year of the rooster

Well, not really until the lunar new year, but I’m not too picky.

We spent a lovely New Year’s Eve with Alan & Becky (and a little bit of it with Joe T. as well), full of food and fun and plain old good company. We watched the fireworks from their rooftop. It was a great way to end the old year and begin the new one.

Last year was a big year. Seppo and I got engaged. We both got new jobs. I refinanced my house. We moved downstairs. We got a dog. My dad got released and was deported. My sister had her second and last baby. My brother brought home his girlfriend for the first time. I wrote a first draft of a novel. Seppo released his second commercial video game through his job, and completed his first independent game with a small group of friends. There were some very horrible things too: Bush, continued ground war in Iraq, tsunami disaster. I hope this year brings progress on all fronts.

Seppo and I decided that we should set a date by the end of January. Then we can start to plan the wedding in earnest. Seppo and I both want to lose weight/get fit this year. Due in part to the new jobs, we’ve each gained a noticeable amount of weight and have become increasingly sedentary in our day-to-day lives, despite the addition of the dog. I would like to cook more at home. I get to work from home one day a week, so I want to plan to get groceries delivered on a day when I’m home during the week, so that we can avoid using up time on a weekend to shop. I can also cook dinner that day of the week while Seppo is in transit.

I would like to come up with some sort of a permanently workable financial solution for my family. If we can figure out something, I feel like we’d be able to save money better for getting married, having children, and even retiring at some point in our lives. As it is, I rather feel like we are bleeding money.

Here’s to 2005.