Live gets better after college!

Wow, time is going by so so fast.  It just needs to sloooow down.

So much has passed.  Starting with my 25th birthday, celebrating my bday and Mark’s football championship win, our first Christmas morning home together exchanging more than 1 or 2 gifts, then Christmas with my dad and Mark’s bigggg family, big fueds with my sister… big, then problems with my mom, lots of work and long hours in the office, then finally NYE 2011, Redskins vs. Giants game and seeing my BFF from 2nd grade.

I think that pretty much wraps it up!

My 25th birthday was great.  I worked, but it was a Friday so I didn’t mind much.  I really felt like it was a milestone day for me.  25.  Wow, that’s a lot of years!  And I don’t look at it in a way that I’m old, literally.  It feels more like wow I’m really proud/happy of where I am in my life at 25 and how far I’ve come, even in the past few years.  I’m an adult and there’s something about 25 that makes that official.  I’m so happy that I’m independent from my parents, as I see a lot of my old friends are not.  I have a wonderful relationship with my boyfriend, a great job that I love, my first new car I worked really hard for, and a nice place to live.  I’m very thankful.  I spend most the day thinking about all my accomplishments in the back of my mind.  25 is a great place to be and I’m learning more and more every year that life gets better after college!

We went out my bday night along with the football coaches to celebrate their successful season.  I actually had a really good time.  First of all, I got wasted but I also actually knew people there, girls that I could actually talk to and have a good time with.  That never happenends.  I usually just hang out with Mark and his guy friends all night, which is cool, but it’s fun to do it with girls sometime too!  The next day Mark and I were totally hung over.  Bad.  Haven’t been that hung over in a long, long time.  Probably a year, at least.  But we found the strength to pull ourselves together and spent the day at Mark’s mom’s house to celebrate mine and his sister’s 30th birthday.  Enough said about that for now…

(I gave up complaining for 2011)

Anywho, Christmas morning was awesome!  Mark and I got up at 7:30 a.m., like kids.  We went for a coffee run and saw it was snowing and I was so thrilled and so excited to see it!  Not a lot, but just enough to make me happy.  I’m glad we got up that early or we would’ve missed it.  We came home and tore open each other’s presents in the middle of the living room floor and it was great.  I loved seeing Mark open everything up, I got him a lot of stuff this year.  It’s nice to have real jobs and enough money to treat each other now.  He got me a bunch of great things too, things I really wanted.  He knows me.  And the best of all he got me a COACH PURSE!  I’m spoiled!  And I didn’t even have to ask for it, but I’ve said several times that I wanted one but couldn’t bring myself to pay that much for a handbag.  I’m glad he did it for me bc it’s one of those things I always wanted but would probably never bring myself to buy just for myself.  I would feel guilty spending that much money on ME.  But I love it and it’s perfect!

The day after Christmas we were planning on making the 4 hour drive to visit allllll of Mark’s moms side of the family.  Oh I was secretly hoping the snow would be worse and keep us grounded, and when it didn’t, I wasn’t happy about making the trip.  I kept thinking that I should’ve found a better excuse NOT to go.  I toughed it out and actually ended up having a really good time!  It’s funny how things work out like that sometime!  The past few times we’ve visited it’s awkward for me bc I don’t really KNOW them that well since they live so far away, we never see them!  Then we sometimes don’t have a lot to talk about and I’m a beer drinking kind of girl and I don’t want to look like a total drunk ass.  THIS time I was just myself!  If I wanted another beer, I got another.  If I wanted another plate of food, I did that too.  It’s been a few years now I’ve been making the trip to visit so I’m starting to fit in.  I guess Mark’s mom told everyone I wasn’t coming (bc I tried to use the work excuse first, didn’t work) and I was happy when ever another uncle or aunt came in they would say, "Ohh HI, I didn’t think you were coming!"  It was like they were ACTUALLY happy to see me.  It really made me feel good and apart of the mix. 

Christmas with my dad was great.  What can I say? I love my dad!  He’s so good to me.  We did dinner and presents, mostly just things on my xmas list.  Yes, I may be 25 but I still make a xmas list!

NYE was… was fun but I was feeling a little emotional that night over several different things and half of them I regreted the next morning.  We went to Mark’s friend’s house who just got married this past summer.  They’re such good people and Mark has known them forever, since they were kids.  Well, first I felt like I was the only one there who wasn’t friends with the rest of them since diapers and I didn’t really know the girls that well.  They were talking and laughing about all kinds of things from high school and I felt a little left out.  In the morning I snapped out of it and realized I was obviously just in the wrong conversation bc even the next door neighbors were there and they’re new friends to them.  But when the hostess was like "this is ___ she was my bridesmaid" it made me sad inside that I miss/need those kind of girl relationships again.  Makes me sad I’ve lost touch with so many of my close friends.  Anyways, the other reason I was sad was bc I noticed everyone at the NYE party was either married or engaged and I wasn’t one of them.  With the exception of 2 single people and 1 couple who hasn’t been dating that long, we were the only ones not married.  I think I even said something to Mark about it before falling asleep but I don’t really remember.  I do remember my eyes tearing up though.  In the morning I realized that those feelings were real, but didn’t need to co

me out like that.  We will be married…. one day.  We’ll be engaged soon and I just need to be paitent.  No need to rush a beautiful thing.  The rest of our lives will start in due time.  That night I remember thinking to myself, what’s wrong with me?  Why aren’t we engaged yet?  Why does he not want me?  I was sad about it in the back of my (drunken) mind, but I think I still managed to have some what of a good night.  I know those thoughts came from all the pressure that’s on me/us CONSTANTLY to get married and all the comments are starting to mess with my head.  That pisses me off that other people can really make me feel like that.  I need to be stronger.

Well that was a good, long update!  I’m going to play Donkey Kong now.  Mark went to his friends house to watch the playoff game and I decided to stay home.  Gnight!