Goodbye. Hello!!!

(Ok, I know we are a number of days into the New Year...but I have been on a delay)

So the past couple years I have done a year in review type post to go over the highlights of the year. The past three years have been very crazy with many wonderful times like getting married and friends getting married, buying a house, anniversaries, many friends having kids, getting a job and so many other things, both good and not so good, that have made the years truly memorable.

I have spent the last few weeks trying to make a list for 2009 and though the year had some really great memories, for me, it was a fairly mellow year - which was actually nice. I think it was good my 2009 was more low key, for the first time in about 4+ years, because I am pretty certain the next few years and as we head into another decade, are going to be pretty great and I am really looking forward to the two thousand TENS. (However I do want to acknowledge the excitement that took place for many of my friends in 2009 as many of my friends had a truly memorable year with many pregnancies and beautiful babies born YAY as well as I had a few family members and friends get married!!)

Now, being a 1980’s baby each decade in the year corresponds with me moving into the next decade in my life…which I love! So, to kick off 2010, I am entering my third decade of life and turning 30 in April – YAY! Yes, I said YAY. I am very much looking forward to getting out of my 20’s and getting into my 30’s. My 20’s were fantastic and were full of so many great life experiences (both good and bad) and my 20’s contained an entirely different set of goals and/or expectations for what I wanted in my life. Some I met like graduating college, getting a job in my field, getting married, losing a lot of weight, becoming more comfortable with who I was and who I wanted to be, opening up more and being more sociable (can you believe that I lived in a shell, had few friends, and wasn’t very funny?! As if), making new and lasting friendships, becoming not just independent in my life but with my ideals, developing and expanding on my own beliefs and values, and overall just becoming a stronger and more well-rounded individual. Some things didn’t go like I had wanted like not getting my masters degree, losing and not keeping a job within my field, not having kids, not traveling – specifically to England & Ireland, gaining back the weight I had lost, not always keeping a positive body image, and losing certain friendships. And of course there were all those wonderful other things (both big and small) that happened that I just never expected like getting to live with my sister, seeing my husband go back to school to be a Mortician, visiting and falling in love with my favorite city, New Orleans, and experiencing their culture and food, learning to cook and actually getting to the point where I just love it and am pretty good at (in my early 20’s I called my mom to see how to boil an egg), meeting very special people in my life that I have the privilege to call friends, BLOGGING and developing relationships with people through the blogs, and of course so much more!

Now as 2010 approaches I am excited for the new year not just because of the 2010 year alone but because I feel with the start of this new year as if one chapter in my life is closing and a new one is opening. I feel that in my 20’s I really grew as an individual and now my 30’s will be for a whole new set of life experiences and trying to be the best person, wife, daughter, sister, friend, (someday mother) I can be and for experiencing as much of life as I can. I am looking forward to so many things over the next ten years like turning 30, having kids, getting out of debt (blech) and becoming more financially sound, having closer relationships with my brothers, seeing the path that my sister takes in her life, watching my husband graduate and start his new career, enjoying every moment with my parents, traveling, losing weight and finally being happy with just being healthy, taking an active part in charity events for MS, finishing our current house and finding a home for us and our children to grow up in, getting my masters in Recreational Therapy and starting a new career, forming even closer relationships with my friends and having the opportunities to see our kids grow up together, overall just staying/being happy, and I am looking forward to all the little surprises and moments along the way. Sounds exciting, right?!?!

So, not really a “year in review” but more so just a reflection on where I have come and looking forward to all that could come as we start this new decade. I know some people don’t like to think so far in the future or think like I do, but for me I find comfort and joy in thinking of all that could come even if it is 6 months, a year, five years or 10 years down the road. I have learned more to go with the flow and I try not to plan out the next ten years, but I do have a new set of goals for my 30's. I know life throws curveballs, that is just one of the great life lessons I learned during my 20’s but I also learned that you can make the best out of any situation and wonderful surprises you never expected can happen due to those “curveballs” in life! It truly is exciting to think about what is to come during the next chapter in my life.

So are you happy or sad to see 2000 - 2009 come and go? What were some of the highlights for you last year? What are you looking forward to in 2010 and the next decade?



P.S. Sorry for the lack of blogging and commenting on blogs. Just been crazy busy but I promise I will be catching up and already have a number of posts written for your reading pleasure!!