Christmas, New Years, Thank You's and Trivia!

I had a little hiatus for the holidays. I hope everyone had a great holiday season, got all the gifts they wanted and partied safely!! I had a true adventure for my holiday season!

It all started on December 21st when Jason and I went to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada for Christmas. For those of you that don't know, my boyfriend of about five years is Canadian and from Winnipeg. He hadn't been home to see his whole family for the holidays in about four years. I had never experienced Canada in the winter time, especially not a place referred to as "Winterpeg". After a little delay due to some customs issues, we were finally on our way. I forgot to mention, I was sick yet again, bronchitis to be exact. Now I had the full experience, family, cold weather and sickness...what a combo! Here is a look from the car...
I didn't take a ton of pictures, but I did have a great time. Since I was sick we didn't get to go along on an ice fishing trip. That kind of upset me because I have never even been fishing, let alone ice fishing. Jason's brother and his girlfriend went and brought back a couple of fish. I don't have the gross pictures to prove it, but I got to learn how to gut a fish and fry it. Wow, is fresh pickerel, aka walleye, delicious! I never knew how many parts of a fish you can cook! I got to learn how to play a lot of new card games and board games and most of all learn the power of getting to know people. We sat around and told stories and caught up...of course there was beer consumption since that seems to be the Canadian way!

One thing that I am really glad I got to experience is stick curling. As an American, I kind of laugh every time curling is on TV during the Olympics. It looks ridiculous, I mean sweeping ice to get a tea kettle into place...that surely can't be fun. I was so wrong! Jason's dad took us curling on Christmas night. The first thing I didn't know is that the rocks, tea kettles to me, weigh about 30 pounds! The second thing, sweeping is really hard. It was my first time being on ice of any kind, of course besides the kind I tend to fall on during the winter. I had so much fun and we won! Do I look like a pro??
Here we are after our victory!
On the 28th we headed back to Chicago...or at least we thought. Due to the attempted terrorist attack on Christmas, the customs agents were really strict. They gave Jason a hard time about spending time in the United States. It was really an awful experience! I ended up heading home and he got to spend a few extra days in Canada. But we were back together on New Years Eve!!

I'm sure everyone thinks that I am some wild party animal and that New Years would be my day to shine. That would be so far from the truth! For New Years Eve we had family time with my family. We had a night of eating, board games, TV watching and pajama wearing. We were a lazy bunch of Rousey's! It was nice to spend time with my family for the end the year.

Here is where I would like to say thank you to everyone. My sponsors, PoolDawg and MezzUSA. Without you guys life would have been much tougher. I got a chance to experience some new things, meet new people and do some hard work! I look forward to working with you again in 2010!

I have to give a huge, huge, huge thank you to all of the Heartbackers. Without all of you, I wouldn't have been able to do anything this year. I wouldn't have been able to travel the world and fulfill my dream of playing on the worlds stage. Thank you all so much! I am coming up with a new logo for the 2010 Heartbackers and it will be ready soon. If you would like to donate, it would be greatly appreciated! I will come up with new gift ideas as well. Like I have said before, I can't thank everyone enough!

I also have to thank all of the readers of this blog. It has been almost a year and tons of fun. It has given me a release when I am feeling up and when I am feeling down. I looked today and I saw that I had nearly 25,000 hits in 2009! Thank you all for sticking with me, checking in on me and sometimes checking up on me! It really means a lot and I can't wait to keep the entertainment going in 2010.

And now, what was supposed to be the final trivia question of 2009, but got delayed until now. This will require doing a little bit of work. It involves the map that can be found at the bottom of the blog. It is totally filled out with everywhere that I have gone in the world in 2009. The winner of this trivia will win a $25 gift code to PoolDawg! A big thanks to PoolDawg for allowing this trivia to happen every week! Now for the question: What are the places I visited outside of the United States in 2009(please list the city and country)?? How many places within the United States did I play in tournaments??

I would also like to know what you guys would like to learn about, read about, see pictures of, etc. I know I did that before then slacked off. I will go back to answer those as well. I like the feedback and would like to know what everyone likes to know or wants to know.

Thank you everyone for a great 2009 and I'm looking forward to an even better 2010!!