“Happy Freakin New Year!”

That’s what one of my friends said at 12:01am on January 1st. I can’t believe how fast 2008 went by. I mean, I probably think that every year but this last year I’ve felt like I was riding a roller coaster with my eyes glues open (and those of you who wear contacts know that’s not an altogether pleasant experience)! Don’t get me wrong, it was a fantastic year, but what did I even do? It’s all a blur.

I do recall the last 8 days of 2008 very well, though, as well as the first few days of 2009. Here’s the recap:

8 days to the New Year (aka Christmas Eve):
- No work, yay! Gotta love paid holidays!
- Went to Kmart and bought a small blow-up mattress.
- Picked up a photo (Christmas present for mom and dad) of me and sister at Inkley’s:

- Drove to the parents and turned their living room into my temporary living quarters.
- Slept with sister by the Christmas tree!

7 days to the New Year (aka Christmas Day):
- Merry Christmas!
- Got a new set of pots and pans. So excited to get home and cook with them.
- Sat around the parents’ house, read books, ate junk, an all-around lazy, snowy day!
- Slept with sister by the Christmas tree again… woke up with a sore throat! Aagh!

6 days to the New Year:
- Wedding dress shopping galore. Sister looks good in everything! How will she ever decide? Do you think the store lady would let me try some on? It looks like fun!
- Sister told me that I snorted a loud snore when she turned off the Christmas tree lights that night. I like the pretty lights, even when I’m unconscious!

5 days to the New Year:
-Wedding decoration shopping galore. I’m just about wedding-ed out, and it’s not for another 8 months! What kind of maid of honor am I?

4 days to the New Year:
- Slept in and went to church. Then drove home… so excited to sleep in my own bed!
- Wondered why I didn't stay at the parent's longer so as to partake of the wonderful, and free, cooking!\

3 days to the New Year:
- Slept longer than planned then got my lazy bum out of bed to clean the house.

- Tiffany (& Shaun), Robin (& Evan), and Katie (& Joey & Luke), some of my former roommates, came over for an evening of food, fun, and Wii! I have been truly blessed to have some wonderful roommates/friends in my life!

2 days to the New Year:
- Slept in then drove up to Wellsville to visit my cousin, Paula, and her family.
- Saw this psycho on I-15 on the way up:

- And this was the temperature outside:
- Went with Paula’s boys to the USU men’s bball game. They started out slow but squashed them in the end! Go aggies! I miss good ol’ USU. Have they started letting 14-year-olds into college or is it just me getting older? (Don’t answer that!)

1 day to the New Year:
- Slept in a long, long time.
- Lazily got ready to entertain a few friends for New Year’s Eve.
- Watched a few movies.
- Celebrated the New Year with a glass of bubbly (sparkling cider).
- Pondered on what happened to 2008.

1st day of the New Year:
- Recovered from my sparkling cider hangover.

- Realized how lazy I'd be if I didn't have to get up for work every day.
- The family came over and we BBQ’d steaks. So yummy!
- Watched a movie!
- Thought about taking down the Christmas decorations.
- Noticed that a spider has made a web from one point to another on the star on top of my tree.
- Wondered where that spider is now and whether or not I want to pack that star away without further investigation.
- Didn’t take down the Christmas decorations.

2nd day of the New Year:
- Wedding dress shopping again. Sister’s found “the one”! It’s so gorgeous!
- Dinner with the family then went to Marley & Me with mom and sister. It’s good, but I’d recommend waiting til it comes out on DVD.
- Slept at the parents again (on my blowup mattress, of course)!

3rd day of the New Year:
- Bridal Expo at Grand America. I can’t believe how much all this wedding crap costs. I better start saving up!
- Craving a hamburger and milkshake. All this Biggest Loser stress has taken it’s toll and it’s time to cheat.
- I love cheating when it comes to food!

4th day of the New Year (aka 1 day before D-day):
- Counting down the hours til I have to go back to work.
- I love the holiday shutdown with paid time off.
- Back to the real world tomorrow!

5th day of the New Year:
- I woke up at 5am and couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up and went into work.
- I got to work an hour and a half earlier than normal.
- My boss asked if I made a New Year’s resolution to get to work earlier.
- “No way, jose! This is a fluke, don’t expect this to be normal by any means!”
- Now I’m sleepy and could use a nap.
- It’s a tough life! :)

THE END.

Now WAKE UP and get back to doing whatever productive thing you were doing before you had the crazy idea that it would be fun to see what Brooke's been up to lately. But one more thing before you go... hasn’t the snow been beautiful?!