New Year's Eve

Not gonna lie, 2008 had some way ups and some way downs. But for my money, it was the best year yet. A few things that I'm thankful for...

-becoming a working actor and sticking to my goal of not having to go back to waiting tables (or something else equally as soul/energy/morale-depleting)
-finally seeing and acknowledging difficult truths that had been staring me in the face for quite some time
-real, true, heart-bursting, toe-wiggling, unable-to-wrap-your-head-around-it love
-a family unlike any other
-confronting confrontation
-my time in the rainforest, and my impending time on an island of lost toys
-the people who show up when it's truly important
-having a select few to whom i can tell anything and everything
-my continuing faith in God, despite being in a place that doesn't make that faith easy
-sunshine, rain, snow, fog, green trees, tall buildings, and everything in between
-learning how to be okay with conflict, and then letting it go
-a future that's completely unknown -- except for the fact that it's going to be amazing

Happy New Year.
xoxo

What do I care if icicles form?

Somehow, in spite of some turbulence, trial, and tribulation, this turned into one of the best Christmases ever.

Maybe it's the fact that I chose to forgo running around my hometown in an effort to see anyone and everyone I could, and decided instead to spend concentrated time with a few people who I truly cared about being with during the holidays. Or maybe it's because FINALLY my family started talking and being open about things that we should have been talking about for years now. It could be the super-wonderful, all-alone, extra Christmas that I got to have with Ryan after my return to the city. Or Mermaid time with too much wine and Besto time, immediately following plane rides back to NYC. I like to think it might have something to do with all that time spent by the fireplace reading the Ramona Quimby books.

I don't know how or why it turned out this way, but I count myself so blessed to feel full and rejuvenated rather than let-down and dazed after this Christmas. I'm so very thankful for all of the wonderfulness that surrounds me, in the form of family, friends, and (of course) my Ryan. "Blessed is the season that engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." I've got my love to keep me warm.

In My Experience...

...I have found that there are too many people who tell you to stand up for yourself and do what you believe in, but then recoil and renege when you actually do.

...I have found that so many want you to listen to and respect their cause, belief, or lifestyle, but refuse to offer you the same courtesy.

...I have found time and again people who say they enjoy letting others be happy and live as they wish to live, but who can't follow those words with according actions.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Nieve!

New York chose the perfect day in my December to snow for the first time. Today Ryan, Nick, and I found the most perfect tree in all of Manhattan (albeit obtained from a particularly rude hippie), and got it set up & decorated with particularly awesome ornaments (let's just say that instead of a star on the top of our tree, we have a peacock). We proceeded to make the tastiest pizza ever, which I washed down with some rockin' Two-Buck Chuck. Not a picky wine drinker am I. Then, in the midst of one of my many recent knitting frenzies, Nick ran into the living room and proclaimed (in a British accent, as usual) that there was snow! So, naturally, I put on my down jacket and my fake Uggs right over my sweatpants and we ran outside to take pictures.

Clearly the most awesome December day ever.

Uh-Mazing

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Mad props to Ryan, Leslie, Shelly, and Nick for the use of their darling faces.

The Gal in 2A

I woke up this morning to a sound that I love -- raindrops. Which was odd, seeing as how the forecast said nothing about rain. Still, I took it as a weatherman fluke and got up to brush my teeth. Made my way into the bathroom, where I found out that it was indeed raining. Inside my apartment.

There was water gushing from the light fixture, water trickling down the heating pipe, water dripping from the ceiling. And not just any old water. No, we're talkin' browny-yellowy-rusty-been-in-the-pipes-for-a-while water. I froze for a hot second, freaked out internally, then yelled for Nick to come witness the carnage. We grabbed bowls and towels and tried our best, but meanwhile water started dripping in my room and in the hallway as well. Ryan called our trusty Super, who took his sweet time getting here. Back at the ranch, I ran upstairs to ask 2A if their tub or toilet were overflowing. After a long pause at the door (during which I assume she was wondering if this was all a big trick and I was actually a murderer), she opened the door and calmly assured me that she had used the tub earlier, but nothing was running now. So, not wanting to shove my way into her apartment, and hoping that there wasn't something lost in translation, I trusted the teeny-tiny lady in the apron who seemed to just want me to go away.

I came back, we emptied bowl after bowl of water, and a little later the leaking slowed a bit. By this time, our Super showed up, and let us know that the nice little lady in 2A had, in fact, left her tub running after she began to fill it to clean the bathroom. Mentirosa!!! Dude, I mean, at least tell me the truth after you ruin my beautiful paint job... (And by the way, could you please tell your children to quit screaming and running back and forth all day long? Gets a little loud down here.)

Never a dull moment here in 1A! Good thing I'm in the Christmas spirit, or this could have really put a damper on my day. :)

**Update! The mentirosa in 2A knocked on our door and apologized during today's aftermath. Just sayin'.