Our New Year!

     I had one of the best Christmases ever this year! It was my first Christmas as a married woman and my first Christmas splitting time between two families and traditions but I loved every minute of it! Jon and I flew into Albuquerque and went straight to Garcia's, a Mexican food restaurant, because Colorado is definitely lacking in the green and red chile department. Plus, it was on our list of favorite restaurants that we absolutely had to eat at while in New Mexico. Man, you seriously never know you miss something 'til you don't have it anymore!                                                                                       It was great to see both of our families and catch up on life. We went shopping, hung out downtown, and took my sister's senior portraits. Jon tried chicherones for the first time and we played the family tradition games like "Catch Phrase", "Spoons", "BS", and "Four on a Couch" with everyone.                                                                            For Christmas I surprised Jon with some metal ice cubes that keep your drink cool without watering it down and also a long board! He had no idea about the long board because I bought and shipped it without him even knowing, so when I pulled a huge box out of the closet it was quite the surprise! I loved seeing the shock and joy on his face as he opened it up and proclaimed it "one of the best Christmas presents ever!" He got me a Nook Reader, a diamond earring and necklace set, bathroom scents, and then we came together and bought an Apple laptop to share!                              When it was time to leave there were definitely some tears shed. I had to laugh because I never used to cry but now that I've gotten older the word "goodbye" just sends me into hysterics! (Trust me, it was a good thing you weren't there lol) I guess sentiment really does come with age.                                                                                                                    On the way home I was thinking about this past year and all that has happened in my life; I am just blown away! 2012 began as amazing and ended as incredible. I've matured a lot in the past twelve months and I'm glad that it was my year to transform into a true adult and live in the real world. This was my year to grow in character and also enjoy some of the greatest blessings I will ever receive. This was my year to get homesick, to marry my best friend and become a wife, to visit a different country, and spread my wings and fly. This was my year to really develop me.                            New Years was a little quiet for my taste, but it was good and here we all are, once again, trying to remember to write '13 instead of '12 and telling everyone "Next year I'll be 22!" (even though I'm only 20 right now. See if you can figure that one out) ;)                                                                                Anyway I've decided I don't really believe in new year resolutions because I don't think I know one person that actually keeps those commitments. Besides, I think its good to reevaluate life (i.e. how you're doing, is there anything you should do differently, habits to make or break) on a more frequent basis, but I do like thinking about the upcoming year as a whole and what I think the new year will bring.                            Now a few years ago, a friend and I decided we were each going to come up with three words that we believed were going to describe the general outcome and overall feel that this certain new year would bring. Basically, we came up with what we thought the next year was going to be like. We started thinking of words like fun, exciting, growing, adventurous, full of surprises, challenging, and things like that. Well, I thought long and hard about my three words because they were going to be written down in The Journal to look at a year from then to see how well I had guessed. Before I go on I have to explain that The Journal is very sacred and if something makes it into the journal (whew!) you know its got to be good! So, after careful consideration my three words were stretching, life-changing, and interesting. I admit, after that year, I swore I was never going to do that again! But who knew that I'd jinx myself with only three little words, but I did and it was the hardest, most devastating year of my life! I had the worst experience with men, lost my best friend, got "let go" (twice), spent my 18th birthday alone (except for one special friend), moved away from home, and a whole bunch of other things. Everything bad that could have happened did happen, oh but trust me when I tell you it was very interesting year. I was definitely stretched and my life was forever changed!                                                                                                           Well this year, I decided to give it another go because maybe with Jon I would have better luck. So we talked and we came up with two words for this year. They are successful and rewarding. Sounds much better doesn't it. ;) We just bought our first new-to-us car this week so we are off to a great start! And in all honesty we really do feel that that is how this year is going to turn out for us.

       I want to challenge you to come up with a word (or a few) that you think is going to sum up this next year for you. You can even expand and make it something you would like to develop in yourself during the next year.  One year my word was my own name. I had learned that it meant "Strong in Virtue" and I wanted to really find out what that meant for me as a person.

If you do this feel free to keep it to yourself or share but know that this can be challenging, for sure, but it does yield great results if you let it. Good or bad, we are not defined by circumstances, but by how we react to them and the life we create in spite of them.

Happy New Year!