Happy New Year's Eve: Last 2013 Post

Happy New Year's Eve. Here is a picture of the Space Needle in Seattle, WA.  I tried to find a "free to use and share" picture of the Tower of the America's in San Antonio on NYE, but none were available. This is the next best thing, I think. Thank you to flickr user Michael Holden.

The holidays are always extra exhausting for me because we travel just about every Christmas. We spent a wonderful week in Lubbock, TX surrounded by family and friends, returning yesterday. I knew I wouldn’t feel like venturing out to the grocery store to buy a single thing. Instead, I placed an online order for groceries to be delivered to my house today. Lazy? Maybe. But not having to fight crowds is a plus in my book.

However… the only thing I frickin’ forgot were black-eyed peas. How can you ring in a new year without these crazy little beans? (Do you really think they bring you good luck?) All I know is that I don’t want to jinx it, so I better get some. Oh, and we don’t have champagne to toast with at midnight. So, I guess a trip to the store is in order, but at least I won’t be there but for very long.

Part of tonight's "big" festivities.

We also don't have party plans for the evening. I'd throw a party to see friends, but let's face it… that kind of stress coming home from a trip would likely kill me. I think we're probably going to have an intimate evening, filled with watching the TV countdowns and making homemade peanut butter cookies. Yes, we're officially old and have a kid. Yay, mid-30s. 

As for “Resolutions” for 2014 – I haven’t thought too much about this. Every year I resolve to do seemingly reasonable things. And every year, I don’t hold myself accountable to follow through. Nevertheless, I do think 2014 will be a defining year for both my husband and me based on events that happened in 2013. For us, 2013 had many twists and turns and I don’t foresee 2014 being much easier.

At the beginning of 2013, I didn’t resolve to do much aside from getting rid of pregnancy weight and organizing my house. Both were huge failures for me. I’m still the same weight as last year, I had to give up my gym membership because my husband lost his job (not that I used it consistently), and our poor, white-walled house chronically looks like Toy’s R Us took a giant dump on the floor.

Conclusion? While I do think the New Year is a fantastic time to renew or pursue personal goals, it’s important to make sure there is accountability for it. Perhaps this blog will be a nice platform for that. But either way, the goal setting process shouldn’t be saved for January – it should be ongoing. And that’s my point. I should be setting goals throughout the year to follow up on, and perhaps that’s my 2014 resolution. Though I must say that I like the idea of “starting clean” with month #1.

A toast for you!

Since we just got home yesterday, I can’t tell you what will be on our menu this week… because frankly, I haven’t thought about it yet. What I will tell you is that this week will be a “wing it” week, meaning I’ll figure out what I want to make about an hour before I make it.

Happy New Year to you all. Farewell 2013, bring on 2014!