I am going to be an aunt?

As weird as it is, my sister is going to have a baby. I say it's weird because I just don't feel like we are old enough for all of that. Time has just flown by so much I sometimes forget that we are really adults. Don't get me wrong... I am SUPER excited. In every store I HAVE to walk through the baby section to look at all the cute stuff (although I'm slightly disappointed that I have found way cuter boy clothes than girls clothes but we will go with it). 

The baby is coming towards the end of March, so I just booked my flight to go home in April to meet her. Here is my concern... I will only be home for 5 days. How I am going to meet this new little person who is going to be fabulously amazing and then just say, 'gotta catch a flight, peace!'? The shower was a couple weeks ago, as you might have guessed it, I couldn't attend. It got me to thinking about the other events I won't be able to be there for. When she is actually born for one thing. But not just baby stuff that I am missing. There are birthdays, minor holidays and parties (Fourth of July for instance and the Superbowl), even when my mom and siblings just go out to impromptu dinner. 

This is why I have decided that EVERYONE should just move here too. I don't want to move back to Chicago, that actually isn't even a consideration at this point. I just want them all to come here. My new niece, siblings, mom, grandma, cousins, friends, everyone. I'll even help everyone unpack when you get here. Better get the show on the road though, because in March I am going to be an aunt and I don't want to miss that!

Happy New Year?

Happy New Year? Where did 2011 go?!? It's hard to believe that it was a year ago that I started to talk about my great escape. Last January I started telling people that I was moving out of the state in the summer. I started planting the seed throughout my family and friends so that I would have eventually told too many people to back down. I played a game of chicken with myself and I didn't swerve out of the way.

Thinking back on 2011, it was a big year for me. And I can honestly say when the clock struck midnight on December 31st, 2010, there is no way I could have ever dreamed where I would be just one year later. But when as the countdown got to one on New Years Eve, I was so happy. I felt like I really accomplished something, I felt like I actually moved forward instead of just standing still. I shook up the snow globe of my life and sand settled on the bottom. What a fantastic change of pace!

I'm actually not sure what the point of this post was.... I think it was to reflect on 2011 but I really want to just say how fantastic my New Years Eve was. Around my family and Andrew at the little motel we spent so many holidays when we were growing up. I wanted to freeze that moment and hold onto it, just as it was. But I think 2012 holds a whole new set of adventures, so we celebrate at midnight and we keep moving forward. Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!