What a year it has been! Recapitulating the events of 2003 leaves me in awe and I realize how blessed we are to live such healthy and happy lives. As every year, we would like to share some of our past year highlights with you. If you wish, you may click on the links for pictures from our photo album.
In mid January we returned to our home in St. Paul, having spent a wonderful Christmas vacation with our families in Switzerland. Markus resumed work with the database team at Navitaire and I began my last semester at the University of Minnesota. Along with my studies, I worked as a stage manager for one of my dance professors. It was a great experience to work backstage, recognizing how crucial the technical part for the success of a show is. In early March, Markus’ brother Lenny from Switzerland
visited
us and we had a wonderful time shopping, cooking, playing games and just
catching up on each other’s lives. In March a group of dancers including
myself were very fortunate to represent the University of Minnesota with
one of my dance pieces at the American College Dance Festival (ACDFA)
in Madison. Shortly after I performed in the Student
Dance Show in April, my last show as a student at the University of
Minnesota.
My parents visited us in May to celebrate my graduation. Markus organized a wonderful graduation party and it was great to celebrate this important milestone with family and friends. Shortly after, my parents invited us to a graduation trip to Yosemite National Park, San Francisco and the Napa Valley. We enjoyed every minute of it, need-less to say, we were spoiled rotten!
To me, the most significant event of the year happened on the top of the most spectacular mountain in Yosemite National park: on May 24, after 5 hours of hiking up to the Half Dome, overlooking the gorgeous Yosemite Valley and a Diamond ring, Markus asked me to become his wife.
After the wonderful vacation on the west coast it was
back to work. I taught several summer intensives in the twin cities while Markus continued work at Navitaire. In June, we had a fun, but somewhat rainy camping weekend with a large group of friends and 3 babies! We hiked and spent great times around the campfire.
In July I left for Switzerland, taught a summer intensive with my American friend Maggie and enjoyed quality time with my parents and my sister Eva. On my way back to the US, I spent 2 weeks dancing in New York City. What a crazy, amazing and noisy city it is! After six weeks away from my “husband-to-be”, I was truly looking forward to getting back to St. Paul.
While I was
abroad, Markus worked on a lot of projects around house including refinishing
our bedroom window frames. Lily
and Mike, Markus parents, visited him from Switzerland. They engaged
in the Gallagher traditions of cooking lovely meals together and playing
lots of games.
In September, along with auditioning for dance companies I started teaching and developing a curriculum for modern dance at a studio in the suburbs. Markus was not being challenged in his position at Navitaire so he decided to start looking for a new job. Reconfiguring our lives, we were happy to spend another great camping weekend with two of our best friends as well as a company-sponsored weekend at a fancy resort in northern Minnesota. Moreover, we also welcomed the company of our friends Barb and Brent from Colorado for their first visit to the Twin Cities!
With great excitement and pleasure we promptly started the planning our wedding for the coming summer in Switzerland. At the end of October we enjoyed a great double Halloween party at Justin and Renée’s and Collin’s House. As a wonderful Thanksgiving gift, Markus was offered a position as a database architect/modeler in product development of Navitaire.
We are delighted and thankful for this opportunity putting him a step closer toward his career goals. At the same time, my dream to dance professionally came true: in December I was hired to dance in two Nutcracker productions for Lakeville city Ballet and for Ballet of the Dolls.
After Markus’ transition into the new position and my dance performance in 20 shows, we are looking forward to spending time with our families in January back in Switzerland.
We wish you a Merry Christmas and all the very best for 2004.
We thank God
for all the blessings He has given us throughout this past year. Let us
all remember the true meaning of Christmas and be thankful for what it
means and all we have.
Season
Greetings
,
Anja, Markus & Sidi