed newsletter came straight from my blog, I announced that the 10th anniversary edition would probably be the last. You should have seen the hue and cry come from the older generation, who doesn't use the internet. I hate cutting them out, but there is a lot of time and expense that goes into "Now That's a Wrap" and it's not as satisfying to do an annual recap now that I can recap anytime I want on my blog! I guess it will depend if I am employed or not by Xmas. If I am unemployed I will have time but not the money to fund the mailing. If I am employed, I won't have the time to create the newsletter, but I would be able to afford to print and mail it!

Yes, I have finally fallen victim to our current economic crisis and am looking for corporate employment. Steve lost his job at the beginning of September but luckily he went back to work in mid-October, just before my income dried up. I am finding lots of opportunities out there, based on my broad background, but whether I can be "the one" or not remains to be seen. Check out my Job Fox Career Web Page. It even has a resume uploaded, and some other samples of work I have done.

So, Happy 3rd Blogoversary to me! It's been fun to go back and look at some of my old pictures and to remember the great trips my husband and I have been on.