Cheers to 2016!

I put up my last Christmas recap up 13 days after Christmas so I figured it was only fitting and not lazy that I publish my New Years recap 13 days after New Years. That's completely acceptable, right??

New Years has always been one of those awkward holidays to me. On one hand it's fun to celebrate and ring in the new year with champagne toasts and fiends, but on the other hand, most people have to work on the 31st so I always feel like I'm rushing into it (I usually end up taking the day off) and have a really hard time staying up until midnight unless there's something exciting going on between the hours of 9pm and 11pm. If not, I'm out. However, a solution has presented itself that has been a lifesaver (for me anyway)....the College Football Playoffs. Since the semifinal games are played on the 31st, we have something to occupy our time before midnight, and kind of helps us close up the back porch for the year. It also helps that Alabama has played in the playoffs both years, but we always end up watching both games so I am sure we would if they weren't, too.

However, even with the games going until 11pm, we've struggled to stay up until midnight. Perhaps it's a case of our age showing? About 15 minutes after the last game ended, the kiddos (and man children) were getting restless, so I suggested that we set off the fireworks. This seemed to appease both sets of children. Personally, I have always thought the man children enjoy the fireworks more than the actual children. Long story short, we shot off our NYE fireworks at 11:15pm, and then most everyone went home. Eric was leaving the next morning for a duck hunting trip, so he even went to bed at 11:40pm. I decided that since I had made it that far, I was going to see the beginning of 2016, so poured glasses of champagne for our tiny remaining crew on the back porch and then went back inside to ring in the new year with Eric. We said happy new year, I gave him a smooch, and he went to bed. Since we had a few folks left, I went back outside to entertain them for a bit. To be honest, I would much prefer a subdued NYE like we had to all of the craziness and crowds. Perhaps I would change my mind if I had the opportunity to celebrate on a balcony in Times Square where I could drink fancy champagne, in a fancy dress, in a heated area overlooking the Ball Drop. I saw that the Olive Garden in Times Square was charging like $800/person to be there on NYE so yeah, that's not going to happen any time soon.  I don't want to go THAT bad. I might consider it if they served endless soup, salad, and breadsticks, but if not, what's the point?!

Thank you to the beer lights on the wall for making us looking like we're at a really exciting party instead just on our empty back porch. 

Since we didn't toast champagne at midnight, Eric and I toasted mimosas on New Years Day instead.

I sent Eric off on his hunting trip around lunchtime and ended up enjoying an afternoon on the couch. I did venture out New Years evening with my mother in law to have dinner and do a little shopping. We don't have the opportunity to do a lot one-on-one so it was really nice getting to spend some time with her.

I should have been excited because after having the 31st and the 1st off, I still had an entire weekend off, but I ended up succumbing to the crud I'd been trying to ignore that kept me glued to the couch (except for puppy walks) for most of the weekend. And I even got a souvenir (from the crud).

Sorry I know that will gross some folks out. 

Yup, I busted a blood vessel in my eye coughing and hacking one morning. Fun, right?  It looked way worse than it felt. In fact I never felt a thing, and didn't even know it was there until Eric and I were at breakfast on NYE and he asked me what was in my eye. I had to look at it to realize I had a red blob in the corner of my eye, that turned into a line going from the corner of my eye to my iris by New Years Day. Little did I know it would take nearly 2 weeks for it to go away completely (today is 2 weeks and I am happy to report there is no longer any red in my eye).

I started to feel better Saturday evening after a 2 hour nap so I made the courageous decision to take down the Christmas decorations. I thought about leaving it until Sunday, but I am so glad I didn't because I got on a roll that didn't stop until I was hauling the Christmas tree out the front door at 11pm. At that point I told myself to stop and picked back up in the morning cleaning out random drawers and cabinets. Seriously, there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to what got cleaned but the Tupperware and wine glass shelves, along with a storage bin with canvas drawers that contained random mail, including pay stubs from 8 years ago all made the list.

Random shots from the remainder of New Years weekend: Clockwise from top left: 1) It was chilly but really nice on our puppy walks over the weekend, not freezing but cool enough for the pups to want to go on extra long walks. 2) Cooler temps meant that I got to wear my new Cuddl Duds long johns on our walks....aren't they cute!?! I might have worn them around the house all weekend day. 3) One of the reasons I did so much cleaning out was because got to put my new cabinets in their place by the mantle (which meant moving the current bookshelf and some of its contents to other places). I am absolutely in love with these cabinets! I have been looking for something to replace the Target book shelf that was there before for quite a while, but due to the size restraint of the area (it's less than 2 feet wide and had to be under 42" so it didn't cover up the light switch) and my pickyness of wanting doors and not drawers it took me a few years to find something. Actually Mom found them at a home store in Memphis and gave them to me for Christmas. I initially planned to paint them another color, but the red adds a nice pop of color to our other wise brown and earthy green living room so they are going to stay red. 4) When Eric is gone I think it's totally appropriate to eat an entire wheel of brie cheese with crackers with a mimosa for dinner. But it was sooooo good!

And there you have it, the start to our 2016! Never mind that the first month is almost halfway over already....yikes!