In preparing to recap our 2008, we were hard pressed to come up with a word that properly sums up what a great year it’s been for us.  Exciting would definitely apply.  So would adventurous, entertaining, and new, as in the many new experiences with which we were graced in ’08.  It can only be considered an incredible gift from God that in looking back on the year that was, we have so much about which to write and share with you all.  Therefore, if there is one word that best summarizes this past year, that word would have to be ‘Blessing’.  Of course, that would be the same word we’d use to describe the years preceding our most recent annum.  So it is with enormous smiles, sincere gratitude and great humility for the fortune we’ve been given that we present to you our 2008.  Thanks to all of you with whom we created so many new memories and to everyone who helped make all these moments possible.

The year began with travel, travel and more travel.  We were fortunate to attend the live recording of Sister Hazel’s ‘Before the Amplifiers’ album in Decatur, GA.  This was a great experience as the weekend trip took us to Atlanta which included lunch at the breathtaking Sun Dial Restaurant and a day in Centennial Olympic Park.  We then proceeded to Nickel & Dime Studios to be in the audience as Sister Hazel recorded their all-acoustic album.   Not long after that amazing experience, we got to see Sister Hazel once again as we joined them and over 2000 of our closest friends aboard The Rock Boat VIII.  The 6 day, floating music festival excursion took us to Ocho Rios, Jamaica and a nice cruise-by of Grand Cayman (alas, the waters were too choppy to disembark at G.C.).  With the exception of the severe motion sickness to which we both succumbed for half-days at a time, it was an incredible experience.  Our January wrapped up with Daniel winning a Pinewood Derby award in the animal theme design category for the Tiger Cub level for his Cub Scouts Pack.  His car would eventually go on to win at the District and ultimately at the Council level.  Given a Council is made up of many Scout Packs, his car was chosen above all others submitted by Tiger Cubs in the Council.

February began with a familiar activity; traveling to watch Sister Hazel perform.  However, this excursion was slightly different in that the destination was Jacksonville, FL and we were there as much to see the opening act as we were to see SH.  Our favorite ‘local’ band, Dirty Shannon, opened for Sister Hazel at Freebird Live in Jax.   Given our friendship with Dirty Shannon front man Vic Scott, this was a very exciting show for us.   Gil’s birthday came and went in very low-key fashion as the actual celebration of the birthday would be deferred to later in the month.  Our ‘valenversary’ (combination of Valentine and Anniversary) dinner was, by all measures, quite the let down.  It had nothing to do with the company, but rather with the significant disappointment of the dining experience at the much-hyped Oystercatchers Restaurant in Tampa.  Let’s just say it’s “off the list” going forward.  February also gave us a visit to the Florida State Fair where we ran into our photographer friend Elise Schreiner who was in the midst of an engagement photo shoot.  (Hold that thought because we’re going to come back to it later).   In the spirit of feeding our music habit, we got extremely great seats to watch Michael Buble at the St. Pete Times Forum, and, like the last time we saw him in 2005, it was a phenomenal show.  We wrapped up February with a mix of fret and fun.  Gil was summoned to jury duty and was selected for a re-sentencing hearing in a capital case.  The duration of this trial ate into our plans to travel to Lake Buena Vista to take part in ESPN the Weekend.  It was a great, sunny and celebrity-filled way to get over the weight of the entire jury experience.

The ESPN the Weekend experience wrapped up as we began March, a month that also saw Lee attend a Tampa Bay Storm game.   Her seat was only 2 rows from the sideline and was a very, up close AFL experience.  The sports theme continued as we attended the CONCACAF soccer qualifying tournament at Raymond James Stadium and saw Team USA take on the Cuban national team.   The story was not so much the Americans settling for a 1-1 draw with Cuba, but rather the many Cuban players who ended up defecting immediately following the game.  Gil still maintains he knew nothing of the Cubans’ plot to remain in the States.  With March comes Spring which also means Spring Break.  This year, Lee’s sister and nephew, Tammy and Hunter, came to visit and spend some time with us.   This family time entailed lots of time in and around the pool, as well as a trip back to Lake Buena Vista and a visit to Disney’s Epcot Center.   If sharing time with family is not reason enough to celebrate, Lee being selected as Employee of the Year at L3 Communications  was definitely cause for celebration.  The reward for being selected EOY would not be realized until summer (so once again, hold that thought).  We did, however, wrap up the month with our second time partaking in the International Rum Festival held in Ybor City. 

Believe it or not, April saw us traveling once again for music and concerts.  We carpooled with our dear friends Ellen Seifring and Jeff Wilson to St. George Island to take part in Rock by the Sea II.  It was a great weekend filled with music and festivities, and it was all for a good cause as proceeds from RBTS went to various charities, including our favorite, Lyrics for Life.  We also traveled to Orlando to watch Dirty Shannon perform at The Social bar as they celebrated the release of their latest CD ‘Hands in the Air’.   We took yet another road trip, this time to Miami, for Gil’s nephew’s first Communion celebration, and the month wrapped up with our friends Pollie and Jason Braswell coming to visit us before they embarked on a cruise out of the Port of Tampa.

As the weather heated up in May, our social calendar did cool down a bit.  Still, May had its fair share of fun and excitement.   As part of preparation for a potential work stoppage at Verizon, Gil had to attend ‘working aloft’ training.  This meant learning how to properly climb up telephone poles in the event he had to travel to the Northeast and perform telephone repair services should there be a strike.  We also caught a performance by another musical acquaintance of ours, Jackson Rohm, as he played at The Garage Bar in nearby St. Petersburg, Florida.  We also had lots of fun with the kids as Daniel’s rec-league basketball team won the championship for their division and we took part in the L3 picnic at Ft. DeSoto Park.

When Lee was selected as EOY in March, the distinction came with a $5000 travel voucher.  We kicked off June with our $4999.26 travel package that included first an adventure filled week in Costa Rica and then a relaxing week in the Mayan Riviera just south of Cancun, Mexico.  Our week in Costa Rica was full of adventure outings that included ATV’ing, riding horseback in the mountains, tubing class II and class III white water, zip-lining over the canopies of the rain forest, rappelling (inverted at that) into canyons, exploring the wildlife along the Tempisque River in Palo Verde National Park and sailing the waters of the Pacific Ocean.  We also consumed some of the best food either one of us had experienced and just fell in love with beauty of the landscape and the friendliness of the people in Costa Rica.  As they say down there, Pura Vida indeed!  Week 2 of our 14 day vacation took us to the Aventura Spa and Resort on the Mayan Riviera.  This was the opposite of Costa Rica as we simply relaxed in the all-inclusive comfort and luxury of the resort and really had a chance to unwind and enjoy ourselves.   The magical trip concluded with what can only be described as a fairy tale ending.  We left for our vacation as two individuals who were serious about each other.  We came back from our vacation as a couple engaged to one another and with a wedding to plan.  You can read more about the specifics of the proposal at the bottom of this page.

Immediately upon our return, Gil took Natalie and Daniel to Tropicana Field on Father’s Day to watch the Tampa Bay Rays take on the Florida Marlins.  We also got to spend some time with Gil’s mom who came to visit for a week, and we were honored to be invited to the site launch party for our friend Elise Schreiner. 

We kicked off the second half of the year with another Sister Hazel concert, this time at Jannus Landing in St. Pete.  We celebrated the 4^th of July watching fireworks with Natalie and Daniel, and Tammy and Hunter came down from Alabama once again for a visit.  We were fortunate to be able to take Tammy to her first Dirty Shannon concert and then take Hunter to Miami for his first time.  He was very taken aback by Miami and how different it was from anything else he’d ever experienced.  We had more relatives from Alabama visit us in May as Aunt Mary and Uncle Terry came to see Lee’s mom, Patsy, as she underwent back surgery.  We wish we could say the surgery went smoothly, but due to complications with the hardware inserted in Patsy’s lower back, she had to be operated on a second time and her resulting stay in the hospital was longer than anyone of us had hoped.   There was some release from the stress that surrounds hospitals, doctors and surgery as Lee attended a Poison concert with her good friend Alyson. 

August gave us more musical memories as we caught a performance by Ken Block and Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel as they performed at the Tampa Bay Tech Forum, a fundraiser that raises money to introduce ‘at risk’ youth to computers and technology.   We also attended a Rays game at Tropicana Field that was followed by a concert performance by LL Cool J. 

Summer began its wind down in September and we were very fortunate to be in the stands as the Sunlake High School Seahawks recorded their first ever win in football in the school’s brief, two year history.  Chris, the eldest son of our dear friends Matt and Michelle Harrington, played for the Seahawks, and it was great to have been there to watch that and many other Sunlake games throughout the season.   September also turned out to be a romance filled month given we attended two weddings that month.  The first was for our friends Ron and Melissa Storm.  That turned out to be quite serendipitous for us as it resulted in finding the perfect location for our engagement photo shoot.  The idea for the shoot was born from meeting up with our friend Elise at the State Fair back in February, and Elise’s pictures were simply stunning.   The second wedding took place in Miami and celebrated the union of Larry and Evelyn Terrell.   In an interesting twist of fate, Larry and Evelyn contracted their photographer as a result of Gil’s recommendation.  It turns out Gil had reconnected with several high school friends via Facebook and forwarded the information for his friend, Alex Rodriguez, to Larry and Evelyn.  His work is also dazzling and Alex has been featured on My Fair Wedding on WeTV.

October was definitely a mixed bag of experiences for us.  It began with the incredible run the Tampa Bay Rays made in the baseball postseason.  The atmosphere here in Tampa was exciting and electrifying, and we were fortunate to have attended the first game for each playoff series played at Tropicana Field.  We were there for Game 1 versus the Chicago White Sox in the ALDS, Game 1 versus the Boston red Sox in the ALCS, and Game 1 of the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.  The whole experience was incredible.  October also had us heading over to Clearwater Beach for the annual Lyrics for Life fundraising gala featuring Sister Hazel.  It is always so reaffirming to be able to participate in an event for such a worthy cause.  It’s also wonderful to be able to share such an experience with so many wonderful friends.  

In November we took a proverbial recess from the hustle and bustle and slowed it down a bit.  Gil did take Daniel to his first ever college football game at Raymond James Stadium and we did catch a Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game.  However, in both instances, the tickets to those events were gifted to us.  Lee also began her training as a volunteer member of the Superbowl host committee and will be working several NFL Experience events in January.  Lee is also secretly wishing she’s gifted one more pair of tickets to a certain ‘big game’ in February.  We wrapped up the month by adding a member to our family.  Ricardo, Patsy’s new Rat Terrier/Chihuahua mix pup, has been a literal bundle of energy and a smile-inducing addition to our household.

The hustle and bustle kicked into high gear again in December as we began the month attending the ACC Championship game at Raymond James Stadium.  We traveled to Orlando on two separate occasions in the same weekend, the first time to watch Dirty Shannon perform and the second to catch a great concert at the House of Blues featuring Natasha Bedingfield, Gavin Degraw, David Cook and Colbie Caillat.  That same weekend we also hosted our now third-annual Christmas Party, and our White Trash Christmas theme helped make the party a huge success.   We will be wrapping up this month, and our spectacular 2008, with Lee’s birthday and – of course, what else? – a Sister Hazel concert on New Year’s Eve. 

Although these are the highlights of what has been an event filled year, with each event a wonderful gift in and of itself, we would be remised if we didn’t take a moment to acknowledge the many blessings God provides for us in our every day.  From our health to our current state of employment to the wonderful house in which we live, we hope that as 2009 comes upon us, we continue to take a moment every day and thank the Lord for everything we are given.  We also hope that as you embark on your New Year, you achieve everything you set out to accomplish and that good health and prosperity always be yours.