Off and running in 2013 ...

Hey friends - I hope everything is going swell for your first two weeks of the new year. Mine has already seen it's share of ups and downs, which kinda makes me nervous.

There seems to be a little more rockiness than I would prefer BUT what cha gonna do?

So let me take you back to Jan. 1, well Dec. 31. We bid farewell (and good riddance) to 2012 with my sweet friend, Nicole, who traveled all the way from Prattville (about six-ish hours) to rig in the New Year here. We had a blast just hanging out on Jekyll and St. Simons. But, really, it was about catching up, which we did plenty of - loved it!

For the big night, Nicole, Josh and I went to dinner at our favorite spot - Crabdaddy's - then to a party at the Rooftop at Ocean Lodge on St. Simons. It was ah-mazing. So much fun and we were able to watch fireworks over the ocean. Not bad.

We took tons of photos, which SADLY, I cannot show you. This is the first official "fail" of 2013 - we lost my camera somewhere between the rooftop, the smokey island dive bar and the $100 cab ride (yes you read that right ... more on that in a moment) home.

Here's the only shot we have ... it's from Nicole's phone before we left.

I was (and I am still) devastated over le lost camera and spent a week trying to back track - calling the bars, cab company, etc. I MAY try one more time and ask them if they've seen anything. I had no luck on previous attempts. Ugh.

OK so back to the cab ride. We had planned to leave the car on SSI and cab it back to Brunswick (about 25 miles all totaled). So right before the smokey dive bar closed at 2 a.m. we naturally called a cab. Only to be informed that they don't venture over to the mainland until - wait for it - 2:30 a.m. Huh? Why not? I don't understand. The bars close at 2 a.m. and your company won't let you take folks home until 30 mins later? That's NUTS. 

*Deep breath* I digress.

Josh was on the phone with the cab company (obviously, because I would have sat/napped in my car before I made the offer he made) ... he says, and I quote, "I'll give you a hundy if you come get us now." And apparently "hundy"= $100 in drunken Josh speak.

Needless to say, we had a ride in less than five minutes.

I still can't believe he did that. But whatever. I'm sure it would have been about $50-$60 anyway. Still, we got home safe and sound (although Nicole left her purse in the cab and had to pay $20 for them to deliver it the next day. This cab company LOVES us.)

After going to bed ... we got up feeling (obviously) less than stellar. We all kinda looked like dis.

But I did manage to clean the house after we went to get the car, got Nicole's purse and sent her on her way. I also went to pick up some shrimp and Chinese veggies for lunch.

I def. got more than I bargained for ...

The little guy at China One (his 10-year-old daughter usually runs the cash register) mistakenly charged me $100.01 instead of $10.01 for the food. It took it a WEEK to "drop off" of my pending payments. But now it's gone and it's funny. Kind of.

So that was the start. What a kick off - $200.01 for a cab ride and Chinese food - and with one of my resolutions being "to save money" I guess I'm not doing so hot. (At least I got my money back for one.)

ANYWAY ... the rest of the days have been pretty good. I'm desperately trying to shed these excess pounds which were apparently a gift from Santa. I've got to do three things to do this ... 1) Put down the wine, 2) Get back on my diet and 3) Really get back into my weight training and running.

There's just one problem.

And so is wine. But they must go. I'm bigger than ever and I'm about to slide headlong into official fatness. I'm working on it. One of my gyms (yes I had two) closed so now I have a membership at the YMCA through Josh's company. I'm doing strength training there. And Ash and I are back to training for the Donna Deegan Half Marathon Feb. 17.

Other than trying to get my waistline and other areas under control ... here are some other exciting tidbits from 2013 thus far:

* Party planning: My bestie, Ashley, is turning the big 4-0 in February so I, along with a group of our friends, are hosting a big soiree for her at Tipsy's. The theme is "Reality Bites - Ash is turning 40" and everyone is coming dressed as their favorite reality TV star/starlet. I'm mum on Josh's costume ... just know that it will be AWESOME. I'm going to be Kim Kardashian (maybe I've just gained weight to really get into my curvy character?). Of course, I look less like the bootlicious Kardashian and more like this right meow (as Sarah would say).

* Party planning for moi: My big, dirty 30 is going down this year. *Cringe*  
But I'm really not minding it because I'll be spending it with my sweet Belgians in Antwerp and - wait for it - AMSTERDAM AND PARIS. I'm so excited that I may explode. I just can't believe we're really going. It's going to be so awesome. Who would have thought that my random drunkiness at a pool bar in the Domincian would have led to such a fantastic friendship. Ineke has now become a part of my daily life and I love it. Such a sweet girl and we're SO much alike. It's almost scary. I cannot wait to have her show us her town and en buurhoofdsteden (neighboring capitols). 
* House projects: I've got so many to do. I've made a list and I'm going to do one project per week. I clean my house every week but I'm gonna do something else too. For instance, this past weekend, I rented a Rug Doctor and cleaned our carpets (they were nasty). AND I also did baseboards.

Here are some of my other goals:
- Windows

- Clean garage/wash walls

- Paint garage

- Acid-wash floor

- Paint area by back door

- Tile bathroom (move out all clothes before) 

- Tile around the bathtub

- Clean light fixtures

- Replace bathroom fixtures

- Fix roof 

- Fix floors from termites

- Work in garden 

- Clean out attic/donate clothes. 

- Get wedding dress cleaned/preserved. 

Yep. Dividing and conquering. Otherwise a list like this would have this affect on me

Alright. I think that's about enough of posting. I'll holla at ya later. Have a great week!