Good Bye 2013!

Peach roses will forever remind me of my wedding. 

Such a surreal day and one of my most favorite memories from 2013 for sure. 

___________________

Closing the Door [on 2013]
This post has been looming in my mind for a few weeks now, the slow recollection of all the details the past 12 months have created in my life. There were so many up’s and down’s it kind of has left me breathless. I left behind the Navy and faced the tragedy of my mother’s death. But I also married the love of my life and we now await the arrival of our little May baby this upcoming spring. I cannot ignore the painful memories of this year but their influence is dimmed by all of the blessings I have to be thankful for as well.


The Year Ahead
What to expect in the year ahead? This is where I jot down my hopes and dreams for the near future, those pesky resolutions that have a 50/50 chance of being accomplished. I think it’s time to acknowledge that some of those things that pop up on my list year after year are just…not going to happen.  Do you have anything like that? After giving it some thought, I realize that the problem is that when it comes to resolutions they sometimes just feel like airy ideas that float away by the end of January. It is often said that if you want to accomplish a goal you have to make it tangible; to enable yourself to carry it out you have to work out a plan of action, even if it just means breaking it down into smaller bite-sized goals. After all it’s sort of hard to run a marathon if you’ve never run a mile, right?

Some of the things I look forward to in the upcoming months mixed in with some of the things I want to accomplish are …

• Welcome our new baby for starters! We actually find out the gender in January (the wait is just killing me!) but the real excitement waits for us in May when our little family grows. I’ve been eagerly pinning nursery ideas and daydreaming of our family adventures, wondering what he or she will look like and all those things us expectant parents do!
• Get my BA. I am so close! There have been a few set backs this past year but the end of tunnel is near and I could not be more excited. I hope someday when the kids are heading off to college I can show them that putting in the hours and effort in school is worth it. I have worked my butt off for the past three years and it feels great that I will get to move on soon enough to the next level of my academic career. Being so close to having that degree is so surreal.
• Settle in at our new duty station. We are still waiting to find out when the move will happen since right now the military across the board has put folks in PCS limbo thanks to the budget. But I’m hopeful we will get word soon and be on our way to a new adventure by the ocean. This mermaid needs her salt air!  
• Rekindle my love for creating art. Drawing and painting used to make up the bulk of my spare time but somewhere a long the line it took a backseat in my life. But I want that to change so I’m holding myself to the goal of working on paintings some, maybe even making little things to send to others. (Who doesn’t love some personalized snail mail?!) 2014 will be my year of completing those DIY projects I have been dreaming up.