Category: Announcements

I was going to make a random post just to prove that this has not become a cooking blog, but instead I think I am going to talk about the inauguration. Are you taking off from work to watch? Unfortunately I will be watching from the lab. For those of you in a similar situation, this site has a lot of options for watching coverage online. I will probably go with the CNN Live option. Now, I am going to go out on a limb and embed a live stream via Hulu below. Beware; the stream is from FOX News, of which I am not a fan. Just trying to give some options.

That’s a wrap. 2008 is over. It’s been a fun year. We started it off with my parents on New Year’s Day. Those who know me well were shocked when I made “the switch“.  Kyllan and I got to pretend we were famous… and then there was that whole Oprah thing (which we couldn’t talk about due to a Non-disclosure agreement. Click here if you are confused.) Kyllan attended her 10 year reunion; I skipped mine. We caught a few great movies. I got my hands on the hottest gadget of the year… or maybe Kyllan did. We enjoyed the Oplympic Games. We visited 6 countries (Vatican City counts too.) The site had a few technical issues. We were inspired and witnessed a historic event. The two of us discovered that we are hockey fans. You tried to follow along as we set fitnes goals (which we will resume posting about in the new year.) Kyllan and I hosted our first family event. And though Kyllan and I will be spending New Year’s Eve with some of her co-workers, I think Neil wrapped up this year nicely with his recent announcement.

Here is a link to my favorite photos of 2008 (on my flickr account)… Okay the first few are from late December 2007. Close enough.

Congratulations to Neil and Tami. Apparently their son Noah is going to be a big brother!

I am so thrilled that I was able to watch the events of this evening unfold and Barack Obama be declared President of the United States of America.  There are really no words to express how I feel right now, but it was truly overwhelming to read the headlines, and browse at all the comments from friends on facebook who are truly inspired and humbled by this experience.  It is such a great tribute to the many that fought hard for us to even have this historic opportunity.  William and I are excited to have such powerful examples in the White House for us and for our children, and I know there are others who feel the same way.  We cannot wait to see what the future holds and look forward to great things to come!

I hope you were able to watch Michelle Obama’s speech on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, but if not, you can read the transcript by clicking here. She delivered an excellent speech that aimed to pull at the emotional heart strings of mothers, daughters, wives and the general person in pursuit of the “American Dream” regardless of their race, or background. Her words were very uniting and outlined the struggles she and Barack have overcome and the successes that will allow Barack Obama to be the next president. You could tell how emotional it was for her and the passion behind her words. I was truly touched and found myself wiping the tears away. As a daughter and a wife and a future mother and someone who as a young, African American woman has “beat the odds”, it was just so easy to relate to. I felt really proud to be watching history unfold.

I did listen to what some of the CNN analysts said about the first night being too “soft” and not directly targeting McCain, but I think it was so much more powerful and dignified to focus the attention on Barack Obama and why he should be our president versus why McCain should not. I think Donna Brazile and Hilary Rosen supported the tone of the evening, but some of the other analysts felt it should have been harsher.

Anyway… I look forward to the rest of the convention and am even sadder now that we did not get tickets to Barack’s speech later this week.

And by the way… wasn’t the satellite video exchange at the end between Barack and his two daughters so cute!!

Below is my favorite excerpt from Michelle Obama’s speech:

“And as I tuck that little girl in and her little sister into bed at night, You see I think about how one day, they’ll have families of their own. And one day, they — and your sons and daughters — will tell their own children about what we did together in this election. They’ll tell them how this time, we listened to our hopes, instead of our fears. How this time, how this time, we decided to stop doubting and to start dreaming. How this time, in this great country — where a girl from the South Side of Chicago can go to college and law school, and the son of a single mother from Hawaii can go all the way to the White House — that we committed ourselves, we committed ourselves to building the world as it should be.” (that’s where the tears starting rolling)

EDIT: Beow is a video of Michelle Obama’s speech

I don’t think I mentioned it before, but a photo I took of Invesco Field (Mile High Stadium) was chosen to be posted on Schmap, publisher of free digital travel guides. Well… I received an e-mail yesterday informing me that Schmap guides are now going to be available on the iPhone and iPod touch. She sent me a link to show me what my picture would look like. Check it out!

************Challenge Update**************

William and I did pretty well during our first week of “getting back on track”. He actually won this week, fitting in a workout every single day! I was only able to fit in 3 days of workouts, but I guess 3 is better than 0. This week is not going so well for me. I did some weight training Sunday, but that has been it so far. William and I will be in Jacksonville this weekend to attend his mom’s family reunion, so I am not even going to pretend that I will be working or choosing healthy options this weekend. I think he may be taking a break too, but we will be back on track after the weekend!!!