A New Year, Resolutions and a look back on 2012

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine (Heidi) posted a note on Facebook and it was brilliant.  So I then blogged a similar post (totally copied her) and made a resolution to do so every year, because the idea is just brilliant…. However, I did not do it last year… This just goes to show you Resolutions rarely hold.  But I still move forward in pretending I will follow through with my Resolutions.

2012 Moments I don’t want to forget:

-Roller skating with my kids

-Meeting my awesome boyfriend

-Realizing everything is better with some awesome sauce

-Adopting Gemelli and Fiona

-Experiencing my first festival season (Pitchfork for 2 days then Lolla for one torturous day)

-Learning how important the right shoes are at festivals (ref. Lolla torture above)

-Helping clients find their dream home 

-Seeing Gracie Doodle in the American Girl Catalog (and website)

-Rocking out two semesters with all A’s (and a couple A+’s)

-Falling in love the right way

-Meeting my boyfriend’s two girls and building a relationship with them

-Taking my babies to their first day of school (5^th and 1^st and 1^st)

-Getting Jet back

-A realization our family is not meant to have hamsters (2 deaths within 1 month)

-Getting Marshmallow and Mo (RIP) – guinea pigs

-Going to Stanford vs. Notre Dame in the pissing rain

-Becoming a HUGE ND Fanatic (Go Irish!)

-Buying 10 lbs of bacon from Lowery’s

-John being selected as Student of the Month and on Student Council

-Seeing Pinback, Mould and Japandroids at The Metro

-Blythe’s SURPRISE 10^th Birthday Party!

-Being 2^nd for Total Transactions in our office for 2012

-Going to the Wisconsin Dells for the first time (and getting a flat tire on the way)

-Celebrating Valentine’s Day in Chicago with my honey (unbelievable dinner + Brian Posehn at UP! Comedy Club)

-Being asked to become a Supplemental Instructor for Sociology at PNC

-My continued involvement with ABC with the best two gals anyone can ask for (Aunt T and Candice)

-Watching my kids become Zombies!

-Attending TWO of my Bestest friends' weddings

-Meeting the author of The Shack

-Seeing my sister after far too long (and for far too short of a time)

-Beach time with my babies

-We adopted an Elf! (Stella)

-Spinning!

-Getting a new tattoo (not like I can forget that)

-Spending quality time with my family

I’m sure there’s more that I am forgetting, because I am forgetful like that, but overall what I take away was 2012 was a great year and I look forward to an even better 2013!

New Years' Resolutions:

1.  Lose weight, inches, get into a size 8, even if it's one leg
2.  Tell people more often how much I appreciate them
3.  Do a random act of kindness at least once a week
4.  Blog more! (and do this every year)
5.  Make Every Day Count!

To 2013!

My Bro & I

For my first Assignment in Child Psychology this semester the Professor asked us the following:

Describe the major traits you share with each of your siblings. What major traits are very different for you and your siblings? Which ones do you believe are biologically based, and which ones do you think are the result of your environment? How do you explain the differences, given you have the same parents and grew up in the same family?

Once I started typing, it flowed and I knew it would become a blog post... I'm so blessed to be surrounded by a family that is Amazing.

I have one brother who is 3 years younger than me. We are very similar in appearance, people who knew him would recognize me as Charlie’s sister on the street. It has taken me aback more than once. We share the same facial features and shape though mine are more feminine and his are more masculine. Obviously, these physical similarities would be biologically based.

Though we were similar in looks and close as siblings go, we both excelled in different areas. I am an avid reader, fascinated by the written word and devoured books as if I was starving. My brother was extremely agile and had a superior athletic ability. Anything he picked up, he could do. Once when we went ice skating I fell for about 10 minutes straight, he took off like he’d been doing it for years. He is also an excellent artist, which runs in our family.

These differences are a mix of nature and nurture. We were very close to my mother’s side of the family and when we all got together, you could clearly see the love of music, reading, art, athletics weaved throughout our family… Charlie and I seemed to gravitate to our own specialties, if you will. I was always green with envy by his natural ability to do anything, but perhaps he was envious of my talkability and love of books and music.

I would frequently wonder what “ability” I got from my family. My brother seemed to get them all. My grandmother is an amazing woman… she paints, draws, cooks, plays guitar and piano, crochets, knits and in general is one of the most inspirational women I have been blessed to have in my life.

My mother also has “mad skills,” in which she paints, cooks, draws, plays instruments, sings beautifully and shares my love of reading… or perhaps gave me my love of reading.

I grew up surrounded by a talented family, one in which the world was a blank canvas with endless possibilities.

When it comes to the nature vs. nurture debate, I believe you cannot truly have one without the other. We may be inborn with certain qualities but unless it is nurtured, how could we ever reach our true potential?

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been a busy week with John's breathing treatments, doctor's appointments, class, karate and everything else, but we are doing good and relatively on track. Friday was Blythe's first dance at school and she was so excited! It was fun, though some parts of it could be better organized. Gracie and Blythe definitely shook their groove thing throughout the 2 hour dance.

Yesterday (Saturday) I took the girls and we headed to Mamaw's and Papaw's for Great Grandma Reva's 82nd birthday and Michael's 1st birthday. I love seeing family and having everyone around. I was immensely bummed that John and therefore David was not able to come but we still had fun. I brought Aspen who acted like a psychotic dog until the last 20 minutes when she just laid around like, "What? Have I been the psycho-est dog ever?" She's so cute.

I walked in the house to see a jewelry bag on the coffee table. Oh, how I love jewelry! David gave me my Valentine's present a day early, a gorgeous diamond band (LOVE IT) and I gave him his Fossil watch also as Grace spilled the beans, then looked at me saying I'm sorry Mommy :). David said John had been asking him to look at watches all day so he kind of already knew. He liked the watch, which I was glad for... I spent 30 - 45 minutes in the store trying to pick one out... There are so many options and I don't wear a watch so it makes it all that more difficult to choose one for my honey.

We spent the evening together watching Adventures in Babysitting which I love and now want to own. I had ordered it through the library a month or so ago. They had had it but it was never returned so they had to re-order it. I remember loving the movie but had my doubts as I recently watched Hairspray 1988 and cringed throughout the entire movie. Terrible! David always teases me about my selections as we watched Best in Show together and he hated it! The kids hadn't seen it and David had forgotten almost everything about the movie, so we all really enjoyed it. I love times like that, us all on the couch watching a movie, laughing together, eating popcorn.

Mostly I love the not bickering. Or having to say the same thing over and over again. I know I need to learn to let go of that because it's not going to change and most likely will get way worse before it gets better, it just weighs on me and some times more than others. I think that's natural though!

Today we are going to have french toast and sausage for breakfast (though I need to go get bread and now another sausage since I left it on the counter all night!), quesidilla for lunch (for grace) and steak and fish with salad and bread tonight for dinner. I want to watch Hairspray all together before kids go to bed so that it can be fresh in my mind when I bunker down and get a more acceptable draft of my movie review done.

Thursday is looming in my mind on the 2nd draft of my movie review of Hairspray is due. I'm really having a hard time writing it which I don't get because I love the movie and we all know I'm opinionated :). I'm going to push forth and get it done! I have to do some Math and Spanish homework today too, just a little bit for both, but I like to try and do it continuously so it sinks in to my brain.

Oh, I started PUSH by Sapphire last night and was disturbed by Page 2. I'm only to page 33 and it's 139 pages but it's very disturbing and at the same time really really good. Push was made into that movie Precious, which to be honest I'm not sure I can see based on the book but the book is good, just shocking and so wrong what the parents did to Precious continually. So far I would suggest you read it, as an adult. I'll keep you up to date!

Well enough babbling for me for right now, have to go get my babies some sausage!

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!