Sabbatical

It's good to be back!

I know that I have been MIA and I'm truly sorry. There is really there is no excuse for my absence outside of the fact that December is notoriously my busiest month. Honestly, my family sees a climax in celebratory events from November 18th (Sweet Nana's bday) until January 3rd (Mom's bday). Besides the normal holidays, we manage to cram in 4 birthdays, decorate the tree(s), and eat ourselves into oblivion. Throw in time to see your closest friends, Holiday visitors (Beans!), shopping, and nostalgic Christmas movies...it's enough to do you in.

Having been lucky enough to go home several times in the Fall, I was able to manage my excitement this year into only packing a week before my trip and limiting my countdown to close relatives, rather than subject my poor co-workers to a daily question of, "guess how many days until I get to go to Texas." Of course, New York was set to have the first blizzard of the season which happened to prematurely paralyze each airline carrier into a state of panic and confusion. Poor Alyssa was notified of her flight cancellation the night before from another passenger who she happened to know was heading home at the same time...thank you small world. I, however, was not offered the luxury of definitive plans so I was subject to arrive at the airport with all of the other weary travelers in hopes of getting out of town. After 6 short (read: long) hours of airport festivities, I was Texas-bound. I knew before I had taken off in New York that Austin was not going to be possible until the next morning, so I was given ample time to find Houston lodging for the night. I laid my head down for a total of 2 minutes (read: three hours) only to wake up and do the whole thing over again. Ahhh, home sweet home.

Dramatics aside, Christmas couldn't have been better. Time well spent with the family is just what this gal needed to rejuvenate for the next year. We had an unintentionally Texas Christmas, complete with knives, rifles and cowgirls boots - just as Christ had intended it. Once the dust settled on Christmas, the next stop was Red River Dance Hall in Dallas for Mom's 50th birthday. If two-stepping and mechanical bull riding don't shout "half-century celebration" then I don't know what does. All we hope is that she felt the love.

Livin the dream, kid.

Next up - New Year's visitors. Customarily, I'm not one for New Years. It's not that I'm opposed to a little bit of "Auld Lang Syne," Dick Clark, and champagne; it's just that I've never experienced an exciting NYE for myself. There's nothing worse than a year's worth of build up, only to ring in the new year with a lame party and paper hats. So this year I was excited when several of my very favorite people decided that they wanted to come spend their NYE with me in New York. Adamantly against the option of Times Square, I set out to give them a great "New York-y" New Year. We convinced our favorite guys in the City to let us borrow their apartment for the night with the promise of byob assortments and various baked goods (read: 7 layer dip that just so happened to be a hit). As time approached, I made little to no promises and saw dwindling potential in our thrown together soiree. Honestly, I just closed my eyes and hoped for the best. The result? My favorite New Year's ever! There was not one person in the completely crowded room that was not happy to be there with good food, drinks and music - obviously the perfect combination. We all remarked (at the end of a very long night) that if the party had any indication of 2009, then we were in for a good year.

Fun Friends

With a heavy heart, I said goodbye to my many visitors and cleaned the slate for a new year. Alyssa and I pranced off to DC this past weekend in hopes of bidding farewell to President Bush and checking in on our little friend Kathryn, who just so happens to be running the show at the White House while simultaneously living her newlywed life. I will have more to come on our travels to the Nation's capitol but for now I will say goodnight and pray sweet dreams for a wonderful 2009.