2009 is shaping up to be quite a year for former CNNer Carol Lin.

For starters, she got married last week. Lin, who was widowed in 2003 just weeks after the birth of her now 5-year-old daughter, tied the knot in Hawaii with UCLA Assistant Athletic Director of Operations Mike Dowling.

"One door closed," Lin tells TVNewser. "The next one opened, and Mike was standing on the other side...It's a miracle because I could not imagine, after losing Will [Robinson, her first husband and a former CNN producer] to cancer, that I could find the courage to love again."

Lin met her new husband after leaving CNN in 2007 and delving into the world of social media. While attending a blogging convention two years ago, Lin met a woman who ended up introducing her to Dowling.

And now, Lin's social media endeavor is taking off. CarolLinReporting.net has partnered with SRI International to develop TulaHealth, a provider of social media channels. TulaHealth's first big project — to enable the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation to connect newly-diagnosed patients with cancer survivors and caregivers via messaging and video — is slated for an April launch.

All in all, it's quite a mix of professional and personal developments for Lin. "I'm more than happy now," she says. "I'm really at peace for the first time in my life."

(photo by Piilani Schneider, courtesy of Carol Lin)