Another year has come to an end, and just like the year before — it went fast. The difference however, is that this year, technology wise, I made some changes and explored new things. Exciting stuff!

For the last 5 months, I have been working on Visionary Lab with 3 other team members. I am very excited about the software we are releasing on January 2nd. It’s been a lot of work, a lot of late nights programming, some cursing and some ‘oooo-rah’ moments. But, we are releasing our first Social Directory platform, a coupon plugin, some really nifty widgets and custom data-mining tool.

While I have been privy to working on a variety of cool Web applications, and on some cool teams…. it’s nice to see something come to life from start to finish and all the in-between planning. Being on a kickass team helps a hella-lot too. I even will go as far to say, that WITHOUT a kickass team, nothing much happens. I suspect that 2010 will be an interesting year — and I am excited about the new things we still have in store.

Family wise — things have been great. I have to admit, this has been probably the toughest year on my family. Work has been relentless and not as financially rewarding as before. We took a huge risk venturing out on our own… trying to develop and offer our vision of what makes a social business online a success. There was some sacrifice, but what is amazing is the hardship we faced was nothing more than an exercise for us to become even closer. I witnessed my husband and my kids pull together and wore many hats to make sure we got through it all.

It’s funny you know, sometimes you don’t really think in totality, everything you should be thankful for. It took a very sweet and simple toast from my hubby this Yule — to make me FULLY realize, that despite the trials of life, I am a fortunate woman.

His toast went something like this…

“No matter the endless days of hard work, the trial and errors we’ve endured, and all the moments of doubt, at the end of the day, there is no other place I’d rather be than here with my wife, kids and friends. For I only remember all the moments we laugh, play and love.”

What a great Yule toast, wouldn’t you say?

And that’s what matters right? The most defining accomplishment? Being able to see and appreciate the ones that stand by you and love you on a daily basis, even when you’re good, bad or ugly.