plans for yourself.

Guess what Santa brought me?!

Photoshop Elements, a massage gift certificate, a partial backsplash installation, gallons of sugar, aaand...my very own Dark Passenger!

Wonk-wonk.

Yeah. It is what it is. I had my day(ish) of feeling cranky about it, which actually, unbelievably, gave way to a bubbling excitement. ME. I know, right? The thing is, I just feel...good. Like good things are coming my way. Like good things are already here.

Like this guy. I love this guy.

I have goals for the upcoming new year, but in the meantime, I have some winter vacation goals, too. (LISTY McLISTERSON MAKES LISTS OF LISTS.) I've been off work since Friday evening, and I don't go back until next Wednesday, and ooooh you best be believin' I'll be taking advantage of this free time. Some of my goals are pre-pregnancy rewards, some are house-related, and some are - well, kind of the opposite of goals...

• Take as many hot baths as I damn well please
• Sleep like (my younger niece as) a baby (morning nap, afternoon nap, and a solid 12 hours at night)
• Steroid-cream the crap out of my omnipresent face rash (since there's no fetus to worry about)
• Whiten my teeth (ditto, and they could use it)
• Spend stupid amount of money on new record/tape/CD/MP3 player (again, ditto on the lack of fetus to consider)
• Go sledding, hopefully with Leonard and Ebeth
• Watch Season 7 of "The West Wing"
• Really, get my hair cut already, seriously
• Purposefully, consciously decorate the fireplace mantle (as opposed to "randomly throw shit up on the mantle")
• Read, read, read
• Gorge on the sugary presents I received, because I smell a sugar detox approaching
• Put 9378 things on Craigslist (i.e., everything from the huge pile in the basement)
• Plan the front room updates (adding two Expedit bookcases?)
• Get those kitchen reveal posts going
• Or, you know, NOT...because it's vacation

The mantle's been begging for love for a long time (it's so needy, I swear), but I wasn't really sure where or how to start. Considering the fireplace looked like this when we moved in...

...and that it's currently looking like this...

...I can't say it's been completely neglected. Nonetheless, it's ready for some changes. I found some 99-cent black Ribba frames at Ikea today that will tie in nicely, along with a big black lantern (I already have two smaller lanterns up there). I'm not planning anything huge - just hoping to make it look more intentional, more stylish, and more pulled-together. Always good to know your goals going in, right?

More on that later. Right now, time to work towards the winter break goal I've come closest to accomplishing: sleeeeeep!