New Years Eve 2010

In 2010 it was the best Christmas of my life: It was also the best New Years Eve too.

I had a midnight kiss to remember.

(I really wanted a 70's look for this picture because It reminds me of pictures of my parents from the 70's that we have in photo albums in storage. )

Met new friends for 2011. (and hello I want purple hair soooo bad!)

Found a gorilla at the party.

Found a friend too.

It was so cold in Arizona on NYE that we were inside a house yet everyone still had on their jackets. We left at around 1 and when we left there was frost and ice on everything. This is not typical behavior for AZ so all those folks out there saying "oh no ice!? WE GOT A BLIZZARD!" my thin blood isn't prepared to deal with it. I was freeeeezing.

NYE 2010

It was a very Merry Christmas

Easily the best Christmas of my adult life so far.

We put up our tree (read: Ross took it out of the box and plugged it in) before thanksgiving. I just couldn't wait any longer and Ross was okay with the idea of it going up early. We strung up lights around the apartment and up the handrail on the stairs a couple weeks later. We got really into the spirit by watching tons of holiday movies like Love Actually, Elf, White Christmas, A Christmas Carol, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and others. As soon as I got a present home I would wrap it up and stuff it under the tree to make the apartment glow a little more and to keep Ross from peeking at his presents. Ross was so sweet and got me a stocking for Christmas since we don't really do them at my parents house and I didn't have one.

It's Hello Kitty!!

I kept begging Ross to open up a present. I tried to barter gifts to open up a big one he had under the tree which was odd because I have never had trouble with waiting for christmas or being nosy with presents. He didn't budge =/ but we did open one of the candles we had gotten for ourselves because Ross got sick and it was gonna help him get better.

On Christmas eve eve I finally got Ross to open up the gift that I was most anxious for him to open.

They have an arts festival in Tempe at the beginning of December and in the spring where tons of great artists and vendors come to sell their stuff. I passed by this great booth that had ornaments you could personalize and I just couldn't pass on by without grabbing us an ornament to celebrate our first Christmas together. Hopefully we'll be able to keep on getting on ornament for each our Christmases together =)

Here was our little tree and the gifts underneath. I couldn't pick a wrapping paper for the presents this year so I opted for brown postal paper and fun ribbon. It wasn't the easiest to wrap but I like the simplicity and highlighting the beautiful ribbons.

We went to Ross' mom, Suzanne's house on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and boy did I like it there. She is so creative and has such a great eye for decoration and her house just felt like Macy's it was sooo pretty.

We went to my parents house Christmas afternoon and evening and playing a pretty fun game of White Elephant. I'm still trying to deal with the fact that I don't have a working camera (aside from my camera phone) So that is another resolution for 2011: to save up some money and buy a nice camera and find the power cord for my current pocket Nikon.

-Mari

I turned 21 (part deux)

After the little party at my place we rode over to Mill Ave. and started the night at Z Tejas with some fantastic girls from work.

The had me drinking uh-mazing margaritas and infused Patron shots that later caught up to me. They brought a piece of cake for me and everyone sang happy birthday and i just felt so loved =)

Ross, Me, Laci

The most amazing girls to work with

Shannon, Laci, Me, Carissa (missing Cydney, Mindi, and Symon)

My old friend Sandra even made it too and it had been forever since I had seen her. Made my heart grow three sizes!

Next we went to an underground dueling piano bar where the alcohol really started to kick in. Someone ordered me a skrewdriver and an Adios Mother Fucker after three very strong Margaritas and a Patron Shot.

I've known Sara since Sophomore year of HS!

I kept on telling them to get a good picture of me and Ross because since my camera broke we have so few and I feel like I'm missing out on catching important moments.

At The Big Bang they called me up on stage twice where they had us celebrating birthdays dance and the second time I came up they had me and one other girl demonstrate how to use the shake weight. I thought I was gonna die because me and Ross keep having running jokes about the shake weight and I had it on some awesome-random-weird creation pedestal that I think I squealed when they brought them out. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of "Oh my God I get to hold one!" (also I just tried to spell squealed by writing "skwelled" instead thank you college education and spell check!)

We then bar hopped to a place called College Dropouts where things quickly went south. Ross said i had moments of lucidity where I was in and out and someone had the bright idea to order me their favorite shot-tabasco and tequila. Right after taking just a sip of that I quickly made it to the bathroom and spilled my guts. All I remember is that I held up my hair, cleaned my face, and that the floor was wet. blahhhhh

Everyone said that you have to get sick on your birthday and boy was I feeling it then and the next day. I did get some battle wounds in form of random huge bruises on my legs but I learned an ever more important lesson on alcohol tolerance and now I'm really excited to be able to go out and do adult things with my 1-2 beers or mixed drink/wine.

I turned 21

This picture was taken by Ross at Four Peaks in Tempe, AZ at around 12:08 AM 12/18/10 or my 21st birthday. I was so excited to have my first *legal* drink and finally be part of the big kids club. It's been hard always having friends who were older and especially hard when so many of them turned 21 and wanted to hangout at 21 and over places. I am sooo happy to be able to go to the local pubs or little bars around the corner and hangout after work or on weekends. I'm not a big drinker but I'm so excited to be able to buy a bottle of wine or beer to go with pizza or even liqueurs to bake with.

We had a party at our apartment for people to meet up and then hit Mill Ave. or the local ASU college bar scene. The party was complete with a Hello Kitty theme.

A sweet birthday gift from Ross' mom Suzanne

A cuuuttte banner we found at Target/Wal-Mart (?) and a clean apartment

Unique beer cooling system (read: broke and not wanting to spend money on an actual cooler) This idea was great thought because the ice melted right into the sink! =)

Cupcakes, cheese tray, spinach dip, chex mix, and veggie wraps. (plus a piece of art Ross did!)

up next- the drunken pictures from out on the bars.

*hint**hint* I puked =/

2011 Resolutions

Happy New Year!!

This is a candid picture a friend of ours took at his New Years Eve party right after the ball dropped.

I took one of those blogging breaks that i like to take so often this finals/holiday/birthday season. I really wanted to blog and I still read blogs every day even if I don't write or comment but I just didn't feel like it? I don't know I think it was this pressure that putting on myself that my blog isn't that good and it never will be so why try? I thought about it alot over the holidays and really wanted to take the whole surge everyone gets after the new year and put that into some resolutions I made. Perhaps this does blog suck- but at least in 2011 I can say this will suck with gusto!

#1 Reconnect with Friends

I have this bad habit of making great friends and then not keeping in touch. School and work are always number one priorities so I almost use that as an excuse to not stay in touch with good friends or fade away from old friends. I would really like to strengthen my existing friendships and reconnect with some old friends that I've been missing and would like to see more in the future. I'm learning that this isn't high school were you see your friends everyday and don't have to try. Now, in our more adult lives you do have to try and make this relationships happen and stay connected or your friendships will fall away or disintegrate. It's something that has taken me a bit to learn but in 2011 I would like to not be such a homebody and do the same things over and over again but seek out new friends and old friends and interact and live my life with theirs more.

#2 Fibers Crafts

2011 is the year for me and yarn and my sewing machine. I can feel it! This year I would like to focus on getting focused and serious about my hobbies. I feel really comfortable with crochet and Ross' mom Suzanne was so kind to gift me knitting needles and books to learn how to knit. I also got a set of round knitting looms (thanks 50% off Michael's coupon!) and have had tons of fun experimenting on that so far. (I made a little bobby looking knitted hat!) Ross gave me a beautiful Kitchenaid mixer for Christmas too and I would love to sew up some napkins and dish towels and an apron to all match and inspire both sewing and baking ideas. I can feel so much creativity for this year and I'm excited to have an easier school schedule and graduating this semester to focus on my hobbies some and loosen up and have fun.

#3 Blog 5 days a week

I am going out on such a huge limb but I would LOVE to be able to have something I'm proud of online and a 5 day a week blog. Sometimes when I look at my blog I get a little down because it's sporadic and not too creative or a representation of me. It sometimes feels like a chore and I, while trying, never got the real flow of it or got my blog to point where it would be a creative outlet and something to be really proud and happy of. This year I am going to try and really spend some time (especially before the school year begins) on making this blog look, sound, and feel the way I feel and what I want to put out there. I started this blog when I was coming out of a time where I was severely depresses and had communication anxiety to help me find my voice and self again. That was a long time ago and I'm a very different person today but I do still feel like i'm finding my voice and I might always be looking for it but this blog and my new years commitment to it is going to help me in my journey. As always I've so very pleased you've spent some sidebar time on me and feel so blessed I've *met* so many great people through blogger and online.

I have loved reading new years resolutions that others have posted and I'm hopping that together with all this excitement and energy we can all make some greta change in our own lives and in the lives of others. Here are some thing I'm really looking forward to in 2011

Going to the UN Commission on the Status of Women meeting in NYC in February

Ross' 25th birthday

Graduating from ASU with my Bachelors

The birth of my brothers third baby in July

Applying for graduate school and maybe moving to a new state.

What are some things that you are looking forward to in 2011?

-mari

It's Finals Season

Goodness I really wanted to be able to post everyday but I had my first final today and thankfully have all my finals and classes will be done by Tuesday.

December 9 – Party Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans. (Author: Shauna Reid)

The social gathering that WILL rock my socks will be my 21st birthday. In exactly 9 days I will be 21 and you better be sure that I am going big. My birthday is one week before Christmas and it has always sucked so the past 6 years I didn't have a party or do anything really special because I knew it was really just an imposition on people's busy holiday calendars and forgetful. I was sort of saving all those missed birthdays so I could have one night that is really mine. One night where I counted on peopel to coem and celebrate my birthday with me. A 21st birthday, to me, is the last real community wide rite of passage you go through other than marriage or buying a house but this one is the most participative. I can't marry everyone on my wedding day but I can get fabulously dressed up and get pissed drunk with everyone on my 21st birthday. I plan to serve chips and dip, finger foods, cupcakes, cake, and hot chocolate before we go out to the bars. I plan to really look and listen for an amazing soundtrack for the night and I am using some Lady Gaga and Katy Perry (Firework would be perfect). I am trying to have a Hello Kitty theme too complete with hats and cake =) If you have any vegetarian appetizers and fantastic party songs send them my way!

December 8 – Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful. (Author: Karen Walrond)

I had a real hard time growing up and thinking I was beautiful. Everyone I saw around me that were "beautiful" looked nothing like me and so I just never could describe myself as beautiful and instead I started to think of myself as smart and funny and creative and my identity was formed around that. I think what makes me beautiful is that I don't ever fell is (if that's not backwards thinking I don't know what is but it's true). I developed other aspects of myself other than pretty hair and a beautiful body because I never though I had those things. Now I know that I am beautiful but it's my intelligence and whit and whimsy and creative side that the most personal aspects to me and are my most treasured and beautiful parts of me.

December 7 – Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011? (Author: Cali Harris)

My first sense of Community in 2010 was definitely found in collegetown. Those folks I met there gave me so much that I could ever ask for and once again it was a life changing experience. You can read about it here, here, here, here, here, here and I really do miss everyone. Anotehr place I got a sense of community would be from the girls I work with at The Shoe Mill. They told me when I got hired that their coworkers are more like a family and everyday has just shown me that more and more. I feel blessed that I get to know everyone and have been given the opportunity to work there.

I wish they all could be CaliforniaArizona girls.

"The west coast has the sunshine

And the girls all get so tanned"

"I dig a French bikini on Hawaii Island

Dolls by a palm tree in the sand"

"I wish they all could be California Arizona girls

I wish they all could be California Arizona girls"

"I been all around this great big world

And I seen all kind of girls"

"Yeah, but I couldn't wait to get back to the states

Back to the cutest girls in the world"

"I wish they all could be California Arizona girls

I wish they all could be California Arizona girls"

"California Girls" by The Beach Boys

and a grill picture because yes we were that drunk on the 4th of July =)

my plug in baby

note: this post is picture heavy

Muse was insane. There were laser beams galore and an amazing set list. Muse really are in credible artist and they sounded better live than any recording I've heard. It was an amazing night.

waiting in line for shirts

my good friend Sara and I in our seats before the show

huge monitors

Their set up and lights were amazing

starlight ♥

Giant eyeballs filled with confetti

Knights of Cydonia ♥

on the light rail

We got lost on our way back but met friends and told jokes while finding/waiting for the light rail.

After the show I hung out with some girl friends for a bit then ended the night at Ross's place where he had some friends over and where I got some pictures of us =)

I don't know how to avoid running into coffee tables.

I had a great medic to fix me up though =)

our cheesy drinking smiles

I had a fantastic weekend and I hope you all have a lovely Monday and a great start to another week =)