I’m kind of glad I’ve seen the movie version of The Shining because I already know how the story ends. I’m still reading the book and it’s interesting, but for some reason I keep falling asleep whenever I try to read it! It’s really annoying. It doesn’t matter if I read at night or during the day, either. So weird. I’m going to finish reading the book, but at this rate, it’s going to take me a while.

I had to work on Saturday but it was a pleasant, short shift. So I’m off tomorrow, which is really nice. Even though I don’t love working Saturdays, I do like having the following Monday off (good way to avoid a Case of the Mondays, you understand).

M and I had a case of spring cleaning (or winter cleaning, I suppose) earlier today. We cleaned out the kitchen cabinets and counters–it looks so much nicer in there now! And I feel even better about having done that because right now I’m watching Hoarding: Buried Alive on TLC and it’s freaking me out. I don’t know why I’m so addicted to these trainwreck shows. I have no reasons. I always feel terrible for the hoarders and their families, especially when they acknowledge that they have a disorder but they don’t know how to overcome it…it’s so sad.

Anyway, I plan on being very lazy on my day off tomorrow because that is what I do. I’ll probably spend a good part of the day doing some secret knitting and watching a lot of Netflix + Amazon Instant Video. Such is the life of a semi-hermit!

I somehow managed to stay up until midnight last night! I’m definitely getting old though, because it was difficult and I just wanted to go to bed. M and I watched Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper to help keep me awake.

We spent the first day of the new year with my family. My parents’ house has become a gathering place for all special occasions–birthdays, holidays, and the like. My sister and brother-in-law were there, too. We always start out by eating the yummiest of food (Filipino food FOREVER) and then we sit around the dining room table chatting.

Inevitably, the conversation turns to the paranormal, haha. For some reason, my family loves to talk about their ‘personal experiences’ when it comes to ghosts. I always feel left out because I’ve never had a definite experience and the questionable one I did have was most likely something from a dream-induced state. I used to be a HUGE fan of the show Ghost Hunters–I watched faithfully and bought into it, but over time I’ve changed my perspective about the supernatural/paranormal. My family isn’t very scientifically-minded (and that’s not intended to be an insult or anything; it’s just a fact). I’ve become more skeptical as I get older and, in recent years, have been introduced to the awesomeness of people like Carl Sagan. It’s really interesting how drastically our beliefs can change over time.

oh! I forgot to mention that I completed my December blog-a-day! I didn’t miss any days, woohoo! I’m going to try to keep up with my consistent blogging in January. And I’ll hopefully post about more substantive things…maybe. Sometimes I just can’t muster up any deep thoughts. And when I do write, I *still* feel the urge (even after all these years of blogging) to censor myself sometimes…because I think what I really want to write will sound silly or weird or…something. I don’t want to overshare all the time, but I do want to write more honestly, if that makes sense.

I’m off work tomorrow and Tuesday (EXCITE!) and I’m planning on getting some secret knitting done and relaxing in general. I hope your 2012 is off to a great start!

This post was inspired by Manda and Moni.

January

M and I visited the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA.

February

It snowed. A lot! A crazy amount of snow for Virginia Beach, to be honest.

March

I started getting into fitness and losing weight. (sigh) I've definitely fallen off this wagon. I'm kind of sad about it, actually. Maybe I'll get back on Wii Fit in 2012. Also in March: I FINALLY bought a DSLR!

April

I put the new Foo Fighters CD in my car and didn't take it out for MONTHS. Seriously, I've listened to this hundreds of times by now. It's that good.

May

I went to Maryland Sheep & Wool with my knitty girls and kc went with us for the first time! YAY It was sooooo fun!

June

I put my new Nikon to good use and participated in the 7 Days (self-portrait) group on Flickr for the first time. (Unfortunately, I missed the latest round! I'll try to join next cycle.)

July

I turned 31! And after years of work-related stress, I interviewed for a new job...AND GOT IT!

August

Roughest month of all (maybe ever). My then-boss killed himself. I started my new job four days later. Hurricane Irene hit (and spared us, thankfully). Spent way too much time numb, crying, numb (lather, rinse, repeat), thinking about a lot of things I'd never had to consider before.

September

I settled into my new job at the library and finally realized that I was meant to work in a library all along. If only I'd realized this years ago!

October

My nail polish stash grew...and grew...and....I'm still buried under it, actually...

November

I had a very stressful month at work (loooong story...it's not the work, it's certain people). As always, my dogs were there to cheer me up (mopey faces aside).

December

M had a birthday and we also celebrated five years together. I gave myself a break and chose not to knit for family this year, yay me.

I’m pretty sure I’ll do another YIP for 2012 because it’s really been helpful having these photos to jog my memory. 2011 was super emotional for me, in positive and negative ways. What I’m hoping/resolving to do in 2012 is be more productive with my emotions…less bitching, more DOING, if that makes sense.

I’m not going to say that 2011 sucked entirely because I did make at least one very big, positive life change (new job FTW!), so I’m just hoping that 2012 is that much better. May you have an even better 2012, too.

1. Read more books than I did last year. (See +11 in ‘11 Challenge.)
   I actually did it! I read 44 titles this year, according to Goodreads. My goal was 31. I’ll make a separate post about my 2011 reading.
2. Related to the above: clear out at least one row (level? shelf?) from my To Read bookcase.
   haha…no. This didn’t happen. In fact, I think I probably acquired more books. Well–actually, I just remembered that I sold a bunch of books to the used bookstore, but then I wound up buying more, so I feel like I probably broke even in the end. My stash isn’t a whole lot bigger, but it’s definitely not smaller, despite the number of library books that I read this year. I still bought some books, so this goal definitely wasn’t met.
3. Blog more often, at least every other day.
   I didn’t do a good job of blogging this year overall, but I’ve done really well during my December blog-a-day! I haven’t missed any days this month so far. I still want to blog more in 2012, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep up with one post per day.
4. Sew more. I sewed hardly anything last year, and I really want to make the freakin curtains that I’ve been procrastinating making for months.
   Weeeell…I didn’t sew more throughout the year, but I did make those curtains I mentioned! Kitchen curtains & spare room curtains.
5. Pay off at least one of my credit cards / Control my spending better.
   Sigh. I did REALLY well for the first half of the year and didn’t use my credit cards AT ALL…and then it was downhill from there. Obviously, I need to work on this still.
6. Take more pictures!
   I definitely met this goal! As of today, I’ve uploaded 337 of 365 photos in my Year in Pictures project. I only missed one day, but I’m going to keep going until I have 365 total. I think I’ll probably do another YIP for 2012 since it’s nice to have that kind of structure that keeps me on schedule.
7. Go to Maryland Sheep & Wool festival. This will be my second time going.
   I went and had an awesome time! This year was extra special because kc went with us
8. Visit the Poe Museum.
   I went in January and it was really fun! I want to go back sometime, but I’ll probably wait until they have another special event going on.
9. Find a new job. I “resolve” to do this every year, but THIS TIME I MEAN IT. No, really.
   ZOMG, I actually did it! I got a new job in August and while it has its ups and downs…if I’m being honest, I have to admit that I’m happier at this job than I was at my previous one.

So I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to, but that’s all right. New Year’s resolutions can be such a weird concept–they can either give you something to shoot for or just set you up for disappointment. But judging from this list, I feel like they’ve helped me to focus on the things that I really want…so I guess that’s a positive thing! Now I need to think of my resolutions for 2012…

He also gave me this awesome little knitting shop, which lights up and everything! It’s also on the mantle for now. I love all the details–there’s even a couple of people you can see through the front window and they’re knitting, of course.

It wouldn’t be Christmas without yarn! This is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway Breaking Dawn (naturally). I’ve been under a rock because I didn’t even know that LL had a Twilight colorway! I thought of using it for socks but I think it’s destined to become a shawlette. Maybe I can wear it to the BD Pt. 2 premiere!

M also gave me this sweet journal. I saw it when we were at Barnes & Noble a few weeks ago and thought it was awesome, so I dropped a huge hint right then, hehe. It’s a 5-year journal that asks you one question per day. You answer it on the same calendar day over 5 years and then you can see how your answers have changed (if at all) over time. Pretty neat! I want to journal more in 2012 (in addition to blog more!), so this will be a fun tool to help out with that.

Since we didn’t go to my parents’ house, we didn’t exchange gifts with my sisters…but eh, there was a kerfuffle regarding gifts anyway (at the last minute, I might add…grrr). So I was pretty Grinchy to begin with and I guess it was good timing that I was sick so that M and I could have a nice, peaceful Christmas together. My mom wanted us to come over today instead, but I woke up still feeling gross. We’re just going to go over next weekend for New Year’s Day. At least I finally got my voice back! Still got the cold, though. Boo.

I hope that Santa brought you some fun things, too!

Otherwise, it has been a very lazy, relaxing holiday weekend. If only I didn’t have to go back to work on Tuesday!

My Christmas cactus is blooming, our tree is up, and most of our presents are wrapped! I did some last-minute shopping for M this evening (because I am a procrastinator) (and crazy), but once I wrap those, I’m all set. Unfortunately, I’m still sick–my cold is still hanging around and today I’m losing my voice, which is not very fun. I sound like a boy going through puberty. But I’m just thankful that I’m off work so that I can get lots of rest.

I put on some festive nail polish since I’m not doing much else to celebrate the holiday:

I looooove this color so much. It’s China Glaze Ruby Pumps and it went on like a dream. I used Seche Clear as a base coat, two coats of China Glaze (three coats on my thumbs), and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri as a top coat. Have I mentioned I looooove this color? Here it is with flash so you can see the awesome sparkle:

I might actually wear this for a whole week, which is rare because I usually get bored after three days and take my polish off, haha.

I hope you have a lovely holiday (whichever one you celebrate, if any at all!) filled with happiness and fun things.

Our Christmas tree is finally up! Better last minute than never, right? M put it up while I was at work today. We still need to put the ornaments on it but look at the pretty bokeh!

I’m still a bit under the weather but not as bad as yesterday morning and the day before. I just feel tired, mostly. I’m really looking forward to Saturday so I can get more rest. Work is wearing me out lately.

I had today off work and unfortunately I spent the morning being sick. I still had a sore throat when I woke up this morning. I just felt really yucky. I felt like my sinuses were acting up, so I took some meds…then both my sore throat and sinus pain went away! Hurray. Maybe that Airborne zapped my cold before it got really bad! I have just a little bit of a sore throat now, but hopefully I’m getting over this bug instead of coming down with it. I have to go back to work tomorrow, so I’m really hoping I’m not going to be sick over Christmas! That would suck.

I spent most of the day watching Youtube videos and somehow stumbled on this band called Boyce Avenue. They do some amazing covers! I favorited a bunch of their videos:

Then I got into a music mood and rewatched most of The Voice, season 1. It was a nice way to spend my sick morning.

M came back today from visiting his mom, so it’s nice to have him home!