A New Year, A New You!

I love this quote. Well, I love it in a, "this is the most ridiculously cheesy quote in the world" kinda way. It reminds me of something that Denise Austin would say. Remember her? The aerobic instructor extraordinaire that used to be on the discovery channel when that channel was so new? I remember her and the "revised" version of the Galloping Gourmet with Graham Kerr, I think his name was.

Anyway.....

I truly can't believe it's 2009. Blows me away to really think about it. I was thinking about the New Year's celebration from the year 2000. This is such a funny story to me. I was living in Pensacola and hanging out with my dear friends Ash and Char. This was before I was married and way before anyone had children, well, we weren't 100% sold that Ash didn't have a kid somewhere - LOL - totally kidding Ash (partially). Anyway, this was the year of the "new millennium." The year all our computers were going to crash. The year we were supposed to go get all our money out of the banks and hide it in a hole in the backyard and stockpile our pantries with canned goods so we could live.

Didn't happen.

But what did happen was the biggest countdown in all of history. All I remember was watching the television and seeing all the "renowned" reporters stationed all over the world. Peter Jennings in Paris, Charlie Gibson in New York, Diane Sawyer in Tokyo, and then there was Connie Chung. God bless her. I remember her being a bit delirious during the telecast. I don't remember where she was stationed, but I just remember making this joke because they kept cutting back to different reporters and they were never ready for the shot. Like, the reporters were doing something else, talking to a stage hand, having their powder touched up. So my joke was that crazy Connie Chung gets the camera cut back to her and meanwhile she has just shoved a white powered doughnut into her mouth because she was starving and then her mouth is full and has white powdered sugar all over her face and clothes.

I remember us laughing so hard. Mainly because we were delirious. But also because that was a pretty funny joke..........right? I guess you had to have been there.

So 2009 is the year I'm going to loose weight. LOL, LOL, LOL. No seriously. I'm really going to try. My "resolution" is to drastically limit my intake of fast food. Please don't think I eat it all the time because I don't. But I think I eat it too much and I also think that the restaurants here are disgusting, so I'm not sure why I haven't stopped, but sometimes, there's just not a better option when you don't want to cook and clean up. So that's my resolution. No more fast food. Although, I don't consider Chick-fil-a fast food. I think it's actually manna from Heaven so I will continue to eat there. Mostly because I love the grilled sandwich and sweet tea. I know, I know, it's the drinks that kill you. Actually it's probably the chocolate cake I just ate that kills you. Have I ever mentioned that I 100% believe my grandmother is to blame for my size? She doesn't force feed me (well, sorta) but her food is so darn good. It actually makes me mad. Oh well.

Here are some things that I will NOT care or worry about in 2009:

• How fat Oprah is
• If Celie has a mysteriously-rare disease that we cannot detect
• If someone gets mad at me for telling the truth
• Celebrities
• If my neighbor is cooking meth in their backyard (which we're convinced they are)
• If Louis Vuitton has to file for Bankruptcy
• That fact that we barely have any friends in Port St. Joe that we do stuff with
• Oprah's thyroid
• The "ladies" of The View
• People who are self-centered
• Gas Prices (only because I'm so over worrying about gas prices - worrying about gas prices is so 2008)

Things I am going to care and worry about in 2009:

• My family (even more)
• The happiness of people I love
• My lawn (as much as I hate to say it - but this doesn't mean that I will necessarily tend to my lawn, perhaps I can employ someone)
• My weight
• My friends I love like family who don't live here
• Reconnecting with old friends and making attempts to be involved with their lives because with some effort, there are great memories to be made (I mean, that's why we were friends in the first place).
• Getting promoted
• Developing my choir musically
• Getting out of debt

I'm sure this list will change, but it's where I am as of today.

Wish me luck!!! (My mother would now say, "There's no such thing as luck!" although I think I actually heard her say "she was lucky" just the other day. Hmmmmmm).

Chrit-mas Recap

I know you're dying to hear about our Christmas vacation and all the Sandi Patty Christmas CD's I made Sarah listen to - YUM!

Ok, so our Christmas celebration started (for me) on the 21st. This was the evening of our church Christmas musical, "All Bow Down." What a fantastic job the choir did. It was unbelievable!!!! I was so, so, so proud of them. We sang to an almost full house, which was very encouraging. I still can't get over it. My dear friend Melanie came over from Pensacola to sing one of the "big" solos and she sang the house down. What an amazing job she did.

On Monday night, we all headed to my parent's house. By all, I mean: my parents, me, Sarah, Celie, Mammaw and Nanny. We had a delicious dinner and then opened presents. Mammaw and Nanny both gave me money for day after Christmas shopping. My mom was very cleaver this year with one of her gifts to me.

In addition to completing my Barefoot Contessa cookbook collection (she gave me the last two I needed. Now I'm on my way to being the size of a side of a barn), she also gave me a Nintendo DS. Now, those of you who know me know that I am not into the "gaming" world. Except for a little Tetris every now and again, I typically do not get excited about gaming. Needless to say, I was a little confused by this gift until I opened the next present. A COOKING GAME!!!!!! Not a cooking game like, "who can beat egg whites to stiff peaks the fastest", but actual instructions. And better yet, it's voice-activated. You just set up the Nintendo on your counter and start cooking. You say, "continue" when you're ready to move to the next step. It's super cool. I was looking on Amazon and saw that there are several different recipe-database-type games for it. Totally cool. She gets the award this year for most creative gift. She also gave me some cologne and a casserole dish made out of bathtub porcelain. It has a guarantee for nothing to stick - we'll see about that.

We left for the in-laws on Tuesday. From my in-laws, I was given a personalized branding iron (so all my chicken, steak and pork loins will have my initials on them), an apron with my name on it, some cupcake accessories (oh, my grandmother also gave me a cake decorating turn-table - it was actually much needed) and a couple of polos. I'm not listing all my gifts because that just looks gratuitous, but you get the picture - I was a good boy this year.

On our annual day after Christmas shopping trip was where all the magic happened. I basically only wear two brands of shirts: Lacoste and Brooks Brothers. You have to be careful with Brooks Brothers because you can easily look like your 65 on a golf course. They love pleated pants with high waists, herringbone, madras, sear sucker and cashmere, but you CANNOT deny the quality of their shirts. WOW. They are made to last a lifetime. I will forever buy them. They are pricey, but worth every penny in my opinion. There is a division of Brooks Brothers called, Brooks Brothers Country Club. If you can imagine, it's even more expensive than the traditional BB store. There's one in Destin and the merch is amazing. Ridiculously priced, but amazing. So on our way out, Sarah spotted a really really nice shirt. She picked it up and was like, "This is really nice, you should get it." I looked at the price tag and thought she was joking because it was $135.00. We knew it was on sale because the entire store was, we just didn't know how much "on sale" it was.

When I took it to the register for them to price check it, guess how much it was????????? $9.08 and that was WITH TAX!!!!!!!!!! Can you believe it????? Nine dollars. The cotton alone was more than that. It's so nice. Thanks to Sarah's good eye for seeing that deal!

Celie had fun. Not in the "ooh, it's Christmas" kinda way, but in the "ooh, there's a lot of paper on the floor and I think I'd like to eat it." She was a trooper and did wonderfully the entire time. She had fun getting to know her cousin Lylah (who has the single largest vocabulary of any 18-month old I know). Of course, this is the same cousin who gave everyone in the house the stomach bug. Thank you Lylah. Lylah gave it to Jenny who gave it to Sarah who gave it to Phil who gave it to Glen who gave it to Jonathan. Who even knows if the other siblings will get it. It was a trip.

I wish you could have been on the ride home with us. Me driving. Celie in her car seat in the back. Sarah next to her puking in a garbage can and moaning. What a sight!

Everything seems to be all back to normal now. Well, let's hope so anyway.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.