To making it count

Home sweet home!

While for some reason, a bit of the magic of Christmas was lost of me this year (perhaps it was the 101 degree fever I woke up to on Christmas Eve morning?) I still had such a great time and walked away with a trip to Vegas to see Celine (dream. come. true) a beautiful new ring from my poppy, awesome gifts and tons of laughs. I am truly a lucky girl.

But every year like clockwork, January always leaves me feeling a little depressed and sad - the Christmas lights turn off, the antlers popping out of vehicles are no longer appropriate (as if they were ever), and instead of lines to see Santa there are lines of cars at the Christmas tree burning sites around town. It also marks the end of my vacation week and the start of cold nights that have no magical merit. And despite the fact I was sick with swollen tonsils from Christmas Eve on (yes - my entire vacation week), I had such a great time being with my family, which makes getting back to Nashville and work that much more sluggish.

Missing boo already!

I guess the feelings of sadness mean I truly left a worthwhile time behind. A week full of cookie baking, family, presents, great food, games and home videos. A lot of memories unearthed with old friends during lazy days - a week to be reminded of where I came from and how I've changed and grown up. And an even greater spread of food! While I do wish I had one more week to be on a beach somewhere soaking up the sun (I have legit island fever) I have a lot to look forward to and a great Nashville family to come home to.

NYE party at the apartment with good friends :)

So now, onto 2012 which was kicked off by a fun party at our apartment and a midnight kiss of course. If you believe in the Mayan calendar myth, this also marks the beginning of the end (cue dramatic epic trailer music) - we have less than one year before the world comes to an end (dum dum dum)- or something like that. To be honest, I never researched or gave much of my energy toward this notion out of complete fear I'd fall for all of the reasoning behind the claim and scare myself silly. And then just the other day, my sister told me this theory had in fact been re-evaluated and there is no earthly demise expected any time soon. Sigh of relief, right?

While this idea - one year left to live - quite frankly scares the crap out of me, I sometimes wonder if it was true, what would change? If you knew this year would be your last, what would you do differently? So often we get caught up in planing years ahead, putting things off, charting the course of our lives under the misconception that we have any control over any of it, when in fact, the end of our world could come at any time. Morbid, yes? Inspiring? Absolutely.

W and my pork chop creation! YUM!

This year I am challenging myself to really make it count. To live in the moment, to not wait or put off things I want to try, do and achieve. Already this year I have learned how to play craps (surely to gamble my savings away in Vegas) and W and I have cooked an improvised pork dish creation which was amazing! So yes, I intend to stop the excuses and the procrastination and make it the best year it can be - whether it is the last (as I doubt) or just one of many to come (fingers crossed - I would like to have babies and not this year, thanks :)

Let the good times roll 2012...