For auld lang syne, my dear.

12.31.12

Hello everyone! & Happy New Year!  Feliz Año Nuevo!  Or almost, at least.  It's nochevieja (old night) here in Spain and 2013 is but 5 hours away.

It's weird being back in Lugo, mostly because it feels like I never left.  Then again, I did forget that the grocery stores are all closed on Sunday & my Spanish has notably deteriorated a bit... So I suppose there's no hiding the fact that I spent the last 12 days in America.  I didn't really know how much I loved that place (America) till I left; it's not that it's exceptionally shining and flawless, it's just that it's HOME.  Home is hard to trump.

Christmas 2012 was one of the best, maybe even the very best, of my life.  I've never been in a situation before where I was planning on spending the holidays alone & without my loved ones.  Home was easy to take for granted when I was only living 2 hours away.  So, being able to see my family, all my family, and Duane was even more magical that it would have been if I were still living in Land O Lakes right now.

Every day I was home was just great... I will put some highlights here because I'm sure no one except myself would care to read through an hour by hour account of my entire visit hehe:

1. Having lunch with Duane down by the water on my first day back (you can eat by the bay or the gulf in short sleeves in the sunshine in December!! Florida is cool, people) and being able to talk to him IN PERSON.
2. Being able to relax and hang out at the house with Dad and Mom and James just like old times.
3. Making Christmas cookies with James ;)
4. Having Duane be the best boyfriend ever and meet almost the whole family-- all the grandparents and aunt & uncle & cousins!
5. Having a whole day to hang out with my Mama & shop for party dresses & eat at our spot, Mimi's (hooray for Wine Wednesdays!)
6. Seeing The Hobbit in English with my family :p
7. Actually getting to celebrate with Duane for our first Christmas together, including having a magical night at Christmastown at Busch Gardens and watching It's a Wonderful Life at the Tampa Theatre.
8. Bumming around the house with James and playing videogames till we lost count of the hours haha.
9. Spending Christmas Day with my family in our home.
10.  Seeing my lovely friends Cristine, Chelsea, Katie Lee, & Hilary (and Stefan too) and Duane meeting all these people who are so important to me.
11. Being able to see and hug my Mom on her birthday.
12. Cuddling with Gracie.
13. Saying goodnight to Duane in person almost every night and not even having to think about Skype or Whatsapp.

Am I forgetting anything??  Oh, probably.  There was just such a heavy concentration of goodness.  All the memories just overflow when I try to remember them in order, which I'm pretty grateful for.

Here are some pictures, because I love them & the people in them:

 Christmastown with Duane <3

 We're obviously the cool kids.

The backyard is always full of cardinals:

24 in this picture!

Christmas pictures:

 The "kids" ;)

Love my family <3

Christmas Day:

Love this face.

And THIS face.

 Fun night with my favorites <3

Thanks, everyone, for making my trip back home so wonderful <3, and thanks for supporting me while I'm here in Spain.  And, Duane, thanks especially to you.  Without you I never could have made it home & I wouldn't have all these lovely memories that I have now.  2012 was a big year for me: graduating from UF, moving back home, working full time for the first time, and of course moving to Spain... And meeting you.  You've changed my life, and it's all been for the better.  I'm more excited for 2013 because of you.  And I so grateful that I got to spend more time with you this month, time where we were actually together and not just staring into our computer screens.  Here's to the New Year, here's to you, and, OK, this is corny, but you know how you make my corny show: here's to us. :-)

And now, I'm off to get my party shoes on, cenar, & eat some grapes like a true Spaniard ;-)
Talk to you all in 2013!