Hi everyone! It has been a year full of changes for me. Work. After two and a half years of doing freelance writing from home, I went back to work full-time at Sierra On-Line. For a couple of months I had two companies wanting to hire me, and was able to negotiate a nice salary
Captain Christa cruisin' the sound on her boat!	and benefits. Being in demand sure beats the alternative! I am working on some exciting stuff: software packaging and print and web advertising. Because of Sierra's wide array of software titles (from cooking to golf to stock car racing) I never get bored. I have a big window
office and a brand-new iMac, and am basically loving being back in the working world. I commute thirty miles to work, so my new Nissan Altima makes the drive bearable.

Home. My wonderful neighbor, Justine, watches Scotty before school and Callie during the days she's not in preschool. I miss the time I used to have with the kids and the luxury of going to the library or park in the afternoon, but for the most part it's working out great.

School. I also went back to school this fall, thanks to the kindness and generosity of my grandmother, Elma Palla. I am attending the University of Washington, and am in the Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences program, with a concentration in Culture, Literature, and the Arts. I am having so much fun in school, but it is a challenge juggling work, family, and homework! Right now I am just taking one class each quarter. It will take a while to finish my degree, but this pace feels right for now. Final grades haven't been posted for my first class, but I did pretty well, and my professor even made copies of my Great Gatsby paper to distribute to the class as an example of an 'A' paper! It was very exciting and a little embarrassing. But I'll take that kind of embarrassment any day! Next quarter I'm taking a class on American Art and Architecture. I'm hoping to learn a lot and look at a lot of slides!