why i heart my friends

...because even though we are technically "adults"--we still do silly things like dress up crazy and go roller-skating on a Sunday night:

The rule was, you had to wear tie-dyed clothing, or else everyone could knock you down. As you can see, I made sure I was well protected (hey, I fall down easily enough on my own--I definitely don't need help in that area!)

I was quite proud of my Goodwill find: a t-shirt that was literally tie-dyed to look like Santa's head. A little out of season, but far too fabulous to pass up.

It was a blast, and we discovered an entire roller-skating sub-culture that I had no idea existed. We thought Sunday-night-adult-night at the skating rink would be a ghost town, but it was positively packed. And I mean, those people could skate. We're talking "Boogie Nights" meets "ATL" kind of moves. The dozen of us in our tie-dyed glory definitely stood out like...well, like big, rookie dorks.

Yep, that's me trying to find my own groove. I honestly can't imagine why I haven't been recruited by the Nashville Rollergirls yet...

Good times.

left behind

I've always heard that 30 is the age when your metabolism goes on permanent vacation and everything else begins its slow trek of shifting southward. But, is it also the age when your mind decides suddenly that storage space is limited and starts tossing out memory with reckless abandon?

In the advent of my 30's, I have become...forgetful. In the last month, I have managed to leave the following items at various friends' houses:

* my blue fleece jacket
* a camera case (I remembered the camera, but somehow forgot the case)
* a necklace
* sunglasses
* my peacoat

And we won't even start on how many times I have misplaced things within my own house. At least I'm getting a little extra exercise while walking around in circles trying to find things (so that should help with the metabolism factor, eh?)

Maybe I need to start playing memory games to sharpen my mind...or perhaps buy stock in ginkgo biloba. I turn another year older next month, and I can't afford to lose much more brain function here...

Of course, give me another year, and I'll probably forget that I was ever even worried... :)

waterworks

Do you ever have those days where you feel like you are constantly on the verge of tears...that any little thing could just set off a wellspring of emotion? And the harder you try to control it, the worse it gets...before you know it, you're sitting at your desk with tiny rivers running down your cheeks, turning into droplets of saltwater that splash on your keyboard.

And then you feel like an idiot when your co-worker walks in and catches you red-faced and weepy for no apparent reason whatsoever.

Sigh. Yeah, it stinks.

So to be completely cliche...thank God it's Friday.

resolute

It's always a little intimidating to put your personal New Year's resolutions out to the world, because then, well, you have a whole bunch of people who can hold you accountable. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment, because here I go...

For 2008, I hereby resolve:

* To live a lower-carb lifestyle (ok, so this isn't exactly new, just a carry-over from December)
* To read more
* To do better on saving money (and specifically, to pay off my school loans--finally!)
* To get back involved with a church (I was quite a slacker on church attendance in 2007)
* To exercise at least 3-4 times a week (again, kind of a carry-over from last year)

And finally, I think my most favoritest resolution of all...
* To do one new service project every month

I'm pretty psyched about that last one, and I have my first project lined up tomorrow evening...I'm going to play bingo with cancer patients at the Hope Lodge. I haven't played bingo in ages, so it will be fun...but I expect that it will also be a very humbling experience as well. I also went ahead and lined up my next two month's projects--so I will try to remember to keep you updated on how they go.

So, there they are...feel free to check in and ask me how I'm doing :)

confused

I'm a little confused by Weight Watcher's new ad campaign, "Diets Don't Work. Weight Watcher's Does." Ummm...so maybe I'm completely mistaken, but, isn't Weight Watchers, oh, I don't know...a diet??? On Weight Watchers, you restrict your food, you count points (instead of counting, say, calories or fat grams or carbs), and your end goal of doing all of that is to lose weight. Isn't that kind of the definition of a diet? Hmm.

Maybe they are just trying to set themselves apart from all of the other methods of dieting, but I don't know...it doesn't quite work for me. I'm going to have to call a spade a spade...

I'm wondering how long it's going to take people to realize that having a healthy body is simply the result of living a healthy lifestyle...eating food that's good for you and staying active. It's that simple...no diet pills/fad diets/drastic surgeries required.

A New Year's Eve Checklist

Necessary ingredients for a rockin' new year's eve:

Cute shoes?

Check.

Fun friends to celebrate with?

Check.

Noisemakers?

Check.

Champagne and 2008 glasses?

Check.

Homemade jello shots?

Check.

A rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne?

Check.

A cutie to kiss at midnight?

Check.

Aaaah, yes, it was a fabulous evening!

ho ho ho

Christmas was lovely this year, although somewhat rushed...we managed to do 4 Christmases in 3 days, so it was a bit of a whirlwind! Here are a few highlights:

My Christmas present (and why I love having a handyman around the house)--a pantry that Todd built:


--it's beautiful and I love it!

Sienna enjoyed opening her presents--some of them were even bigger than her:


Todd was a big hit with the ladies:

(with my niece Kaelyn)


(with his niece Alayna)

We kept some friend's dogs, and Tucker ended up with a girlfriend:

(yeah, they were making out like this most of the time!)

It was a great Christmas, and to me, the best part of the holidays is spending time with family. I'm glad that we were able to see all of our family members (both mine and Todd's) at some point during the holidays.

Merry merry!