Posts Tagged "Happy New Year!"

Reflecting just a little on 2012 (and hoping for an amazing 2013)

Posted by Joy on Dec 31, 2012 in Ramblings... | 0 comments

Exactly one year ago today, I (albeit somewhat timidly) hit the big scary PUBLISH button to send my first post out into the rather intimidating internet-world, thus officially starting this tiny little blog (woo!  Happy bloggiversary to me!)  I started this blog to keep family updated on our various goings-ons (my dad and my father-in-law are my biggest fans) (hi Dad!  Hi Ron!) and to put picture-proof to the multitude of renos that I’m constantly rambling on about to friends (hi friends!)

Now that 2012 is leaving us (can I say good riddance?) (yup – it’s official: I’m saying good riddance)  (I’m more than just a little perturbed at the year 2012 has been) and making way for the fine and outstanding year that 2013 is going to be (I have reallllly high hopes for you, 2013!) I thought that now might be a good time to give thanks for another year.  2012 really hasn’t been the best year (it’s kinda sucked – a lot – at times), but I’m still here and I still have my Sweetie and my family and my cats and my friends, so, in the grander scheme of things, 2012 was ok.  I didn’t win the lottery (I was expecting a massive lottery win in 2012) and I didn’t take that cross-European trip I really wanted (so disappointed that that one didn’t pan out as planned) but all in all, I suppose 2012 wasn’t entirely bad.

So, to 2012, as you leave us (and as I dance my little bon voyage happy dance) I would like to extend my thanks for the following…

I’m thankful for friends.  Both new and old.  Friends who made me laugh.  Ones who kept me going this year with encouragement.  Ones who let me cry.  Ones who let me vent.  Friends who reminded me that eventually everything works out, with a little patience and lots (and lots and lots) (and lots) of perseverance (when the time is right.)

I’m thankful for our snazzy new vacuum, the fabulous Mr D (aka the Dyson DC37) (fur?  What fur?)  And for our new washer and dryer too (dear LG: Love you!)

I’m thankful for two new furbabies who joined our family in May.  I think Jacob is thankful for them too (but he’ll likely never admit to that) (he’s a rather stoic and serious orange cat, you know.)

I’m thankful for our cozy little 1940s house.  It’s tiny, but it’s more than enough space for Sweetie and me and our three little furry roommates.  I’m pretty sure my house, on the other hand, is thankful for Benjamin Moore.

I’m thankful for family.  My family, Sweetie’s family, extended non-related-but-just-as-loving-and-amazing family.  I’m thankful for long phone chats and Christmas baking with my mom.  For coffee runs and Diners Drive-Ins & Dives marathons with my dad.  I’m thankful for my niece, the sweetest little one year old ever.  I’m thankful for laughter-filled dinners with my in-laws, and long emails from family-like friends.  I’m pretty darn lucky to have so many awesome people in my life.

I’m thankful for wine (the super girly pink stuff, of course) and dill pickle cream cheese and pumpernickel bread and pizza.  And brownies.  But I think we’re all thankful for brownies.

I’m thankful for good health and a creative mind.

And so many other things.

So, as we wish 2012 adieu, I’d like to present the following wish to all my friends and family (found during a random Pinterest patrol via the lovely blog Beige Infection):

…and I think that says it all.  :)

Happy New Year!  May 2013 bring you everything you want and much much much more.  Wishing you good health, great friends, and love.

And lots of brownies.  One can never have too many brownies.  :)

Mid(-ish) year resolutions (better late than never!)

Posted by Joy on Aug 15, 2012 in Ramblings... | 0 comments

I love September.  It’s always seemed like the perfect month to me!  It’s full of new beginnings (I still find the start of the school year kind of exciting, even though it’s been a really really long time since I was last in a classroom), it’s full of changes (as the leaves start to turn all lovely and the temperature gets a wee bit cooler), and it’s full of anticipation (for Thanksgiving, and Halloween, and the approaching holiday season and all the family and feasting in between!)

It’s obviouly not September yet.  In fact, I’m jumping ahead of myself a little.  We JUST hit mid-August.  But (in my head at least) August is all about getting ready for September.  The back-to-school gear is out at stores now, and fall clothes are everywhere.  Hell, Michael’s even has their Halloween display up already.

So what better time to make resolutions?  I’ve never really been a New Year’s resolutions kinda girl.  There’s always the standard “I’ll work less and eat healthier” (the two aren’t actually related btw) resolution that I mumble each December 31st as I watch the big old glowing ball fall over Times Square on the telly.  But that’s usually as far as my NYE resolutions get (and, honestly, despite that I really SHOULD work less and eat better, I can’t say I’ve ever really worked to keep that resolution.  It’s more of a resolution-tradition than actual goal-setting for me.)

But this September, I’m making resolutions.  Four, in fact!  (It’s a lot, I know.)  Here’s what I’m thinking…

1.  Don’t worry, be happy.  Yep.  I’m getting all philosophical here, like all of those random inspirational phrases I’ve pinned on Pinterest.  My plan is to be happy and have fun with this version of my life, regardless of whether it’s what I had originally planned out for myself.  Because really, if we got everything we wanted exactly as we imagined, things would be pretty boring, right?

2.  I’d really like to learn how to use a camera properly.  Like, an actual grown-up camera.  I work for wedding photographers (obviously not as a photographer LOL), and Sweetie studied photography in school, but I’ve never learned how to use anything more than a basic point-and-shoot.  And don’t get me wrong – my little Canon PowerShot is a pretty good little camera!  But I’d like to know how to take better pics, using, like, F-stops and ISOs and apertures and all that sort of stuff (and yes, I just threw out all the fancy photography words I know – I have no idea what any of that actually means.)  Afterall, one can never have too many pictures of the cats.

3.  I’m going to finish cleaning out our basement.  This is a doozy.  (Kinda like the big puddle Bill Murray steps into in Ground Hog Day HERE.)  You know that room in your house where everything that you don’t have an immediate place for lands?  Yep.  That’s our entire basement.  I’ll spare you the pictures (since it looks a bit like an episode of Hoarders down there) but it’s bad.  Really bad.  And it’s been like that since we moved into this house almost two years ago.  SO, I’m going to clean ‘er out.  There’s no therapy like basement-purging therapy.

4.  I’m going to blog more.  I hope.  At least twice weekly.  :)  That’s been my intention all along, but I keep getting sidetracked by weddings and projects and other distractions.  But I really like to write.  And I’m quite proud of my tiny humble little blog!  So I vow to try for twice weekly.  Ish.  :)

And that’s it!  Just four measly little resolutions.  I don’t have an actual deadline for these – I think with New Years resolutions you’re supposed to accomplish your goals by the following New Years (at least I’m guessing that’s how that works?)  Let’s aim for March.  Six months seems like a perfectly reasonable time frame for all this, no?

And if, within that six months, I also manage to eat better and work less, that’ll just be a bonus.  :)

A new year, a new blog. And maybe a new floor for my kitchen. But that’s another post.

Posted by Joy on Dec 31, 2011 in Ramblings... | 0 comments

Happy New Year!  Well, as of tonight.  So, maybe more appropriately, Happy New Year’s Eve! (?)  I dunno.  The semantics of the whole thing confuse me just a wee bit.  Let’s suffice it to say happy SOMETHING – afterall, there’s so much to be happy about this time of year.  The post-Christmas bliss that’s still floating around.  The snow (so pretty!)  That my loved ones are all happy and healthy.  That I have a snoring orange cat at my feet as I type this.  For coffee…  But I digress.  (I often do.  I’m a bit of a rambler.  You’ll see.  Sorry about that, by the way, in advance.)  (I also really like parentheses.  Like, a lot.  Sorry about that too!)

So here is post numero uno for my blog.  I’m assuming this first post is the hardest right?  I don’t yet have a specific goal with this whole blog-thing – it’s more of an outlet for the random thoughts (there are LOTS of them – consider yourself warned) that pop into my head, things I find interesting, a place to share our ongoing renos to our super cute (ie: quite tiny but in a lovely way) 1940s fixer-upper, to gush about how crazy awesome my two cats are (apologies in advance for that too lol), to chat about recipes I’ve found during my many (many) hours pouring over Pinterest (oh Pinterest, how I adore thee…) and that sort of thing.

SO (oh!  And I often start new thoughts with “so”. Not sure why.  Just always have.  I might try and curb that habit a bit…) here is my first blog post ever.  Yay!  And, um, tada!  More posts likely to follow.  I hope.  And I’ll try to choose actual TOPICS for future posts, and keep rambling to a minimum.  In the meantime, Happy New Year!  And thank you so much for finding me and reading this!  2012 is going to rock – I’m pretty sure of it.