My mom sent this one along to me – such a great story of love and dedication. have a watch. 

Between some of the personal struggles, and the collapse of the economy, 2008 surely won’t go down in the books as one of the best years ever – though even through it all, there were still plenty of special memories…I look back at the summer and remember those lazy weekends laying out at the pool or beach, a sharp contrast to the summer before when we were spending our weekends condo hunting. For those of you who have been through that process, you can probably sympathize, so having that behind us is surely a blessing…

I look back and remember lots of good dinners with great friends, seeing OAR at Northerly Island, and a Hootie concert at Ravinia, a handful of baseball games at Wrigley and the Cell, a bunch of OSU games – including the Michigan game with my dad, celebrating an anniversary with Mandy by going to see Wicked, numerous trips back to Ohio to see the fam, taking my little niece and nephew to the Lincoln Park Zoo, A once-in-a-lifetime trip to the night race at Bristol, the 20 hour road-trip from Tampa to Chicago with Kurt, and of course having the best (and cutest) roommate that I could ever ask for move in ☺

2008 was also a year of lots of positive growth professionally as well. I was challenged this time last year to take on a role of managing a team of designers at Levy, and although there have certainly been some bumps along the way, I have learned so much about myself, elevated my game as a designer, and taken great strides to become a leader of the group…But with that said, I really have to give kudos to my incredibly talented designers in addition to the rest of the Innovations team who have been nothing but supportive and helped me along this path. So even with the promotion to Director of Design, I won’t let myself or the group become complacent…and I vow to keep pushing us all to be a little bit better each and every day!

So looking ahead to 2009, though there are sure to be challenges, it is my hope that we can, as a nation, look at this as an opportunity to really do some good self-evaluating as to how we can get this thing turned around…because each and every one of us needs to do our part.

With all that said, I’ve got so many blessings to be thankful for, and even in the tough times. I have great friends and family to lean on, the best girlfriend in the world, a cute little pooch that can somehow always put a smile on my face, a brand new condo to call home, and an awesome job that I feel both challenged at and respected for the work that I do….I am truly blessed.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 2009!