2022!

 

Happy New Year!

It's a brand new year and I'm feeling sassy! And you want to know why?

Yepperdoodles, 2022 is the year I'm getting married again and I finally get to plan and have a wedding. Taz and I eloped at the county courthouse and although we had a couple of vow renewals during our 30+ years together, it wasn't the same as having a real wedding so I'm going to enjoy every second of this experience.

But first, time for a few Christmas and New Year memories with my family.

Our little family had a very nice holiday season. We had the kids for the 2nd week of Christmas break so that meant from Christmas morning until they went back to school on January 4. 

That's 12 days.

12 whole freaking days of having to provide 3 meals a day and try to work from home with 2 kids running around OR having to take them to the office and still try to get work done while dealing with constant noise and arguments. Yeah, good times.

It was awesome.

We had a fun Christmas morning with just the 4 of us and then, after opening presents and having a delicious breakfast casserole, we packed up the car and drove to Daytona to spend time with Chris's older kids and our grandson. We also packed up Christmas dinner and brought it with us because we had a condo type place with a full kitchen so we could host everybody. It was wonderful to have us all together and we got to have the grandson overnight so all the kids got to spend hours swimming.

Only one thing marred Christmas weekend, a woman that Chris had considered a mother figure for the past several years passed away on December 26 and he was really shaken by it even though it was not unexpected. 

We still had the kids New Years Eve weekend so we spent it all together at a theme park resort. I, silly fool that I am, had visions of us all taking part in the celebration they were holding in the hotel's food court with balloon animals, movies and watching the ball drop at midnight.

The kids had other ideas and wanted to go swimming so that's what we did until the pool closed at 10. I was a little cranky, I have to admit, because it was a struggle to find dinner and I was starving - the food court had long lines and no food that the kids wanted, Dominos had a 3 hour wait and the grill out by the pool was closed. Luckily Chris came through and found pizza delivery that arrived in just 45 minutes so I was able to eat by 9pm preventing tears...well, most of the tears.

We were back up in the motel room by 10:30 and even though we had every intention of staying up until midnight, we failed. The kids fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie and I just closed my eyes while Chris was watching a football game and playing on his tablet and next thing I knew it was 2am and everybody else was sound asleep and I had missed the new year yet again. I used to ALWAYS be awake (and often partying) at midnight and now I haven't been awake to welcome in the new year since 2017.

Oh well, maybe next year will be more romantic.

On to wedding planning! We got engaged in July and didn't even mention the word wedding for 2 months but in September we got serious and found a venue. Since then I have purchased my wedding dress (I LOVE my dress!!!,) we've compiled a guest list, rented a vacation house where we'll be staying for the wedding weekend and hosting an after party, picked out some of the music and arranged to have some really special Save The Dates made for us to send out to our guest list in February since many people will be traveling to the wedding and need to make arrangements ahead of time.

We still need to figure out what everybody else will be wearing, pick out the menu for the small reception at the venue, choose a cake (my favorite part!) and figure out how we're going to decorate the vacation house for the after party. It's a Halloween wedding after all so I want to go a little wild with the theme.

It's not going to be very traditional - no sit down dinner, no dancing, no throwing of the bouquet and garter. People will be encouraged to change into their swimsuits at the after party and enjoy the pool, hot tub and pool table. I just want to relax and laugh with my family and closest friends...while looking like a princess, of course.

Since so much will be going on this year, I vow to do better with blogging and try to write at least once a week. Don't worry, it won't always be about the wedding; I am so not a bridezilla. I really want to document the ups and downs of life with an unexpected family now that I'm closing in on 2 years of this new adventure.

I also want to document the experience of having a new relationship later in life. It's daunting to start all over again after so many years. Sometimes I miss my old life so much, sometimes I am thrilled to have new experiences, sometimes I wonder if I've taken on more than I can handle, sometimes I'm overwhelmed - either by love or exhaustion, depends on the day. I'm going to try to share all of that with you - the good and the bad.

But for now I'll leave you with a picture of us on Christmas Eve when we took the dogs for a walk at the park. See you again soon!