I guess what they say is true about time flying by as you get older. Hmmm.
So I've now made it a whole year following last year's new year's resolution to go vegan. Which was only supposed to last a month. Guess I beat that out of the ballpark, eh?
I have a few new years resolutions this year. I'm totally serious. Very serious new year's resolutions.
THE BLONDE'S NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS (in no particular order. this is serious. don't laugh.):
1. Buy a guitar. I've been meaning to do this for some time now. I have no idea what I'm looking for. All I know is I don't want a Yamaha. I think.
This is what I am looking for. Right? RIGHT? Photo from Slipperybrick.com
2. Learn to play guitar. I always pictured myself as that laid-back chick who can pick up a guitar at parties and start belting out a tune to it. While that will probably not happen, I would happily settle for learning to play "Back to Life, Back to Reality" so I can settle back with "Yeah, I did it" face.
What I think I'll look like playing guitar. Photo from Vegasnews.com
What I'll probably really look like playing guitar.
3. Learn to knit. I've gone as far as purchasing needles and organic yarn, and spending two hours squinting over old lady glasses to videos on Youtube. Unfortunately, the first step of "How to Knit" was to make a slip knot, which then caused me to have to search for the Youtube video entitled "How to Make a Slip Knot" and watch it 18 times before finally (semi)mastering that technique. I gave up after casting my line or something like that until someone can tell me in person what the heck I'm doing. It's cool. I've got 11 months left to learn.
4. Rewatch Felicity. I realize this is a random one. But, God, I am such a girl and I love this series and Scott Speedman. I even like the haircut season. Although I still don’t have to like the actual haircut.
WHHHHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY?!?!!?! Photo from ew.com
5. Visit the Big Island. We live on Oahu. We spent a week on Maui. We spent a weekend on Kauai over Thanksgiving. Big Island is the big one left. The other islands, while not unimportant, just don’t rank as high on my “Must Visit ASAP” list. The Big Island of Hawaii is, well, the biggest island. But it has something the other islands don’t have: volcanoes! Who doesn’t want to see an actual non-alcoholic lava flow?! (Not that there’s anything wrong with the alcoholic one either.)
6. Write a book. This is another one I will be pretty happy with if I can just get a draft laid down for it. Or a first page. Or a picture. I’ve been wanting to write a book for a while now. But instead I write on here…hope you don’t mind. :)
tee hee
7. Hug more people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t enjoy hugging. But I feel like I’m an awkward hug initiator. I never really know the right moment. I don’t want to be the over-ambitious hugger that makes people think. “Oh. What was that?” I don’t want to seem un-sympathetic by not hugging soon enough. Then there’s that awkward moment you think someone’s going to hug you but instead they do the LA-style lean in and kiss on the cheek and it’s unexpected (because, let's face it, where I come from in Baltimore you try to lean in like that and you might get stabbed) and you make a delayed after-the-fact kiss into their general direction. Perhaps I’m overanalyzing this.
awwwwkward.
8. Not overanalyze. I don’t think I have too big a problem with this. But sometimes, especially when you’re a military spouse, it’s hard not to think of all the what-if’s and when-the-heck-will-we-know’s. For a person who likes to plan ahead, the military is not the most accommodating. Sometimes you just have to let go and have a “Que sera sera” attitude so that you don’t drive yourself insane. And give yourself wrinkles.
I'm too young for the vegan version of Botox!
9. Live in the now. That’s another one that’s hard to do with military. You try to think ahead of what’s coming next or look back at where you’ve been. I live in Hawaii. I need to remember how freaking amazing and lucky I am to live here every day and I also must try to get to the beach more. Yup.
Peace. Love. Beach.
10. Have fun being an extra. Background artistry, aka extra work on movie or tv sets is possibly one of the most fun jobs ever in my opinion. I love being #bikinigirl on the Hawaii Five-0 set. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and enjoying what I do as much as possible. And I would LOVE to be an extra on something that involves me wearing a costume or crazy makeup of some sort. I heard Star Trek II is filming here this year… ;)
Screenshot from Hawaii Five-0- yup, that's me in the beige dress
11. Run more. I’ve got new Vibram Five Fingers in the mail on the way to me soon. My last pair is finally kicking it (haha!) so I’m excited for a new pair of running shoes. And I need to break this beagle in to running more often.
My old pair, may they rest in pieces.
12. Be happy. Sometimes, even in the most beautiful of places like Hawaii, it can still be easy to get down, especially if Nick isn’t around much. But it’s important to remember to find things to make myself happy during those times and to always keep busy and have fun. I love my jobs and I love this island.
I think those are pretty good new year’s resolutions. I’m happy with them. Now…who’s going to show me how to play guitar or knit…?
Photo from http://symmetrical.tumblr.com
PS. I found this on Pinterest. Love it. Maybe I could have saved an entire blog post by just posting this? Oops. (Also, "ice cream" would have to of course be changed to "vegan ice cream." Just sayin.
As I watch (laugh at?) Jersey Shore and have an evening off where I’m not falling asleep, (actually I already napped for an hour) I thought I’d catch up. :)
December was crazy!
Christmas with my neice and mom
Christmas was awesome. My family celebrates on Christmas Eve because of my parents’ crazy schedules. That worked out pretty well because I ended up flying out on Christmas day to St Louis to be with Nick for Christmas and the few days after.
My big sis, mom and me :)
My sister was upset this year we didn’t do the Twelve Days of Christmas…Last year every family member awkwardly jumped in front of a video camera to sing/say/yell/scream/laugh a verse of the Twelve Days of Christmas. It was a hot mess we all complained all the way through about doing but cracked up laughing when we got to watch it. Unfortunately my stepbrother and his wife had to run to church because they were in a play or something so we didn’t have time to sing this year. Darn.
Christmas day I spent a good deal of time at airports and on planes. I wasn’t fortunate enough to get window seats and spent the two flights (there was a layover in Atlanta) trying to sleep with my head strangely pushed forward while safely cushioned in one of those round travel cushions.
I made it one piece and got to clean up and nap before heading over Nick’s Aunt Cathy’s house to meet…well, everyone. I met his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Everyone. They were hilarious. We had a Chinese gift exchange (where everyone brings a gift and everyone gets one but you can steal other people’s gifts) where I won a duct-taped wrapped soccer ball that took me 10 minutes to open. I was cool enough to be the only person to get something sort of adult (The Hangover on dvd) and the youngest cousin ended up getting it…ooops. I didn’t know there was going to be a 15-year-old. Ah well.
Nerding it up in our 3d glasses when we went to see Avatar
Nick, his two twin brothers, one of their girlfriends, and I went to see Avatar Saturday, in all our 3d glasses glory. The movie was awesome…it also really reminded me of Pocahontas and Ferngully but set in Jurassic Park. Hah.
Winking Wolf sign in Marley's
Saturday was perhaps the funniest night in St Louis. We went out to a little local bar in Ferguson called Marley’s. It was such a hilarious mid-Western bar. I don’t know what the funniest part about the bar was. There was a winking wolf sign on the wall. The bartender didn’t know where the gingerale would be if they had it.
Ohh the plastic Sutter Home bottle
When I asked for white wine (I know, I know, I should have just done beer!) I was given a wine glass and a plastic individual-sized plastic bottle of Sutter Home Chardonnay. The dj played two Lady Gaga songs in a row and 4 out of 5 of Gaga’s latest singles within a 40 minute period. With "Oops I Did It Again" interspersed in between. We met up with Nick’s cousin Colleen and her boyfriend Nick there and had a blast laughing about the bar and the rednecks in it who looked beyond confused when Gaga came on and not-so-subtly ogled every girl who walked through the door. Oh Lord.
Sunday we were supposed to go to his grandparent’s house two hours away on a farm, but the snow began early and wouldn’t stop coming down. Instead we got to enjoy a totally lazy day inside eating cinnamon buns and watching movies. Can’t complain.
Bud brewery in St Louis
Since I was set to leave Tuesday, Monday became my touristy day. Nick took me to the Budweiser brewery for a tour. The tour was an hour long- we got to see the Clydesdales, their stables, the brewery, the packaging/bottling factory, and finally the hospitality room. That was probably my favorite. We got two 12 oz samples of our choice of beer. I had Shock Top for my first “sample” and got to try Michelob Ultra Golden Light for my second sample. The Mich Ultra Golden Light is only sold in St Louis and parts of Illinois so it was cool to get to try. We got to see a bunch of different kinds of beers I didn’t even know Bud made- although we didn’t get to try them all. Bud even makes a Bud with Clamato and a Bud Light with Clamato…Nick told me Clamato is clam juice and a bloody mary mix. Ew.
The classic 'Arch' pose
After the brewery we went to see the Arch. Tickets were sold out to go up to the top, and there was a crazy security line where they made you lift your pants legs and scanned you and everything just to go to the gift shop inside. So we just took some cheesy pictures outside, got some Hooters wings To-Go from the Florissant, MO Hooters, and then headed back to enjoy our last evening together for a whole month.
I was back to work the next day and since I was lucky enough to have off for Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, I had to work New Years Eve at my restaurant. It was a really long day. I was a double and was there from 9:30am until just after 2am. Up until about 1am I still really wanted to go out afterwards and celebrate with some other work people…then the day caught up with me. I ended up coming back, having a hot shower, eating a bunch of Bagel Bites, and finishing two glasses of champagne before going to bed about 4:30am, just when my mom was getting up for work.
The fireworks in the Inner Harbor were gorgeous. This was the first New Years Nick and I haven’t been together. It honestly made me a bit sad. But I’m so happy I finally got to be with him for Christmas at least. And while I didn’t expect to be spending New Years Eve with my fellow co-workers in our awesome khaki cuffed pants, white button-up Oxford shirt, and crazy fish/lobster/crab ties, when the clock struck midnight even the bitterest employees had huge smiles on their faces as they walked around wishing everyone else a happy new year.
I had all these thoughts as I watched the fireworks about how I’m getting so much closer to such a huge adventure. It’s unbelievable.
There are only 32 days from now before my big move to Hawaii. It is slowly becoming more and more real to me. (Except when I’m outside with my two scarves wrapped around my entire face sans eyes…Hawaii isn’t quite as realistic then.)
The New Year is just a reminder to me now of all the things I need to do. I still need to send in all my forms and information for my dog for her quarantine. I need to buy her crate for the flight. I need to put my car up on Craigslist- but before that I need to get an oil change and clean that poor car out too. And most importantly, I need to spend some quality time with my family and friends before I leave.
2010 is going to be such a crazy big year. I can’t wait. :)
I want so badly for this to be a long entry but I am a mess right now...
Just got back yesterday from St Louis- can't wait to tell you all about it! Unfortunately the cord for my camera has magically gone missing in the last few weeks so in order to get pictures on here from my camera I have to insert my card into my parents computer, use my card reader for my cell phone's memory card to transfer the pics onto there, then bring that back upstairs to transfer them onto my computer. Sigh.
Anyway- tomorrow is New Years Eve! I will be working probably close to 17 hours tomorrow since I'm a double. Ouch. And I still hope to be able to go out with some people from work tomorrow night to celebrate...but we'll see.
Happy New Year to everyone! I can't wait to tell you all about my St Louis trip! In the meanwhile to find out what I'm up to in close-to-real time, follow me on Twitter. :)
Many of you know I was homeschooled when I was younger. I also came from a very religious household. I never believed in Santa or the Easter Bunny or any of that stuff. But when I was about 12 I decided to take back some of my youth and start believing in Santa....I can live without the Easter bunny. :) Ever since then I have written a letter to Santa ever year. It's sort of a way of putting down what I want, what needs to change...and just sort of reflecting. Since I've neglected my blog in the craziness of the holidays and of course the engagement, you all get to hear my Santa letter. So here goes...
Dear Santa, This might be my simplest letter ever. Honestly, I've already gotten what I really wanted. I have an amazing guy and I got a gorgeous ring from him. We also got our house, the most well behaved dog ever (well, most of the time- my Shem Creek Bar & Grill beer koozie begs to differ), and plans to move to one of the most beautiful places I know of. And to make things even more perfect, I got to see my last snow this past weekend- and it was quite the blizzard. Nick was here for the weekend before flying out to St Louis to be with his family and his flight ended up getting delayed by a day. So I actually got a long, lazy, snowy weekend watching movie after movie with my fiance. It was awesome.
My family did Christmas today (my parents have crazy schedules) so I'm actually flying out in about 6 hours to St Louis to be with Nick and his family for Christmas. Honestly, I think my wish this year is just for safe travels and no flight delays please! I have never flown on Christmas day before. I don't know if it will be depressing or really cheerful. Although I'm armed with freshly updated iPod which I just loaded my new Glee soundtracks onto and I still haven't gotten a chance to listen to Lily Allen's Smile cd or Matt Nathanson's latest either. At least I'll be content listening to my music the whole way.
I digress.
As I sit here in front of my computer, with 24 hours of A Christmas Story on TV (I think I'm watching the movie for the 3.5th time tonight) with my bags open and somewhat packed on the floor in front of me, I just feel really thankful. Thankful to have such an amazing guy and now not one but two amazing families. Ahhh, maybe I could wish for good luck in meeting the whole family? There are going to be a lot to meet tomorrow! And I also hope for everything to fall into place in February with the big move. And to be able to survive my first deployment in April....but that's still a bit away.
Oh Lord...I have to be up in like 3 hours. I should probably go to bed.
To all of my friends, family, and readers- Happy Christmas (Yes, I like the British way of saying it better!) and a Happy New Year. Everyone stay safe! Thank you for all your support. I can't wait for this crazy new year to begin.
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