It's About Time

One of my greatest faults is starting something that I'm excited and enthusiastic about and I make great plans and goals and then let it fall by the wayside. In this case, laziness overcame me. So much has happened that the thought of writing it all it was just overwhelming.

Thanksgiving came and went and I had good time in MD with family and friends I was able to see. I had to split time between staying with my parents and staying with my sisters. I enjoy my sisters' place more so than my parents but I have guilt if I don't stay with mom and dad. I spent time with my sisters, did a little shopping, met a friend's girlfriend (now fiance) over dinner, celebrated my mom's birthday and spent some seriously quality time with a few lovely ladies in Baltimore.

I came back home on a Sunday and promptly left again that Thursday for my brother's wedding. See, that's where some of the craziness really begins. There was a wedding, but it almost didn't happen. It was in Logan, Utah and set to take place on Friday at 11am. I flew out and got there fine and on schedule and met my soon to be sis-in-law for the first time. My parents however, were not so lucky. There was a snowstorm on the east coast, and after having flights cancelled and delayed they sat in the plane on the runway for about 6 hours. 6 hours people! They had a connection to make, but they were not even able to get the last flight out of the connecting city. Jessi cried, Joe refused to get married without mom and dad there, general stress took place. We called the temple and they somehow had spots later in the day we could take. We had a luncheon before the ceremony instead of after. My parents still made it literally 10 minutes before the ceremony and everyone had a huge sigh of relief. She has a huge family full of cousins and things and everyone was very nice. The reception was nice, and I spent some time with my parents.

The next day my very very good friend Amy came up from Salt Lake (about 1 1/2 hours drive) to Logan to pick me up and take me back to SLC with her so we could spend some time together and to get me to the airport on Sunday. Mom and Dad left Utah that morning. Amy got to Logan and we had lunch and hung out with Joe and Jessi for a bit and then we hit the road. Where we had a huge car accident. A minivan ran us off the road and we careened into the median. A drainage ditch flipped the car, we were airborn, all the glass busted and we hit the ground hard enough to put a layer of dirt all over the inside of the car. Strangely, once I realized I was upside down, I was very calm and had strangely rational thoughts, like 'I should put my feet down' and 'I should protect my head'. The car stopped and we were fine. Completely okay. People had stopped and so we had some nice folks with us while the police and ambulance came. We were laughing. It still amazes me more than anything else. We were being incredibly watched over, there's no other way we would have been able to walk away from that. I had a trip to the hospital because my neck hurt a bit, but there were no fractures and I didn't even develop whiplash. Amy was fine too, though she developed a bit of whiplash the next day which resolved itself in a few days. I then flew back home.

The next Friday I went to NY to meet a friend coming up from DC to be her guest at a company party. The company paid for the train, hotel and dinner and we got to see New York and have some fun. I think that's a great deal. I decided that I would love to have a Future Romantice NY Weekend Getaway. I also saw someone proposing on the ice at Rockefellar Center and decided that as public proposals go, that is one I could possibly handle. So on the Future Romantice NY Weekend Getaway, I may not be opposed to that happening. I came back home Saturday, did some errand and another friend I went to see an awesome band that you can check out at www.bigego.com. Let's see if that posts correctly, probably not.

The next week was my last at home before I ventured back to MD for the holidays. The short version follows. Christmas shopping. Laundrey. Went to the temple with Nat. That same night Nat and I then joined Douglas at a production of the Nutcracker, as two of thier friends dance in the company. I told Natalie I had a date with her, she said I had a date with Douglas. It was very fun, the little mice were very cute and a good time was had by all. Friday, I took my girls I mentor out to see Harry Potter 2. Again, a very good time. Saturday morning I went to a wedding at the temple. Saturday afternoon I flew to MD.

Once in MD, things stayed very busy. Dad insisted on picking me up at the airport, so he and mom met me at baggage claim. We did some last minute shopping and went home. Went to church on Sunday, Geoff picked me up and took me down to Silver Spring for the annual Christmas party that Gianna puts on. Every year different people come and it's always fun to see folks, especially from college, that I may not have seen in a long time. A very good time with very good food. I stayed there that night.

Monday, Deb and Jason very kindly came all the way up from Charlottesville to see me and have lunch. We exchanged presents and surprised Sammie at her place of work after lunch with Gianna at Baja Fresh. You must try Baja Fresh! That night we celebrated Vicki's birthday by having dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. I got to see more people there that I normally don't get to spend time with often, which is great. The food was good, the service was terrible. Geoff drove me back up to my sisters' place where I was staying the night. It was very late and officially Christmas Eve at that point. I got there, and they had set up the living room with stockings they had put together for each other, Dave, and me. It was so sweet and I was so happily surprised. And of course, I can't forget, they had stocking for the cats as well. That was funny, but you had to be there.

So on Tuesday, Becky and I got up early and did the last of the last minute Christmas shopping. Finally. And then Karen and Becky and I drove to my parent's part of the world and saw The Two Towers. By the way, I have dibs on Legola and Aragorn. Hands off! We all really liked the movie. We got out of the theatre and it had started snowing. I can't remember the last time we had a white Christmas in MD. It could have been just a few years ago, I honestly don't remember. We of course, still have to spend Christmas Eve at the parents' house and spend the night there. I don't know what they are going to do once we are all married. Especially if we are in the area (Joe is excused since he lives so far away). We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, decorated the tree and read the Christmas story from the Bible.

Christmas day we all were waking up a bit later than usual. I had a full-on develope sinus cold from the day before. But Christmas morning was very nice and it was still snowing. Our parents, and my siblings for that matter, were very generous and I recieved more than I even asked for. We especially didn't really expect anything this year becuase of the wedding and the reception in MD that mom and dad were paying for. Dave came over later that day and we exchanged presents and had dinner. My family is the only one I know that has steak for Christmas dinner. It is so yummy!

The rest of my vacation was all about getting things done for the reception we were having for Joe and Jessi. We did the catering and decorating ourselves. I am the vegetable, bruschietta, and meatball queen. Shannan came up with her boyfriend, Rob, and saved the day on Friday by helping with some of the decorations. Earlier that day Karen and I had to go to the urgent care place. She had strep. I had this hideous rash thing that started on my neck and my face and then spread and got redder more swollen and more dry patches, yet more oily oozing at the same time. I was really gross. I felt really gross. Luckily, I got a prescription that made me presentable for the reception the next day. The reception was nice. And I have not mentioned it until now, but I got a lot of 'are you married yet', 'do you have kids' (what??) 'met anyone special', etc. From people who hardly know me. I don't ask about thier lovelives/marriages...don't ask me about mine. Although I was more diplomatic than that in person.

Sunday, I went home.

New Year's Eve was actually very fun. While I generally end up having a good time that night, it is among my least favorite holidays and I often find that time kind of depressing. I think a lot of people do. This year it was also the first year I stuck around here for New Years, after having lived here for 4 years. We had a potluck dinner at Natalie, Necia, Sara, and Melissa's apartment. I don't think Melissa was there. I made caramel brownies that at least some people enjoyed. Cuteboy (Douglas) was there and we had some good interaction. For dinner, we all just ate in the living room as the group was too large for the dining room. Douglas and I sat on the couch with this girl Becky between us. She had lived here for a few months some time ago, and so knew Douglas and a few other people. It became VERY apparent that she had a HUGE thing for Douglas. She was just throwing herself at him, paid attention to only him and it was so ridiculous. I mean, people noticed and thought it was funny. It was like she was 16 and this was the popular boy at school. We then moved on and went downtown to someone else's apartment. Becky wrangled a ride with Douglas, as did Sara. The rest of us took the 't' and someone asked about Becky and Douglas. They thought it was odd that she was acting like they were a couple when no vibe of that sort was coming from him. We hung out at the apartment and then went out for a countdown at Copley Square. We we found there was no countdown but the new year turned and we had a group hug. I got to see another friend, Diana, that I normally only see at Books and Basketball. It was mellow and fun. Natalie and Necia decided I should stay at thier house and so we went back and crashed while watching a movie. I am getting to be better and better friends with those two, and we are sharing more time in each other's lives. I love that I finally found, again, people that I genuinely enjoy time with and that I fit with, and that those feelings are mutual.

New Year's day I spent cleaning and going to Target with Necia. I got a DVD player for Christmas, so I need a new entertainment stand to fit everything. I was going to buy myself a DVD player anyway, so this is not an unexpected expense.

That Friday, the first weekend in January, Vicki and her friend Kevin came up. We went ice skating and walked a lot through the city and a nice dinner out. We had a few inches of snow and lights were still up all over the place, so it was very pretty. Pat came over that night and we all watched a movie. They left on Sunday. It was very nice to be able to see Vicki and spend time with her.

So, since then, my life has settle down a bit. Books and Basketball has started again and I regularly talk to my girls. Kristy is out of town, which leaves me completely in charge, which is stressful. But it went well last week. And yes, Cuteboy was there. Which I was impressed with since he knew his kid could not come.

I just started going back to my exercise classes. The kickboxing has been switched to a spinning/cardio boxing format. It is still very fun. Necia went with me last night and may join the gym with me. We have so much fun doing it together and again, I love getting to know her and forming and strengthening new friendships. It is very nurturing and gives me a new comfort zone.

That's really about it. I can now breath a huge sigh of relief and look forward to more regular blogging.