HELLO, 2014.

confession: i've never really been that into New Years (Eve). 
maybe it's because i love Christmas so freaking much and New Years has always felt like a wannabe Christmas to me. like it was trying to hard to be something when really it's always just been another day. 

or maybe it's because i've never really attended a New Years Eve party.

every year Ella Fitzgerald asks me what i'm doing New Years Eve and i'm like dude, Ella. same thing i do every year. donning my best pair of pajamas, eating something i will probably regret and crawling into bed shortly after shouting HAPPY NEW YEAR.  

every year it's the same and still she keeps asking. like maybe she thinks i'll stop being pathetic and actually hit up a party one year. but i never do.

unless you count the one i went to ten years ago. it was held in some suburb of Atlanta. i don't even remember whose house/party it was. i just remember agreeing to go because i was starving and since it was a mormon kid party, i was certain that in lieu of alcohol, there would be food. at very least cookies. and if there were no food or cookies, i planned on leaving the party to hit up Taco Bell by myself.

if you think i'm joking about any of that, pretend i am looking you straight in the eye and telling you with all seriousness that that is 100% true. 

for the record, there wasn't anything to eat and my friends and i did go to Taco Bell afterwards. and together 2004 and a delicious chalupa rolled into my life. 

(quit judging me for liking Taco Bell so much.) 

ten years later i rang in the 2014 New Year in my pajamas (naturally) while playing Catch Phrase with garrett, my parents and my aunt and uncle. 

every year i always see pictures on facebook of friends dressed to the nines. they go to fancy restaurants and even fancier parties. they drink fancy drinks from fancy glasses and from what i can tell, they show no signs of fatigue.

aside from the aforementioned cookie-less party, my new years celebrations have always been pretty low-key. and i'm usually yawning quite a bit. in 2008 i went to my friend (and future roommate) Ashley's birthday/new years eve party. it was fun. and i actually stayed dressed the whole night and didn't put on my pajamas at 8:30 pm. we drank Martinelli's from plastic cups and i got my first ever new years kiss. talk about fancy, eh?

his name was Becker. and he was Ashley's family dog. 

as you can tell from the picture, he licked the inside of my mouth it was a dream come true. 


despite my not being all that into New Years Eve celebrations, i do like making and setting goals for myself. i especially like that i can do it in pajamas.

(quit judging me for liking pajamas so much.) 

this year i have set a few goals for myself that i will share here. 

first and foremost, i am going to get back into blogging. 
i know, i know. i've said that how many times now? at least a million. 
but i've actually been planning this one for a while now. 

our life got so chaotic back in June when we started our temporary move across the country for garrett's internship. everything just sort of got too crazy for me to keep track of. 

i would think about this blog of mine and get this pang of guilt. i hated that i wasn't blogging. i hated that i was letting stories and memories and pictures fall by the wayside because i had forgotten how to make blogging a priority. 

after my last post, i decided i was going to just wait until the New Year to begin blogging again. i needed the time to gather my thoughts and as lame as it is, i needed the opportunity to set the goal for myself.

chances are i won't be perfect, but i am going to put a serious effort into blogging more. 

in addition to blogging more, i am going to take more pictures.

in 2008 i got a really nice camera for christmas. i love it. i love what it does. but it's big and i sort of feel like a loser when i pull it out to take a picture of something or someone. but i don't care how touristy i look anymore. i want to remember things. i want to take pictures. and i want to get better in my picture taking. so i'm going to. 
deal with it.

i have also set the obligatory goals for myself. 
exercise more. eat healthier. have better sleeping habits. 

i want to work out at least 5 days a week. and since my parents gave me the Zumba Fitness Exhilarate Body Shaping System (that's kind of  mouthful, no?) and the Jawbone Up for Christmas, i have no excuses to not meet that goal. 

i also want to continue in my constant goals to eat gluten free and sugar free.
and i want to try a new gluten free recipe every month.

i also want to read a new book every month. i'm open to any and all suggestions. 

anyways, those are a few of my goals. hold me accountable, okay? 

i'll be back here soon. pinky New Years resolution promise. 

love,
kate.

lyrics: let's watch the old year die with a fond goodbye and our hopes as high as a kite