2012!

Another year in the books.  Unbelievable. 

We rang in 2012 last night with pajamas, wings from a local joint, a couple Redbox movies, homemade pina coladas and near the end of the night, a good dose of Nyquil.  I've been fighting what I thought at first was strep, then a sinus infection, to what I now know is just a full on nasty cold.  It was bad enough that I worked one measly day last week....fortunately we were already off on Monday 12/26, and we were off Friday 12/30, but I was only able to work Tuesday.  Wednesday and Thursday - there was no way.  I think the worst is over but thankfully I have one more day to recover and get some things done around the house.  This is where the best part of no Christmas decorations being put up comes into play - nothing to take down and clean up!

I checked out my "Happy 2011" post from last year, and just like my feelings this year, I made no "resolutions" last year, either....."Besides getting into a concrete schedule for the mini, the only other real goal I've made for myself is to cut out the gossip."

Well, I accomplished my one big goal for the year, which was to train for and complete my first mini-marathon in May.  What a great feeling that was!  Crossing that finish line, I felt like I could do anything.  Well, anything that I could do from a horizontal position, with my legs elevated, for approximately 3 days. :)  It was a fantastic feeling.

The gossip part is a little harder to pinpoint.  I finally was able to transfer offices in the spring at work which helped.  Us being cocooned over here in Columbus helped.  I still think it's a worthwhile goal to work on, but this year I'm going to broaden it.  Cut out the BS.  At the age of 28 (holy crap, I'll be 30 *next* year!!!!), I still allow way too many little things to get to me.  At work, at home, in my marriage, within my family, within our circles of friends.  Enough.  Cutting out the BS.  That's my "goal" in 2012.

2011 is over.  We celebrated our 3rd anniversary, and finally, I think, we are over the hump of the mistakes I made which left our marrage a minefield of hurt, distrust & anger.  We started trying in earnest for a baby, and while no luck yet, I'm trying to relax about it and let God do His thing (me = control freak = hardest thing ever to give up control). 

We watched the Packers win a Super Bowl in our beloved Cowboys' Stadium in February, but that was better than the Steelers winning.  We anxiously awaited the end of the NFL lockout to then watch our Cowboys week in and week out, one heart attack after another, without fail (tonight may be the biggest heart attack yet; we'll see).  We (okay, I) streamed the Royal Wedding back in April and let myself get completely wrapped up in the news and glitz and magic of the prince and his "commoner."  I almost wrecked my car on an early May morning, listening to Mike & Mike, when they shared the commentary from a baseball game the night before when it was announced the US that "we got him." [Osama Bin Laden].  We watched the Cardinals (neither of us big baseball fans, but that's the team we both root for if we do watch) make a dramatic comeback and win the World Series in the 7th game.

We got caught up in the idea of building a house, then just buying a house, and settled just renting a house, but rest easy in our decision as we are finally out of apartments - and knowing what we need to do in the near future to be ready to actually buy (the biggest thing being: not chickening out!!)  We welcomed a brother in law to the family in September.  Before 2012 is over, we will probably be welcoming a new sister in law, a niece and two more nephews to the family as Chris' brother just brought up his girlfriend and her 3 kids from TX for good.

Who knows what else 2012 will bring?  Our 10th HS Reunion will be this year - how is that possible????  Maybe a baby will come.......Chris will turn 28 in March, I'll turn 29 in November, and we'll celebrate 4 years of marriage in August.  We have a couple of friends getting married, a couple of others already expecting babies in the early parts of the year.  I truly hope in 2012 we can spend more time with friends & family......whether that be making a few more trips to IN, or arranging trips to meet halfway, or people coming to us. 

Most of all - I wish us, and all of you out there - a most happy & peaceful New Year.  May all year we all feel as optimistic as we all do today, as we look forward to a brand spankin' new 365 days.  (No, wait - 366 this year!)  Happy 2012!