Showing posts with label new years. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new years. Show all posts

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

This is my favorite day of the year-- the first day! I'm certainly not naive enough to think that just because it's 2011 that things from 2010 won't follow me, but it's a starting point for a fresh year, it's a point from which all things are possible! We certainly don't have complete control over what happens to us on any given day, but our attitude towards what does happen shapes the event more than we know.

My resolution for 2011 is to simply take better care of myself. It involves a lot of steps, including losing at least 10lb this year and taking my vitamins, as well as getting my teeth all fixed up!

I hope you all have admirable goals for this year, and that  you achieve at least half of them!

Thursday, December 31, 2009

Au revoir 2009!

The first few pictures are just from the bulk photo folders that I have ("Yelp Events" or "Random Shots around Town"), and then there's the Jan-Dec photos. With the exception of the first six photos, I only pulled one picture from each folder that's going in to the 2009 batch folder!

2009 Batch Photos
This was from a Yelp event at a restaurant called Rosebud in the Highlands. Turns out, the chef from my first restaurant job ever is the new owner!! Good job, Ron!
I thought I picked the non-blurry one, but these were the first Daffodils by Palate
The Heron-type bird that Jeremy and I saw on the way to Meg and Michael's one afternoon
Josh and Jan presents! And a scarf or two for me!
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That same trip, Jay and Sarah decided to change their looks. Then decided against it.
And Emily and I getting all dolled up for a night at AquaBlue for another Yelp event!

From January (February, really) to December, 2009

Dean Drompp gives a brief lecture before we go see the Terra Cotta Army of Qin Shi Huang at the High Museum of Art
Snow on the first day of March! And lots of it!
Reconnecting with old friends-- Margaret (and Violet, napping under the table), Emily, Me, and Caq-- even now we're so much farther than in March! Emily is engaged, I'm married, and Caq is trying to get pregnant! Meg, well, Meg's already got all that ;) but she has a new studio!
Me and Jeremy on my "Spring Break" trip down to Florida
Girl's Night Out to the Jazz Concert Nicole sang at!
My last trip to Florida, and the best Chick'fil'a billboard to date
Me and Becky at AOII formal last year-- she's due with Jackson in March (though she may deliver on my birthday!!)
My babies graduated Rhodes!! Valisa before going back to Texas, and Caroline before going on to teach in Paris, France! I'm so proud of them!
I meet my two favorite authors, Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston-- they write modern Sherlock Holmesian novels
First week at camp-- Scott Butterfield was SO excited the Beluga came down and said hi. "Miss Meg, Miss Meg-- he saw me waving!!" (because they actually can!)
Emily taking a break at the Augusta tattoo convention where she had the best piece ever done
Susie got married!
We went to Stone Mountain with camp
Brandy and I survived camping out with the entire camp...
Julian turned 3!
Violet had her first taste of refried beans-- it's still one of her favorite foods, though she certainly doesn't discriminate between anything edible!
Jeremy and I on 4th of July
Becca and I represent the Blue Dragons during Spirit Week
Sarah and I make it through a torrential downpour to pick up treats at Trader Joe's
Violet crashes out after playing with Sophia all afternoon... but still looks like she's plotting something...
Peacock at the Yellow River Game Ranch
The Megs waltz the night away and stomp some muscadines for wine at the same time
My Gamma Sigma girls have a great bid day!
And I get to see my Grand Little Sis at KO's bid day!
Rhodes College Alumni at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens for the Henry Moore exhibit
Ashley, Meghan, me, Suzy, and Fia at my Memphis bridal shower
Old friends reunited! Jenny Lind and I on Halloween at work
Me and BC protect candy from grabby kids
I finish stamping the tree branches on our wedding invitations
We hike up Stone Mountain with the K's in freezing cold weather
I meet up with some of my girls at Brother Juniper's in Memphis
And my best friends help me get ready for my wedding day!


My friends in Europe are getting closer and closer to 2010, my friends in Asia are already there! I look back on 2009 and even though it's been really hard, the pictures I've looked through make me realize that it's really been a year full of friendship and love.

Monday, January 5, 2009

First of the Year

Happy New Year everyone! My favorite holiday next to Halloween, where we can spend our time with loved ones and celebrate a fresh start. Check out the links, they're pictures of and by me in Florida; the ones of the manatees at Blue Springs came out great!

Christmas Eve- flew down to Jacksonville where Jeremy picked me up. We took the long way back down to Daytona, stopped at a beach and took a stroll, and drove through St. Augustine before we got home. Relaxed for a little bit with the History Channel and ordered some Papa Johns for dinner. I'd brought down stuff for mulled wine so we cooked some of that up and had a glass (which helped with Jeremy's coughing nast) and wished everyone in Indiana a Merry Christmas on the phone.

Christmas Day- got up earlyish, put up the pictures I had printed for Jeremy and turned on the tree I bought. I started on a pot roast with onions and potatoes, which turned out fantastically. We ate on that for dinner, and watched a movie but I can't remember which one-- we watched about five or six the whole time.

Up Through New Years Eve- We also caught up with the Eiler's Christmas slideshow-- Analia just keeps getting more and more adorable! If they didn't live in Singapore I would offer long-term babysitting for free, she's got such a great personality for such a little girl. Went to the Bulow Sugar Mill and wandered around, it was a really cool place-- once the biggest Sugar Mill in the area that shipped out to St. Augustine, Jacksonville, and Savannah. On the way back we wandered around part of the loop and stopped to take pictures of the pretty bird. We went to lunch with Jeremy's classmate Ron and his wife Cathy the next day, really nice people and very funny. Ron and Jeremy have the same sense of humor-- no wonder they get on so well! Walked around the little shopping complex in front of Wyotech and then went for a ride around the loop. The next day we rode down to Waleka with them and went out to the dock and watched the water for a few minutes. It was so much fun to be back on the bike again, and now that I'm not stressing my joints at work it doesn't hurt to ride for more than half an hour! Stopped at a great little country restaurant called MeMa's where we had corn nuggets (which were amazing!) and I got a shrimp basket for $7 with 1/3lb of fresh shrimp in it! Yum!

We laid low over the next couple days, made a couple grocery store runs, talked wedding stuff, and planned for the next week. We went down to Blue Springs State Park where the manatees were to see what we could see and... there were manatees galore!! We got to see a mama and calf, and several others hanging out throughout the naturally warm springs. We're definitely going to go back this summer when the manatees are gone so that we can swim and maybe find a place to get tubes and tube up to the St. John's river. We got home to find that the USPS had put a "Vacant House" card in the mailbox because I'd put a letter for one of the old residents in marked "No Such Resident, Return to Sender" so even though they've been delivering mail for months for the people who DID live there, they decided they were just going to stop.

New Year's Eve- we just kind of hung out for most of the day, watched some silly TV and played some Wii (though I also just watched Jeremy get angry with the Wii tennis-- way amusing), drank our champagne and watched a movie on Netflix. At midnight, we cheered, kissed, and said, "Well, I guess we're getting married this year, huh?" Went to bed not too much later after that so I could get up the next day and cook!

New Year's Day- Cooked up a good ol' meal of collard greens, black eyed peas, and corned beef. I forgot to get cornmeal, so we didn't have cornbread, but the greens and peas were the important part. We ate plenty, so we ought to have plenty of luck and prosperity this year; I'm not usually superstitious, but I take my New Years seriously! Besides, we could both use a bit of each! Watched another movie, I think the one about Genghis Khan, and discussed how silly the USPS is. Jeremy did get it straightened out, so no worries on the mail.

Jan. 2nd- We decided to go up to St. Augustine because everyone said it was super cute and charming, and I wanted to see all the historical stuff... BIG mistake. Unless you're ready to fork out $25/person just for parking and historical stuff, not including food or even water, don't even step foot in St. Augustine. Drive through, ooh and aah at the cute buildings, and then drive right on out. The parking was hard to find and expensive, all the historical stuff charged, we couldn't find a coherent map to figure out where we were so we just wandered around for a couple hours, and since the whole city seemed out to pick our pockets, we didn't feel like stopping for food. Plus, the few historical items seemed crowded out by the kitschy tourist stuff. Totally awful. We left in a half-bad mood and didn't really feel like doing anything else-- we skipped Ft. Matanzas and came straight back to Daytona where we had leftovers for dinner.

We didn't do too much exciting over the last few days, attempted Outback and was overwhelmed by the number of people and lack of space (they never seem to have enough tables!) so we got takeout, leaving Jeremy with even more leftovers to eat on for the next week and a half! I got to meet one of his roommates, Jeff, who seemed like a really cool, laid-back guy and his girlfriend Natalie who reminded me of someone I used to work with. It was a nice, quiet, relaxing time and that's exactly the kind of time we like :)

Now, I'm working hard to save for the wedding-- we know what we want, or rather I do, so I'm pretty intent on paying for it myself and not having to depend on outside help for it. My mom said she might help with the deposit for the venue, but since we get that money back (and she likes my plan) it won't be a big deal. I'm really excited about the prospects, and I'll keep everyone updated as I get ideas. It's going to be really creative, really nice, and very classic. Yes, it's possible!

Anyway, off to bed-- I'm already ruining the fairly decent sleep habits Jeremy got me in to this week. No cold water, but he's not big on letting me sleep in; which, to be fair, I asked him to enforce. We're also moving soon, which is exciting, so I'm up early to try and start packing up!