Goodbye 2009. Hello 2010.

This is a new flat card design that I'll be debuting later this month over at afotogirl.etsy.com.

I'm pretty darn glad to have 2009 behind me. The year has been filled with anxiety, professional disappointments, a personal life filled with let-downs, financial juggling, cancer scare for me and cancer diagnosis for my mother and not to mention all the individual struggles each of my family members have had to deal with.

It's now a little past midnight and officially the second day of January 2010 has begun. Day one was spent trying to catch up on a little sleep followed by a visit to the hospital to check on my mother who was re-admitted on Tuesday with a severe post-surgery infection before dragging myself into the office for an out of the ordinary Friday night metro shift. Not the best New Year's Day.

But you know what? All that being said, there is also a lot to be thankful for. I have an amazing family that no matter how tense and stressful and angry and sick and tired we can sometimes get, we stand strong together – always. I have a group of friends who send me prayers and well wishes for me and my family all the time. I have a job that even on stressful anxiety-filled days nonetheless pays my rent, allows me to test my skills and surrounds me with a great bunch of people who never let you forget that you aren't in the fight alone.

When all is said and done, I sit here, with the lights of my still up and twinkling Christmas tree, a roaring fire and a glass of cabernet slowly feeling my spirit swell with some hope as I write this. My mind wanders as I tentatively make plans and consider possibilities for the coming year: new ideas for my product line, photo projects, a re-commitment to better my own health, perhaps a dog in my near future and increasing the quality of the relationships in my life.

So I raise a toast to you 2009. You were a real pisser but you taught me a lot about myself.

Until next time...
Ani