Happy 2011 Everyone!

Hi everyone,

Well I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday season, with lots of quality time spent with friends and family. I was lucky enough this year to get home to Arizona to spend Christmas with my family. It was a busy few weeks as I also stopped in Amsterdam for a few days to pack up all the stuff I had left in storage there and move it back. The morning we arrived in Amsterdam it started snowing and it didn't stop for almost the entire weekend. It did make for a beautiful view of the city but it did complicate things a bit. We made our way to the storage room but by the time we had packed everything up there was enough snow on the ground to stop all the public transportation in Amsterdam and no taxis were moving due to extreme traffic jams. That made it impossible to get the boxes from the storage unit to my friends place where I was staying, but I did manage to get back the next day and get everything out. I even managed to get it all back to Arizona without paying any extra fees! All in all a pretty nice trip with some nice food and catching up with some friends I haven't seen in a very long time.

I've been in Arizona a few weeks now and have seen most of my family and friends. I went straight to my favorite thai restaurant here in Tempe (I am sure everyone that knows me knows that would be Thai Basil) and then to Havasu the next morning to see my brother, some family there, and some friends. I spent Christmas Eve in Queen Creek with my family and our yearly Christmas Eve party. I did not get the bag of crickets this year but Stephen did! I think it must be some kind of curse and if I don't get them, whoever is with me must. Katie and all of my little cousins are getting so big, it makes me feel old. I also made a trip to the Grand Canyon with a friend of mine who came from Ghana with me and had not been there before. It was quite cold, but beautiful. I would love to be able to take a few days and hike down to the bottom some day.

Since the end of the holidays, I have been continuing the job hunt. Still waiting to hear on lots of applications, but continuing to put more in every day and hoping I can find something soon that is still in my field.

All the best for the next year and lots of love.