12 on 12/12/12

In case you haven't been on Twitter or Facebook yet where everyone is telling us the date, it's 12/12/12. I've been sitting here thinking of fun things to do to mark the occasion...run 12 miles tonight? drink 12 glasses of wine? Well, I can't quite run 5 miles without feeling like I might pass out and while 12 glasses of wine would be great, it would take me until the next repetitive date to recover from that hangover.

So instead, I'm celebrating with a list because the least I can do today is celebrate the things I'm really excited about. So here goes-- the 12 things I'm most excited about right now:

1. The Tap n' Run 4K this Saturday. I was planning on taking it seriously by skipping the beer stops along the course and trying to get a good time, but I changed my mind. I'm doing this for fun, so I need to make it fun. This means I will skip, dance, twirl and drink beer through the course and just enjoy the fun of it and not stress myself out about the time.

2. Finally having my house decorated for Christmas. I say finally because apparently December 9th is way too late to go out looking to buy a real tree, white Christmas lights and a tree stand. We had to go to several stores before we tracked down the lights and stand. WalMart was completely out of both and by the way the staff reacted to us asking for these things, you'd think we were looking for this stuff in April or something.

Anyway, this is my third Christmas in my house and while I've put up a tree every year, this is the first year I've had the house fully decorated. We have lights on the bushes outside, the porch window and the sliding glass door. There is a wreath on the door and garland up the stairway. There a little bell ornaments throughout the house and a holiday centerpiece on the kitchen table. A lot of this is thanks to my awesome roomie helping me decorate. We had a blast decorating. I just love her! We even got a real tree (another 1st for me)!

3. Reuniting with my friends from college. I haven't seen some of these girls since we graduated in 2008 and almost all of us we be together in Orlando for one night in January. I couldn't be more excited about this.

4. My best friend Laura moving in with me in February. I lived with Laura before I bought my house and we've only become better friends since then. I can't wait for her to join our happy home. There will so much baking and dancing going on!

5. Christmas baking with my mom. It's looking like we'll have our annual cookie baking day the Sunday before Christmas and I can't wait. I haven't figured out what to bake yet, but I know it is going to be an awesome day with my mom!

6. This little guy. Meet Ashton David, my beautiful new nephew. I can't wait to hold this little boy in my arms. I just need to get my butt up to Buffalo soon so I can meet him!

7. Jacksonville at the end of the month. My roomie is joining me in Jacksonville for my cousin's wedding just a few days after Christmas. They are getting married on the beach and I couldn't be happier for these two. I'm also excited to get some quality time in with my good friend Kendal who lives there as well.

8. My two younger sisters are moving closer. Right now, one of them lives about 30 minutes from me and the other lives with my parents about an hour away. This weekend, they are moving into their new apartment which is only about 20 minutes from my house! I am so happy to have them both closer.

9. Blake wearing a Santa hat. This makes me happier than it should, but he is just too cute. We will be taking a family photo that involves this hat at some point.

10. The state of my friendships. I have been a little down lately about my lack of success in the relationship department. I know I'll meet the right one eventually, but I can't help but feel a little sad/lonely sometimes. On the flip side, I think back to about 4 years ago when I moved back to Orlando after college and didn't have any close girlfriends. I've come a long way since then and can't say how thankful I've been lately for the group of very close girlfriends I have. It's something I never take for granted because I remember the time I would have given anything for a few really good girlfriends. I have those and they keep me sane, they keep me laughing, they dance with me in public and they are there for me no matter what. I am so overjoyed to have girls like this in my life.

11. Messy Twister. I don't know why I didn't think of this before (Thank you Pinterest), but it's brilliant. This will be happening in my house sometime in the next few months. I can't wait!

12. Life. I haven't completely been myself lately and I am worrying, stressing out about things and getting down on myself. BUT...in the midst of all of this, I am fully aware of how blessed I am. I have faith that the things I am worrying about will work out in their own time and the struggles I feel like I am going through will make the good things to come so worth the wait. Despite the things I want to change/fix/find, I am so excited about the life I'm living. It's all about perspective, that's for sure!

Tell me...

What are you most excited about right now? Are you doing anything exciting to mark 12/12/12?