Resolutions?

Hello to a new year. Did ya'll make any resolutions? I made one. Let it go. It was inspired by Cowboy Mouth and their song, Jenny Says.

I will be absolutely honest here. I have a serious issue with my temper and anger. For a really long time, I didn't care who I spewed my hate and anger to. It didn't matter to me. Over the past year, I've tried very hard to calm down, and think before I speak. I haven't mastered my anger, but I have gotten a lot better at keeping my temper in check.

Now, I'm trying to learn to let go of all the things that I let bother me. Bitter memories of things that could have went better. Embarrassing thoughts of retarded things I've done or said, and believe me, there have been some doozies.

That group, Cowboy Mouth, by the way, are pretty darn awesome. They are the first group I ever saw live. In the summer of 2004, right before Mike and I married, we went to the Schaeffer Eye Center Crawfish Boil in Birmingham. Oh. My. God.

For those of you who don't know, your girl here has a spaz attack when I'm in a crowd. It was craziness, and I loved every minute of it. That year, we saw Dexter Freebish, Cowboy Mouth, Better Than Ezra, and Sister Hazel. Dexter Freebish sucked. Cowboy Mouth give darn good shows. Better Than Ezra was ok. And Sister Hazel.... Le Sigh. I love them. It was magical, I tell you. To this day, I can remember leaning back into his arms and swaying along to Champagne High. It made me reminisce back to the days of being young and in love. So I went looking through my pictures to see what I had to share.

Look at how young we are! I can see the differences between now and then. It doesn't feel like almost seven years have past. They have flown by, and I love him more. He is definitely the yin to my yang. He keeps me steady, balanced, and supremely happy. Gee, I sure am sappy tonight, huh?

Anyway, what were your resolutions? Did you make any? Will you keep them?

Love to all,
Allie

Where did it go?

I blinked, and it's a new year. Seriously? I swear, it seems as if the days are flying by and I don't like it at all. When I was a kid, it seems like the summer holiday lasted forever. Now, it's like two weeks and we're done. Alright, rant over. About that anyway.

Did ya'll have a good Christmas and New Year? I did. We celebrated Christmas on New Year's day at Daddy's house. We traded names this year for a present swap, and ended up helping my brother out by getting the gifts for his family too. That was a whole lot of fun. We had to buy gifts for my brother, Brandon, my step-brother, Jeffrey, my brother-in-law, Nick, and my sister-in-law, Chrystal. I barely know Jeffrey, Nick, and Chrystal, for the simple fact that we never spend any time together. Isn't that sad?

After walking around Wal-Mart for 20 minutes without a clue, we picked up bead bracelet sets for the twins, Cadie & Clara. My nephews had gotten their names. I thought about how much the girls would probably enjoy that, and that set me to thinking... shouldn't I get the adults something they'll enjoy? So over to the Lego sets. I picked up a Halo Warthog set for Brandon, he loves to put them together with his boys. While we were checking the game section, Mike picked up a poker set for Jeffrey. (Mike remembered that he'd gotten someone lottery tickets last year.) Then it was over to sporting goods for fly-fishing lures for Nick. I picked up a manicure/pedicure set for Chrystal because I had no idea what to do there. I suck at buying gifts for girls. I really do.

The dinner was really good, I spent most of it holding Jeffrey & Chrystal's son, Carter. He's so precious. It was hard for me, too. I keep thinking, I'm almost thirty, and I don't have any kids. It makes my heart ache. I keep my head up and smile, though, because really, there isn't anything else to do.

Brandon, Nick, and Jeffrey loved their gifts. Brandon and Nick were a sure thing, but Jeffrey was kinda worrying me. He told Mike that he'd been needing some playing cards, he'd had to borrow some the other night. So, happy happy joy joy there.

Mike got gift cards to Gamestop and Books-a-Million. I got a gift card to Torrid, fleece blankets, and some really lovely picture frames from my step-sister, April. She can pick out awesome girl gifts. I'm so jealous.

Afterwards, we played a game called Catch Phrase. Have you ever played that game? It was hilarious, we were playing guys against girls, and the guys won 2 out of 3 games. Only because Nick and Jeffrey were stretching it out and trying to pass it off at the last minute. I wish you could have seen Daddy. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard. He's never been the most descriptive person in the world, but he sure tried hard. The longer we played, the better he got.

After we left there, we went down to Brandon and Christina's house for a New Year's celebration. That however, is a story for tomorrow.

Love to all,
Allie