new year, new blog

hi.  remember me?  no?  that's okay.  i've been out and about for awhile doing the christmas/new year's thing with the various families and friends in my life.  only yesterday i sat down and thought...i have nothing to do, and nowhere to be...what am i forgetting??  but no, i actually hadn't forgotten to pick someone up from the airport or order a specialty cheese for next week's dinner or go shoot down some mistletoe.  (side-rant: when did the world give up on mistletoe??  and why??  it's been delightful having mistletoe in my holiday this year.  everytime i'd start stressing out about, oh, say picking up someone from the airport or ordering that specialty cheese...ryan would calmly walk over and just stand under mistletoe until i'd notice him there.  it was adorable and entirely endearing.)

i've also spent perhaps a little too much time being obsessed engrossed fascinated with the semi-recent royal engagement.
let me spell it out for you.  when i was a child, princess diana was my idol.  i'm not saying i'm one of those that hides a shrine to her in the back of my closet or anything, but i thought she was the bee's knees.  she was pretty, she was kind, she could change the world...and she married a prince and became a friggin' princess.  and now, kate middleton is wearing her ring.  granted, i'm not a big fan of the ring itself, but holy cats--it's lady di's ring!  i'm so totally jeal'.  then again, depending on the degree to which you know me, you know that i'm pretty much jeal' of anything and everything British.  my grandfather's British (even if he immigrated here in the 30's), my cousins are British, and yes, i do take advantage of them and their hospitality and fly over every chance I get--only because they do the same, and it works out well like that.  i love the way they abbreviate everything.  "chocs" are chocolates, "do a sicky" actually means to take off work, everything is "brill" (brilliant), lovely, or fab...they have something called a "cream tea" (tea and scones and preserves and this heavy, devon cream that is a heaven for which i would gladly give up my first-born child) and my absolutely favorite thing?  my favorite thing about the Brits are their hats.  they range from headband-type ornaments to these staggering monstrosities.  see below:

omgilovethemsomuch.  one day i will wear them, too.

however, in this fresh start of a new year, i have determined to continue on with my "skinny-ing down" plans.  ryan's been putting me to shame lately with all his self-control, and now i'm determined to beat him.  my 8 am slimnastics/aerobics class should help with that.  :)  plus, we're making beach plans and i HAVE to feel comfortable in my own skin if we're going to the beach, right?  (oh, beach... how i miss thee!)  plus, when i go to berlin in march, i'm totally gonna wanna rock some German shopping--and what makes a better souvenir than clothes?  not much.

but i'm gonna have to get back on the dave ramsey envelope system in order to do all that.  see, it turns out that my car was a little worse off than i thought.  (try $1100 of "worse off") and then mum's transmission died, and then dad got t-boned by an 18 wheeler.  yeah.  it was the holiday of car issues.  i continually thank God for our blessings and that we're all safe now and having a wonderful 2011.  it's the year of possibility.  i smell changes ahead.  good ones.  tough ones.  ones i can't wait to encounter.

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