Well, I had a festive New Years Eve, how about you?

2006 was a year of measured change, filled with the sort of give-and-take one experiences as the cycle of years turns again. It felt like a good year, and happily, a year not too unlike any other. Even though 2006 was filled with big events, the majority of those events-- with the notable exception of our engagement-- were the kind of things that seemed immeasurable when they're happening and yet in retrospect revealed themselves to be just another milestone. Here's a look at the year in review ( The 2005 recap is still available, if you're interested):

In January 2006, I...

• Rang in the New Year on Orcas Island with RacheMicah
• Took my first business trip to an SEO seminar in Albany, New York in the butt-ass cold... I drink 5 pints of beer
• Started writing freelance theater reviews for the Seattle Weekly
• Repaid my debts to the US Department of Education. Err, that is, the FOUR CENTS of it they didn't consolidate...

• Met Jeff, a longtime blog reader who relocated to Seattle and just recently hooked me up with my awesome job
• Got a giant payraise at my old job and started work on The Web 2.0 Awards
• Got the title to my first car, a 1995 Oldsmobile Silhouette. Van-tastic.

• Became "Internet Famous" when SEOmoz launched my project, the Web 2.0 Awards
• Decided, as a result of increasingly paralyzing anxiety and depression, to start seeing a therapist and taking Celexa-- an amazingly positive and effective choice

• Celebrated six years with Justin

• Traveled to San Francisco for a business trip with my boss and got stupid drunk with folks from Yahoo!
  
• Attended (and photographed) my cousin's wedding in Michigan
• Started feeling like maybe, just maybe, I didn't fit in with the crowd at work

• Visited Dallas, Texas for a client's investor conference and stayed at the posh For Seasons hotel. YUM.
  
• Got gussied up for the wedding of Justin's longtime friend, Jaye, in Spokane
• Celebrated the Summer Solstice Fremont style
• Snow-camped at Surprise Lake in the Cascades
• Took Rupert to the vet for the first of several emergency trips relating to urethral blockages caused by crystals in his urine

• Spent two weeks in Europe, visiting my aunt and attending a conference in Amsterdam, then meeting very-extended family in Germany
• Camped in the Drift Creek Wilderness with the Llamas. Hilarity ensued.
• Started training (late, at 13 miles) for the Portland Marathon, my first!
• Interviewed Suzan-Lori Parks, a Pulitzer Prize award-winning playwright
• Attended Search Engine Strategies in San Jose with my co-workers and two days after returning...
• Decided that the company I was with was not the place I needed to be. The feeling was mutual and the door didn't hit me on the way out
• Took my 7th annual trip to Glacier National Park with Rachel and Micah, where Justin asked me to marry him on a back country trip!

• Applied for a grand total of 10 jobs, many of which were shots in the dark
• Had my first photo published by the Seattle Weekly (and it wasn't even a good one!)
• Gave Justin publishing rights on my blog for the first time since I started the original six years ago

• Ran my first marathon in Portland, OR, with a finishing time of 5:25
• Celebrated writing the current rendition of this blog for one year
• Protected my reproductive future by getting a copper IUD inserted
• Was solicited for interviews by three companies for jobs I hadn't applied for-- I turned down one I wasn't interested in and another that required me to work remotely for a company in San Fran, and accepted the offer of the third
• Turned 24 years old and started my new job on the same day
  

• Shat myself with glee over the outcome of the election
• Saw The Album Leaf live at Chop-Suey
• Visited Justin's family in Washington, D.C. for the annual Thanksgiving get-together
• Enjoyed a rare, snow-tacular couple of days in Seattle

• Registered and started training for The Eugene Marathon
• Celebrated the holidays with new friends in Seattle
• Had a very Merry Christmas, complete with guitar, iPod shuffle, designer jeans, and terrycloth bathrobe. Huttah!