New Year's FUN! :)

Well, a little extra time spent on New Year's fun was WELL worth it.  I was going to be happy even if it was just Paul and me--hey, fun New Year's date!--but we opened our home up in case anyone was without plans. And who should show up but my BFF Lindsey?!  :)  I think I've got a new tradition or two tucked away for the years ahead...

...like setting up a "photobooth"-like place where even iPhone cameras can take awesome pics with a little editing.

...like eating small round foods (it's a Filipino thing, apparently--that and wearing polka dots, all of which symbolize money/wealth for the new year).

Yup, meatballs, grapes, bread with flavored butters, and Oreos...not too fancy, but delicious all the same!

...like popping confetti-filled balloons at midnight...and having fun with them after.

We had balloons to pop at each hour, as well, which (if we had bothered to actually DO most of the activities, but what are games compared to good conversation? :) got us thinking about the past year, looking forward to the next, and chaging the pace of the party.  Some of the activities that we may or may not have gotten around to included playing a get-to-know-you-better game, making 2013 jars (wherein we put happy memories throughout the year to look back on NEXT New Year's Eve), dance party on the kinect, a New Year's Resolution game (everyone puts in a resolution and you try to decide whose it is...more fun for big groups :), and so on.  This may or may not stick for next year, but it was a fun idea all the same.  It was MORE fun to just catch up with Linds, make our 2013 jars extra special (don't have a pic of her awesome purple plaid!), nibble at the food and take LOTS of awesome pictures!  :)

There's a superstition that how you spend your New Year's Day is symbolic/indicative of how you'll spend your whole year.  So I hope you are all healthy, relaxed, well-off, and well-fed today being around those you love!  Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve 2011-2012!

We had a nice, relaxing NYE here at home with Emilie.  We went out earlier in the evening to one of our favorite restaurants, Hu Hot.  They are SO good about nut allergies, we were really happy.  Then we headed out for a house in Battle Ground that does their Christmas lights timed to the music of a radio station, but our car started smelling funky halfway there (it does that now, I don't know why) so we turned around and headed home instead.  But it was still a fun night watching the ball drop and debating the merits (or lack thereof) of Lady Gaga...we had sparkling cranberry juice (Obi loved it, but Voodoo was scared of it and wouldn't drink any more), cheap poppers that spewed out paper bits and pieces (which Obi proceeded to eat before we could stop her...and Voodoo was scared of those, too), and sparklers INDOORS (which Obi also tried to eat, and Voodoo just watched in amazement most of the time).  Not much to say, other than that we're happy and healthy and excited to get our 2012 on!

Here's the scrapbook page of our night.  Incidentally, it's the exact same layout as my first week of Project 366.  P.S., I'm doing my own project 366 this year, and I have all the digi pages already made up.  SO if you like what you see, email me and I will get you a copy to use for yourself for free (it seriously makes the project SO easy...snap a picture, put it on the computer, then plug the picture in behind the page wherever you want it in any image editing program...paint.net is what I use since it's free, but of course photoshop is most digiscrappers' choice).  Seriously, just let me know and I will get you an entire year's worth of scrapbook/project 366 pages already made up.  :)

New Year's Resolutions?

Are you a fan of these or not?  I make them every year, even though I most likely will not look at them after January, because it gives me something to look forward to and a focus for my life, at least for a while.  I've been thinking about what I want out of 2012 all week...I guess my mind is just focused on the future at the moment. 

In 2012, I want to recertify in CPR/First Aid and then get a real, grown-up teaching job.  (And sub in the meantime.)  I'm so, so, so very sick of sitting at home, even doing good things with my time.  I've applied to be a sub in the two most local school districts but there's a month-long processing time and I can't take it anymore!  :)  I miss teaching and working with kids and I just might actually explode if I don't find something soon to occupy my time in a way that actually MEANS something and CONTRIBUTES to the world.  And we could certainly use the extra income.

I also want to do Project 365.  I already have all 52 weeks' digiscrapping layouts made up, so all I have to do is take a photo each day and plop it into the layout using my image editing software.  Then we'll print it off at the end of the year.  Easy, right?  I can't wait to have this book in our ever-growing collection of photo memories.  If you want to do this, too, I can privately send you my quick pages.  I can even direct you to free software to use if you don't want to pay for Photoshop.  :)  Just leave your email in the comments section and I'll do that.

And I'd love to have the in-laws visit and actually show them a good time!  :)  Rest their worries about our lives and show them we have plenty of good things to do here, that I can in fact keep a clean home and feed Paul properly, and that we really are working towards a big move in the near future to Chicago for Paul to finish his degree and me to get my dream job.
Those are the three things I know for SURE.  Everything else is very much up in the air at the moment.  I imagine that 2012 will find us still here in West Lafayette, probably still in this apartment since we love it so much.  I'm sure my struggle to healthier living will have as many forward and backward movements as 2011 has.  I'd love to have a few personal prayers answered, but that's not really up to me. :)  I'd love to focus on dating my husband more...I've got lots of ideas but haven't put most of them into practice yet.  And I'd love to actually complete several projects found via pinterest, start up my craft club, etc...but nothing set in stone.  Yet.

So that's where I'm at right now.  Looks like 2012 will be a busy one!  :)

What about you?  What do you want for yourself and your family in the upcoming year?