Ringing in the New Year

I had plans for a long post re-capping everything I haven't blogged about in the past few weeks, but first I was too busy and then I had a long day mentally, physically, and emotionally at work yesterday.

2012 has been off to an interesting start. I rung in the new year by working all day NYE and then spilling water on my laptop (NOOOOOO) while I was eating dinner after work. (Lesson learned. Spend less time on the computer, dumb@ss.)

Then I made cookies from the Babycakes cookbook Ross got me for Christmas :-)

The next day, I brought a frozen dinner with black-eyed peas to work with me to celebrate New Year's Day and I got a 10-minute break to shovel it in. As I was eating inhaling my lunch, I recalled that the last time I brought this lunch to work, I also had a busy day and didn't get much of a lunch break. Conclusion: while tasty, balck-eyed peas are not particularly lucky for me. I will just eat them at home from now on ;-)

Despite January 1 being a busy day, it was full of meaningful and sobering moments and I resolved to live more fully this year. I got home at 9:30 pm last night, I ate an Udi's bagel, took a long hot shower, and fell into bed. I didn't even brush my teeth!

I woke up well-rested, certainly, but a bit dazed and I consequently spent the morning and early afternoon in front of the computer doing nothing at all (so much for my NYE lesson). I think that blog-reading is an avoidance strategy for me. Don't want to worry about your own life? Read about someone else's. This is a problem. I really need to sit down and journal about yesterday to process it, but conveniently I wasted all my time and now I need to hurry up and clean the apartment a bit before rushing to a co-worker's house to see some of my favorite babies!

But before I do that, here's what's been happening:

-Ross and I drove to Amarillo on Christmas Eve and went to a candlelight service with Ross' family.

-My sister-in-law owns the Hunger Games which I've been wanting to read. I consequently read a book a day until I was done with the trilogy. Seriously.

-Christmas morning, we opened presents and then spent the rest of the day reading (see above) and relaxing. Overnight, Amarillo went from brown grass to SNOW! We woke up to a true white Christmas for the first time I can remember and it kept snowing all day long.

-I was so thankful I left my laptop at home. I needed a computer detox in a bad way.

-I also painted my nails for the first time in who knows how long. Emily's nails were a plummy gray shade for the holidays and I immediately coveted the polish. (It's Fearless Fog by Sally Hansen).

-I harangued Emily into going to Body Pump with me twice. I think she liked it! I'm jealous her gym offers more day-time classes than mine does.

-On December 29, I hightailed it out of Texas before sunrise to get back to Kansas City to see my family. My mom, dad, and 2 brothers came down for the resurrection of what used to be an annual tradition after Christmas: walk around the Plaza and look at the lights and then eat a huge dinner at Hibachi Japanese Steakhouse with my dad's brother's family. So fun!

-December 30, I got a blissful morning off due to low-census and I went to Beer Kitchen in Westport with my family. Delicious. I want to eat there daily. Then I went in to work around 12:30.

-Work

-Work

-Work

-Lay around and be lazy. And here we are.

Do you have a New Year's Resolution? I had a lot last year, and I'm sure at some point this month I'll look them up and see how I fared. But judging by the fact that I can't remember most of them, I think I know how that's going to end.

I've been making monthly goals the last few months and I like those better. This month's goal (not off to a fresh start considering I've spent the first two days in scrubs or pajamas thus far) it to dress for success.

I'm going to be a TA/clinical instructor for the entire year of 2012. This is no small task. Most of my students will be older than me. I'm 26 but I dress like I'm still in college. If I want people to take me seriously, I can't keep waiting for glossy hair and a put-together outfits and an acne-free face to magically appear. (But... if only that could happen)! Any advice?

Wish me luck!