Ready Set Go!!

Okay, so I've definitely taken a blogging hiatus and resolve to be a bit better. I went on break a couple of weeks ago and so I'm currently writing from my favorite Colorado. Getting back was quite the ordeal which involved phone calls from the parents at 6:30 a.m., multiple more phone calls regarding flights, last minute rides to the airport, car rides, and a spastic frantic rush to get my things packed and to check out of the dorm. Good grief. What ended up happening was DIA closed until Friday at noon (which I think turned into Saturday) and so if I flew, I wouldn't be able to fly in until Sunday night--blark. I turned my sights toward finding a ride home and after finding leads with a random girl whose mother knows my mom to Mark and Robin Youngquist, I finally snagged a ride with some people from back home who were picking up their daughter for Christmas. I got home Thursday night (however I might have made it home earlier if they hadn't decided to stop in Grand Junction for two hours while they looked for a Chik-Fil-A--good grief).

Christmas festivities were successful. We had a bunch of people over for Christmas Eve and had our big, fancy dinner that night and then on Christmas Day, we stayed in our pajamas and watched movies, napped, and ate junk food all day--total score. The day after Christmas, my cousin from Stirling, Alberta in Canada came down to stay for the week and we had a fun time shopping (which included runs to the Gap Outlet, Target, TJ Maxx, JC Penney's, and my favorite: Borders), watching movies, and playing games. We had another large snow storm on Wednesday and Thursday, rendering us once again snowed in (except this time I was snowed-in rather than snowed-out). Mom made banana chocolate chip bars, we rented the entire second season of The Office and contented ourselves with sleeping in, lounging around, watching TV, and playing more games. I'm a huge fan of getting snowed in!!

New Year's was uneventful and I am of the personal opinion that New Year's does not merit the level of celebration it receives. I mean, first of all, who would want to start off their New Year with a hangover? Seriously. Secondly, the "ball dropping" in NCY is totally pointless. It's not even dropped--it's lowered and I just don't understand the hype around New Year's. For me it's the beginning of my least favorite month and my least favorite part of the year. I'm trying to play the "What I'm Looking Forward To" game, to a little success.

Let me recap this year:

Goods

• Graduating from high school
• Successfully finishing my first semester at college (I ended with three As, one A-, and one B+, a 3.78 GPA in all)
• Making the transition from living at home to living in the dorms with little trauma.
• Working as a teller over the summer and saving needed money.
• Buying my second semester textbooks before I left for break for only $175--amazing.
• Now that I don't live at home all the time, the kids are always nice to me.
• Making really good new friends at the Y

Not-So-Goods

• Having to cram all my stuff into a tiny dorm room (the space is growing less and less)
• Having to adjust myself to the 85-degree thermostat courtesy of my Southern California roommate).
• Missing my family and not being up-to-date with everything that goes on back in CO.
• I find I have little to no time for a leisurely read
• Not having a car while at school--bummer.

So, last year was definitely a good one I believe--my not-so-goods were few and minor!! It's weird looking back on 2006 and all that happened; I don't think I could have predicted most of it. I've changed a lot, but it's not a bad change, it's more of a growing up change. I'm still Charlotte, but I think about things differently and over this past year, I've re-evaluated what's important and what I can let slide. I think the best way to describe it is that I've grown up a lot.

I wonder what 2007 holds in store for me. What will happen? Who will enter my life for the first time and who will make a reappearance? What will I do? How will I change? I look forward to this year because I think a lot will happen (a lot happens in every year) and the uncertainty doesn't scare me, but I'm excited to see where things go. So, here I am (almost) ready to dive into real life again. Ready . . . Set . . . GO!!!!