Happy Holidays!

Well, the dollhouse was a hit. Look at it! I'm so proud. See, I've never built anything before without my dad's help, but my mother and I built this house almost entirely by ourselves, which is quite an accomplishment! Isn't it cute?!

Anyway, Christmas was lovely. I don't remember having a better Christmas. My sister's kids got everything they ever wanted and some things they didn't know they wanted until they unwrapped them, and everyone was happy and friendly with each other. When you consider that my sister and her husband have been having some problems, that was a miracle in itself. I was glad they seemed happy. Hopefully they will work things out.

So Christmas Eve was basically a mad dash to get the house finished. We managed to do everything but the gingerbread trim, which we decided to put off for a couple of weeks because we're tired of looking at the thing, lol. So we have a tiny bit of work left to do, but we're waiting on that. Christmas Day was a very nice, calm day. My family gets together on Christmas Eve, so Christmas Day is a day for everyone to do whatever else they need to do. I personally needed to lie in bed all day and watch the "Scrubs" DVDs that my best friend gave me. She gave me seasons 1 and 2, and they are both great! I love that show. I've loved it since the first episode, but have lost track of it because it came on opposite other shows I was invested in, so I sort of stopped watching. But I have a little crush on Zach Braff, so watching two seasons of the show in a row all day on Christmas Day was really nice. ;) Today, I went out and bought the thing I really wanted for Christmas but didn't ask anyone for because it was too expensive. I bought a new TV! yay! It's a flat screen, 24 inch TV that fits perfectly in my entertainment center. So this afternoon, after I got it home, I spent several lovely hours watching different DVDs on it and playing each of my X-Box games (just for a few minutes each) to see what they look like on the new TV. It's awesome to go from a little portable TV to a real TV with a flat screen. I love it!

So other than Christmas stuff, things have been pretty normal. There's a strange feeling, though, like I'm waiting just a few more days for my life to start again. Everything happens after the new year, so I'm just sort of waiting until then. January 1 is the day I start NaNoWriYe, the most insane resolution I've ever had. January 1 is the day I write down my resolutions and start working on them. I already know what they are going to be, but I won't start working on them until January 1. I plan to get up an hour earlier every day and exercise before getting ready for work. It'll be a challenge to start with, but I'm sure I'll get used to it, just like now I can't sleep past 7, which is when I normally get up. After a year of getting up at 6 to exercise, I won't be able to sleep past 6. Which is kind of sad, because I do enjoy sleeping late on weekends, and I can't even do that now! I can't even imagine automatically waking up at 6 a.m. on a Saturday! ugh. But I'm going to do it, because I'm determined to get into an exercise routine that really works for me.

Anyway, that's just one of them. There are more. Many more. Oh, and January 1 is when I start looking at classes I want to take (just for fun, probably writing classes and maybe an art class or two) and I will start looking at where I want to spend my summer vacation after the first of the year. I'm actually leaning toward a writing conference in Florence, but it might be too long. It's a 7 day conference and I only get 7 days of vacation, so I'm afraid I won't be able to do it. There's also one in Prague, which would be completely amazing, but I'm not sure about it either. I may have to save the overseas trips for 2007 and beyond, when I get more vacation time. My boss keeps telling me I should take a cruise, so I might consider one. I'd have to go alone though, because nobody I know wants to go on a cruise.

Anyway, so 2006 is the year I turn 30. So I have many things to do this coming year. I may have to strike a few things off my list because they were pretty unreasonable to begin with, but I'm okay with that. But I will submit a novel for publication before I turn 30. That's something I can do. I will do it by February, 2006. Let this be a record of that promise.

Well, it's late and my bed is calling my name. Work starts back again tomorrow. I hate to say it, but I really missed work while I was off. I'm sick, I know... lol.