HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Okay, so tonight I brought in the new year with some of my closest friends and communion.

Here's how I threw a great party:

1) Great Christmas Music


2) Clean the House


3) Set up Bathroom Kits for Guests




4) Encouraging Notes for Guests (and myself!)





5) Tablescapes


6) Decorations (KEEP IT SIMPLE)


7) Food (KEEP IT SIMPLE)


8) Great Friends






9) Reflection/Thought on the New Year



10) Bringing in the New Year with Communion (THE RIGHT WAY!)



It was a great night....more pictures/posts to come from this night..

New Year Plans?

Well, it's that time again. At the end of every year, I think about a couple of things.

1. My parent's anniversary. I was born before they were married, so I kind of give credit to myself for getting them together (ha!). They were married on December 30th, so I will be wishing them 23 looong years and many more to come!

2. New Year's Eve plans. This year I am getting together with my closest friends to celebrate. We are just going to hang out and spend some quality time together. I hope that we can talk about what the new year will hold in place and goals and such. That is my hope. Along with a lot of laughter.

3. Old Year Reflections - where was I this time last year. Have I gone backwards, forwards, still in the same place? Did I reach my goals? Did my predictions come true. This year I can say I think I've moved backwards in many areas of my life, especially my relationship with God. I didn't reach my goals. I don't know that I ever do. None of my predictions came true. They involved babies, love, and something bad happening (none of which involved me). None of them came true.

4. Old Year Pictures. I usually like to review the year through pictures. I am currently in the process of putting all my 2010 pictures on a jump drive to display on a digital frame through the new year. Can be a fun and a not so fun experience, but the memories are really good.

5. New Year Goals. This is what I want to accomplish in the new year. These are my "resolutions" so to speak. I am still formulating mine for 2011.

6. New Year Predictions. I don't usually predict for myself. My predictions will probably be very similar to what they were last year. I just think they have more of a chance of happening this year.


What about you? Do you do anything with the old year? What are your plans for bringing in the new? Any resolutions? I want to hear them!

Hoarders & Intervention

So, I've been watching a couple of shows lately that seem to stick out to me. They've either been about hoarders or addictions and they always end up in intervention. I was watching this one show and watched this man and woman living in the woman's hoarding chaos. I looked at the man and with my kindest intention thought, "Ugh! Who in their right mind would live with that? LEAVE BROTHER!" The intervention shows talk about this. They talk about enablers, people who may not add to the addiction of people, but in the name of "helping" them, enable them to be addicted. Of course, I judged them, too (being the good Christian person that I am - haha).

I watched the intervention and it just kind of blew me away. Not being an ex-druggy, I've never experienced anything like that. The people get together when someone is pretty much at rock bottom, tell them how they've been affected, and then present the person with options. And it kind of hit me.

1. Why do we wait until people hit rock bottom to have an intervention?
2. Why do we only do intervention for drugs/alcohol? Why not do intervention for a different kind of hoarding - unforgiveness - or people who are harboring anger. I don't know, just a thought.
3. What am I enabling? in other people? in myself? What piles of junk am I just looking over, passing up, etc? Why don't I just look at myself and say, "MOVE OUT, SISTER!"
4. What hoarders are we judging? Everyone has a little bit of a hoarder/addict in them. Just different things.
5. Does intervention really help? It requires someone to care about people. Is it effective?


Just some thoughts. Would love to hear yours!

Week Off

So, I have the week off. The only thing I have to do for work is check email today and tomorrow (for payment deadline purposes - it's a long story). Today is Monday. There are a couple of things running through my head.

1) Holy Cow - I didn't get anything accomplished today. I did straighten up pillows in the living room, empty and fill the dishwasher in the kitchen, sweep the middle of every floor in the house to appear that I cleaned, pay a bill, drove to our Chick-Fil-A for my Fix, and cleaned out my purse. Sure that sounds like a lot, but compare it to the number of hours in the day and the amount that my roomie who had the day off got done, and you'll see - I got nothing accomplished today.

2) I have a whole list of TO DO! My to do lists get pretty ridiculous, actually. I don't know if you could accomplish them in a year. Yet, there are some items that are doable and I want to finish them. They bounce around in my head like a game of Pong. This list is the reason for feeling #1.

3) Why do I have to do the to do list? Don't I deserve some time off? This is like a sick cycle I put myself through. I have a lot to do, I need to do it, I don't do it because I feel obligated to give myself time to not do it, and then I feel guilty for not doing it. It's a sick cycle. I know.

Does anyone else face this cycle? What do you do with the battle of lazy time and productivity that should occur? And don't tell me to take me time - I take plenty of me time - hence the reason my to do list is so long. I don't do it! HA!

Any thoughts?

Snow!

Yes, Virginia, there is a weather man! We had snow in Myrtle Beach! I know - it's hard to believe. I feel like the Meiser brothers made some wicked deal to help Santa get his little Vixen back or something. If you have no clue what I'm talking about, watch Year Without A Santa Claus. I actually went out and played in the snow today. Super fun! It was a White Christmas after all.

And yes, we didn't go to church today? Why? Because in the South - we can't drive. Second of all, we can't drive in precipitation, especially not snow. So I stayed home all day. It was wonderful! Look at some of the pictures: