Wrap It Up Recap - Get it? Wrap? Christmas? Nevermind...

My posts have been filled with pictures lately so I wanted to actually throw some words down this morning. How are you? Have you missed me? I've missed writing and catching up on my blogs that I read daily.

Sadly Christmas is over... but I am very much looking forward to a new year! 2012 just looks like a nice round number year - except for that whole "the Mayan calendar says that world will end thing". Wasn't that the same deal with Y2K? I can't remember because I was in elementary school then, but I remember people freaking out about it. For what it's worth - I'm not really ready for the world to end. I need to get married and travel and have a baby before we talk about all that stuff. I personally feel like that might be bullshit, but I guess we will soon find out.

Speaking of getting married... guess how many engagements sprung up around me over the holiday break? THREE!! They are dropping like flies, and of course my little green eyed jealousy monster is feeling frisky over this news. Skye and I had a pretty serious discussion about making this move recently and I'm feeling much better about it. I know he loves me, really he's the best guy I could ask for. And he reminded me - funny how quickly I had forgotten - that for the years I was the one pumping the brakes on getting engaged. I just didn't want to be that "typical" girl who was engaged and married before I could even legally drink! I'm a few years past that point now though, so I think it's safe for us to explore moving forward in our relationship. (Maybe that's not typical where you live to get married before you're legal. Welcome to the South - where you can get married at 16 with parental consent. I've heard from my transplant friends from the North that it's far worse here than in other areas. Obviously, I'm just living in the wrong part of the nation right now.)

I hope you were good little boys & girls and Santa brought you everything your little hearts desired. Santa - aka Skye - is always too good to me and did not let me down with that trend this year. My big present from my Daddy was my iPhone4s - Love it! Me and Siri were fast friends and our love affair just grows with each passing day. I downloaded this Instagram app that I've heard SO much about from all my iPhone friends and again, was not disappointed. I have been playing with this phone non-stop since last Thursday. I feel like a kid again playing with my new shiny Christmas toy! I even got a sparkly new phone cover -


I've been praying for snow because I'm one of those Southern oddities that actually enjoys the cold weather. No such luck though it's been about 50-60 degrees here for a few weeks now. One of the reasons I like the cold weather is because I love snowboarding. You can't really snowboard when it's not even cold enough for the local ski resorts to blow snow - we may have to head north or west this year just to get some time on the slopes. We get a season pass every year to a local resort - Ober Gatlinburg - and it's not even open yet! Granted, it's a small little mountain with only about 6 runs, but it's 30 minutes away and easy access for weeknights. We love it there and it works for cheap and convenient. However, I think the weather gods have been confused by my snow dances because they've sent rain. Normally, this would suck; however today I was glad because I got to wear my new Coach rain boots! I feel so sassy in them and in my eyes, you can NEVER go wrong with Coach.

The holiday drama in my family was kept to a very bare minimum this year...surprisingly! My mother actually acted normal, my step-brothers were calm and not wild animals, my (evil) step-mother was pleasant and easy to get along with, my dad is feeling better with each passing day, and Skye and I shared a few days off together. I'm not sure it could have been a better holiday. My neighbor who lives across the street - and is currently on his 2nd tour of duty in Afghanistan - is coming home this week! He's been gone for about 9 months and had a new born baby in September that he is yet to meet. As lucky as I am to have my family all together this Christmas, I still try to keep in mind those - like my neighbor's family- who are separated for the holidays.

I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, with all the get togethers and seeing old friends and family - but I am certainly ready for my schedule to get back to normalcy. Skye is on day shift this week so it almost feels normal again - except for a short work week, which is never a bad thing. We haven't done our family dinner with friends in about 3 weeks and we are on track for that again this week too. We have only had this family dinner tradition since about August when Skye was still in the academy, but I've genuinely missed it these last 3 weeks while the boys have been getting adjusted to their new rotating schedules. There's nothing like gathering with good friends over good food!

I'm all obsessed with my Twitter account again too. It's just easier for me than Facebook these days. Follow me! @nikkib918 and I will likely return the favor - it's fun! :)

As you can tell, I'm feeling quite sporadic this morning. So tell me, what do you think about the world ending in 2012?? And what are you New Years plans?? I don't have any solid plans yet, but I'm looking for an exciting idea! Snowboarding was the original plan, but with this weather I'm not sure I can make that happen.