Can't say I'm all that excited this year

for NYE. I'm never really all that excited actually. I find myself wishing Christmas would last longer and I almost always end up spending NYE by myself, watching the ball drop on tv. I do enjoy New Years Day, however. That means the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl....I just get seriously miffed year after year, spending the New Year alone.

I have had a great week off so far though. I spent a very long weekend at my mom's house in Oxnard and we watched a lot of movies: The Hangover (which was just as great as everyone said it was), Terminator Salvation (I really can't get enough of Sam Worthington, especially after seeing Avatar), Sherlock Holmes (love Robert Downey Jr.!), It's Complicated and, of course, Avatar (saw it again this weekend in Imax 3D. Can't really say there was much of a difference between Imax and regular 3D. That movie is so fantastic, it really doesn't matter). Not to mention how quiet it is at my mom's house. I don't get enough quiet living next door to 3 partying boys.

I did forget to mention last week that I found the perfect birthday present for Shannon (his birthday was on the 11th and I posted about his birthday here) on Etsy: a custom engraved metal guitar pick (he plays the guitar all the time), which I gave to him last Wednesday before I left for the weekend. I wasn't even planning on getting him anything, but absolutely had to when I found this. It's just one of those gifts you find for someone, knowing the moment you find it that it's perfect and they'll love it. I decided to have his favorite lyric from Cat Stevens (he's obsessed) engraved on it and I actually went through and started picking my favorite lyrics of Cat Stevens. It turns out that one of the two lyrics Shannon gave me to choose from (and he had no idea what I was engraving, I just told him how many characters he could have) was one of my favorites. Yeah, I actually got the chills when he sent that line to me via text and found I was so excited about it, I couldn't go to sleep. Anyway, I gave that to him on Wednesday and he loved it. He got this big smile on his face and ran up to his room in an excited frenzy to put it in a special place before his roommate had even seen it. The whole thing was ruined for me because I wasn't feeling well that day, but it's a good memory nonetheless.

I didn't get many presents that were wrapped this year, but I did get money to go shopping and I, of course, had to go to Barnes and Noble. By far, one of my favorite places on the planet. I could spend all day in that place. I got quite a few books that I'm extremely excited to read!

I came back to my apartment last night and decided today that I would clean the hell out of it. I don't think I've cleaned my apartment in months. It was terrible. Let's just say, I was cleaning for at least 3 hours and it still smells faintly of cleaning products in here; mainly bleach. It is imensely gratifying, cleaning. There's dirt and you scrub, wipe, brush and spray it away; instant gratification! Well, three hours later instant, but you get the picture.

One thing I was really looking forward to doing over my break was reading more blogs and getting the opportunity to post more blogs of my own, but I have to say that perhaps I do get enough blogging time even with a full time job because I haven't been at it as much as I thought I would be. What I really need to do is revamp my blog layout. I need a photo for the header, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to find a good one yet. Maybe I'll just have to photograph it myself. I don't take enough photos as it is. I read on someone's blog recently about taking a photo a day as part of a list of things to do before she turns 30 (I'm going to remember who that was if it kills me! Aparently I have been reading a whole hell of a lot of blogs lately. I need to start taking notes or something lol). Such a good idea. I think I might have to steal that! A picture a day; now that's good New Years Resolution. That and finishing one of my books...not that I do New Years Resolutions...