Considering I had no real beefs with 2011, I must say that 2012 is already off to a lovely start.

New Years Eve couldn’t have been better:  sushi and an early night with The Husband.

After an EPIC 15 hours of sleep and I was ready to face the day!  I sweated up a horse…

Caffeinated… (it was unusually warm, so a frosty coffee beverage was warranted)

Took the Lucas with me to play while I taught a lesson…

And then was off to pick up The Child after a week at her dad’s (yay! I miss her when she’s gone!)

I’d say that the first day of the new year was a pretty damn good day.  While driving I turned off the radio and did some thinking about how I could turn this good first day of the year into a whole year of good days.

I won’t call these “resolutions” because that seems to inherently destine them for failure.

I want to make a concerted effort to be a better wife, mother and friend.  I think this comes down to communication.

• I rely too heavily on Facebook to communicate with people.
• I will overcome my aversion to the telephone.  I need to reach out and have conversations with the people that I love and care about.
• I need to think before I speak. (duh) This is not something that comes naturally for me.  I need to be more aware of how my words may be received.

I need to quit calling my sloth “me time”.  It seems I always have so much to do, often for other people.  Instead of better managing my time I burn out and end up just doing nothing.  It’s not really “rest” or “recharging” – it’s just being lazy.  Days where I get stuff done (cleaning, organizing, errands) are the days where I actually feel like I have recharged.  Marking things off my To-Do list make me feel infinitely better than sitting on my ass all day.

My life is really very good.  I want to remind myself every day to appreciate that we all have our health, a beautiful home, people who love us, good jobs and good grades.

2012 will indeed be a very good year.

I am happy. I am content. And I am so grateful that we had a special day with out friends and family to celebrate.

I am also lucky to have had such amazing photographers. Candace and Kelly teamed up to deliver the best photos I have ever seen.  Check them out!

My life is blessed. Truly.

We’ll be back… same time next year.

(p.s. my new camera is sooooo great! none of the below pics have been touched – they’re straight off the memory card!)

Click to view slideshow.

The Child (and her grandmother) colluded with The Man, who bought me a freaking ridiculously awesome new camera!

I love them.

Look forward to UH-MAZE-ING pictures because I gots mad talent yo! (Well, I do in my own mind any way!)

I think some moms feel dread at the thought of their children growing up, but I don’t. I am so exceedingly proud of the little lady that she is becoming that I can’t wait to see where she goes.

The day she was born she gave me the greatest gift I have ever received. Not only did I gain the ability to love someone so deeply and purely, she also gave me the ability to love myself and be in awe of what I could accomplish.

Her birth is what I consider to be my greatest accomplishment. She was born at home, surrounded by family, an amazing midwife and a fantastic nurse (a feat I must give her father credit for suggesting). I learned that my body can do amazing things – it can grow a child and sustain it after it is born. And once she no longer needed my body, she taught me that I am a strong and capable woman.  We have had our struggles but because of her I never doubted in our ability to pull through them.

She has been my sidekick since the day she was born, and I enjoy her as a person and her company more and more each day. She’s not only smart, she’s beautiful – inside and out. She has the best sense of humor and can make me laugh like no other. She’s a strong kid – a fighter – but she’s got the softest heart you’ll ever know.

Twelve years ago today my life changed, and every day it gets better and better. I love you so much baby girl!

Number of miles I have run since I began running:  43.37 (5 weeks)

Number of days I have been religiously logging my calories and exercise:  76

Number of pounds lost:  22

I have been feeling so good and fit and healthy - really for the first time in my life.  It’s not that I’ve never been thin or in decent shape – I have been way too skinny at times and have had a six-pack and serious guns - I just never worked at it before.  I work out regularly and I crave exercise now.  I have had to buy new smaller pants and my wedding dress is having to be altered down by a HUGE amount.

I’ve been pretty proud of myself.

Then I saw a picture of myself yesterday… and it’s amazing how fast all of the above numbers can be wiped out.  No amount of numbers offsets the lumps and bumps and dumpiness I see in my “skinny” jeans. 

I guess that the upside is that I actually contemplated calling in sick to work so I could exercise all day, instead of feeling like saying, ”fuck it – I’m eating.

My bridesmaids worked very hard to throw the nicest party.  Thanks especially to my Maid of Honor, Rachel, for an amazing effort; to Susan for providing her lovely home; to Marianne for coming all the way from Seattle; and to Haley for being such a big help and keeper of Rachel’s sanity!

There was quiche and mimosas and red velvet cupcakes and fruit salad…

A ton of laughs and fun chit-chatting…. such a respectable ladies luncheon!

Then there was the making of wedding dresses out of toilet paper…. (yes, we saved it ALL so don’t look at me weird if you use our bathroom and there’s a huge bag of wadded up TP next to the toilet! Just reach in a grab yourself a fist full of wipeables!)

And the models were FIERCE (even as The Child’s train turned in to a mini-dress!)…

Of course, there were prezzies! (blush)

But best of all, there were beautiful ladies…

Well, maybe ladies isn’t entirely the right word

Yes, people are actually coming (this is the first day of rsvp’s being received – only a few days after invites were mailed!!) and there’s still about a million things for me to do. My task list is LONG but I don’t feel the need to procrastinate. I am actually looking forward to getting stuff done.

It’s going to be such a great party, such a great trip, and such a perfect beginning.

It’s short and sweet:

1. EASTER WITH MY FAMILY (I can’t remember the last time The Child went to church with me on Easter, and The Man is going, too!)
2. Lessons and riding – wheee!
3. Working out. I keep looking at the clock because I haven’t worked out in two days and I am quite literally dying to get outside and sweat!

See – that’s easy

A note about #3.  I am beginning the Couch to 5K program and have already registered for a 5K on June 19th. I am bound and determined to at least become a jogger, if not a runner.  Then I can be done forever with that filthy whore terrible stationary bike that’s cramping up my livingroom!

And tell me – was this NOT written for me?? 

 I am so totally going to run my butt off!