Whew...

Wow, I can't quite believe the holidays are already over (nor the fact that there is already Valentine's Day stuff in the stores). I feel like they really snuck up on me and suddenly they're over! On the whole, I enjoyed myself. Christmas at my parents' house tends to be pretty low-key, which I'm quite ok with. All my relatives live on the East Coast, so we don't have millions of extended family members bombarding our house. Sometimes it would be nice to have a few more people around, but I'd really rather have it be quiet instead of going nuts because this or that relative is being insane. I'll admit though, it was a little weird since this was the first Christmas that my brother has been married, so it was the first Christmas where he really wasn't around much. I know he's got lots of other responsibilities now, but I missed having him around. Guess I'll have to get used to that. Since I was practically the only person working over the holidays, there wasn't too much excitement. I had a blast on New Year's Eve, enjoyed Christmas and New Year's day and such, so I can't complain about the holidays at all. Just kinda bummed that they're over. So, in thinking about the new year and all, I've made a few resolutions:

1. Be more brave (which relates to #2)
2. Try new things (um, I'm not talking new things like skydiving, more like, new restaurants, new places, new music, books, bars, etc.)
3. Get in shape (yeah, I know, me and everyone else, but I've got a gym membership now, so more impetus to get off my ass)
4. Go to NYC/do some more travelling (sort of goes back to #1 & 2)
5. See more live music
6. Get a real job--hopefully a journalism or good teaching job
7. Get a tattoo?? (goes back to #1 and #3...) have to think more on this one.
Yeah, kind of a mishmash of things. We'll see how it all goes ;)

I went and saw "Pride and Prejudice" at the State last night--it was really good, beautiful music and some amazing shots. I had no idea that Donald Sutherland or Judi Dench were in it. Of course, since I'd just watched "Animal House" all I could think of when Donald Sutherland was on screen was him as the skeevy lit professor. I enjoyed it though, now I just need to read the book (shh, don't tell, I'm the worst English major! I'm probably the only one that hasn't read P & P!)

The holidays may be officially over, but there's still celebrations coming up at the house. My mom & dad's 29th wedding anniversary is on Sunday and my bro's 25th birthday is Monday. I can't quite believe my "little" brother is going to be 25! It's also pretty hard to believe that my parents have been married almost 30 years-good for them. They may make me a bit nuts at times, but I just hope that some day I'm as blessed/lucky in marriage as they have been.

There are a few musical possibilities in the works, one of which is Hard-FI. I first heard them when I was in England and they're huge there. They just finished a tour and every night was sold out. Cool that they're coming here! Best of all, since no one here has really heard of them, tickets are only $8:) Go see them, their music is entertaining (check out "Cash Machine" available on iTunes).

Ciao,
Sasha