Welcome to 2010.

Sadly, vacation is over. Tear. It was a good one though. Let's recap, shall we?

Ok. So first day of vacation (Tuesday 12/22) technically was the last day of school and I picked up my sister at the train station in Providence and we then hightailed it to Boston for the Celtics game:

Sadly my "husband" as I like to refer to him as, did not play (Kevin Garnett for those

of you not in the know) and not only did he not play, he wasn't even freaking there!!! I was not happy, but it turned out to be a really good game. We had a good time.

I worked Wed and Thurs at be jeweled and then got a little tipsy Christmas eve. Started with a glass of champagne after we closed be jeweled, continued with two more glasses at my house and then at my Aunt's house that turned into a glass of wine and some V&T's....whoops.

Christmas day woke up bright and early at 6:45 am and went to my parents to open presents. I got some really great gifts- New Kids on the Block dvd, For Like Ever poster, gloves from Aldo I wanted, tshirt from etsy that I LOVE, can't tell you how much I love it, umm and the freaking Parson's desk from West Elm- um, hi. It's beautiful. I heart it with all my heart. You can see it and the rest of the mess that was/is my living room in this pic:

And once I get a mat for my For Like Ever poster, that's going on the wall right above the desk! Love it!!

Ok, so after Christmas died down things were still busy. Saturday after Christmas I don't remember what I did, probably slept in, I also believe I went to the gym. Lightbulb- oh and I also went to a friend's house for an "Uglier Sweater than Mike's" party. Sunday went to see Wicked with my fam in Providence (was supposed to go to the Pats game with Josh and Renee and her husband but because Mom bought the Wicked tickets without double-checking, I was double-booked) and I feel like I had something Sunday night but that's eluding me as well.

Monday went to Providence Place with my Mom and four little cousins and brother so they could play games at Dave and Buster's which was fun, but really tiring. Don't think I did anything Monday night. Tuesday I went to the Ashland Public Library to pick up some copies of Domino magazine they were holding for me (and as the librarian ever so nicely said [sarcasm], they had been holding them for a while) and then the Natick Collection. I was looking for a dress for my birthday and also I really wanted to go to Anthropologie. There needs to be one of those way closer to me. I really love that place. So I got a dress there for my birthday which of course I can't find a picture of online to post here, but it's really cute. Navy, white and teal striped, belted waist, super cute. I also go the most amazing bra ever at Aerie, comfortable and quite the push-up! I've found my new favorite place to buy bras now, fyi.

Then on the way home from the mall I got a call from my Dad that my heat had gone off, and would not go back on. Super. I was supposed to go to Tokyo with the Bunco girls for dinner but did not make it because I was running around buying electric heaters so my pipes wouldn't freeze and you know, explode. Ugh. Slept at my parents house Tuesday night, and finally restarted the heat around noon on Wednesday. Went to the gym and then back home to like reorganize my life. Josh came by for dinner and we hung out until he had to go to work and I went to bed.

Wednesday night I got invited by Mike (ugly sweater Mike) to go to the Venus de Milo for New Years Eve. I've NEVER done anything dressy and fun for New Years so I was really excited to go. I had my work cut out for my looking for a dress for New Years eve on New Years eve. Especially when that morning I was going to Ikea with my Mom. Bright and early we went to Ikea, I got a plant for my dining room, a frame for my For Like Ever poster, another set of silverwear, more wine glasses, shower curtains and they didn't have the shelf I wanted for my bedroom. Oh and I got a bedside light for my room and some storage boxes. We stopped at the Galleria on the way home for me to check out Forever 21 and H&M but no luck there for a dress. When I got home my sister and I ran to the Dartmouth Mall- nada, then Target- nada. I was thisclose to going to the Target in Wareham to see if they had a dress in my

size but the time stopped me. It was like 4:00 and I needed to be ready by 6:30 so by the time I went to Wareham and back, that wouldn't have worked out well for me. So I decided to search for navy tights and wear the dress I was planning on wearing for my bday.

Apparently navy tights are the most difficult thing in the world to find. Back to Target- nothing, Macy's- nothing, CVS- nothing, FINALLY at Walgreen's they had some. Rush home, stop quickly at a liquor store because I am in need of a drink (cheap champagne- perfect) and start to get ready. Shower all that fun stuff, and finally put the tights on. So not the same navy as in the dress. Perfect. I decide eff it, no tights for me I'm wearing the dress with my J.Simp brown heels and I'm good to go. Here's a picture of the dress, and if you make note of my face in the picture, you will have an indication of a. how fun New Years eve is at Venus and b. how I may have drank a tad bit too much on New Years eve at the Venus (Sorry for the sideways pic, I can't figure out how to rotate it):

Here's a better view of the dress, and me looking more sober-ish:

Ok, so New Years Eve was fun, pretty much like prom for adults. With alcohol.

So needless to say I had quite the hangover headache New Years day. I woke up early, but stayed in bed until like 11:00 regrouping. Didn't do much during the day, cleaned, organized my house and don't remember what I did that evening.

Saturday the 2nd was my birthday night out. Technically my birthday was yesterday but because who wants to celebrate on a Sunday night, Sat night it was! I had a dilemma though, because I had worn the dress I was originally planning on wearing already- nothing to wear! Enter my like fourth trip to Providence Place with my sister of the vacation. I ended up getting this shirt from J.Crew and LOVING it (a lot of visuals today):

Sadly a few people who I really was looking forward to celebrating with couldn't make it out for my birthday but I still managed to have an AMAZING night! Here's my favorite picture of the evening. I believe Mrs. Mare Studios herself was taking the picture (friend Renee, self-proclaimed nickname) and the instant she took the pic a poor girl fell down the stairs behind my sister, cousin and myself and this was our reaction:

Fun night. Then later that night I made my first official screw-up of 2010 (I'm pretending it happened while I was still 27, so it's not part of my year 28) which I don't want to get into the details of, but let's just say it's a doozie. Onwards and upwards right? Learn from mistakes.

So when I finally dragged myself out of bed on my actual birthday I discovered my heat had shut off and would not turn back on. Again. I turned the space heaters back on and went back to bed. It turned on at 10:30 only to shut off a few minutes later and not turn back on for a while. I was pleasantly surprised by a visit from Meaghan who couldn't make it out the night before, which was awesome to see her pull into my driveway. We disected the evening, the screw-up, I gave her her Christmas/birthday gifts and she gave my mine. Oh. My. God. I LOVE IT. Small background: high school was awesome, I had amazing friends, we had a high school lip sync contest, my friends and I kicked ass in it, highlight of high school. For me anyway. Well, in cleaning and moving Meaghan discovered that her future-husband (who was one of the emcee's of the lip sync) had saved our score card from the judges. So she framed it for me. Ohmygosh, words can explain how neat it was to see that! I didn't even know it existed! (We got a perfect score btw.)

We then talked about wedding details (they're getting married in August) and she was off to run errands. I stayed home periodically attempting to restart my heat- fail. I couldn't shower I couldn't go anywhere. I was also snowed in. I could've shoveled to go to my parents house to shower but I was feeling annoyed by the whole sitch and refused to do that. I sat on my couch pouting, watching Sex and the City, facebooking and regretting the screw up. So FINALLY at like 2:00 in the afternoon I was able to get the heat going, finally showered and headed to my parents house. Watched the end of the Pats game there, listened to my brother and mother work on his research paper on Al Cappone, sat on the couch and ate onion dip with chips and veggies. I was in a foul mood. I felt guilty and selfish for feeling that way, but I felt like what a boring birthday, waiting for heat to come on on not only my bday but the last day of vacation.

For dinner my Mom made baked stuffed shrimp which was AMAZING and she even got me green beans which I love. So we then had cake and ice cream and I opened presents. My Mom paid for the stuff I got at Ikea so that was my gift from her, and from my brother and sister I got earrings from be jeweled that I really wanted, can't find a pic online, but I love them and a garage door opener from my Dad!!! Sooo excited about that! I love having a garage and don't really complain about having to get out of the car, open the door, get back in the car, drive into the garage, lock the car and then shut the garage door. Reverse for leaving the house. I mean hey, I could have no garage. But ohmygosh this is going to be amazing! Hopefully it gets installed soon, can't wait!!

So on the way home from my parents (I was tired and not feeling so hot after too much onion dip and just kind of down in the dumps mentally) I started thinking about a situation I have going on, which involved a guy, but it's not where I want it to be. It's just ok the way it is, but it's not really making me super happy. In the card from my parents my Mom wrote she and Dad really want me to be happy (not that I think they don't think I am, but that that's what they want for me in this new year) and I think a change in this situation would make me happier. So I'm going to have a conversation this evening that I think will change that. That is if I have the balls to actually have the conversation. Fingers crossed.

And that brings us to today. Last night I went home and went to bed pretty early in preparation for waking up bright and early for work today. Knock on wood the heat was working when I got up, and today was an ok day at work. Glad it's over. I have some prep work for tomorrow, but then I'm heading home to do some laundry (I have like two giant piles of dirty clothes), have dinner, and head to the gym to run and *hopefully* have the conversation I need to have. I have a knot in my stomach thinking about it. I just need to put my honestpants on an lay it all on the table. And take it from there. Good luck to me.

Thanks for bearing with my on this post if you made it to reading all the way to the end! Happy 2010 to you all!!